Taiwan Pop Stars Are Hot in Asia

Taiwan has overtaken Hong Kong as the capital of Asia’s pop culture, giving fans an endless array of pop stars backed by sleek packaging, kitsch and a smattering of talent.

Being a pop star these days means you have to be a singer, actor, product endorser, director. In short, you have to do everything and be everywhere from music billboards to TV and silver screens.

Taiwan stars fit this bill perfectly and one very good example is Jay Chou. Starting out as a composer for popular singers, he produced his own album in 2000 and never looked back. In the last eight years, he became Asia’s biggest music star selling out albums and concerts before moving on to star in big-budget films including Curse of the Golden Flower directed by Zhang Yimou and co-starring Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, and Secret, which he himself wrote, directed and acted in. The only thing that Chou hasn’t done is the so-called idol dramas that Taiwan popularised.

But there are enough stars to fill that void and capture the short attention span of Asian fans. The names Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Vic Chou and Ken Zhu—collectively known as F4—became household names through Meteor Garden, perhaps the first idol drama that conquered language barriers and cultural differences. The F4 fever swept across the region from Hong Kong to Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia, up to mainland China.

The famous quartet of pretty boys are perhaps Taiwan’s biggest entertainment exports, so popular across the region that the country’s tourism ministry even tapped them as tourism ambassadors for the Japanese and Korean markets. They have become big in Japan, where the pop culture is just as thriving; the 30,000 tickets for the group’s three-night concert in Japan this month were all sold out in only half an hour.

Like Chou, the F4 members have also branched out to other areas in the entertainment industry from music to films.

To be sure, Chou and F4 are not the only Taiwanese artistes who have brought attention to the small island in Southeast Asia. Taiwan’s pop culture is so alive and kicking that the popularity of its singers and actors have extended beyond the island’s limited shores in ways that Hong Kong—Taiwan’s closest neighbour and rival in pop culture—never quite achieved.

Aside from Chou and F4, artistes like Show Luo, Jolin Tsai, Rainie Yang, S.H.E., Wang Lee Hom and many more have become household names. Gone are the days when Hong Kong stars like Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung and Faye Wong lorded it over.

Perhaps this could be attributed to the lack of younger Hong Kong artistes that could capture the imagination of Asia’s large and young fan base that extends to those who do not speak Mandarin and Cantonese.

This is not to say that Hong Kong has fizzled out in the pop world. Stars like Twins, Cecilia Cheung, Nicolas Tse, Edison Chen and Shawn Yue have made their marks but given Hong Kong’s paparazzi-like media environment, the focus has been more on the scandals that these stars have been embroiled in than on their talents. So while many would argue that Hong Kong stars have more to show in the talent department, the sleek packaging of those from Taiwan has given their stars the edge.

Fans are also buying into the savvy package offered by Taiwanese stars. Ivy Chen, 20, from Singapore counts Taiwanese artistes among her favourite singers. “I’m more into the Taiwan scene now because I don’t listen to Cantonese songs. The packaging of Taiwanese stars is stronger.”

Other talents like those in Singapore also look to Taiwan for inspiration and guidance in the regional music scene. Yvonne See, assistant general manager of Singapore label Ocean Butterflies Music, says: “Basically all OB regional artistes start out from Taiwan. It is still the most influential market, compared to the other territories, be it in artiste popularity or entertainment buzz.”

There are good reasons why the Taiwan pop scene now has the leading edge in the region’s entertainment scene.

See cites the well-oiled entertainment infrastructure in the country, pointing to the “strong network of platforms”, which ranges from newspapers and TV to cable TV, karaoke and digital new media. “When something is ‘happening’, practically everyone knows it,” she adds.

And in Taiwan, being a tri-media star—from TV, films to music—has become the rule more than an exception. If you’re not multi-tasking, if your face is not plastered on commercials, you are not famous enough.

But being in demand has given stars like Chou dilemma. Because of various endorsements and other projects from films to albums, they can barely find time to do everything.

Chou, who has stood out in a sea of pretty boys, recently told CNN’s Talk Asia: “Maybe it’s not good for me to know too many things because the more I know, the more the work load. So lately I’ve been thinking of having some body doubles to share the work load and have more time for myself.”

source: mysinchew
edited: AsianBite.com