Thinking about it, my lovbe for Asian music started when I was a younger child. I'd have to say my first contact was with a Japanese group called DREAMS COME TRUE when they sang 'Eternity' for the animated movie, 'The Swan Princess'. The song was in English, but I count it. ^^ There is a Japanese version called 'The Signs of Love' as well which sounds just a good. It still didn't quite get us into Japanese music though. Then, we moved to Japan and there was an anime series we would watch called 'Akazukin Cha-Cha'. The opening was catchy, so my sister and I would attempt to sing to it. This song is called 'Kimi Iro Omoi' and we later found out that it was a cover done by SMAP. It was about 1996 when we did this. So, now we were attempting to sing in Japanese. Over the course of time we watched a few anime that came to the U.S., so we did hear a few other anime songs--VERY few. But with the help of a website (that no longer works) we were able to open ourselves to other singers. 'Yubiwa' would have to be my very first Maaya Sakamoto song...and now she's my ultimate favorite Japanese songstress. 'First Love' and 'Hikari' helped to learn about Utada Hikaru. Actually, it was 'Simple & Clean' that got us into Utada because Kingdom Hearts was coming out. We thought it was just a regular American singing it at first, but we came to find out she is Japanese-American. This was around 2002. At the same time, we heard about GACKT with his song 'Seki Ray'. It was also on the website that is no longer around. Over time, we had started hearing more and more Jpop through anime and whatnot. Recently, I came back into Jpop (more like fangirling a group) with the aid of my Jpop bias group, KAT-TUN--first with 'Rescue' and then with 'Run for You'.
Now...how did I get into Kpop? Well, there was this one anime called 'Serial Experiments Lain' and their opening was sung by a group named BOA. The song was called 'Duvet'. I found it to be a cool song, so when I looked about the song, I thought it was BoA that sang it. ^^ Then I got further confused because I thought she was Japanese after hearing her sing the fourth ending to 'Inu-Yasha', 'Every Heart'. That was about 2003. But it wasn't until 2004-2005 when my sister and I found out that she was Korean. Our very first Korean song from her was 'Atlantis Princess' followed by 'Beat of Angel' and 'Milky Way'. A friend of my sister knew about BoA some more and made us a CD with a whole bunch of her Korean songs. 'Moto' is one of my favorites. ^o^ At the time, I was really too much into Japanese, so hearing Korean for the first time was really different. Then, my sister found them...my ultimate bias group. It was because of this video:
Around summer of 2005 (before Hurricane Katrina) my sister let me listen to about three of TVXQ's songs. They were 'Tri-Angle', 'Rising Sun', and 'Magic Castle'. At first I wasn't so keen on listening to them. Then I saw what they looked like and started to like them a little more. After that came Super Junior and so on.
I've also delved a little into C-pop with the aid of Taiwanese group, Fei Lun Hai (Fahrenheit). It was this song, 'Only Have Feelings for You' that was introduced by a friend that we heard from them. :3 And then a group called K-One was discovered by us with a cover of 'Seasons in the Sun'. I'm not sure how we got into S.H.E., but I believe it was because we watched a little of the Taiwanese version of 'Hana Kimi' live action. They sang the opening, 'Zen Me Ban'.
Over time, I came to listen to more and more artists, but as of late I cannot follow any more of the newbies. I'll listen to some of their songs, but I won't be able to remember names and whatnot. ^^;; Also with the aid of my sister, we've heard a few songs from places like Sweden, Russia, Greece, and India.
That's pretty much how I became a multi-fan. Hopefully, you've gotten to like some of the artists mentioned here as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment