Quote:

The full article is here:
http://www.billboard.com/#/features/breaking-entering-the-wonder-girls-1004044868.story

What's your take on this?

I think the wondergirls need to go back to the plastic generic music factory from whence they came. Oh yeah, and they should learn to sing too (points at MTVIggy performance) A song called Nobody by some nobodies will never be successful here.So they entered billboard. big deal. Crap enters that chart all time. Hanging around a group of gay boys wont make you less of a joke sorry :) And that's my take. It's so tasteful of them to flaunt such a bit of garbage success. Make an album. Chart at #1. Become a household name. I'll eat my words. If not, please stop embarrassing asian people. When NK nukes south korea i hope they take all the horrid K-pop groups with it. Good riddance. That goes for ALL of them. Im sick of that generic low grade crap. I really laugh at anyone who thinks "sticking with their color" or w/e that idiot said is a way to be successful! Yeah um, do you even know what music is like in the US? Theres a reason why people dont blast asian music from their cars...because its not the freaking style of music here. Wonder Girls WILL FAIL. Its not even about being asian. Its about making crap music. In Korea they fit in well with the rest of the 29380219384 groups that all sound the same. Fine. They will never be an established artist (not really an artist in general) in the U.S. So please pack your bags and go back to the land of kimchi. You are making all asian people look like retards. =[

The Wonder Girls don't have any colors to change. JYP owns and controls and dominates everything the do- they're a product to be sold, nothing more. Fitting that they're in with the JB crowd. They'll certainly sell well here in the States given the right promotion and enough backing from the Disney corporation. Breaking the charts doesn't mean anything if you're willing to (censored) yourself out to the first major American band that will pick you up to guest on their tour.

What JYP fails to understand is that Utada's "changing of color" is what she's ALWAYS done. It didn't start when she hit the U.S., it won't end after TITO. I'll bet you my left foot her next Japanese album is going to be something we've never heard from her before; there will be familiar songs, there always are, but I highly doubt it's going to be "Heart Station" all over again. Utada's "change of color" was that when she came to the States, she decided she didn't want to be that foreign Asian girl trying desperately to break in. She doesn't need to break in. This is her home. This is where her career should have started in the first place. What this guy is missing is that UTADA and UTADA HIKARU are not the same artist.

So, whatever, JYP. Utada may not have toured with the Jo Bros and hit the Billboard, but at least she can make quality music AND maintain her integrity as an artist. All I have to say is, don't count your chicks before they've hatched. The Wonder Girls may have made it in, but they have not by any means made it big. Not saying they won't, not saying they shouldn't, but it's a little early for JYP to be pulling some kind of grandiose success out of his arse, don't you think?

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As a "gay boy" myself, I would like to take this moment to apologize for the Jonas Brothers. I don't know what went wrong with them. Actually, I do; Disney. It ruins the best of us, even the gays. D<

Wonder Girls have just started. Who's to say that they'll continue with their VERY MINOR success. Utada is an established artist who has control over her career and work. She is not some robot who sings stuff that has been written and produced for them.

Well, she's an established artist in Japan, 'tis true. And her English albums have gathered a large group of fans, some of whom cross over by getting into her Japanese music. There are some wonderful Asian musicians that have large followings in America, but we have yet to see an Asian artist have the American following of someone like Alanis Morissette, for example.

Wonder Girls are indeed a product to be sold, although you could really say that about most musicians in general. Hikki sticks to her guns, even if others produce her English stuff. The more I listen to TiTO, for example, the more I hear reminiscences of stuff like "Keep Tryin'" and "Traveling". So she always carries the same flavor in all her stuff, but manages to reinvent herself for each album, not unlike Madonna.

Having said that, I think there might be something to the thought of changing your music to fit a certain market. Hikki herself has acknowledged that some of the reasons for doing an R&B album is because "that's what's popular in the US right now". Yet it's still her personal flavor that shows through in her songwriting, even on an album like TiTO.

I think Americans need to get over the xenophobia and think against the J-pop/A-pop stereotypes that Asian musicians seem to be burdened with. We're all people and it's hard for me to see why Americans have an issue with that.

So much meanness here! Jeeze! Anyway, the WonderGirls, (shut up, I -do- like them somewhat, just like I like ShinHwa and H.O.T. and BoA) and a lot of the other KPop performers have, to me, a very clear late 90s/earlier 2000s American Bubblegum Pop sound. I am happy for their success, but I have a small feeling that the JoBros might have helped boost their potential. If anything, BoA should've def. cracked the Hot 100 charts with Eat You Up. And the fact that WG did it - no matter what the circumstances are, should be a reason for Asians and Asian artists to be excited. It means the door is opening a bit more for others to succeed.

Besides, Hikki got to perform on Good Morning America, and there have been tidbits about her on both VH1 and MTV (there was a snippet on her when "Can You Keep A Secret?" came out, and a "You Hear It First" for Exodus), not to mention her article in TIME Magazine, and also, I believe, her picture on the cover of a later issue?

The thing with Utada, though, is that while she says her music is more R&B this time around, it just doesn't have that sound to me. Nor does it have any kind of "mainstream radio" flavor to it. I almost wish she would just make an English version of one of her Japanese albums and release it here. Anyway, Utada also said that this album was experimental, as was Exodus. So. Yeah.

And yes, her being asian does have something to do with it, sadly. It isn't just asian artists who have difficulty breaking into the mainstream here. Hispanic/Latinos are still pretty low under the radar as well. Not as much as asians, maybe, but they are. 2009 was the first year that a reggaeton artist was nominated for an award and performed at the MTV VMAs (Wisin y Yandel). But that doesn't mean that those guys are suddenly household names here among white people. Bleh. You guys get my drift. It sucks, but it's the truth.

(Edited that a little bit up there, sorry)

Wow. Pretty mean to say that they changed there colors when Utada didn't really change anything at all. Utada changes her sound her style with every album but she still finds ways to keep it "Uatda Hikaru" In every song, and album. When she first entered the U.S with Exodus it was nothing I had ever heard before so how did she blend in with the U.S sound? Yes I do think that Utada did try to do a U.S mainstream sound with TITO but even so it doesn't sound like it blends in with every other American artist music it still has her vibe.. So to say that Coco Lee and Utada Failed is just stupid because The Wonder Girls didn't get that much attention just cause they broke into the billboard charts I mean yes it's great that it happen to them they should feel good that they did but that doesn't give them the right to slam other artist.

sure... Utada failed at #69 in the Billboard charts i mean, wow the Wondergirls have achieved #76 for one week (!!!!!!!!!!!!) :O congrats, JYP!

I haven't heard CoCo Lee's entry into America's mainstreame, but I do know about BoA and Utada Hikaru's attempts.

And I will risk being a hated minority in saying this: I agree. They have compromised their unique qualities to fit in with what American music seems to be.

EXODUS is different, but not in a good way. I am not at all a fan of the album.

I don't know if the Wonder Girls have anything special about them or whether they would be able to crack the market, but changing what you are for a market is probably what failed the other artists.

You can't just be an Asian knock-off, you need to bring something unique onto the table.

I'm gonna tack this on... WG seems to have more fuel for their fire than Hikki, BoA, or Coco ever had promotion-wise. JYP seems to be making more of an effort to get them out there. Moving the girls to NYC and hooking up with JoBros management team, yeah.