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| K-pop girl groups NewJeans, left and Black Pink won Billboard awards. |
Taylor Swift's domination of the Billboard Awards Sunday night was not a surprise. The 33-year old pop music artist won 10 trophies. Less of a surprise was the 11 wis by her male counterpart, Morgan Wallen, who broke out of the Country/Western genre.
On the heels of Swift's massively successful Eras tour that boosted the economy of the host cities, the 33-year old queen of pop, who has been a professional entertainer since she was 16-years old, walked away with 10 trophies.
But even Swift's feat was topped by country singer Morgan Wallen who won in 11 categories.
FYI: Complete list of Billboard Award winners.
The Asian nominees, all from South Korea, dominated the K-pop categories. Duh! Would it be possible for a non-Korean group to win in these categories?
With super group BTS sidelined for several reasons -- mandatory mlitary service and a desire to strike out as single artist -- perennial favorite BTS was not nominated in any category. That left the door oopen for other K-pop groups.
The girl group NewJeans was named the "Top Global K-Pop Artist" and favorite Black Pink won Top K-Pop Touring Artist.Stray Kids, 5-STAR wonTop K-Pop Album, a new category specifically created for the Korean music artists.
The Filipino American nominees, not being White, Korean, Black, Latino or Indigenous failed to win in their respective categories. Olivia Rodrigo lost to Swift in the Top Female Artist category. Beyonce beat Bruno Mars as the Top R&B Artist.
It should be noted that the Billboard awards, started in 2003, is based on album and digital song sales, streaming, radio airplay, touring, and social engagement rather than artistry or by membership voting.
Breaking down the Billboard awards by race may not be fair except to point out that the group with the most discretionary funds to actually purchase music are Whites. However, the categories as designed by Billboard appear to be race specific without specifically mentioning race.
So what about Fuerza Regida, which was named the Top Duo/Group? The Mexican American band is one of those exceptions that was so good it could not be overlooked.
Generally, in order to overcome accusations of a White-preference in the music industry, Billboard and the Grammys (which will be awarded next year) broke music into categories which were born out of racial environments.
It can't be denied that Rhythm and Blues came out of the Black experience, which gave birth to Rock, which today, ironically, is dominated by White males with giant speakers.
Country/Western, rightly or wrongly, with few exceptions is almost wholly White music that originated from poor White immigrants from Western Europe who settled in Appalachia. Although there are those who would strongly deny it, the genre has been heavily influenced by Black Gospel and the Blues. The banjo, the most distinctly musical instrument associated with that genre, after all, came out of Africa and popularized by Black slaves.
So-called Pop music, which has the potential of being a melting pot, is still mostly White, since Black artists are almost always placed in the R&B and Rap categories and Latinos shuttled into Latin genres (again, exceptions occur).
Artists like Rodrigo and Mars are the exception to these generalizations because, well, Billboard has the same problem as others in defining Filipinos. The Filipino talent, afterall, is to adapt to the surrounding environment. They are so good at adapting people it is awkward to put them into a music box. Are they really Asian? Are they Latinos of Asia? or Are the darker-skinned Filipinos and soulful artists the Blacks of Asia?
Rodrigo, growing up in in Southern California suburbs,hones her musical roots in the angst-driven teen society of White suburbia.
Mars, who began his performing career as a mini-Elvis impersonator, knows that the roots of Elvis's music came from the Black artists that merged Gospel, jazz and the Blues.
For non-Whites to cross over into race-rooted musical genres is not easy; at least not as easy for Whites to go wherever they want. It requires that the artists of color to be so outstanding that they can't be ignored by the music industry. This is what happens whenever Mars comes out with a new album either as a single or as duo as he did when her partnered with Anderson Paak as Silk Sonic in 2021-2022 and in 2016-2017 when his 24-K Magic album swept almost all the R&B awards.
And you can be sure to see Rodrigo's presence at the Grammys and next year's Billboard awards after her second album, Guts, with three hits, "Vampire," Bad Idea Right?" and "Get Him Back." It appears that Guts will be as successful in sales as her breakout debut albur Sour and will likely be included as Album of the Year.
Race influences almost every aspect of American life, including the nation's music. That's not a bad thing, but it needs to be acknowledged, accepted and appreciated.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.
