Difficult to break the chain of "brothers"
Over the past few months, the YouTube Trending Music (YMT) chart in Vietnam has undergone a remarkable transformation. The arrival of the two shows “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” and “Anh trai say hi” has treated the audience to an attractive musical feast both visually and audio-visually, creating million-view performances.
After the final round of “Anh trai say hi”, in the top 10, there were 9 videos from this program. There was a period when new songs were continuously released in the competition nights, in the top 20, the “brothers” occupied 15 positions. There were more than 11 stages of this music show that reached No. 1 on YMT, showing the enthusiastic response from young audiences.
Meanwhile, the performances of “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” can stay on the trending list for months, some songs are loved and make it to the top 5. Each performance stage is elaborately staged, compared to a beautiful live MV.
Amidst the performances combining new music, choreography, and using magnificent props, the 2 "brother" shows have almost no competitors on the YouTube platform.
In the past 4 months, many names that were very strong in digital music such as Tlinh, Vu, LowG... have returned with new products but struggled to enter the top 5 of YMT even though it only took them a few days to reach the top position. Music videos, which are the strength of Vietnamese stars, have had to regretfully stay at a modest rank because they have to compete with strange yet familiar live performances that are competing for views on the platforms.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, musician Nguyen Van Chung said that songs appearing on YouTube trending proves that the song/video is being interested, interacted with and shared by many audiences and viewers.
“That proves the great attraction of reality TV shows and the characters in the shows to the audience, especially young audiences. It is also a trend of the times with the strong development of technology, leading to changes in the way artists approach the audience. And everyone has to accept that, if they do not take advantage of it to develop their career, they will be eliminated,” musician Nguyen Van Chung assessed.
Exploring new directions for Vietnamese music
On the other hand, musician Nguyen Van Chung commented that YouTube is not a music chart, but a popular video platform. Therefore, YouTube popularity is not a measure of the artistic quality of music as people mistakenly believe. The musician said: “This chart is simply a ranking of the videos that have received the most attention at a certain time (about the past 24 - 48 hours) and includes a lot of content: music, reality TV, talk shows, vlogs...”.
In fact, on independent music charts such as Spotify, Apple Music, ZingMP3, we can still see fierce competition between songs from game shows and the rest. When losing the advantage of attractive visuals, the songs that "make waves" on YouTube will enter a fair race, where the real quality of music can conquer the audience, shown through the number of monthly listens and the time staying on the chart.
When the “Anh trai say hi” fever passed, 2 songs by Tlinh and 3 songs by Vu entered the YMT chart. It is undeniable that Son Tung M-TP, MCK, Wren Evans, Tlinh... are still the names that always hold the top positions in the list of most listened artists on Spotify every year. Meanwhile, reality TV cannot be a “guarantee” of views when singers separate to build their personal careers after the show.
While Rhyder and Quang Hung MasterD have successful solo songs, Ali Hoang Duong and Vu Thinh have recorded dismal results when working individually, separate from the million-view performances of “Anh trai say hi”. The great attraction from the show helps the contestants increase their recognition, but to maintain their reputation after the program ends requires effort, wisdom and a methodical strategy.
