[article] We're not listening until you sing in English

[nmskalmn]

An article about foreign music in the UK: We're not listening until you sing in English, And that's why we miss out on some of the world's biggest stars.

Excerpt:

The idea that Britons are, at heart, not interested in foreign pop is echoed by Daniel Robson, a British music journalist based in Japan, who says that most million-selling Japanese pop would sound wrong in the UK. "J-pop tends to use compressed guitars and a kind of electronic production that sounds old hat to the English." Japan, the world's second largest music market after the US, is dominated by homegrown acts. Utada Hikaru, at one point Japan's top-selling artist, worked with American producers Timbaland and the Neptunes to gear her up for a western market, but her album still flopped on both sides of the Atlantic. "It's a shame for Britain, because it means other artists who might have gone down better now won't try, but it doesn't really bother them," explains Robson. "People in Japan love and revere British music - go to any karaoke bar and you'll find Blur, Shampoo, even Monty Python songs. But in terms of needing British approval of their music - they're not prepared to bust a gut for one small country."

It's Japan's punk and indie bands, says Robson, that find more common ground in the UK than pop singers. Acts like Polysics, Bo Peep and My Puppy Pet, who aspire to an English sound, are beginning to make headway in the UK. "They would love to be pop in England because they love British music and aspire to the punk heritage."

Hikaru's success in Japan is now being eclipsed by Ayumi Hamasaki, who has released 40 singles in eight years, 26 of which went to No 1. She's not what you might expect from a Japanese star: with her upfront nature, lavish fur coats and tales of childhood neglect, there's a hint of Mary J Blige about her. Like Madonna, she reinvents her image, finding a new hair colour and a new product endorsement for each song. She sells in Madonna-sized quantities, too - around 50m records in eight years.

They also talk a bit about Spanish, Cantonese, and Russian music.

[sxesven]

Interesting article, thanks for the link, skal.

[micster]

Excuse me?

Let me give everyone real knowledge about foreign music in the UK. From my experiences.

When you tell someone you listen to japanese music you know what to expect, confusion/laughing/curiosity and more.

Now yes utada came over to the uk but i only knew because i read it on AHO. She did no performing, no promotion, not even an advert.

Yes most people in the uk are wary of foreign music but they only have 1 example to go on which is brought up always

"Cos im turning japanesa"

That song is what most people think japanese music is about

now im rabling so i'll shut up

[sxesven]

I'm not sure what you mean. This article just explains the English attitude towards foreign/Japanese music, and it's undeniable that there's a severe lack of interest towards foreign (mainstream) music in convential music circles. It's the same everywhere though - don't expect any foreign band (other than English or American) to get immensily popular with your average consumer here in Holland. People just don't care, don't understand - so apart from the random one-hit-wonder that climbs the chart every once in a while, foreign music is doomed to stay, well, foreign. It's sad that many people hold on to this attitude, as they're missing out on so much. In that aspect, it's good to see that a band like Dir en Grey may be opening for Korn in the near future - it opens a lot of doors and garners attention. It may even enhance the status of Japanese music outside of Japan. We'll see what the future brings.

As for a lack of promotion: there it's the label to blame. Utada didn't get promoted, but it's not because she didn't want to, it's just that Island didn't want/need/etc. to. And it's important to note that there'll probably need to be more labels like Tofu Records, who release Japanese music outside of Japan and do a fair bit of promotion here as well. You can't, or at least shouldn't, expect Avex or any other major Japanese company to care about foreign music markets - they focus merely on Japan, as it's a big enough market as is. So the whole lack of Japanese music being known outside of Japan itself works kind of two ways - on the one hand, there's the disinterest from people here; on the other hand, there's the disinterest from the labels there.

[walking proud]

"When you tell someone you listen to japanese music you know what to expect, confusion/laughing/curiosity and more. "


I agree, I personally have experienced this many times.

I think another thing that is going against people who listen to jpop is that if they listen to it they'll be looked at as "weird" or something.

[thinkingoutloud89]

It´s the same in Germany...most of my friends won´t even try it...the only way to get into Japanese Music in Germany is to be an Anime/Manga/Japan Fa^n^^

[Jkb123]

I brought it today not knowing Hikki or Ayu would be in it! I was really surprised, the picture of Ayu is really bad, they could have found a nice one like the two other foreign guys. I think it was all shown in a postive light, they should have said about Hikki's non-promotion though, it makes it sound like her English music was bad & it wasn't!

[ExodusUK]

Is this in today's Guardian? I will pick it up just for the Ayu mention! ^_^

[Halla]

interesting article , thanks for the link.

I don't think Utada's Exodus flopping had anything to with the fact that she's 'foreign'. It just isn't an album that the average person here will enjoy imo , and I'm thinking Island feels the same way. I'm sick of seeing the 'no promotion' excuse. They are a business , they will only promote something if they expect it'll sell in return , promotion costs a lot.if the album truly is good & marketable , withouth any promotion it's bound to get somekind of notice in the underground scene prompting the label to promote it more. I guess that didin't happen with Exodus ....

I'm not really fond of Tofu Records idea , because I'm not into anime & If J-pop were to ever gain popularity in the west I'd rather j-pop to gain a respectable image rather than just a "series of themesongs for japanese cartoons".

from a business point of view I can see why no one's gonna risk trying to market japanese music outside Asia. it costs a lot of money and the competition is really tough , mainstream music needs a lot of sales for all the promotion & marketing to be profitable.
I think some legal online digital music stores do actually sell japanese music in the west tho ?

btw I don't think language isn't that big of a issue in continental europe. charts are often topped by songs in french , spanish & etc and the idea of listening music you dont understand isn't strange. I'm sure most europeans grew up listening to english songs before they could understand them.

[Raleigh]

I think Love Appears mentions a lot of valid points. Personally I think Japanese music will someday break the barriers, but it'll take a while especially since there either needs to be some company overseas which takes serious interest into an artist or else some big company in Japan will take interest in promoting some artist overseas but both seem pretty unlikely. It's risky, plus expensive to invest in something which might not succeed.

[Neo Daydream]

cool! thanks ^^

This attitude is big here in the US too. I have so many friends who just wont listen to foreign music because it's not in english

[Corybobory]

That's a really interesting article! I'd love it if there was more popularity for music in other languages, but that's personal preference... not everyone likes foreign langauges in the same way I do ^^

I'm big into foreign pop, my bofriend isnt. He says he likes to understand the lyrics he's listening to, whereas I love lisntening to language itself. He has, however, warmed to some songs not in English, for example various Shakira songs, a German band Silbermond and a Thai singer Lanna Commins. I think if everyone were exposed to it more there'd be more of a market for foreign music, but, until there's more of a market for foreign music, there wont be more exposure ^^ (I'm speaking on behalf of Canada, I can't say how it is elsewhere)

[elepop]

Very intesresting article, thanks for sharing.

If some people don't want to listen to foreign music, then that's their own choice. But I do think that they are missing out on a lot of amazing artists. But what do they care right? Since they don't understand the words. Well, it's not only in the UK that people think that way. My mom (chinese) still don't understand why I'm only listening to J-Pop.

And also... Mary J. Blige? HUH?

[Coelacanth]

Yeah, interesting article.. It could have to do with racism.. Spanish music seems to fare well here with people who don't understand Spanish. But Japanese is considered o_O.. ehh whatever.

Originally Posted by asongforXX

And also... Mary J. Blige? HUH?

They both had negative experiences in their childhood and have written lyrics about it. That's probably the only comparison there lol.

[Kikaru]

Interesting article, thanks for posting it up.

I agree with AsongforXX. I choose to listen to foreign music, and other people can choose not to listen to foreign music. I personally think they're missing out, but hey, I'm just one person. I really dislike associating Jpop with Anime/Manga because although they intercept, they're different things. I would hate for outsiders to automatically associate them together. If one day people decide to open up, then I'll be happy, but until now, they'll listen to the music they want.

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by Halla

I don't think Utada's Exodus flopping had anything to with the fact that she's 'foreign'. It just isn't an album that the average person here will enjoy imo , and I'm thinking Island feels the same way. I'm sick of seeing the 'no promotion' excuse. They are a business , they will only promote something if they expect it'll sell in return , promotion costs a lot.if the album truly is good & marketable , withouth any promotion it's bound to get somekind of notice in the underground scene prompting the label to promote it more. I guess that didin't happen with Exodus ....

Entirely true and I entirely agree.

Originally Posted by Halla

I'm not really fond of Tofu Records idea , because I'm not into anime & If J-pop were to ever gain popularity in the west I'd rather j-pop to gain a respectable image rather than just a "series of themesongs for japanese cartoons".

I don't think Tofu Records promotes J-music like that - they just release Japanese music outside of Japan. It's just too bad their name's so silly. Otherwise though, I don't see how such labels should be a problem and give J-music a bad image. Moreover, it's still pop music - and when did pop music ever get 'respected'?

[*Petit*]

This guy points out that japanese music may sound old fashioned to brits. Ì can't find the page now but it's from wikipedia, about japanese music in general, where there's a reference to some work by some professor (If my memory serves me right). She points out that in japanses music of today you find a mesh of all styles that every appeared in music from 50s till today. An example of this is all singles of morning mususme, which in some years travels from disco through rock and dance and almost 60s like soft pop. It's also the biggest market for classical music (ever wondered why they picked these three styles:classical, trance and eurobeat, for ayu's remix albums? Obiously because they were the styles that could sell most at the time). The use of guitar solos has become rarer and rarer in western music since the 80's, during which is was as common here as there I think.

I hope that japanese musicians will never give up on this blend of styles to adapt to other countries music. That way I think it'll loose a lot of the creative points. The things he points at as reasons for "foreign" pop not hitting it in the UK are many of the reasons why j-pop blew me away when I first heard it, so although I don't mind japanese artists singing english and making it abroad, I hope they'll preserve the music.

[CREA.tive]

" Japan, the world's second largest music market after the US, is dominated by homegrown acts.

Wow i didn't know that O_O thnx for the article

[Endlessoul]

People always say there is no boundary in music but this reflects some facts. Not only Japanese singers but also lots of other non-english singers are faced with the problem. I suppose that is because of the different languages and cultures. And, maybe there is no need to change this because as you know, everyone's got their own choices. Who cares.