Wang Rong pulls off both composing and dancing with easy.
Female composers are rare in cpop, and female fast-track composers who also dance are even rarer. Wang Rong’s one of them, and definitely one of my favorite pop composers for both fast and slow songs.
Wang Rong recently released a new song and MV, ” Love or Not,” with choreography by Black Eyed Peas’ choreographer. The new song continues her unique style of pop with the faintest hint of Zhongguofeng.
Love or not MV:
Wang Rong has many extremely catchy songs, like her last MV “Want a hug/要抱抱” and Multiply/加倍.
Her most famous fast track Aiya:
Her slow songs are also beautiful, like Everywoman and Distance/ 距离, and the beautiful Father Mother/爸爸妈妈.
I personally love her more quarky songs, like “water boiled fish/水煮鱼” whose chorus includes “I love you, like I love eating water-boiled fish – I want to keep you in my frying pan forever.” And then of course, there’s the classic “I’m not Huang Rong/我不是黄蓉” that makes fun of main characters from author Jin Yong’s novels.
Father Mother MV:
It just sounds like Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair” to me…
I still feel like the C-pop scene needs fierce. I like music in mandarin fine (some of my faves are from mainland china and taiwan), but I think commercial c-pop… as well as commercial j-pop lack some of the umph that the k-pop scene has managed to find.
What’s his name… Han Geng might be able to bring that back now.
@Amy
I think the problem is that good dance songs require not only good composers, but also good producers, choreographers, backup dancers, stylists and MV directors. And until recently, most Chinese companies tend to be rather laissez-faire in the direction of their artists rather than making an image for them, so it’s rare for them to assemble such a large team of people for fast songs.
I think now, as Chinese companies get more commercialized and hip hop dancing becomes more mainstream, that will definitely change.
Personally, though, I feel like fierce is a very difficult image to be put on an artist because most people given that image are idols, whose lack of self-direction allowed them to be made into a fierce image, and there’s an inherent self-contradiction there.
“fierce is a very difficult image to be put on an artist because most people given that image are idols”
Hey, idarklight – thanks for the comment back. I agree with that bit, but isn’t the whole idea of commercial pop that? I mean, solo artists like Wang Lee Hom and the likes of Faye Wong are idols in their own right, and have found a large and dedicated fanbase. But the newer ones who haven’t found their voice yet, they should realize that they’re playing a whole different ball game here.
I agree about the whole “you need a good team behind you” and as far as commercial pop, I think S.Korea is doing a h3ll of a good job at it, better than American pop acts, at least that’s how I’ve felt. Korean boy and girl bands, with their whole teams behind them, have been able to keep pushing commercial pop music, while we have gotten stuck with Lady Gaga – as much as she rocks, she’s pretty much the only one with an interesting act.
I think Chinese music companies are doing the right thing – as far as bringing a Black Eyed Peas choreographer into the mix… even though I don’t particularly find their dancing all that memorable… or them. And Asia – at least the East-Asian part of Asia – seems to be more inclined of making co-productions, that will hopefully mean cross-over talent… even if fans hate it when Korean groups release music in Japan.
Having said that, I haven’t seen any Chinese/Taiwan/HK artist (okay, maybe Aaron kwok on his I Am Aaron Kwok video, but that’s it) that could kill choreographed dancing like… let’s say the dudes from DBSK/TVXQ, or Bi Rain. While Lee Hom blows me away with his music alone, but he is one of those rare idol cases because he’s so damn talented.
I am rambling now. I probably haven’t made much sense to you xD
@amy – If China wanted to find someone who could do dancing like that they could. But they haven’t tried to package anyone like that
Korea went for dancing straight off the bat. They picked Rain, who is an amazing dancer, but he’s not good at singing, or composing.
For some reason Korea focuses on dancing, idgi
America>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Korea in all their artists, and I never understood why Asians are so quick to think America’s music is lesser
Justin Timberlake sings well, composes AND dances great
Lady Gaga is an amazing amazing live singer, composes catchy tunes, and is just interesting
Katy Perry is known for her amazing body, but she has a unique voice, can sing live (watch at her MTV unplugged performances) and she composes – she composed one of my favorite Kelly Clarkson songs.
the list goes on and on
@amy
I think a lot of people do feel the way you do about the Asian pop industry, and there’s definitely a valid reason for that.
As for choreographed dancing. First of all, there are plenty of Chinese people who can kill dancing, but most of them are dancers and not singers, and hence don’t release albums. As for pop singers who also dance, have you seen Jiang Yingrong? She’s currently recording her first album, which is set to be released next month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkLGvzTtwhw
On the other hand, I don’t understand when dancing became a necessity for singing. Not only does it not make the song any better, it’s not like the masses really cares about dancing, especially when the masses can’t dance along.
And personally, I have a big problem with the fact that when you give an idol who is actually an obedient person who doesn’t really have enough self-direction so as to let you put an image on them, the idol is falsely fierce. And when that happens, there’s a huge disconnect between the company’s ability to package and the actual draw of the artist. What results is the current kpop scene, where fans pretty much like everything the companies throws at them, and then quickly moves on to the next thing the company throws at them. The artists themselves, on the other hand, never really last that long; and I don’t think that’s sustainable, especially in the future.
…I can understand when someone prefers the Americanized Kpop style to Cpop which has few of that.
But to think AMERICAN pop is produced worse than kpop, which has a high turnover rate and plagued with plagiarism accusations, and is like, only groups after groups that you can’t tell apart, it boggles my mind
@cmi
I didn’t mean to diss American music. I meant American commercial pop – which in the 90s was all about boy bands, which in turn gave space to Justin Timberlake (who by the way, hasn’t released an album since 2006, and the rest of 98% of his music collabs have been catchy but lazy same-sounding hip hop), and the likes of TLC, and Britney. At least they could put on a decent “live” performance. But right now, besides from Gaga, pretty much everything else is Miley, the Jonas Bros – who… have they been replaced by Justin Bieber? I mean, Bieber is a great example of production… his songs, as same-sounding and catchy as they can be, are not low-production-quality at all, but boy can’t sing or dance on stage.
American pop acts from the 90s had a thing for putting on big shows on stage… they wanted to entertain. Now commercial pop is plagued with “the next big artiste” who claim they write and produce, and they do… but not necessarily in the way a professional songwriter would write a song, if you know what I mean.
@ idarklight,
Oh, yeah. I know there are professional dancers who are just amazing, but I was only referring to pop acts strictly. I see commercial pop acts as someone who isn’t necessarily the best singer – I would call Han Hong, Celtic Woman, Sarah Brightman or Celine Dion vocalists – they aren’t necessarily professional dancers but they could dance – Britney Spears looked great on stage back in her glory days -, and they don’t necessarily write or compose… yet when all the people behind them gets together to put on a show, you can’t help but keep on watching.
For instance, Lady Gaga has made such an impact – she can sing, but she isn’t really a crazy dancer. However, she can put on a show. In contrast, Taylor Swift (as cute as she can be) has okay-ish catchy country pop songs with average-ish live show-woman-ship skills.
By the way, I hadn’t heard of Jiang Yingrong, but her future MV and album look promising from that video.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love when people sing – my favorite is Bibi… I mean, woah girl can sing, but to me she’s not an ‘idol’ because I doubt she could put on a big show with kick-butt dancing. Bibi is a vocalist – though Typhoon Group is promoting her like an idol. I would love nothing more than just see Bibi sitting on a stool and sing anything she wants. However, we’re talking about putting on a show. It’s like making a slideshow.
You don’t make a great slideshow/video just by putting the audio track, as good as it could sound. You need the images. In the case of pop acts, the images are your style, your stage, your props, your dancing. Otherwise you’re just a black screen with great music… which isn’t bad, but it’s just… you know, a bit lacking.
If you’re saying it’s about showmanship, disregarding all other factors, such as shouldn’t the pop artists in Korea be more diverse in their shownmanship?
Right now it’s all just a flood of kpop groups, about learning a dance, performing it, and to be honest, everyone just fades into the background.
I don’t think simply good dancing = interesting to watch. I can’t be bothered to watch all the different acts doing what is essentially rinsing and repeating each over with various tweaks. It becomes very repetitive, and I’m pretty sure the Koreans can’t be bothered to watch them all do the same thing over and over. That’s a terrible industry. It’s formulaic, it’s boring. The personalities blend together.
While not everyone is a good dancer in America (when did this become the main criteria, seriously?), they have their own niches to fill and people definitely pay attention and watch.
I’m not saying dancing is the main criteria. It’s one of them, alongside album production, songwriting, wardrobe, stage, lights and how your performance looks. And I’m not talking about music in general, I’m talking about commercial pop… Bjork is never gonna do synchronized dancing, but she still puts on a good show.
I’m not telling you to watch the re-hash choreographies or “shows” repeat artists just spew one after the other- I’m just saying that commercial k-pop seems to have an energy put into it, that commercial jpop, commercial cpop and american pop don’t have [in the case of american pop not anymore].
I’m not talking about Eminem, Bjork, Adele, Duffy, Lady Gaga, Regina Spektor, St. Vincent, Kate Nash, Franz Ferdinand doing the same type of music. They all have their genre, their niche… but they all do great live shows.
And about showmanship diversity in S.Korea, I haven’t seen much outside the kpop scene, but Seo Taiji is pretty amazing – if you see him re-arranging his music into the symphonic concert he gave, he shows right there how good he is. Sure, I haven’t been able to find music like Shiina Ringo, Salyu, MIyavi, GO GO 7188 or Hitomi Yaida – which is the music Japan excels at… not commercial jpop. Just like China and Taiwan excel at their Zhonguofeng style songs, and the indie stuff coming out from there.
This is just a talk about commercial pop ;P
well, I think American pop’s album production and songwriting is infinitely superior, and incomparable to kpop even if Kpop didn’t have all those plagiarism issues. But if you are ONLY comparing showmanship, I STILL think American artists do it better because they all have a certain style. Something people can love or hate. They may not all dance perfectly, but they still can make you want to watch them.
Kpop right now, it’s just the same thing over and over. That’s bland, no matter how many dances they use to make it interesting. Pulling out Seo Taji isn’t quite fair. It’s like saying Michael Jackson (if he were alive) is a really good showman – isn’t America pop great? Seo Taji is the granddaddy of Kpop, and the most esteemed, respected artist there. Furthermore, if you count Seo Taji as pop (since his style overlaps with rock so much) you need to broaden your criteria on what else is pop for other countries. Zhong Guo Feng is no less pop than Seo Taji.
But in this conversation I think I’ve pinpointed, why, I, as a big fan of Kpop just 4-5 years ago, have left it nearly completely. Having It’s just the lack of diversity, and how there’s too little to distinguish between liking one group over the next. Before it was more varied. But everyone else is just going through the motions now and I can’t be bothered to try to figure out what I like in this group versus another, and besides, they all end up leaving kpop to do jpop anyway, so what’s the point?
I’ve also pinpointed why I hate the blogging now. I always end up saying the same things, and I think I have a pop culture overdosing. I need to write emails, so many emails not stuff about artists. And yet I can’t help commenting when someone compares kpop to American pop.
apologies if I’m sounding rude…I sound rude all the time on the blog. So much ranting -_-’
LOL
I think we all sound nonsensical when ranting. But it’s good though, to have discussions and pinpoint these issues… for people to read – even if they don’t comment – it gets them to think about it.
I do love Brown Eyed Girls though (even if they’re not that popular), when I listened to their albums… it reminded me of the music that TLC could dish, especially since Miryo gives me the same vibe as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (RIP).
I feel like we agree on the same things except approaching it differently.
I really like good showmanship too, and after a year or two, I’ve changed my mind many times on how good a pop artists should be. And right now I think a good voice is very secondary to having your own identity, through whatever means.
I loved TLC so much, and I kinda like Brown Eyed Girls even though I don’t think they’re quite ready to match TLC, but the thing is, Korea is overrun with groups. I didn’t know who the heck BEG was until Top Combine danced their abracadabra dance (you should watch it! it was hilarious!) because there’s too many groups to keep up with, and there’s no way I’m spending my time to make sure I know all of them. I just don’t think it’s worth my time when the differences between them are so few.
For the people who like that, that’s fine. But for others, they might just ignore the different artists since they can’t stand groups. Which is probably why sales in Korea or so low. Only a certain percentage of the population like it, and the rest, who may have liked it during the HOT era, have stopped finding the novelty in it. So it’s not whether one particular group has that fierceness, but rather are they all doing the same ridiculous formulaic fierceness, because as an industry overall, kpop is redundant and thus, hurting itself.
Actually, I think the Brown Eyed Girls are a good example of what’s happened to the Korean music industry. When they first ‘debuted’ (the term wasn’t so popularised back then), they were a solid vocal group. They looked good, of course, but that wasn’t their main attraction. The point was that they could sing. Then they went on hiatus for a few years, the pop scene changed, and now they’re making the same, generic, autotuned electronic pop as every other idol group out there.
‘Putting on a good show’ can mean a lot of things, however. Barbra Streisand just sits there and sings. Elton John just has his piano and a microphone on a stage. It’s the intimacy of their voice or the lyrics or the music that delivers. Not everything has to be big and flashy and choreographed to every minute detail. I can definitely appreciate it when it’s done well, of course, but sometimes, choreography and pyrotechnics are only there to distract you from the fact that the lyrics are shallow and the song is no good.
Also, I hate Sarah Brightman and I think she is a terrible singer.
On a different stretch from the comments above, what is Wang Rong’s discography?
@amy
Really, I just feel like most Kpop right now is the level of music and MV’s made for the preteen age group. Whenever I see those Kids bop pop commercials on the Disney channel, I think of its similarity to kpop….
I think China could definitely improve in its more fastbeat songs, though. … but I wouldn’t consider the lack of those as any signs of a weak industry.
@ Lina
Albums:
Think Not《非想非非想》2003.06.24
I’m not Huang Rong《我不是黄蓉》 2004-05-12
More Love《多爱》2005-06-03
Furong brother-in-law 芙蓉姐夫 2006.04.07
Multiply《加倍》2007-01-15
Singles:
Want a Hug《要抱抱》2009-11-19
Thank you!
I was wondering if anyone saw that, haha.
@idarklight,
I think the fast beats are improving.
I did like the debut for Nick Chou, mastered by Tom Coyne who has also worked on albums like Pink’s Funhouse. I think that type of collaboration is good.