Son Tung still hasn't overcome his weaknesses.

“Come My Way” continues Son Tung's strategy of conquering the international market after “There's no one at all” and “Making my way”. However, he still hasn't completely addressed his weaknesses.

Sơn Tùng clearly holds the leading position in Vpop. His musical products have almost reached the highest possible achievements domestically, holding many important records. Therefore, to continue expanding his market, audience, and enhancing his status, Sơn Tùng cannot continue to operate solely within the domestic market.

From his initial collaboration with American rapper Snoop Dogg on "Hãy trao cho anh" (Give Me Your Love) , Son Tung demonstrated his ambition to expand beyond Vietnam. This was further solidified by his controversial single "There's No One at All, " with lyrics entirely in English. His plans became increasingly clear. "Making My Way," released in 2023, further solidified his intentions. However, these two songs did not achieve the expected success. While the streaming numbers for both "There's No One at All" and "Making My Way" weren't exceptionally low in the Vietnamese music market, they represented a significant step backward compared to Son Tung's other releases.

Son Tung's previous English singles haven't achieved the success he hoped for.

It seemed like Son Tung would return to focusing on the domestic market after the success of "Our Future" and "Don't Break My Heart," which nearly reached his peak, but it appears Son Tung hasn't given up on his ambitions. With the single "Come My Way," written entirely in English and a collaboration with Vietnamese-American rapper Tyga, Son Tung continues to nurture his journey towards international success.

It doesn't make a difference.

In his two most recent Vietnamese singles, Son Tung chose familiar elements that propelled him to the pinnacle of Vpop: pop/R&B combined with a meticulously crafted and distinctive hook, along with catchy lyrics that are distinctly his own. Although the two songs evoke contrasting emotions, they are both familiar to Son Tung, contributing to a brilliantly successful 2024 for him.

With "Come My Way ," Son Tung still follows a pre-existing "formula," but instead of the formula that brought him success in his Vietnamese-language songs, it's the same "formula" he repeated in " There's no one at all" and "Making My Way ": a hip-hop inclination, dark and somber music, vocals hidden beneath the soundscape, sometimes incorporating elements inspired by rock, afro, and reggaeton to thicken the beat, and especially, the hook is no longer clearly emphasized; instead, he focuses more on melodic development and song unity.

The only difference between Come My Way and its two English predecessors is the appearance of guest artist Tyga. This "international" element helps the song gain more attention, but in reality, it doesn't bring about much change to the music, as Tyga's vocal tone isn't significantly different from Son Tung's, and the beat in Tyga's verse isn't altered or modified compared to the rest. This approach makes the song flow smoothly, similar to the way Making My Way was structured, instead of highlighting the guest artist's appearance as in Give Me Your Love .

Come My Way is not much different from Making My Way.

Sơn Tùng also followed the trend of incorporating many traditional Vietnamese images into his music videos. From the mask inspired by the Xuân Phả folk game that caused a social media sensation from the moment the teaser was released, to the majestic image of the mythical Lạc bird appearing at the beginning of the MV, the magnificent landscape of Tràng An (Ninh Bình), the An Giang bull racing festival, etc., Sơn Tùng's product achieved a high visual impact. However, these traditional and modern elements in the visual aspect have almost no connection to the reggaeton music of " Come My Way" .

The inherent weaknesses have yet to be overcome.

Many viewers have pointed out Son Tung's pronunciation shortcomings since his single "Making My Way ," noting that he often struggles with pronunciation of ending sounds and his accent doesn't quite suit the somewhat "Latin American" musical style like moombahton/reggaeton.

In "Come My Way ," things didn't improve much. Son Tung tried to write the lyrics skillfully so that the final words of sentences didn't need to have their ending sounds pronounced, like "near me now," "tie me down," and "I'm on tequila," thus minimizing the exposure of his weaknesses. However, it's difficult to completely eliminate this element in English lyrics, and he still reveals his inaccurate pronunciation through words like "want" and "somersault." Son Tung's English lyrics are also overly simplistic, with short sentences and frequent repetition of basic words. This somewhat diminishes his "identity" when composing in Vietnamese: longer but more confident sentences, using many beautiful and ornate words.

When writing lyrics in English, much of Son Tung's distinctive style, which he displayed in his Vietnamese songs, disappears.

In particular, Sơn Tùng's decision to retain the same musical style as "Making My Way" is puzzling. In terms of achievements, "Making My Way" is one of Sơn Tùng's weakest songs; it wasn't a hit in the domestic market, nor did it gain international recognition. Its streaming performance is also the lowest compared to his releases in recent years. Three years ago, "Making My Way" was somewhat novel to domestic audiences; however, currently, with Gen Z artists heavily utilizing reggaeton, " Making My Way" using the same sound and vocal techniques as before is no longer unique.

To say this is a viable option for international expansion in 2026 is no longer accurate. The songs currently topping the charts in Europe and America, if not from Latin American artists, no longer utilize this style. Especially for artists originating from Asia, international audiences want to hear the distinctive sounds of that music genre. For example, Blackpink and BTS, despite singing entirely in English, still incorporate typical K-pop styles – bright, catchy sounds and quality hooks – rather than simply copying what they hear daily from artists familiar with the genre, far more so than a completely unfamiliar male singer from East Asia.

Son Tung's approach is still rudimentary, similar to the misguided approach of Asian artists nearly 20 years ago, such as BoA, Se7en, and Utada Hikaru, which was to try to make their music as Western as possible, almost stripping away their own unique identity. Furthermore, Son Tung falls short in a crucial aspect: frequency of appearances. While BTS and Blackpink release products continuously, attend numerous events, and even venture into fashion to enhance their presence, Son Tung took almost two years to release his next musical product, and three years for his "international" release after "Making My Way ." In Vietnam, everyone knows Son Tung, but without consistency to reach the international stage, audiences won't remember who he is or what his music is like, except for the label "a top artist from Vietnam."

Son Tung's approach to the international market remains outdated.

"Come My Way" is still a polished, clean product, like many of Son Tung's other singles. However, it's nothing too special; it's not the kind of music that's a hit in Vietnam, nor does it stand out in the international market. The song is still very successful, achieving feats that Vietnamese artists only dream of, but whether it can meet Son Tung's grand ambitions, or even have a long-term career domestically like his other Vietnamese singles, is difficult to say.

Source: https://znews.vn/son-tung-van-chua-khac-phuc-duoc-diem-yeu-post1655383.html