Taiwanese Pop Music & KTV Addiction

What do I know about Taiwanese music? Not very much except that Taiwanese really love music and with that love for music comes singing. I've never really met a Taiwanese person that doesn't love to bust it loose singing karaoke. In Taiwan karaoke is so popular that they even have establishments that you can go to rent a room with comfortable sofas, a big TV, and a karaoke system that allows you to sing until your heart's content (or your wallet is dry). Many of these places also offer an included snack style buffet but you can also order food or bring your own food and beverages (corking fee applies). They do have some English songs as well but very few. Most of the English songs are old, like 60s and 70s hits but there are also some modern ones as well. You'd be surprised at the number of Taiwanese that can sing. It's like they actually practice these songs for the day they can go to KTV (that's what they call karaoke) and strut their stuff. Even though I'm not that good of a singer, alright I'm not even a little bit good, but I really like KTV. I just wish there were more songs that I could sing. The last time I went I actually attempted to sing some songs in Mandarin and I guess I did okay. I even surprised myself that I could follow along with the lyrics. I don't have enough practice singing though so everyone was urging me to sing out loud. I guess the more beer or vodka you have before you start singing really helps a lot. Some of the popular KTV establishments include HOLIDAY KTV (everyday is a holiday) and PARTY WORLD. I think many people visit these type of establishments as not only a way to have fun but also to relieve stress or celebrate an event like a birthday. I'll try to round up some of my own old photos from my KTV party days and post it to the blog in the upcoming weeks.

As far as Taiwanese music goes, in general I'm not a big fan. The reason is a lot of the music that is produced by Taiwanese singers sounds very similar to me. Also many of the CDs are not that great. Some singers release two to three CDs in a single year, so of course the quality of the music will suffer. Unlike in the US, where a singer is just a singer. In Taiwan a singer is supposed to be a singer, actor, comedian, and whatever else their managers can think for them to become. Of course they must look beautiful or handsome and do modeling. So I think the life of a singer in Taiwan is not really a singer but a superstar. They need to be multifaceted and stay in the public eye, otherwise they will be forgotten.

Taiwanese really love ballads here, especially love ballads. The more sad the better. I do have to say, though, of course Taiwanese are more open minded about music than people in the United States. In the United States if you are not singing in English, you are not going to be listened to. I think people in the United States have a hard time believing that you can actually enjoy a song without knowing every single word of a song. Anyway, nowadays there are a lot of singers that you cannot really understand what he or she is singing anyway. I do however have some Taiwanese music on my iPod but am only familiar with a few singers. These singers are probably not as popular as others in Taiwan but anyway, I'm not introducing you to what exactly is popular in Taiwan but about what I like and listen to.

I recall when first coming to Taiwan I was introduced to two big singing stars, A-mei and Leehom Wang. A-mei is an aboriginal Taiwanese, meaning her ethnic background is not like the majority of other Taiwanese in Taiwan. Most of the Taiwanese that reside in Taiwan are of Han Chinese ancestry. A-mei made her big debut in 1996, so when I came here in the year 2000 she was still quite popular. Of course people still consider A-mei a big success but I think because she didn't keep herself in the spotlight people paid less attention to her in recent years. Her music can be called a mix of pop and rock. She also writes some of her own lyrics and has won a ton of awards. On the day that I went to KTV with my friends I sang one of her songs. I guess one reason she is lacking in popularity is that she's getting up there in age, I guess she's nearing 40.

Leehom Wang seems to be releasing albums all the time. He has also won lots of awards and even done a little acting. He is actually an Asian American kid that just happened by chance to get the chance to become a singer. It's hard for me to describe his music style because I think he just combines a bit of everything in order to create his own style of music. He calls this style "chinked out." I didn't really actually sing any of his songs during my last visit to the KTV.

I guess you could say that these two singers were kind of introduced to me through listening to other friends CDs but the last I will introduce was my own discovery. I guess I found out about Elva Hsiao by watching her videos on MTV on Taiwanese TV. I think all of the singers I've introduced should be able to speak English well but Elva went to the US to study for a time and this reminds me of something else about Taiwanese music that is so interesting. A lot of the songs will have one or two sentences of English in the song. I'm not really quite sure exactly why...maybe to make it sound more interesting? Maybe to add something to the song? There is actually research being conducted to try to determine why English is used in Mandarin songs (I heard a PhD student from National Taiwan University discuss this topic once). Elva's music seems to be filled with this kind of stuff. I think you can describe her music as Pop.