The Chinese invasion of the airlanes

The recordings are in Chinese, but nobody is calling the songs of F4 or 5566 cantopop. That is, after all, how people refer to the songs of Andy Lau and other cantopop stars from Hongkong because they sing in Cantonese. But then that is probably one of the reasons. Another one is that Andy hails from Hong Kong while this new batch of pop idols are from Taiwan. So they are not cantopop stars.

And in all probability they are not singing in Cantonese. If so, are they singing in Mandarin or Fookien? Unless somebody takes the trouble to explain, I don’t think I’ll ever know the difference. Not that it matters to me or to their local followers who I must say have sprouted like mushrooms everywhere.

There are several reasons why this happened. Foremost is that a soap series is a very potent promo tool. F4 stars in Meteor Garden, while 5566 is in My MVP Valentine. There is also the fact that while Filipinos are truly musical and quite advanced in their tastes, it is also a fact that we have not been too successful with boy groups. The last great one was the Apo Hiking Society and they came out 30 years ago! Recent times saw the likes of the now defunct Wiseguys and one-hit-wonder Jeremiah. And although truly huge sellers, the Eraserheads and Parokya ni Edgar are more Goo Goo Dolls than Backstreet Boys while Side A is certainly not dependent on toothy smiles and hip hairdos.

I do see this Taiwanese invasion as an insult to the Pinoy’s prodigious music talent but I also believe that this is just a trend which will fade away. Remember Ted Ito’s Japanese pop? This is also proof that pop appeal knows no language and that English mixed with a native language actually works in music. All that is needed to sell is to have plenty of listeners who understand Baby, baby, baby and forget the rest. Remember, Rico J. Puno did it in 1974 and F4 is doing it today.

And just in case you have forgotten, we also mixed English and Filipino words and gave birth to Taglish during the Manila Sound era. All these mean that anybody–including us Pinoys–with the right product and brain-washing marketing can also sell in other countries. Most important of all though is to have pretty melodies. Mostly sweet and light and lushly arranged, for these are what these recordings have in common.

So accept that today is their moment. Admire their good looks and trendy styles. Forget the fact that you do not understand what they are singing about save for the smattering of English in some cuts. Most of all though let us try to learn how something so uniquely Chinese also turned out to be so appealing to Filipinos. Here now are the Chinese pop albums you have to check out if you want to keep up with the times:

Fantasy Fever by F4. The group is made up of Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Ken Zhu and Vaness Wu. They star in the soap opera Meteor Garden where they pretty much play themselves. This is the album that contains the Baby, baby song Can’t Lose You, which is also included in the bonus VCD with two music videos. The other one is the second single Season of Fireworks. It is mostly in Chinese but the melodies are the radio-friendly kind that sentimental Pinoys can easily relate to. It is no wonder then that we now hear their songs everywhere.

1st Album by 5566: Tony, Sam, Rio, Sax and Jason are known as the ‘N Sync of Asia. They call themselves 5566 because there are five of them and they have six different talents – singing, dancing, hosting, acting, modeling and playing basketball. The also handsomely packaged album comes with a poster, lyric sheet and a VCD edition with videos of the group’s biggest hits It Doesn’t Matter, I’m Sad, Fairy Tale and Without Your Love. I’m Sad is the theme from 5566’s soap series My MVP Valentine and it is also included in the 13-cut CD, which includes Gunshot, One Light Year, Wasabi, Travel in Love and other tunes.

Other pop albums available these days that will get you into the Chinese groove are Meteor Rain by F4; Meteor Garden II, the soundtrack of the TV series which includes the original version of Broken Vow by Lara Fabian; Make a Wish, the solo album by F4’s Vic Zhou which has the songs Make a Wish and Love Loves You: Meteor Rain Karaoke, with videos from the album Meteor Rain; and the awesome two-hour VCD Fantasy 4 Live Concert Tour.