Excited
Even though my parents came to the US from Taiwan in the 70s, I’m not a fan of Taiwanese pop music; maybe it’s because so much of it seem to come from Boy Bands from mainland China or consist of numbingly slow love ballads with videos of forlorn looking couples looking sad at each other in some random-ass wheat field. (Seriously, why are there so many Taiwanese ballad music videos of someone standing in a field? They have buildings, right?)
But this music video by Taiwanese indie-pop band WonFu — not to be confused with Asian American product company Wong Fu Productions — I can get behind, mostly because it takes all of that bubble-gum cheeriness that Taiwanese people love so much and puts it behind a bassline; imagine the catchy hooks of Puffy AmiYumi put through the wringer of a Taiwanese variety show, goofy sound effects and all. If you think they’re good enough to catch live, they’ll be touring cities and venues up and down the West Coast, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and schools like Cal Berkeley and UCLA.
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TinaTsai
very British. I was a huge pizzacato 5 fan back in the day. One of the girls is called Twiggy? definitely P5 spawn ^O^
Interesting post. I have just bookmarked this at stumbleupon. Others no doubt will like it like I did.
Boy band from Mainland China? Which one? Taiwan is the where the boy band comes from, mainland girls are the consumer of Taiwanese boy bands like F4, Fahrenheit (Fei Lun Hai), Lollipop, etc. Although not as prolific and entertaining as Korean boy bands like Big Bang, they hold a huge piece of the world-wide Chinese teen market. Japanese boy bands are declining in popularity due to the Johnny's monopoly and Johnny's own taste for pretty, feminine boys. They still rely on old-standby like SMAP to carry the load. I may not enjoy their sounds, but like boy band everywhere, they are influential in in the lives of Asian teenage girls.
I also enjoy quite a bit of Taiwan's indie and live concert scene. I was part of the scene back when Mayday was the biggest undie band in Taipei... the good old days when you can chat with A-Shin between songs. Now that they're huge, it's not the same for me any more - just like Soda Green. Taiwanese youths are increasing become the most creative out of the East Asian nations due to the liberalized education in the recent years - prepare for more WonFus to come.
Boy band from Mainland China? Which one? Taiwan is the where the boy band comes from, mainland girls are the consumer of Taiwanese boy bands like F4, Fahrenheit (Fei Lun Hai), Lollipop, etc. Although not as prolific and entertaining as Korean boy bands like Big Bang, they hold a huge piece of the world-wide Chinese teen market. Japanese boy bands are declining in popularity due to the Johnny's monopoly and Johnny's own taste for pretty, feminine boys. They still rely on old-standby like SMAP to carry the load. I may not enjoy their sounds, but like boy band everywhere, they are influential in in the lives of Asian teenage girls.
I also enjoy quite a bit of Taiwan's indie and live concert scene. I was part of the scene back when Mayday was the biggest undie band in Taipei... the good old days when you can chat with A-Shin between songs. Now that they're huge, it's not the same for me any more - just like Soda Green. Taiwanese youths are increasing become the most creative out of the East Asian nations due to the liberalized education in the recent years - prepare for more WonFus to come.
These indie artists are more creative with their work than the ones in the "Artist Garden".
However, I'm kind of confused at the appeal. Maybe it's just personal tastes but I listened to more Won Fu songs. I need to take my time translating the lyrics since Mandarin isn't my first tongue but soundwise, it's a little similar to other songs I've listened to around Asia. Not sure what their status in the music industry is. They seem to be just having fun and letting their creativity flow, I'm not sure if it's a reaction to anything.
Just being curious, any indie artist you think is worth listening to and what are some of the crappy mando-pop songs out there?
What a fantastic post. I love Won Fu. I was just wondering what they were up to the other day, since they haven't come out with a new album in a bit, and am glad to see they are touring the US.
There's a burgeoning indie music scene here in Taipei... my hypothesis is that it is in reaction to the the fact that there is also a lot of truly crappy Mandopop, as you pointed out. The amount of great indie bands really blows me away... the problem is that their CDs and singles are hard to get in the US. You might want to explore White Wabbit's Web site: http://www.wwr.com.tw/. They are a indie record label in Taipei that also operates a couple record stores and their Web site has a lot of tracks you can sample.
Catchy song! Oddly enough, the sound is very similar to Latin-American and Spanish pop bands that have hit the scene recently. The style, unfortunately, hasn't translated to the U.S. yet. Joshchau definitely hits it on the head with the Pizzicato 5 similarity. Isn't it so much fun?
While growing up in Singapore, Taiwanese pop bands always seemed to be bad imitations of what was "hot" in the U.S. at that time, like really bad rap.
Most Chinese pop songs are full of very sappy love lyrics of whatever music genre but there's some that are not bad and there are quite a lot of MVs where it takes place in and around "building(s)". I'm just guessing, not in a mean way, that you haven't really caught up with the Mando-pop scene for a while.
Indies are cool too. I saw a couple of clips of Rock bands from the Mainland a couple of weeks ago.
Dang... this really makes me wish I was on the West Coast again. Seattle!! So close, yet so far.
Props to WonFu for touring the US. :)
OMG Why didn't you tell me sooner?!?!?!?!?!?
Ever since Pizzicato 5 broke up when I was in college there was a hole in my heart for this kind of music. If it's not improper to do so, I would say that Won Fu is like a Taiwanese Pizzicato 5.
It's nice to hear happy Shibuya Kei-esque music but in a language I understand.
Has anyone else noticed that they like to stick Taiwanese lyrics here and there (I noticed it on Do Re Mi, I also speak Min Nan Hua)?
I'd appreciate any links to a site where I can order their album. I already tried YesAsia.com and they have a long delivery time.
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