Asian Americans have a documented history of making music in America beginning in the middle of the 19th and early 20th century, [1] alongside other arts and entertainment. As with Asian American literature, [2] much of Asian American history including in music, is in the process of being recovered. [3] Despite the rise in the popularity of artists from Asia (perhaps especially but not limited to K-pop) [4] and the recent widespread success of United Kingdom artists such as Rina Sawayama [5] and M.I.A. [6] and Australian artists such as Dami Im, [7] Asian Americans continue to face overcoming systemic racism [8] to gain popularity in America. Although progress has been slow, modern artists are continuing to break new ground within the music industry. [9]
During the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act, people of Chinese heritage were barred from holding American citizenship status. For example, despite being a third-generation American born in the United States, actress Anna May Wong held a special "Certificate of Identity" issued by the US government and signed by an immigration officer describing her as a "Chinese person". [10] This time period saw much ghettoization and segregation. Immigrants from China during this time period came from the coastal regions (especially Taishan) of the Guangdong province, bringing with them a love of a form of narrative song tradition from Taishan called muyu (also known as muk'yu) and several styles of Chinese opera [1] . [11] Muyu covered a wide range of topics, such as histories and myths, and in America, also included songs about the experiences of Chinese Americans of this time period. Bruce Lee's father, Lee Hoi-Chuen, was a member of a touring group, the Cantonese Opera Company, who first came to America to perform opera music. San Francisco boasted of no less than four venues for Cantonese opera between the late 1870s and 1880s. Famous composers outside the community such as Charles Wakefield Cadman and Samuel Barlow based several compositions on themes present in this music.
While incarcerated during the Japanese American Internment at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center Joy Takeshita Teraoka [12] was among several Japanese Americans who joined the jazz band the George Igawa Orchestra [13] that performed across Wyoming. This was part of several musical projects formed at the camps and was the subject of a documentary "For Joy" by Julian Saporiti of the No-No Boy Project. [12] [14]
The Asian American movement was born out of the civil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. From this movement the album A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America, first recorded in 1973 and released by Paredon Records, was created and is the first widely recognized Asian American album. [15] The brainchild of Chris Kando Iijima, Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto, and William “Charlie” Chin, chosen topics on the album ranged from those within the Asian American community to those in support of other civil rights organizations and causes.
Alongside many other non-Asian countries with nationals of Asian heritage [8] , the United States music industry's institutional racism [16] [17] and racial harassment from spectators continue to include members of the Asian American community. This barrier spans genres from classical, [18] to country, [19] to heavy metal. [20] Only recently has there been more widespread recognition in hip hop. As noted by musicians in the classical circuit, sometimes apparent representation can conceal persistent stereotypes such as within the classical genre around the artist's ability to give a "non-mechanical" performance or to be "Western" enough. [18] A part of the picture also includes an element of appearances. Artists who appear less Asian and yet have Asian heritage will often be accepted more readily than those who appear more Asian. As stated by the artist Z.Woods in an interview with Bustle, "The reason why artists like Bruno Mars, Yuna, and Nicole [Schezinger] become so successful is due to the fact that [people] can't tell that they are Asian...They have the luxury of looking ambiguous". [21]
While an outgrowth of anti-Asian racism as a whole [22] [23] (and inclusive of problems stemming from Asian stereotypes and exotification [24] ), the rise in popularity of K-pop and other music from Asia has not directly translated into greater success for Asian American artists. [25] Knowing how to market artists has been one of many challenges that the industry faces. [21] It is also not unheard of for the intersectionality of racialized classification and nationality to help or harm a particular group. For example, in France, African Americans will oftentimes experience less racism compared to African immigrants to France. [26] Asian Americans have also had a difficult time breaking into the local market without first gaining fame in Asia. This trend has led some artists, such as Far East Movement to give the advice, "Go out to Asia. You are welcomed there. Get that following, and bring those global numbers back here.". [27] An early example of this trend was the band Solid, and Tiger JK has been noted as one of the more pinnacle examples. [28] This isn't entirely unprecedented in the American music industry as a whole. Stars like Tina Turner had more support in Europe than at home in the United States, despite the African American roots of genres like rock 'n roll, the mainstream industry had racialized it as 'white' music, making her "too white for Black [radio] jockeys and too Black for white jockeys" in the United States. [29]
Additional issues in music criticism such as the tug-of-war politics of the recognition of the value of Asian heritage and traditions in the American landscape, [30] as well as the perceived capability of Asians to enjoy [19] and perform "Western" styles [18] leading to external views of being not Asian enough or too "Western" have added an additional layer of difficulty for artists trying to break into the industry. [8]
This combined with the aforementioned finding of fame abroad for some Asian Americans has led some scholars to prefer the wider definition of 'Asian Americans making music' when studying the contributions of Asian American music artists [31] to avoid a myopic view and removing the breadth of Asian American musical production.
Cantopop is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade. Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and shrinking in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974. In the 1980s, Cantopop reached its highest glory with fanbase and concerts all over the world, especially in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This was even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.
Kwon Bo-ah, known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, producer and actress. She is often referred to as the "Queen of K-pop".
K-pop, short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, rock, jazz, gospel, reggae, electronic dance, folk, country, disco, and classical on top of its traditional Korean music roots. The term "K-pop" became popular in the 2000s, especially in the international context. The Korean term for domestic pop music is gayo, which is still widely used within South Korea. While "K-pop" can refer to all popular music or pop music from South Korea, it is colloquially often used in a narrower sense for any Korean music and artists associated with the entertainment and idol industry in the country, regardless of the genre.
Wong Liu Tsong, known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio.
Singapore has a diverse music culture that ranges from rock and pop to folk and classical. Its various communities have their own distinct musical traditions: the Chinese form the largest ethnic group in Singapore, with Malays, Indians as well as a lesser number of other peoples of different ethnicities including Eurasians. The different people with their traditional forms of music, the various modern musical styles, and the fusion of different forms account for the musical diversity in the country.
The Music of Hong Kong is an eclectic mixture of traditional and popular genres. Cantopop is one of the more prominent genres of music produced in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta regularly perform western classical music in the city. There is also a long tradition of Cantonese opera within Hong Kong.
The Korean Wave or Hallyu is a cultural phenomenon in which the global popularity of South Korean popular culture has dramatically risen since the 1990s. Worldwide interest in Korean culture has been led primarily by the spread of K-pop and K-dramas, with keystone successes including BTS and Psy's "Gangnam Style", as well as Jewel in the Palace, Winter Sonata, and Squid Game. The Korean Wave has been recognized as a form of soft power and as an important economic asset for South Korea, generating revenue through both exports and tourism.
Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States are ethnic stereotypes found in American society about first-generation immigrants and their American-born descendants and citizenry with East Asian ancestry or whose family members who recently emigrated to the United States from East Asia, as well as members of the Chinese diaspora whose family members emigrated from Southeast Asian countries. Stereotypes of East Asians, analogous to other ethnic and racial stereotypes, are often erroneously misunderstood and negatively portrayed in American mainstream media, cinema, music, television, literature, video games, internet, as well as in other forms of creative expression in American culture and society. Many of these commonly generalized stereotypes are largely correlative to those that are also found in other Anglosphere countries, such as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as entertainment and mass media are often closely interlinked between them.
Asian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since the first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker became naturalized citizens. Acting roles in television, film, and theater were relatively few, and many available roles were for narrow, stereotypical characters. Early Asian American actors such as Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong, and Bruce Lee encountered a movie-making culture and industry that wanted to cast them as caricatures. Some, like actress Merle Oberon, hid their ethnicity to avoid discrimination by Hollywood's racist laws.
Wang Leehom, sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music is known for fusing hip-hop and R&B, with traditional Chinese music. Since his 1995 debut, Wang has released 25 albums, that have sold over 60 million copies. He is a four-time winner and 19-time nominee of the Golden Melody Awards, the "Grammys" of Chinese music. His sold-out concert at the 90,000 seat Beijing Bird's Nest on April 14, 2012 was the first solo pop concert to be held at the iconic venue. With over 72 million followers on social media, Wang is one of the most followed celebrities in China. In 2018, CNN dubbed him "King of Chinese Pop" and the LA Times called him "the biggest American star America has never heard of." Wang was listed as one of Goldsea's "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time."
Taishanese people, Sze Yup people, or Toisanese are a Han Chinese group coming from Sze Yup, which consisted of the four county-level cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui and Enping. Heshan has since been added to this historic region and the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen administers all five of these county-level cities, which are sometimes informally called Ng Yap. The ancestors of Taishanese people are said to have arrived from central China under a thousand years ago and migrated into Guangdong during the Tang Dynasty. Taishanese, as a dialect of Yue Chinese, has linguistically preserved many characteristics of Middle Chinese.
Sawayama is the debut studio album by Japanese-British singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama, released on 17 April 2020 by the independent record label Dirty Hit. A follow-up to her self-released debut EP Rina (2017), it received widespread acclaim from music critics, specifically towards the wide variety of music genres used, as well as its Y2K nostalgia and "intelligent" nature. Described by Sawayama herself as being "about family and identity", she lyrically explores personal experiences from both her childhood and adulthood.
Dami Im is an Australian singer and songwriter. She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm, Sweden with the song "Sound of Silence", placing second and achieving the highest Eurovision Song Contest score for Australia.
The discography of South Korean-born Australian recording artist Dami Im consists of six studio albums, four extended plays, twenty singles and two album appearances. Im began her music career as a gospel singer in Korea and independently released her debut studio album, Dream, in 2010. She was the winner on the fifth season of The X Factor Australia in 2013, and subsequently received a contract with Sony Music Australia. Im released her self-titled second studio album in November 2013, which features selected songs she performed as part of the top twelve on The X Factor. The album debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 70,000 copies. Additionally, the album also included Im's debut single "Alive", which topped the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified platinum. She became the first X Factor Australia contestant to follow up a number one single with a number one album on the ARIA Charts.
"Bang Bang Bang" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BigBang. Initially released as part of the single album A on June 1, 2015, through YG Entertainment, the song served as one of the eight lead singles from the band's third Korean-language studio album Made, which would be released more than a year later on December 13, 2016. It was written and composed by member G-Dragon along with long-time group collaborator Teddy Park, with additional rap parts penned by member T.O.P.
Concepts of race and sexuality have interacted in various ways in different historical contexts. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race is understood by scientists to be a social construct rather than a biological reality. Human sexuality involves biological, erotic, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors.
Rina Sawayama is a Japanese and British singer, actress and model. Born in Niigata, Japan, she immigrated to London with her parents at the age of five. In 2017, she self-released her debut extended play, Rina. After signing to Dirty Hit in 2020, she released her debut studio album, Sawayama, to critical acclaim. Her second studio album, Hold the Girl, was released on 16 September 2022. Known for her musical versatility, Sawayama has also modelled for fashion campaigns, and made her film acting debut in the action film John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).
The music industry of Asia is an industry in which people sell music-related products to earn money. The business structures of the industry include recorded music, live music, radio broadcasting, and digital and online distribution. The Asian music industry consists of music industry of Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Asia. The music industry of Asia influences Asian culture and economy. The music industry of Asia also has a worldwide impact.
"STFU!" is a song by Japanese-British singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama. It was released as the lead single from her debut studio album, Sawayama on 22 November 2019 for digital download and streaming. It is a nu metal, heavy metal, hard rock, pop and avant-pop track which criticizes microaggressions against Asian people. It received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its aggressive tone and the shift in genre and direction. Rolling Stone listed "STFU!" as the 20th best song of 2020.
In the Western world or in non-Asian countries, terms such as "racism against Asians" or "anti-Asian racism" are typically used in reference to racist policies, discrimination against, and mistreatment of Asian people and Asian immigrants by institutions and/or non-Asian people.