Sam Milby: Back to My Roots

[Justin]

Kumusta sa inyong lahat!  Welcome to my third, and probably final (unfortunately) post for Asian Americans Abroad.  As much as I would like to stay, the executives here at AAA have informed me that they simply cannot envision a future of professional Asian American classroom blogging for me, and that they would be seeking more reputable talent to replace me.  It's been an honorable four weeks serving you, loyal readers.

You fired!

Back to the topic at hand.  I originally wanted to go into detail about Wang Leehom, but in my head this blog has been more about trying to bring a new audience to foreign singers that I've been a fan of.  Therefore, today I will introduce you all to a star from my own parents' home country: the one and only Sam Milby.

Sam Milby is the youngest child of Elsie Lacia, from Tago, Surigao del Sur (a small province on the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines), and Lloyd Milby, an American entrepreneur of Irish ancestry.  Milby's first passion in life was figure skating, for which, starting at the age of 9, he had lived with his coach to train, only taking weekends off to be with his family.  Though he wasn't exposed to many Fil-Ams (Filipino Americans.  Filipinos like to abbreviate, since many of our words can be quite lengthy.), he was kept in touch with his mother's roots through several family trips to the Philippines throughout his childhood.  It was not until 2005 that he seriously considered a career in entertainment.

Later in 2005, Milby moved to the Philippines, acting in commercials until successfully landing a spot for the first season of the television program Pinoy Big Brother, which is the Philippine localized version of the Dutch reality show Big Brother, which centers around 12 isolated housemates who are periodically "evicted" two at a time.  Although Sam was not one of the original 12 cast in the show, a previous cast member had dropped out of the show for a family emergency, prompting producers to hold an last minute second audition for a replacement.  A friend of Milby encouraged him to take the audition, shown above, and although he was eventually voted off the show, he had gained significant media attention and had producers clamoring for him.

Despite having a focus on acting, Milby released a self-titled debut album in 2006, followed by three more, two in 2009 and the most recent in 2011, all of which were successful.  The song shown above Mahal Pa Rin (Still Love You) is from his 2009 album A Little Too Perfect and showcases a very American-influenced style ballad.  For those songs recorded in English, which I highly encourage you to check out. Milby has since attempted to break into the American scene in 2012, when he stayed in New York for 3 months attending auditions and guest starring for one night in the Broadway musical Godspell.  Although he did not land any roles, he left an apparently very good impression with producers and vows to return once more after completing some Philippine contracts that he had signed prior to his trip.

Beautiful motherland.

Sam Milby is somewhat of an inspiration to me as he was one of the first Filipino artists (the rest were Chinese) that I discovered during my "American denialism" phase towards the end of Junior high.  I was quite obnoxious at this point of my life.  Anyways, the fact that Milby left for the Philippines unable to speak Tagalog (He does have a slight accent in his audition video), his relative lack of Filipino peers in school, and even his mixed ancestry has led me to feel a somewhat deeper connection to him, than either of the singers I previously featured in my posts.  Tagalog may be my first language, but my ease with it is all but gone since my parents switched our home language due to initial difficulties communicating at school.  I had a handful Filipino friends in school, sure, but our interactions were in English.  I am of mixed Chinese and Filipino ancestry, and I'm sure that growing up Milby has also wondered about certain aspects of his cultural identity.  I have been living a somewhat similar life (sans talent), and it inspires me to see someone like Milby setting his eye on such a big goal, and becoming a huge success in the process of reaching that goal.

Once again, we have a tale of someone who has struggled for even a glance from the American entertainment industry, who nevertheless found almost immediate acceptance, and then popularity, abroad.  I am unsure about the future of this blog, but I hope that similar outlets come to pop up and spread word of these names to the rest of the U.S. so that the "melting pot" of the world may come to experience and enjoy all the flavors of the world.

Once more, it's been a pleasure writing for you all, and please be sure to check out some of the other authors' posts here on AAA.

Pa'alam na!

Amber Liu

(Lilian)

Amber Liu is f(x)'s Taiwanese American member. Born and raised in Southern California, she was cast into SM Entertainment from their global auditions in LA in 2008. Her 22nd birthday is coming up on September 18, and she also has an older sister named Jackie. She can speak fluent Korean as well as Mandarin and English. Amber is known for her boyish image, which is funny because she ends up looking like a handsome guy rather than a girl. In June 2010, she went on hiatus due to an ankle injury and went back to LA to recuperate for most of the year. After she came back to join her group, she also had various solo activities and collaborations with other SM Artists. Her most notable is being cast into Invincible Youth 2 in 2011 along with label mate Sunny where they were able to show viewers a more fun side to themselves. Most recently she was the MC with T-ara's Eunjung on MBC Show Champion and is currently set to MC for We Got Married Global Edition. 

Although Amber is known to be the rapper in f(x), she is also a pretty decent singer. I always look forward to the few short singing parts she gets in her group songs. Take a listen to this Christmas clip she did with Henry from Super Junior-M a few years back.

Her rapping is pretty cool too I suppose :D Incoming rap medley.

What happens when a tomboy tries to act girly? 

I'm also quite amused by the long hair photoshop.

Ailee Claims Her "Singing Got Better" in Her Newest Single Following Her Nude Scandal

(Hilary)

About a month following the widespread scandal over Ailee’s nude photos, it was revealed that the K-pop singer would be making a comeback after a six-month hiatus in January 2014. Ailee reunited with mentor Wheesung, who also wrote and produced her debut single “Heaven” for her newest track called “Singing Got Better,” which is described as a delicate rock ballad. The song as well as its music video tells the story of a woman bidding farewell to her love by singing away her broken heart. The woman puts aside her dream of becoming a famous singer for a life as a good wife until she catches her husband and also music producer (portrayed by MBLAQ’s Lee Joon) cheating on her making her realize what a fool she has been and ultimately leaves him as she sings about how her “singing got better.” 

A scene in the music video when Ailee and her husband fight after she caught him cheating (GIF credit: here)

Although the boy-cheats-on-girl storyline is nothing groundbreaking in the world of entertainment, I can appreciate, however, Ailee’s push against the pertinent standard for South Korean women, especially female K-pop singers to settle down with a husband. Ailee does not go as far to say that girls can’t or shouldn’t one day be wives, but the greater message is that once she cut ties with her partner, her music flourishes and no longer suffers due to her constant need to please him rather than herself. Like I stated in my previous post, which you can read here, Ailee is not my favorite artist; however, I can appreciate a good set of vocal cords, which Ailee undoubtedly has. You won’t find me blasting or belting this tune, but I must admit Ailee’s vocals are superb as usual. She is definitely a powerhouse vocalist. If you haven’t already heard or watched the song or music video, I suggest that you give it a listen purely for Ailee’s voice as well as the empowering subject matter. Let me know if any of you guys are fans of Ailee and what did you guys think of her newest single? 


References

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/5862634/ailee-explains-how-her-singing-got-better-in-empowering-new-single

Ailee's Nude Scandal

(Hilary)

Photo taken from Google Images (no copyright intended)

If you dabble at all into the K-pop universe, you’ve probably been attacked on various social media sites with the wild commotion that spewed from popular Korean American singer, Ailee’s, nude photo scandal publicized by one of the most trafficked U.S.-based K-pop news site, allkpop.com. Allkpop broke the news back in November of 2013, publishing unauthorized photos of the singer with censored black bars and watermarks just to eventually take down the post completely due to a slew of negative reader comments. Contrary to 6Theory Media’s, allkpop’s parent company, claims to have obtained the photos from an anonymous image board AnonIB, the Vice President of Content for allkpop who is Ailee’s ex-boyfriend, Daniel Lee, admitted to have attempted to sell the images to a South Korean media outlet Dispatch, convincing many readers that it was he who leaked the photos. Dispatch has since released a transcription of its correspondence with Lee, which dates back to July of 2013, a month after Ailee’s photos were posted to an Anon forum thread. Lee wanted to sell nude photos of Ailee to Dispatch; otherwise, he claims that he will just go public with these images with another media outlet. 

Translation of Dispatch's conversation with Daniel Lee, Ailee's ex-borfiend and allkpop VP (credit: here)

However, Lee denies to have leaked the pictures to his own publication. Additionally, 6Theory Media released an official company statement claiming that a Canadian tipster emailed them in June attempting to sell nude photographs of the Korean American singer for $3500. Allkpop was not interested in the photos; contacted YMC Entertainment, Ailee’s management, about the matter; and claimed that YMC disregarded the issue. Nevertheless, allkpop communicated to YMC that if a third party were to post anything relative to Ailee’s photos, it was allkpop’s “job and duty as a news site” to post the story. Lo and behold on November 10, 2013, allkpop received an email from whom they suspected to be the same tipster who contacted them several months prior in June, as the IP addresses of both emails traced back to the same ISP in Toronto and ultimately decided to break the story. 

YMC Entertainment released an official statement in order to provide some groundwork from which the nude photos of their client stand. YMC explained that the nude photographs were test shots taken while Ailee was still in the U.S. after she received an offer to be a lingerie model for a famous underwear company. The agency claimed to need nude photographs for better “examination of her body”; however, this agency proved fraudulent when it cut all contact with Ailee after receiving her photographs and those of many other college women as well. The police were unable to make any arrests due the complexity of the Internet based operation, causing Ailee to turn to her then boyfriend and VP of allkpop, Daniel Lee, who persuaded her to send him the photos so the he could “get a better idea on the issue.” YMC continues to say that they would seek legal action against the person who circulated these images. 

A few days following the eruption of the scandal, Lee took to the Seoul Broadcasting System program One Night of TV Entertainment in attempt to clear the air. Lee reaffirmed 6Theory Media’s official statement about the Canadian tipster and continued with an apology but claimed to not have leaked the photos. Nonetheless, many of Ailee’s fans continue to defend their idol as the “victim” and condemn Lee as the “criminal.” 

Comments from fans of Ailee regarding her nude photos (credit: here)

Similarly allkpop readers were quick to criticize the site for leaking Ailee’s personal photos and putting Ailee under a negative light. Allkpop CEO Johnny Noh and staff member Matt Kim took to their Twitters to address the widespread scrutiny surrounding their site in regarded to “leaking” the nude photographs of Ailee. 

Tweets from allkpop CEO Noh and staff member Kim in response to the backlash their post of Ailee's nudes received from angry fans (credit: here)

I personally do not know whether I completely buy Daniel Lee’s story nor can I really believe that Ailee took nude photographs of herself for a potential career as a lingerie model. She could have taken those pictures for her them boyfriend, which is rather common in this day and age, but I think it is easier and more advantageous for her management to paint her in the most victimized and innocent light possible, as innocent as nude photos can be, I guess. I am not Ailee’s biggest fan not because of her nudes; however, I cannot deny that she has got some major vocals, which are always showcased in her songs, such as “Singing Got Better,” which is her most recent single that was released in January of this year following the incident. (Read my thoughts about the single here.) I suppose as a singer or anyone in the entertainment industry for that matter, the best strategy to address a scandal of any sort is to work on a new project. And for Ailee, it was her new single. Which story do you guys buy? Let me know in the comments!


References

http://seoulbeats.com/2013/11/ailee-nude-photo-scandal-rundown/

http://www.asianjunkie.com/2013/11/ailees-nude-photos-leaked-by-ex-boyfriend-an-allkpop-employee-according-to-report-conclusions-reactions/

Tiffany

(Megan)

Tiffany was born in San Francisco, California and her family then moved to Diamond Bar, California where she stayed until she was 15 years old. She got a call from SM Entertainment Starlight Casting System and was asked to join the company in South Korea. Tiffany moved to South Korea by herself, leaving her two sisters and mother and father back in America. She then trained for 3 years and 7 months before joining Girls’ Generation.

She has a sub-group within Girls's Generation named, "Girls' Generation TTS" with Taeyeon and Seohyun and their mini-album dropped in May 2012 called, "Twinkle."

She seems to be the one with the most health issues:

2008- Diagnosed with vocal nodules (mass of tissue grows on vocal cords because of overuse)

2009-Dysphonia (hoarse or excessively breathy, possibly even harsh)

2010-Twisted her wrist while filming Let's Go Dream Team

Fell and injured her ankle during SMTown Live '10 World Tour in Seoul

Fell and injured a major ligament in her knee and took a month hiatus from the group's activities

Tiffany came back to Southern California for a fashion shoot in 2013. Danny interviews her, and posts it on his Youtube channel. Danny is taught how to do poses by Tiffany that they deem to be "Girls' Generation poses."

He keeps pointing out she is "the girl from Diamond Bar" and asking her questions that relate to home. Tiffany says that she actually prefers to stay at home in her own room rather than a nice hotel because she misses it.

You can tell in the video that she truly is a sweetheart when she brings Danny a "giant cupcake," a birthday card and sings happy birthday to him because she found out that it was his birthday the next day.

Looks more like a cake than a cupcake to me.

Fun facts:

-Tiffany and Jessica Jung were born in the same hospital

-T and JJ also attended and graduated from the same high school in Seoul

-She currently dates Nichkhun from 2PM, and a common connection they both have according to allkpop.com is that they are both have lived in the United States!

-Tiffany did an interview with Brad Pitt when he came to South Korea to promote his movie, "World War Z." She teaches him

Neon Genesis Evangelion Wouldn't be the same without Hikki

(Michael)

Taken from: http://vgboxart.com/view/49030/neon-genesis-evangelion-cover/

You may be confused on why I am bringing up anime when taking about Utada Hikaru; and for those who don't know much about anime, that is understanding. But for those who do know, Utada Hikaru has produced the ending theme song for every movie adaptions of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This show is by all standards considered a classic and I highly recommend everyone to watch at least the newly released movies. The story is about a futuristic/apocalyptic world where giant monsters called "Tenshi" (Angels) ravage the Earth and an organization called "NERV" is humanity's last hope, using artificially created humanoid machines to combat the monsters. The manga, which is the origin of the series, was first released in 1994, and has been adapted to a TV series and 3 movies with a 4th movie releasing soon.

Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World

"Beautiful World" was used as the ending theme song for the first movie: "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone." The song is exactly what the title describes: Beautiful. The melody and Hikki's wonderful voice really resonate with the theme of the movie. Below is a remix of the song used as the ending song for the second movie: "Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance." This may just be personal bias but I really like the creativity with the title of each movie. It is symbolic to the entire series and provides a nice 

Post by Utada Hikaru Links.

Lastly, the last movie: Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. 桜流し (Sakura Negashi) is an epic song filled with passion and emotion. I find it perfect for the ending of the 3rd film since well the movie was intense and emotional. I still feel the chills when I hear this song because it brings up memories of the movies.

I find that it is extremely rare for one artist to do songs for an entire series. Utada Hikaru and the staff who produced the movies were very dedicated to providing such a unique experience. Recently, Utada Hikaru went into retirement to enjoy her life with newly married husband. But, it has been reported that she will provide the ending theme to the last movie: "Evangelion 4.0." I find her dedication to her craft truly amazing and I look forward to hearing the new song by her. 

Krystal Jung

(Lilian)

Krystal (Jung Soo) Jung aka "Baby Jung" as she is known by her fans is the youngest member of f(x) and Jessica from Girls' Generation's younger sister. She was born on October 24, 1994 in San Francisco, California where her family had settled in the 80s. In 2000, she went on a trip to South Korea and was scouted by SM Entertainment along with Jessica to join the company. At the time, only her sister was allowed to be a trainee, because she was still too young. However, she did start appearing in CFs (Korean commercials) in 2002 and officially joined as a trainee in 2006. She currently attends Sungkyungkwan University and is fluent in English and Korean; although after being in Korea since she was so young, she now speaks English with a slight accent. Since then Krystal has of course joined f(x) as one of its lead vocalists and also has various solo projects.

Isn't baby Krystal so cute?

She debuted as an actress in 2010 appearing in the sitcom More Charming By The Day and has since appeared in others like High Kick 3 and her more standout role in Heirs. She has been praised for her natural acting and ability to adapt. If anyone has seen any of the dramas she's been in, you will understand. She is also known for being a decent figure skater despite not having any professional training as shown in Kim Yuna's 2011 variety show Kiss and Cry. The show is like Dancing with the Stars but with figure skating and "Queen Yuna, Korea's pride gold medalist being a judge herself. She ended up winning with her partner and got the opportunity to skate with Yuna in the 2011 Samsung Galaxy Summer Ice Show.

Here is their winning performance:

Krystal also is very close with Jessica even though they are nearly six years apart. They are not afraid to show their affection for each other in public and social media and have done many collaborations together varying from magazine pictorials to music and variety shows. They are deemed the "beautiful Jung Sisters" in Korea. You just can't talk about one without talking about the other. Their most recent project as of 2014 is a short 10 episode reality show currently airing on OnStyle called Jessica and Krystal (of course) and documents their adventures in LA and shows a more personable side to them. They are often known for being cold and unapproachable, but they have revealed various times that they are just shy and cannot make friends as easily as others. Both of them have frequently been accused of being uninterested and bored on public broadcasts. Perhaps part of the reason for this show is to show viewers are sweet people. Take a look at some of their gorgeous pictorials.

 

袁詠琳: The Southern Idol

[Justin]

Hello everyone, just a quick update before I address the title: I have returned from my 20-day long writing hiatus, the duration of which I was busy having my ass handed to me by a Computer Science class.  As it turns out, computers are much much smarter than I am; this class is the first of my life's regrets.  The second of my life's regrets would be taking this class for a grade.  Buuuuuut it could be said that in failing a computer class I am challenging stereotypes, so plus one for progressivism.

"Yay, progressive[ism]~"

Lame jokes/psychological defense mechanisms aside, let's move on to the main topic.  I wanted to focus on 力宏哥 and his musical style for this post, but recently while listening to music, a song came up by a singer I remember discovering a few years back, and I believe she deserves an honorable mention: meet Cindy Yen.

Cindy was born 吳欣雲 to Taiwanese American parents on November 14, 1986, in the quaint town of Houston-goddamned, Texas.  She was brought up solely by her mother since her parents' divorce when she was 12 years old.  During that difficult time, the piano became her "best friend" and she is quoted to have said in an interview, "without piano, there is no me. Piano is my other half, what makes me complete. Everything I bury inside my heart I let out when I play."  Her mother was not originally supportive of her career aspirations, instead encouraging her to focus on higher education; which she promptly completed, graduating from the University of Texas - Austin in 2008.  Yen has an affinity for audiences, winning the titles of Miss Chinatown Houston, and later Miss Chinatown USA.  She was not, however, able to wow the judges of American Idol, who rejected her on two different occasions.  In 2008, she moved to Taiwan in hopes of finding a new audience for her music, but was turned down by many companies who insisted that her R&B heavy style was incompatible with the Chinese language and audiences.  However, her lucky break finally came 2009 from JVR Music, the record label of none other than Taiwanese superstar, Jay Chou.  Eight months after signing with the company, Cindy Yen composed and produced her debut single "畫沙" ("Sand Painting"), which was a duet featuring herself and Chou, and became an instant success.  The song is also the first song sung by Chou that was not written by himself, demonstrating monumental confidence from the singer in Yen's style.

As an R&B fan myself, discovering Cindy Yen back in high school brought a refreshing touch to my music playlist.  In relation to our class topic, Asian Americans in the media, Yen's story really cries out as a testament to Asian America's difficulty in finding notoriety within a style traditionally dominated by African American singers, such as Whitney Houston and Usher: a difficulty reflected in almost every other incarnation of popular American media.  Her rejection from Idol does not necessarily imply that she was given an unfair chance, that the judges of the show did not deem her desirable is simply bad luck.  However, she was equally harshly judged by Taiwanese industry executives, this time with an emphasis on her disharmonious "Western" style.  The outstanding difference between these situations, though, is a prominent company taking a risk signing on "overwhelmingly foreign" talent, which in this case worked out quite well for both parties.

American record labels can take an important lesson from JVR, that "new" or "different" does not directly relate to lost profit.  I know for a fact that there are thousands of potential hit singers, of all backgrounds, waiting to be given their lucky breaks hiding in the American population: evidenced by our AA55 karaoke day..  DAMN, Y'ALL CAN SING.  Make sure to reel them in before they go and make some other company a fortune abroad.

Tiger JK

Tiger JK

I was not really familiar with Tiger Jk, all I knew about him was that he was a legend. I decided to write a blog for him after Dumbfoundead applauded for him and crowned him as the king of Korean hip hop. Dumbfoundead is a legend to Asian Americans, and he crowned Tiger Jk as the Legend of Legend, so I was surprised by this.

Tiger JK is a Korean-American rapper, best known as one of the founding members of hip hop group Drunken Tiger. JK and Drunken Tiger are also noted collaborators of various South Korean hip hop artists, and are the basis of the South Korean hip hop joint movement known as simply “Movement” or “The Movement”. His legendary status extends beyond that of South Korea, and is often compared with famed American rappers in terms of style and lyrical content. He and Drunken Tiger are also considered the true pioneers of the Hip Hop scene in South Korea.

When he was sixteen, Tiger JK met Micki Eyes and performed in a rap festival in Los Angeles. He later caught the eye of Oasis Entertainment of South Korea, got signed, and released his first solo album, Enter The Tiger. However, the songs were banned from being played on radio stations due to the inappropriate lyrics. In 1998, Tiger JK teamed up with east coast rapper DJ Shine, to form the duo Drunken Tiger. Although the group with formed in the U.S., the group debuted in South Korea as well.

Tiger JK has credited Jamaican singer Bob Marley for his musical style and numerous American rappers as well. He has demonstrated his Reggae style, gangsta rap style and West Coast hip hop in Drunken Tiger songs, Tiger JK is praised for various aspects of his rapping technique by numerous other rappers.