Recently nominated for Song Producer of the Year at the upcoming GMA Golden Melody Awards (Taipei TWN @ July 1st 2023) and currently collaborating with the legendary Mandopop icon Elva Hsiao on her highly anticipated new album, chart-topping Asian Pop super-producer Jae Chong is briefly hitting pause on his jampacked studio sessions to slipslide back into his stealth mode solo artist alter-ego — SAVIYN. Pushing the button with a pulsating ode to the longest day of the year, SAVIYN is set to serenade the summer solstice with a special hi-res/spatial audio rendition of his hypnotic single — ‘Daylight’. Breaking beats at the break of dawn, SAVIYN ‘Daylight’ will drop on June 21st 2023 on all major digital music stores/services worldwide.
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Photo Illustration by Maria-Juliana Rojas. Photographs used in illustration by Frederick Cochran; FA TAL DOPECHILD; Paris Mumpower; David Fernandez; Dyang Jong; Adobe Stock
Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by checking out music from these great up-and-coming acts — from hip-hop to synth-pop to indie rock
Asian pop acts like BTS and BLACKPINK have taken over the world in recent years, but what about homegrown Asian-American artists? Sure, a small handful of American musicians of Asian descent have made a name for themselves in the US, such as Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, indie singer-songwriter Mitski and house DJ and producer Yaeji. And there are Grammy-winning artists. like Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Olivia Rodrigo and H.E.R. who are well-known among mainstream audiences, though it’s doubtful how many listeners are aware of their Asian heritage. A recent study found that a whopping 44% of Americans can’t name a single famous living Asian American.
But that all might soon change as Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) continue to gain visibility across the entertainment industry. Just as AAPI creatives have been making significant strides in film and TV lately with blockbusters like Beef and Everything Everywhere All at Once, countless AAPI artists have been steadily gaining notice in their respective corners of the music world. In honor of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’ve highlighted ten up-and-coming AAPI artists in genres from hip-hop to synth-pop to indie-rock, and included suggestions for similar acts to check out. There’s also a Spotify playlist below where you can listen to their music.
LOVE X STEREO
Composed of Korean-American vocalist Annie Ko and guitarist/producer Toby Hwang, the Seoul-based electro-rock duo Love X Stereo mix synthpop with alt rock and punk rock to create dreamy, immersive songs marked by ambient synths and Ko’s ethereal whispers. Among their many accomplishments, the dynamic pair has played SXSW twice, clinched a best electronic dance album nomination at the 2017 Korean Music Awards and contributed to soundtracks for the K-dramas Love Alarm, Summer Strike and Cheese in the Trap. This past weekend Love X Stereo dropped “Lucid / Dreams,” the lead single from their upcoming EP ์๋ ÄNษฦล (์๋ is a Korean word for both “hello” and “goodbye”), a collaboration with the LA-based avant-pop artist DA1SY DØØM that’s scheduled to be released this June.
Big Phony’s soothing, low-key acoustic sound and clever, heartfelt lyrics might remind listeners of folk legends like Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Born and raised in New York City, Big Phony, whose real name is Bobby Choy, moved to South Korea after falling in love with his parents’ native country and is presently based in Seoul. The indie folk musician has written songs for countless films and TV shows like The Good Doctor and for legendary artists such as Andrea Bocelli and the Korean punk outfit No Brain. He also currently co-hosts The Noonchi Podcast. Choy says that his unusual stage name is a reference to The Catcher in the Rye and “a constant reminder to stay decent and humble.”
K-Pop Dreaming is about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles. Host Vivian Yoon takes listeners on a journey from K-pop's origins in Korean trot music and American presence in post-war South Korea to the 1992 LA Uprising and the booming global popularity of K-pop in the present day, all juxtaposed against Yoon's own coming-of-age as a second generation immigrant in Los Angeles, struggling to fit in and come to terms with her own identity. K-pop Dreaming is the second season of California Love, a podcast series from LAist Studios, which is a blend of memoir, pop culture analysis and oral history. In the first season Walter Thompson-Hernández was inspired by Tupac and Dr. Dre's "California Love"- a love letter and anthem for a generation. Walter invites listeners to join him in his family home, on horseback through the streets of Compton, and up into the sky to examine belonging.
K-Pop Dreaming : Ep5 Solid
The underground hip-hop scene in Los Angeles was thriving in the late 1980s. And there, soaking in the vibe, was a Korean American college student by the name of Jae Chong. He was also making music on the side, but didn't think much was going to come of it. That is, until an out-of-the-blue invitation brought him and his friends to Korea when K-pop was taking off. Their group, Solid, would become the Kings of R&B and the first Korean American act to make a splash in the Korean music industry. Vivian reflects on the importance of Solid and sees the group's Korean-Americanness as the cornerstone of their success. (Originally published March 16, 2023) Support K-pop Dreaming by donating now at LAist.com/join This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Save 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/Dreaming This episode is brought to you by your local Kia dealers. Visit kia.com to discover movement that inspires. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
1990s Korean R&B group Solid in South Korea making their breakthrough second album. From left to right: Producer Jae Chong (in the background), rapper John Lee, and singer George Kim. (Courtesy Jae Chong)A BRIEF HISTORY
Fun fact for the casual K-pop fans out there — scroll through the pantheon of the music’s hottest groups and you’ll find something in common: Many of them feature members who grew up outside of Korea.
From classic groups like 2PM and Girls’ Generation, to current chart-toppers like BLACKPINK and Stray Kids. Even H.O.T. — the OG boy band who was instrumental in shaping the early K-pop wave — had an overseas member.
But the group that arguably started the trend way back in the early 1990s? They’re called Solid, which was made up of three Korean Americans from Los Angeles County — childhood friends who first tinkered with music at home before getting an unexpected opportunity to go to South Korea to eventually become the “Kings of Korean R&B."
THE SOLID STORY
It starts with a kid named Jae Chong, who is the uber-producer and leader of Solid. His family immigrated to the suburbs of Cerritos in the ‘80s from South Korea. Like many immigrant families, his parents had to start from scratch in the U.S. But Chong found a cool new world in American music.
“Ozzy Osborne and Van Halen,” Chong says.
From there, he graduated to a different sound — one that was starting to dominate the U.S.
“In the late ‘80s, the glam rock and the whole rock thing sort of started dying down, and it started getting more into like R&B and hip-hop and rap,” says Chong.
And by then, Chong was also tinkering around and making music at home with his friends John Lee and George Kim, who would later become the rapper and singer of Solid, respectively.
The three friends met in church, but it was their love for music that bonded them together.
“Things that got my blood pumping was like break dancing and this new hip-hop thing that was happening,” remembers Kim. “We would have cardboard boxes hidden behind the trees at the bus stop, and then while waiting for the bus, we would all just break dance and, you know, pop and wave.”
Chong adds, “I was like that token Asian guy in every hip-hop club, like underground, and I sort of saw that whole kind of the renaissance of hip-hop in the early '90s in L.A..”
That “renaissance of hip-hop” he’s talking about happened in the late '80s and early '90s, when West Coast rappers like Ice-T, NWA, 2Pac, Cypress Hill and others were on the rise and dominating radio waves with their music.
“We all had low riders, so these cars that just slammed to the ground, that's how I rolled," says Chong.
"We just packed these cars with friends. We would just cruise up to L.A., and our friends would be performing at some of these very underground clubs,” says Chong. “Very grimy, very gritty, you know, and you just see smoke from the DJ booth just fill[ing] up the whole place.”
Through this hip-hop scene, Chong connected with a popular Taiwanese American boy group called LA Boyz, who asked the guys to collaborate.
One day, while the three were in the studio, the LA Boyz’s managers asked them to make their own demo. The manager was interested in signing them to a Taiwanese label.
“In the meantime, there was a production company in Korea, like they heard about us. And they’re like, ‘Yo, you guys are Korean, like, why are you going to Taiwan?’” says Chong.
The boys — then in their late teens and very early 20s — signed to the Korean label, and in the spring of 1993, they arrived in Seoul, South Korea to make their very first album.
CULTURE SHOCK
Right away, it was apparent that the Korean American boys looked different from other mainstream Korean artists at the time. They had their hair buzzed short and wore baggy clothes — repping the style that was popular in the L.A. hip-hop scene at the time.
“In Korea,” says Chong. “When we got there, we were heavily into hip-hop and the whole rap scene. We had the shaved heads with the long bangs, baggy clothes. Like, taxis wouldn’t pick us up.”
And that difference in sensibilities extended to their sound. They spent the next several months working on their first album. But Give Me A Chance had disappointing sales. Chong says it was partly because the music didn’t have enough Korean elements to make it popular with a Korean audience.
And there was one particular component Chong zeroed in on.
“If you look at every major hit song in Korea, it has that element,” says Chong.
“‘Ppong’ is essentially Korean blues, and it comes from decades of hardships and sufferings that Korean people went through throughout history,” says Chong. “That's one of the secret ingredients to K-pop really, that's what I started to kind of pick up on.”
Armed with this new insight, Chong went back in the studio to work on the group’s sophomore album. He enlisted the help of famous Korean ballad composer Kim Hyung-seok to learn about ppong and change up the group’s sound.
“The whole idea was to kind of fuse Asian sound with American sound, right?” says Chong. “In Korea, there's a lot of focus on the melody, whereas the U.S. is more about the beat, so we needed to have the beat going on with this melancholy melody, that’s what Korean music is all about.”
With this new concept, Solid dropped their second full-length album, The Magic of 8 Ball. The album’s biggest hit, Holding Onto the End of the Night, blends American R&B stylings with a contemporary Korean sound. The ballad quickly became one of Solid’s career-defining hits, eventually earning Solid the title the “Korean Kings of R&B.” These songs were popular and received a lot of play on the radio.
John Lee remembers the group performing the hit for the first time in front of a TV audience.
“When the lights came on, we went on and the screams were so loud, it was like absolute pandemonium,” says Lee. “I just remember our faces, we knew right then like, ‘Oh my God, we made it, we're famous.’”
After their first album, Solid continued to make hit after hit.
In 1997, the group decided to part ways, partly because Lee was overwhelmed by fame and wanted to finish his undergrad degree. He later went on to pursue a successful real estate career in Southern California. Chong returned to California and continued working as a music producer, working with artists worldwide. Kim stayed in South Korea and found success in a solo singing career. He’s known there today as Kim Johan.
SOLID'S LEGACY
By infusing R&B into Korean pop music, Solid was influential in shaping the sound of K-pop in its infancy.
Following Solid’s success, many K-pop music labels started recruiting Korean American members for their own groups. 1TYM. g.o.d. Shinhwa. All of whom still remain legendary household names in South Korea to this day. And it opened the door for non-Koreans to enter the K-pop scene — like Amber Liu of the girl group f(x), or Lisa from BLACKPINK.
BLACKPINK and Oreo have launched a new set of promo videos as the cream-filled biscuits begin to roll out in seven Asian markets including Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and South Korea.
In the promo video created by Publicis Groupe, BLACKPINK creates a new song based on the actions “Twist, Lick, Dunk.” Regular Oreos in the select regions will feature Oreo x BLACKPINK packaging while two exclusive versions of “Black” Oreos with strawberry filling and “Pink” Oreos with dark chocolate filling will be made available. Inside each limited-edition packet, BLINKs will find 10 collectible photo cards. Access to eight personalized AI-powered video messages, one from each member, and mobile wallpaper downloads are also available at the dedicated Oreo BLACKPINK website.
“Music is a key passion point and a great platform to spark playful connections with our consumers. Over the last decade, we have seen the enormous rise of K-pop and its far-reaching influence on Asian culture,” Oreo shared in a statement. “BLACKPINK is at the forefront of this and is one of the biggest icons of the generation. We look forward to bringing millions of Oreo fans and BLINKs together to create moments of play.”
The BLACKPINK Oreos are now available in select regions and the accompanying campaign is set to launch across Southeast Asia in early 2023 with on-ground support and additional digital activations.
Since his sensational 2006 viral video debut on YouTube as a child prodigy musician, South Korean acoustic guitarist Sungha Jung has progressively fine-tuned his artistic groove and professionally flourished far beyond 15+ years of international internet fame. โจโจ
In between recording 9 studio albums [2010 - 2018] and releasing 9 cover compilations [2019 - 2021], he has successfully sold out concerts in 20+ countries worldwide (Asia-Pacific • North America • Western Europe), collaborated with a constellation of K-Pop superstars (2NE1 • G-Dragon of Big Bang • Narsha of Brown Eyed Girls), and performed with a string of international music icons (Kotaro Oshio • Trace Bundy • Sergio Mendes • Jason Mraz).
After becoming the first Korean YouTuber to ever score 1.0M channel subscribers and hit 100.0M channel views [2006 - 2010] and bolstered by his K-Pop idol-esque buzz via 9 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Uncharted Chart (2013) and 18 weeks on the Billboard Social 50 Chart [2010 - 2016], the instrumental virtuoso has steadily surged over the past decade to emerge as one of the most popular Korean music artists on the planet.
As of Summer 2022 with 176K+ followers, he is among the top 30 Korean solo music artists in the world on Spotify. With 7.0M+ channel subscribers, he is the #2 Korean male solo artist (second only to Psy) and ranked within the top 15 Korean music acts in the world on YouTube. And with nearly 2.0B total views for his over 1,300+ music video clips, he is also currently one of the top 500 music acts in the world on YouTube.
Celebrating the arrival of autumn with 12 fresh tracks — including 11 original compositions — Sungha Jung is set to world premiere his highly anticipated new album < Poetry > on August 26th 2022 on all major international digital music stores and streaming music services.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 6:40PM | 
