Two Asian Americans poised to win 'American Ido'l and 'The Voice'

Watch out for singers Myra Tran, left, and Jej Vinson.

If you're a fan of reality shows, especially American Idol and The Voice, you're going to have fun this season by following the journeys of two Asian American singers who blew their respective judges away this week.

On Sunday (Mar. 3) , U.S. audiences were introduced to highschooler Myra Tran, who has only been in this country for a year.

When she was just 16-years old, Tran actually competed on and won Season 2 of The X Factor Vietnam in 2016. She captivated the judges there, and wanted to compete on American Idol to further establish her talent and work toward her goals.

According to the show's program notes, Tran — whose full name is full name is Trần Minh Như — moved to the United States from Vietnam just a year ago to pursue her dream of becoming a singer in America. "I [moved] here so I can follow my dream," she explained in the premiere episode. "[It's] the best way to follow my dream."For her audition, Tran covered Jennifer Hudson's "One Night Only."

You know she impressed the judges on ABC's American Idol when they began high-fiving each other midway through her audition.

"You're up there with the Kelly Clarksons of the world," judge Luke Bryan said, leaving Tran shaking. Clarkson is among American Idol's most successful alumni along with Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson.

"You just need to keep singing, because if you keep singing, you're really going to connect with people," added pop artist Katy Perry. "I think we can really feel who you are through the music. Music transcends language barriers, and you just showed us that."

Speaking of Kelly Clarkson, on Monday night, she was the first judge on The Voice to turn her chair around for Filipino American Jej Vinson, as he sang "Passionfruit" (By Drake).

As Vinson's voice began to soar, the other three judges -- Adam Levine, John Legend and Blake Shelton -- turned their chairs around, hoping to convince the singer to accept their tutelage.

"You're a better singer than all of us," Levine quipped. He praised Vinson's precision in hitting the notes but advised him to put more emotion into his singing.

"You showed us this really precise, beautiful runs," Legend told the Los Angeles-based contestant. "It's like you knew the note you wanted and you just picked it out the air and hit every single one with precision, and beauty, and excitement. You got the whole crowd going."

Shelton, on the other hand, said: "I think everybody here is probably a little bit nervous talking to you right now. We all feel like we're all looking at the winner of 'The Voice' this season, I do. I think that."

Clarkson, who ran over to Vinson to hug him after his audition, said: "I can win this show with you. You are incredible, man. I turned around and I was like, 'What?' And it was so effortless."

In the end, the 22-year old Vinson picked Clarkson to be his coach.

Raised in Davao City in the Philippines, Vinson and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was 15. The Vinson family settled in South Dakota but three years later moved to Los Angeles where Jej studies music at USC and directs the school's a capella group.

There has never been an Asian American winning singer on either of these two shows. 

Jessica Sanchez, a Filipina American from San Diego, almost accomplished the feat in 2012 but finished as the first runnner-up on American Idol.

It's very early in their competitions and there will be pitfalls along the way but representation matters. It will be fun to follow Tran and Vinson as they move through their respective competition. In both shows, there comes a point when the audience votes for the singers. Get your smart phones and computers ready!

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PSA: Is history repeating itself #DontNormalizeHate

ASAM NEWS

WITH THE inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump coming this Friday (Jan. 20), the discussion surrounding his upcoming term only intensifies, along with the fear among many minority groups.

The xenophobic nature of Trump’s campaign and public behavior in general, along with the slew of hate crimes across the country, has fueled people to speak out in return. A public service announcement, executive produced by Katy Perry, was released recently, telling the true story of Haru Kuromiya, reports Rolling Stone.

The 89-year-old Japanese American woman tells her story of her registration and placement into an incarceration camp for four years. However, near the end of the video, the woman takes off her wig and peels off her face mask to reveal that she is actually Muslim American actress Hina Khan. Khan, looking intensely into the camera, says, “Don’t let history repeat itself.”

Words also appear across the screen: “A Muslim registry is the first step in repeating history.” The Muslim registry that Donald Trump hopes to implement will be a flashback to World War II, when Executive Order 9066 placed thousands of Japanese and Japanese Americans into incarceration camps, tearing them away from their homes, jobs, and livelihoods. These people were incarcerated simply due to their Japanese descent, when the U.S. was fighting Japan, with the excuse that this was an essential move for national security. 

One of the darkest marks on U.S. history, one that the U.S. government has publicly apologized for and has made subpar reparations for, was supposed to serve as a memory to avoid making the same mistakes. With the Muslim registry, we may just be walking into a portal to the past, a time during which wartime hysteria overruled legitimate security concerns. The PSA ends with the hashtag #DontNormalizeHate.

The PSA’s director, Aya Tanimura, spoke on Perry’s involvement with the project: “I think like a lot of us who are terrified of Trump’s ideals and policies, she is too. And this is one instance where she’s able to help educate someone — even one person — on the horrors of the past and what could potentially be repeated.”

Perry will also be participating in the Women’s March on Washington, scheduled for this Saturday (Jan. 21), the day after Trump’s inauguration. The march has a mission: “The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”

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If you like the Asian-girl fantasy, you are in for a surprise

NO SOONER did I mention Nancy Kwan and this vlog popped up. As a quick follow-up to my earlier writings about sexual stereotypes, James Shigeta, the aforementioned actress Nancy Kwan, etc., Let me introduce you to vlogger Anna Akana, she gives Yellow Fever a new meaning from a contemporary point of view and explains better than I can, the attraction Asian women possess for a lot of guys.

Katy Perry

Anybody who has spent serious time with an Asian woman know that they are anything but quiet and submissive. Most of the Asian women I know are strong individuals, smart, defiantly outspoken and definitely do not fit the stereotype. Some are sexy, some are not. Most fall somewhere in-between. 
Katy Perry's performance during the American Music Awards, dressed as a geisha, did nothing to dispell the stereotype. Her angry response show's she just didn't get it. She's probably never had the "ching-chong" insult hurled her way either.

It's heartening to see that a new generation of Asians - like Akana and a host of other bloggers, vloggers and social and educational activists - is continuing the fight against old prejudices and confronting the same issues that I had while growing up as in America. But at the same time, despite all the examples  counteracting the demeaning image in almost our all our institutions, it's kind of sad after all these years, to see the staying power of this particular stereotype and how it still dominates the view of Asian women.