As a girl who loved singing Vietnamese karaoke as a toddler, I feel that I’ve grown more disconnected from my roots as I became more assimilated with American culture and music. Vietnamese music, just like music in other cultures, is versatile and can be enjoyed by people of all ethnic groups. Thus, I took the opportunity to explore more music from my culture and test my Vietnamese fluency, and I searched for Vietnamese pop playlists on Spotify.
“Ghen” by MIN, ERIK, and Khac Hung – 6/10
Released on Jan. 10, “Ghen,” meaning “jealous,” is a catchy song about jealousy and love sung in mostly Vietnamese with bits of English. My favorite aspect of this song undoubtedly is hearing MIN’s amazing voice that is both soothing and captivating. Although I listened to her previously trending song “Cà Phê” before, hearing her voice in “Ghen” impressed me as if it was the first time I had heard her voice. However, I felt that the beat was too upbeat and didn’t mesh well with the melodic parts of the song. Additionally, the chorus, which tends to be the best part of a song, was my least favorite aspect of “Ghen.” The chorus felt repetitive and gave me the impression that the songwriters tried to make it sound catchy, but failed to execute it well.
“CHAY NGAY ĐI – Onionn Remix” by Son Tùng M-TP and Onionn 8/10
This song is undoubtedly one of my favorites from this list, and there is hardly anything to critique about it. The beat is catchy, which is this song’s strongest aspect. Another commendable detail about “CHAY NGAY ĐI – Onionn Remix” is that, unlike some songs, the lyrics have variety and are not repetitive. However, since I am only familiar with the southern Vietnamese accent and dialect, it was difficult for me to understand the lyrics and their meanings as this song was sung with northern Vietnamese dialect. Despite my lack of fluency, I was still able to enjoy the song as much as I would have if I were to fully understand it.
“Gói Tình Em Roi Ve” by Phùng Khánh Linh – 6.5/10
Some parts of this song were pleasant and flowed nicely, strongly demonstrating Linh’s strong vocals. There is no denying that she has an impressive voice and vocal range, but the song’s major weak point is the melody. During the majority of “Gói Tình Em Roi Ve,” the melody often sounded awkward as many of Linh’s verses follow a down-down-up pattern in the tone. This song overall is not something I would have chosen to listen to on my own, but I am glad to have discovered it nonetheless.
“This Way” by CARA – 8.5/10
Since “This Way” had over four million streams on Spotify, I had to give it a listen. This song didn’t disappoint, with CARA’s melodious voice perfectly matching the song’s light and playful style. Her lyrics are sweet and fun, talking about not being able to get someone off her mind. Despite being my favorite song on the list, it still wasn’t perfect: my least favorite part of this song was its break where it includes a “roses are red, violets are blue” cliche in the lyrics, which threw me off and sounded too awkward. I would have preferred if CARA sang all the way through the song, leaving out the break in return.