Korean pop star BoA and her agency SM Entertainment, held the Best of Asia, Bring on America press conference on September 10 in Seoul to officially announce her American debut plans.
I like BoA, I think she’s good singer, and she look’s great… but Best of Asia? SM sounds a bit arrogant to proclaim that; since when did BoA became any better than the likes of Rain, Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki, Jay Chou and Lee Hom etc?
Set the best argument aside, it would be nice to have an Asian artists making waves in the American pop scene. Unfortunately though, BoA’s debut song Eat You Up is not going to do the job; teaser below…
I love you BoA… but I’m afraid your America debut is going to be a miserable one; your team needs something better than that to make it in the US, or it would be America that eat you up instead.
[Update] BoA’s debut English digital single was released on October 21 in over 30 countries instead of solely America as initially planned. The full music video of Eat You Up was released on October 7.
Kwon Boa series
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The key to succeeding in a foreign market as competitive as America is to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd. The autotuner effect and the electropop sound has been played to death hear in North America. BoA won’t be able to distinguish herself from Britney Spears or Rihanna.
Remember several years ago when Latin music was the big craze: artists such as Shakira and Ricky Martin were able to succeed because no one else in North America sounded like them at the time. When Coldplay succeeded in North America, they did it because no one was doing sensitive, soft rock at the time. Estelle succeeded because she caught everyone’s attention with the song “American Boy.” It was fun, catchy, and didn’t sound like any pop song on the radio at the time.
I think someone like Jay Chou would have a better shot at hitting it big here in North America because his sound is very distinct from North American pop. Asian artists should try to incorporate more of their Asian heritage into their music. It would make them sound unique. It wouldn’t look like they were just imitating established American acts. Just come up with something different to catch our attentions!
BIG BANG!!! needs to come to America. Their unique style and music will catch hella attention. Their talent is amazing too. Seo Taiji would pwn too but he doesn’t care about spreading out through the world and it’s kinda of too late for him since he’s nearing the age of 40. Big bang is the only asian band left and Jay Chou sucks mayne.
Big bang is also pretty fluent in english besides Dae Seung and Seungri but their getting there. They’d definately make it here if any band or singer(s) do it, it would be them. Plus YG Family is aimed more towards that urban theme of look not that k-poppy pretty boy look that all the asians love.
Big Bang!? Are you serious? Those short, hip-hop/r&b wannabe posers would be laughed off the stage here in America! There’s absolutely nothing “original” or “amazing” about them, just like the rest of kpop.
If anybody even still comes to this and sees what they wrote haha all i have to say is you were WRONG bigtime wait wait let me get this straight you guys thought it would flop and the last time i looked for 2 weeks in a row her album was wait what was it oh yea thats right number 4 on the Itunes list AHAHAHAHAH … oh and for all the people on this site that says they love BoA and then disrespect her like that your not true fans i have listened to BoA since she debuted in Korea and i am american i have every album in the original casing and you can damn well bet that since i am a fan i will be loyal to her forever and always you guys need to pay your dues its high time somebody came with some amazing dance choreo and music I did it for love is an amazing song and the dance sequence is phenomenal plus i dunno if you all heard her and usher may be teaming up for a performance anyway i say F*** you to all the so called BoA fans who let her down and disrespected her coming to America
Joddon,
4th on itunes?????????? wow that is so amazing………….. Unfortunately, no one really cares about that. itunes does not replace the billboard chart.
and who says we are being unsupportive. we are just stating the truth. She is not successful. if you would remove the “i love boa” blindfold you would see.
Most of the people who bought her album are Kpop fans who heard of her when she was still performing in Asia
Secondly, she has not been on a radio tour which is ESSENTIAL for a new artist. How do I know? I know someone who works for DefJam records.
third, i have never seen any promotions except for at forever 21 which was created by a korean person. no tv shows, interviews by major networks with no association with an asian company, i.e soompi, allkpop dont count. nada! zip!
So her debut was a failure. I knew it would be. And Anne thanks for agreeing with me on my other comment about BoA’s image. we already knew she was going to fail……………. she wont sell here…….
Yeah… we already knew that (except for her most devout fans). A lot of the fans say “well, it’s only her first album.” Except that it’s not. She’s a veteran singer/dancer (been doing it since when?), and music level of this quality isn’t going to cut it, especially if she’s been doing this all her life.
Oh well, it’s not like BoA is the only one that didn’t make it in the American market (Japan had high hopes for Utada Hikaru too, but she didn’t pan out either).
Until Asia actually finds a distinct music particular to that area but with the same addictive qualities of any old pop music, the results will probably stay the same, which is highly unfortunate, as Asians aren’t looking to that direction very much at all and still playing catch-up rather than innovating.
Asians are not playing catch-up… they are going through the same music phases we are. That is why BoA sounds just like any American artist. She can make it big in the US with the right connections.
If you don’t know anything about asia, you have no business judging their performers based on what particular music style is popular in the United States.
End of story.
I don’t know about BoA but me thinks your shitty blog is doomed.
I don’t think it has failed completely, but it needs a strong follow up, some collaborations and better promotion generally. Just one appearance on a major US chat show could float it for her.
I think BoA may be the best of Asia, she has it all, personality, voice and above all is an outstanding dancer who puts all American artists aside from MJ in the shade. She also speaks pretty good English.
Also I think as regards the tracks they got it about right if they want longevity, yes all the tracks do sound like they were written for Britney Spears and Rhianna (because they probably were), but I don’t know how effective it would have been to go in with a blatantly asian style, I mean where are those Latin acts now? And there are a lot more Latinos in the US than Asians. I do think they should avoid trying to copy the slutty style of Britney Spears and the likes in videos though, they need to show more of her looks, dancing talents and personality which I believe they are now doing – thank goodness they ditched the US version of the Eat You Up video!
I think she still has a chance, if she doesn’t work herself to death first!
BoA has talent. Lots. Her american record label, however, does not -__-. No radio airplay? I search all the channels that she is “apparently” on but still, I’ve never heard any of her songs. KIIS FM for example. I’m always trying to tune in but NO BOA whatsoever. It’s stupid. ++ She’s going back and forth to Japan. That’s going to seriously tire her so how the hell could she perform here? Just yesterday, her new album came out. I went to all the stores I possibly could to look for it and I realized the order was canceled completely for BestBuy’s and Wal-Mart. I think it’s due to her unsuccessful sales for the first album at those stores. Whatever, BoA deserves more promotion and I think we can all agree on that.
Boa debut in USA is completely failure. She is done in USA.
SM ent must lost alot of money for Boa failure.
RIP Boa Kwon in USA
I personally like her songs sure not everyone might but they are decent compared to some singers that originated from America. I think that it would be a wonderful idea to get music, bands, and singers from different areas of the world because it would bring us to understand different cultures and styles. Now Boa i would think that just like every singer would have to find a way to surpass others but like i said everyone has to do their best. If she fails or succeeds is up to her because someone in the world will always like her. Also reading other post i see there was a discussion about Big Bang. I would love for them to branch out and come to America. I love everything about them. Surely they would prosper over here.
HAHAHAHA
Lol whoever wrote this is one ignorant kid.
BoA is an acronym for Best of Asia.
And atm , calling her literally the best of asia is not an understatement.
She’s pretty much as big as Rain, and defintely bigger than the rest three you’ve mentioned.
Jay chou ? LAFF
Utadaklj askd wtf? LAFF
Ayumi is pretty known, but only really known in Japan. You can’t expect someone to be called “Best of Asia” when they are only successful in their own country.
No one else comes close to what success BoA had in outside her nationality.
Yes, her debut will probably suck not because her song is weak ( which I think it is) but because she can’t even speak english fluently.
Boa’s not that great…Utada was featured in video games and has excellent voice quality and still isn’t famous…Boa with her pop and her okay dance
moves (c’mon guys, you know you’ve seen people better on YouTube. Only the Asian noobs would say she’s the best…) I wasn’t suprised when her debut failed. I don’t like k-pop. But apparently wondergirls made quite an impact on The charts during their stay… An it’s not about being Asian, since Charice broke that and entered the top top albums with her debut album…
All in all, only the anime nerds are cheering…
ok, so i ive never heard of BoA until recently…… personaly i dont like how her voice sound childish, especially when its autotuned….. but shes a great dancer…..i guess she’ll only be the best in asia…. not the whole world…