If you want to look at in on a country to country basis:

- Japan doesn’t really take notice until you sing in Japanese. Which most Chinese people don’t bother with, and which I hope no one really tries in Cpop, because then it’d be Jpop.

- Korea – restrictions on foreign promotions

- Taiwan – Very, very strict promotions against mainlanders until recently. Should a mainland celeb step into Taiwan, they couldn’t even talk to media. It’s still not completely lifted. These actually didn’t just pertain to mainland celebs, there were lots of mind-boggling restrictions on mainland people living there. It’s really crazy how one sided the western media is – they never tell you about those laws, and I’m trying not to let it get to me how unfair it all was.

- Outside China – Young Chinese mainlanders absolutely suck at promoting their own culture. Again, you’re living in a biased environment that predisposes you to think your own country is some sort of horrifying creepy place where there couldn’t possibly be any good entertainment. And the amount of mainlanders that do know just isn’t enough right now to make a real impact. It’s growing, but most are still in the dark. There’s nothing sustained. I could put up a MV like last year at AF, and some people would just forget. Some people actually think Top Combine disbanded because no one was translating/spreading their activities or making it more noticeable.

So basically China’s market is a free-for-all, whereas it’s facing restrictions if it goes elsewhere, and Chinese Americans just are easily manipulated by the news around them. And until more Chinese can spread the culture, you can come out with gold stuff, and people will just forget. Oh well, I don’t care much as long as it’s Cpop and I get my Faye Wongs.

Overall…spreading the culture isn’t so important except money-wise. I remember someone on my LJ-f-list went on a Korea tour and then made her go to some park where there were statues of the Winter Sonata people, which she did not watch and was like WTF?? She still took pictures though and I was laughing so hard that the statues were considered a tourist destination because they weren’t that great just in comparison to statues. But hey…if the pop culture gets people to fork out money to travel, that’s good. But even then, I’d say you’re better off in a Thailand scenario – they will always have their beaches and pristine water, but pop culture changes…you can’t get too dependent on that for tourists.

I just want China’s Cpop industry to come out with something eye-catching and good so the stereotype “cpop is boring/bad/outdated” will go away. Right now, not many people know much about mainland china’s entertainment industry. I want companies to produce flashy groups that can grab people’s attention, and once people get into it, they can start digging deeper and find some pretty good (less superficial) artists.

Right now I’m sort of sick of the idols, even the talented ones, because mostly in the Asian pop culture community people just use looks first as a deciding factor if they’ll give them a chance, and then judge on talent. Like they won’t give anyone who looks remotely non-attractive even a chance even if they have lots of talent and self-direction. Or they have to be in a group (what’s with that obsession?).

I agree that looks attract attention, but honestly, I’m sort of feeling like the Asian online community is just getting dumber and dumber because when you surround yourself with superficiality, superficiality is what you’ll become. And more importantly, I feel like I’m getting dumber. Just by trying to keep up with Asian entertainment news. The news is so inane. And it’s something I’d like to get away from. A little superficiality is nice and necessary at time…but honestly it’s too much.

And man, has asian culture gotten superficial these days. At least when Jpop dominated the boyband niche, most of the members were kinda unattractive. Rather instead, they had the it-factor.

Now it’s just all looks, throw in some mediocre talent, some slight quirkiness, and that’s it. I don’t even know…that’s all just so…average.

Sorry, a couple years ago it wasn’t all about that. Or maybe it was and I just got older. Either way…it’s just too much. Where are the Faye Wongs? Where’s the creativity? Where are the driving forces that turn the art world on its head? I find myself fangirling businessmen, companies a lot, because the artists are just too puppety, and there’s something wrong I think when that happens. When in art, I don’t fangirl artists anymore, but the businessmen behind the artists since they are essentially dictating how the art should go.

Sorry…doing a lot of ranting these days, because I see a lot of people wanting a very flawed, broken model, rather than a healthy one, because the broken one is pretty and enticing, like unhealthy food, and it’s like well….if that’s what people want, I’m not dragging myself into that just because it’ll get me more visitors to this site, or because I get a bigger soapbox to stand on. Because like I said…feeling myself getting dumber. A little superficiality and glitz in film and movies is fine…it’s hard to turn such a costly thing into drivel, and people will call you out on it, but with music, I guess it’s easier.

He should get with that one guy instead…the guy from the old Xin Wu Qi boyband, the one that looked like a replica of Oguri Shun.

Then they could have been known as the Japanese-actor lookalike duo.

“What you want to be in 10 years: to compose music for Final Fantasy”

Holy… just that makes me automatically like him. He likes VGM, Nobuo Uematsu, and AMANO, for cryin’ out loud (and apparently, not Nomura, which makes me very, very happy). He sounds like such a nerd – which I greatly approve of! (B-b-but… Wing Gundam? Why not something from a better Gundam series?) And the use of bells… OMG. Their harmonizing is wonderful, especially in that they’re NOT just singing in simple thirds, but in canon at parts – I like how their vocal tones are so different, too. However, the tones don’t always blend properly, and their voices aren’t as good as some of the other groups that have come out.

It’s kinda strange that the two got together. They don’t even seem to share common interests, other than singing and songwriting. Makes me wonder how long they’ll last as a duo, having to not only work, but be together so much. Plus, it could lead to a broken fanbase – I mean, Nai’en is just so much more interesting to me than Jianbo, whose description just sounds like a cookie-cutter idol. To be honest, if the lower voice is Nai’en’s, I almost would rather he go solo, because the higher voice isn’t as unique, nor good, IMO.

I wish they had debuted earlier. I think they’re disadvantaged in that so many Chinese fangirls have already chosen idol groups, many with strong marketing forces behind them, and it’s already hard to keep up with groups that have already been established. They also don’t sound catchy enough (even vocally) to rely on that, and their ballad-style is only going to put them in direct competition with BOBO, whose star power could keep them from gaining traction. Also on a personal level, if they’d debuted earlier, I almost certainly would have skipped over Top Combine for them, but I’m already too attached to TC to shift.

Quite a pity, since the two seem to have a lot of talent and what looks to be an interesting dynamic between them, in addition to what seems to be a more individualistic musical style than most of the genre. Not to mention the large bias I already have towards “Lion King” for pretty much all of his responses, from movies to gaming to a love of stargazing and strolling. I didn’t think there’d be a pop duo/boy band member who has that much in common with me, of all people. Definitely going to try to follow them.