While many pop singers have received no formal training and hire songwriters, they still strike a chord with teens.

While many pop singers have received no formal training and hire songwriters, they still strike a chord with teens.

Young Vietnamese pop stars are proving you don’t have to be the Jonas Brothers to take a generation by storm.

In fact, one hit song can propel many virtual unknowns to stardom.

Teenage heart throb Ung Hoang Phuc, for example, became an overnight sensation with the hit Nguoi Ta Noi (Don’t Believe in Gossip), a love song composed by writer-musician Ngo Quang Huy.

Now the young girls go crazy at his shows.

“One day my friends and I heard a Ung Hoang Phuc song in a CD music shop, and I fell for him immediately,” says Nguyen Thi Thao, a high school student who lives in Dong Nai Province’s Dinh Quan District. “We became his fans and now buy all his albums.”

Phuc is not alone. Thuy Tien, now 24, is finally tasting the delights of stardom after years of hard work.

Three years ago, while Tien’s colleagues like Quang Vinh were achieving pop fame, she was an unknown singer with little appeal.

Many of her friends warned she would never make it since critics said her voice was weak.

Though she worked hard every day, she received little attention from audiences.

But everyone in the country soon knew her as the beautiful girl who allegedly was having a special relationship with her much older teacher, well-known musician Quoc Bao.

The gossip and rumours gained her renown, but not the kind she wanted. It was a difficult time for her.

But soon she defied the naysayers when Quoc Bao helped ensure Tien’s rise to fame by penning the hit single Giac Mo Tuyet Trang (Dreaming of White Snow).

The song turned the rural youth into the pop star she had always dreamed of being at a time when she was on the verge of giving up the music business altogether.

Tien’s voice, with its raw, powerful quality, helped the song become popular.

Thousands of new fans, mostly teenagers, loved Giac Mo Tuyet Trang, and made it one of the biggest hit songs of 2007. HCM City fans wrote to music magazines, radio and TV stations about Tien and her hit single.

The song was also selected as part of the soundtrack of Tuyet Nhiet Doi (Tropical Snow), the 30 part-series, to be aired on HTV9 and produced by M&T Picture, one of the city’s leading film producers.

“We’re tired of hearing young singers who’re paid to cry for love,” one fan wrote in a music forum. “With Giac Mo Tuyet Trang, Thuy Tien tells a love story with pure images and a happy end. The singer and her song have become a phenomenon in the local music scene.”

Other singers have followed in her footsteps. Younger than Tien, singer Khanh Phuong recently became a new idol after performing Nguyen Van Chung’s Chiec Khan Gio Am (Warm Scarf).

New styles

Singer Dan Truong

Many people disliked the song Noi Toi (My Paternal Grandmother), written by veteran songwriter-singer Dinh Van.

But when it was sung by pop star Dan Truong, who changed the style, it became a hit. Although many fans love and respect their grandparents, they admired the song only after Truong released it.

Truong’s fame helped, but the new style also appealed to listeners.

With singers rocketing to fame from one hit song, some young singers are learning that it can be profitable to pay a composer copyright fees to perform their songs exclusively.

Singer Khanh Ngoc’s manager, Nhac Xanh Studio, signed a copyright deal with partner, well-known composer Nguyen Van Chung, to have the exclusive use of Ngoc’s latest song Vang Trang Khoc (Crying Moon).

Thanks to the deal, Ngoc faced little competition when her song was voted by listeners of HCM City’s radio FM station Wave as the top single of 2008.

That success brought her big contracts in advertising spots and performances with leading entertainment organisers.

Many of these artists are undeniably talented singers, and it must be acknowledged that the creative efforts of composers and singers have done much to help transform the local music scene.

Their hits, along with quality recordings, have fostered the development of Viet Nam’s music and CD industry. However, music critics warn against producing the same old instant hits.

“Young singers must be encouraged to perform songs with high artistic value. It’s wrong to think you can be the best singer with only a ballad,” said composer-music critic Pham Dang Khuong, member of the HCM City Music Association’s executive board.

Nguyen Van Chung, who composed the top hit Crying Moon, said he would not sell exclusive rights to his songs to only one singer.

“Music is a creative art. By singing, performers can help fans feel the song in different ways. I think that’s great,” he said.

Some young singers have learned that it can be profitable to pay a composer copyright fees to perform their songs exclusively.

VNN/VNS