In order to familiarize myself with Vietnamese, my favorite pastime activity has shifted from watching mostly meaningless compilations of vine videos on Youtube to watching Vietnamese reality television and listening to Vietnamese music videos.
Due to the recent rise in the global popularity of Korean Pop (dubbed Kpop), other Asian countries have jumped on the bandwagon. Vietnam is no different.
Unlike before when most, if not all, professional Vietnamese singers are seen sporting traditional costumes or formal wear while performing minimal gestures, rising Vietnamese stars like to imitate the eye catching, colorful costumes and energetic street style dances that are common in a typical Kpop music video.
Additionally, with the introduction of western pop culture, musical genres like rap and hip hop are gaining popularity in the previously ballads and folk songs dominated music industry. This gave rise to a new generation of Vietnamese artists such as Sơn Tùng - MTP, ERIK, SOOBIN, JACK97, MIN, and many others.
As I previously mentioned, musical genres such as pop, hip hop, and rap are relatively new to the Vietnamese musical industry. Before Kpop became a global phenomenon, the Vietnamese musical scene was heavily dominated by love ballads, songs depicting nationalism, and soulful folk songs. This lack of diversity is largely due to the Vietnamese government’s banning of what they labeled as kích động nhạc (literally “exciting music”) in the later 1970s period. Nhạc trẻ Sài Gòn (literally “youthful music of Saigon”) is a term that was used to refer to the vibrant, fun folk songs that were forced underground during this time period due government censorship. It wasn’t until the late 2000s that ‘Vpop’ - based off of Kpop, Cpop, and Jpop - became a recognized genre of music in the industry. Even then, Vpop only encompasses the previously driven underground folk songs that bore little resemblance to what we would be referring to as modern pop music.
Looking at the recently released contents of the music industry, it is evident that modern Vpop is heavily influenced by Kpop with its colorful concepts, energetic dance sequences, and catchy melodies. Vpop has also recently started to borrow heavily from western music as well. New artists have started to incorporate rap and hip hop into their songs, a combination that was practically unheard of in the Vietnamese musical industry before the 2010s. During this period, the pop / hip hop artist Sơn Tùng was among the first Vietnamese artists to make the international chart with a musical sequence almost identical to the internationally recognized Kpop.
However, unlike the Korean music industry where boy bands and girl groups tend to dominate the industry, the Vietnamese musical industry tends to favor solo artists, partnerships, and collaborations. The rise in popularity of pop and hip hop music in Vietnam has paved the way for musical reality television such as Vietnam Idol, Rap Viet, Giọng Ca Bất Bại (literally “the unbeatable voice”), and Giọng Ải Giọng Ai (literally “who’s voice is that?”).
My personal favorite genre that resulted from this musical revolution is the cross between traditional and EDM that created artists and producers like JACK97 and K-ICM. This genre utilizes a unique combination of traditional musical instruments and modern EDM mix that give a modern twist to the upbeat folk music that previously gave way to the Vietnamese imitation of Kpop.
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