BEAT the sweltering heat with the summer?s coolest pop tunes: Teen idols and tweeners? darlings are on top of the heap, with Justin Bieber dominating the scene.
Spurred by the unshakable groove and youthful spirit of the single, ?Baby, Baby,? his unlikely collaboration with Ludacris, the 16-year-old matinee idol?s first full-studio release, ?My World 2.0,? debuted at No. 1 and continues to lord it over the Billboard 200 chart one month later.
Bieber has become so popular that he causes mass hysteria wherever he goes. Last Monday, for instance, the Australian police had no choice but to cancel the singer?s performance in Sydney when a crowd of 5,000 shrieking teenage girls got out of hand.
On Twitter, Justin appealed to his fans: ?Come on, people. I want to be able to sign autographs, take pictures, and meet you, but if you?re all pushing, security won?t let me.?
Mass hysteria
We also saw this type of mass hysteria when we were in Japan last year for the ?G.I. Joe? premiere. The Tokyo crowd became hysterical when Korean superstar, Byung-Hun Lee, greeted them ?we even saw a fan lose consciousness!
Our journalist colleagues from other Asian countries told us then that, along with K-pop or Kayo music, what we witnessed was part of the so-called Korean Wave, the recent surge in popularity of contemporary South Korean culture ? from movies to music.
Last month, Pinoy teenagers looked like they had finally caught up with the rest of Asia when they mobbed the 13-member boy band, Super Junior, led by Leetuek, who came here for the Manila leg of its ?Super Show? tour. If you listen to their hit tunes, ?Sorry, Sorry,? ?Shining Star? and ?It?s You,? you?ll understand the attraction.
They?re not alone: Another hot K-pop commodity is the pretty quintet, Wonder Girls, whose single, ?Nobody,? became the first song by a Korean group to enter Billboard?s Hot 100.
And, Sandara Park?s recording career may have been a bust here (remember ?Are You In or Are You Out??), but she?s been given a new lease on her performing life as a member of the K-pop quartet, 2NE1 (?Lollipop,? ?Fire,? ?I Don?t Care?). Their male counterpart is Big Bang (?Gara Gara Go,? ?My Heaven?).
Lovely melodies
Two elements that make the Korean sound catchy are its irresistible beats and lovely melodies. Consider: Shinee?s ?Stand By Me,? Kara?s ?Don?t Be Shy,? ?Secretly, Secretly,? ?Mot Ji Kin Mal,? Ss5ol?s ?Making A Lover? and ?Becoz I?m Stupid,? Girl Generation?s ?One Year Later,? Three Bicycle?s ?One More Time,? Howl?s ?Love You? and Boa?s ?Girls On Top.?
On the local front, the five-girl Pinoy quintet, Eurasia, is making its presence felt via their self-titled debut album that?s characterized by the girls? unique brand of digitized sound.
Most notable in the 13-song track listing: ?Ikaw ay Perfect,? the hook-driven, hip-hop-infused remake of The Bangles? ?Walk Like An Egyptian,? and their sexy, jazzed-up cover of Mon del Rosario?s ?Working Girls.?
