Son Tung M-TP's unfulfilled ambition for many years

Music

Mini Magazine

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:41 (GMT+7)
11:41 5/2/2023

Expanding the Vietnamese music market is said to be Son Tung's goal in his upcoming project "Making My Way". Previously, many Vietnamese singers also set that ambition but failed to achieve it.

Son Tung and his dream of "advancing to America" is the most discussed topic in the music market these past few days. The male singer said Making My Way, released on May 5, marks a new milestone in his musical career.

The ambition to bring Vietnamese music to the world is commendable, whether it succeeds or fails. Especially when the Vietnamese music scene is still small and not every singer dares to be a pioneer.

Preparation of Son Tung and Vietnamese singers

Since the release of Run Now , Son Tung has shared his most beautiful dream is to bring Vietnamese to the outside world, so that everyone knows that the song is in Vietnamese, the person singing this song is Vietnamese, the production team is Vietnamese. All of that will become a source of pride.

Son Tung has spent many years persistently pursuing that dream. From Run Now , the male singer collaborated with a leading Korean crew. The music of Run Now is a new, new trend, attractive compared to the Vietnamese music market. In addition to high-tempo music, Son Tung also invested in his image and invited famous Thai actress Mai Davika to play the female lead role.

To Hay trao cho anh released in 2019, Son Tung collaborated with world-class star Snoop Dogg and female singer Madison Beer. The Thai Binh singer even made the MV in the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park (California, USA) - filming locations of international artists such as Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Kesha, Iggy Azalea, Calvin Harris, Nicki Minaj...

With There's No One At All released in 2022 and Making My Way coming soon, Son Tung sings entirely in English. With Making My Way , there's a high chance he'll continue to collaborate with international stars. The reason is that in March, the male singer posted a photo in Los Angeles and said he was coming here to work. It can be seen that Son Tung has been and is gradually realizing his own dream.

Entering the US or bringing music to the world is probably a common dream of many Vietnamese singers. But not everyone has enough perseverance and, more importantly, the economic strength to pursue it.

K-ICM wants to be a Vietnamese artist who goes out into the world and lets foreigners know about Vietnamese musical instruments. Similarly, Trinh Thang Binh admitted to Zing that he also thought about and wanted to reach out to the international music market, but he was not able to do it. He tried many times but failed. Therefore, when he saw Son Tung's steps, he admired him very much.

Son Tung planned to enter the US many years ago. Photo: FBNV.

Trinh Thang Binh's hesitation is understandable because Vpop is still too small compared to the world music market. In recent times, we have had many famous products not only in Vietnam but also in the country of Vietnam and that is something to be proud of. However, to say that they are famous and causing a fever globally like Kpop did with Nobody (Wonder Girls), Gangnam Style (PSY), Dynamite (BTS), Vpop has no songs yet.

Recently, See Tinh has become the pride of Vpop. The song is danced to by many audiences and celebrities from China, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Korea, etc. The song has also appeared on foreign TV shows with large audiences. By early April, Newspim even wrote that the song’s popularity in Korea has not decreased.

Previously, Improvisation (Hoaprox), Innocent, Night Dance (Tang Duy Tan ft Phong Max), Easy to Come, Easy to Go (Quang Hung Master) and Two Minutes More (KAIZ Remix ft Phao)… were also quite famous in the above countries. However, it can be seen that the songs still mainly cover the Southeast Asian or Asian regions and are not influential enough in Europe and America.

Lessons from Kpop

When asked about his ambition to enter the US, Son Tung once told Zing : "I have to admit that Vietnam is not on the music map. They don't know where Vietnam is. Therefore, I really want to stand next to international artists and tell them that Vietnam has many talented artists, so please pay attention to Vietnam."

"BTS sings their language in America, dresses their way, and does whatever they want in America. They gave me the key to my dream. I have to do it and follow their path. No matter what the result is, no matter how much effort goes down the drain, I'm happy to be myself," he said.

And for BTS to become the pride of the Korean people, audiences, and Asian colleagues like today, many artists and idols who came before them from the land of kimchi had to find their way and fail.

Since the time of BoA, Se7en, and later Wonder Girls of the second generation of Kpop (2007-2011), Kpop has targeted the American market. Photo: JYP Entertainment.

K-pop probably started in the early 1990s when Seo Taiji and Boys wowed everyone with their impressive performances that were broadcast live into millions of Korean homes. The band opened the door for generations of young Korean artists who were inspired to create music by tapping into the trends that were trending around the world.

By the late 2000s, a large number of K-pop singers were expanding their reach and influence throughout Asia. At the same time, Korean movies were breaking out and even exploding in neighboring countries. Unlike the closed-off trend in China and Japan, Korean entertainment companies embraced international social media and began to appear on foreign music platforms. This could be considered K-pop’s first step to the United States.

Not only one company or artist can advance to the US, but the entire Korean market is considered a common goal. It is no coincidence that Kpop is considered an industry that the Korean government invests heavily in.

At that time, Se7en, BoA, then Wonder Girls, SNSD released music products in English. But then they all failed. Wonder Girls even had to pay the price for their American expansion by losing popularity in their home country. But it was their daring to think and act that created the premise for Kpop to succeed in America as it is today.

The Kpop storm peaked with PSY and Gangnam Style in 2012. PSY completely broke the mold of what it took to reach number one, not only in the US market but worldwide. PSY created a new milestone that helped the younger generation like BTS, BlackPink step by step set records on Billboard in particular and the US in general.

BTS would hardly have succeeded in the US without the initial exploration steps of the artists before them. Photo: NME.

The success of Kpop shows that advancing to the US is not just the dream of BTS, BlackPink or Wonder Girls… It is the common goal of the entire Korean music industry and has been exchanged for many failed explorations.

As Son Tung once said: "It takes me a lot of time to conquer that dream. This is not my own dream, or selfishness for myself, but a dream for the whole collective."

Vpop is in the learning and groping stage.

Talking to Zing , Lam Thoi Dai - CEO of Thoi Dai Records - said he sees that there are not many opportunities for Vietnamese artists to advance to the US because the country's music industry is still quite young and spontaneous. Vietnam is also not an attractive destination when foreign artists plan to tour, thus limiting opportunities for exchange, cooperation and development. Foreign record labels entering the Vietnamese market have not made any moves to promote the local music market other than promoting their existing music library.

“I remember 20 years ago, singer My Linh was very excited when sharing about the album Coming to America . However, until now, the project has not been completed to introduce to music lovers even though a local record label supported from A to Z. Therefore, advancing to America is not an easy task to build a specific strategy for each artist. I still look forward to other achievements to learn from these valuable case studies,” said Mr. Lam Thoi Dai.

The ambition to advance to the US, Korea or Japan... or in general, the dream of exporting Vpop and promoting Vietnamese culture to major music markets in the world. He emphasized that this is not an easy story for any individual, artist or record company. Kpop had to wait until the 3rd generation of artists (around 2013-2019) to have initial achievements in the US market after nearly 50 years. They had to invest billions of dollars to develop human resources, actively participate in cultural exchanges to create the premise for the next generation.

The spread of See Tinh or Ke Pha from Son Tung is a positive sign for Vietnamese music. Photo: NVCC.

“Looking back, we are still in the stage of observing, learning and 'groping' to find our way in the 'fog' to dream a big dream. Any opportunity for Vietnamese artists (like Hoang Thuy Linh's See Tinh ) to shine now is worth celebrating, cherishing and receiving encouragement from the whole market. All the bright spots like matchsticks flashing that night can help us see the difficult path a little more clearly,” said Mr. Lam Thoi Dai.

In general, no success comes easily without the trade-off of time, risk, effort and failure. And not everyone knows the thorns that lie ahead and dares to face them like Son Tung M-TP.

Above all, when setting such a difficult goal, Son Tung must have put in a lot of effort, investment in time, brainpower and money. Therefore, regardless of success or failure, the goal and what Son Tung is doing is only beneficial to the overall development of the Vietnamese music market. It is a remarkable and commendable effort.

Reference book: Son Tung M-TP has an autobiography called Touching the Dream. The male singer shared his inspiration for writing the autobiography: "In life, everyone has their own purpose in life. To be able to touch and make that purpose come true, we ourselves have to work hard, not our parents or friends."

Lan Phuong

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