AJ Rafael fans, take note – the popular Filipino-American singer/songwriter is embarking on a concert tour starting this September, taking his unique sound around the country!

The Play. Live. Breathe. Music Concert tour will hit 9 cities across the US and is sure to be a night of incredible talent.

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Last Sunday, the Nokia Club was packed with fans lined up to see this year’s Verizon’s APAHM tour headliner, Jay Park. Even hours before the concert, the diverse fans–most of them non-Korean–eagerly waited for the former 2pm leader’s first tour in the states.

The crew traveled from East to West hitting up major cities like DC, NYC, San Francisco, and of course, Los Angeles. For the West Coast tour, Jay teamed up with AJ Rafael, a Filipino-American artist with a huge following on Youtube, and Blush, a five-member Pan-Asian pop group. Jay performed selections from his first full length solo album and a mix tape he produced exclusively for the tour for his adoring fans–both in English and Korean.

The tour marked Jay Park’s successful crossover from kpop to the US music scene. It seems mobile companies are increasingly targeting Asian American audiences (AT&T and Wongfu just released a web series). Who do you think should headline next year’s APAHM tour?

Check out our video interview with Jay Park below!

Far East Movement.

After several hours in the sun and nine hours of standing, my body was completely exhausted and my feet were dying but I must say, it was totally worth it. The International Secret Agents Los Angeles (ISA LA) event that took place in Queen Mary on October 1st gathered together the best of the best Asian YouTube stars you could think of plus other top-selling mainstream artists: Far East Movement, B.o.B, Sean Kingston, Jay Park, Wong Fu Productions, AJ Rafael, David Choi, Kevin Wu (KevJumba), Ryan Higa (NigaHiga), Clara C, Cathy Nguyen, and the list goes on. A year ago my cousin introduced me to them and I’ve been hooked ever since. In fact, I’m listening to their songs right now while I’m writing this so you can imagine how excited I was for the event.
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With performances by platinum selling recording group Far East Movement, Grammy nominated B.O.B. and platinum artist Sean Kingston, the all-day ISA festival is guaranteed to be one show you wouldn’t want to miss! The event, hosted by YouTube talents Ryan Higa (NigaHiga), Kevin Wu (KevJumba) and Cathy Nguyen, is aimed to inspire and empower both the performers and spectators. It’s happening tomorrow so buy your tickets now!

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YouTube has allowed us a glimpse into the world of gifted musicians and comedians who perform in the comfort of their own homes. Those who have had some success in more mainstream platforms include makeup guru Michelle Phan (who’s now makes makeup videos for Lancome), AJ Rafael (who tried out for American Idol), and Kevin Wu (who most recently starred in The Amazing Race), but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to stream online. To pass on the stream, here’s a toast to the YouTube stars we know and love from 2010.

Joseph Vincent’s acoustic soul and Filipino American baby face continue to make girls and boys alike swoon, especially after his appearance on The Ellen Degeneres show last April.

Peter Chao delivers somewhat of the Chinese version of the Ken Jeong persona with his focus on societal and pop culture issues like bullying, Megan Fox’s hotness and PDA. As the number 1 and 2 Most Viewed in Canada of all time, Chao will be touring south to Washington and California in January 2011.

Her smooth strokes and smooth voice has landed Michelle Phan a Lancome career as the company’s first video makeup artist. Her makeup tutorials are made easy and accessible for millions of viewers, whether it’s Lady Gaga’s latest look or something more for everyday.

L.A. local Jason Chen, number 38 Most Viewed on Youtube for December, has been swooping the scene over the recent months. His covers, including Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” created on Garageband and Logic Studio, are now available on iTunes.

Who are your favorite YouTube stars? Tell us and you just might see them in Audrey!

Glee’s second episode of the season is on tonight! And this being the Britney episode, we know it’s going to be a good one.

However, it was last week’s episode that was an unforgettable one to our writer, Camelia.
Here are her thoughts.

As an admitted gleek I had been waiting all summer for last week’s season two premiere of the Fox hit show Glee. As a Filipina American I was eagerly anticipating seeing 18-year-old singing sensation Charice belt her heart out for the world to hear. Charice’s appearance on Glee is a huge deal for the Filipino/Filipino American communities, but it is also a huge deal for the Asian/Asian American communities as a whole because she is continuing to put Asians/Asian Americans on the map in big ways.

The fact that Charice landed a role on an über popular primetime television show is a big deal to me, personally, because I grew up rarely seeing any Asian Americans on TV. However, when I did see an Asian American they were usually the bad guys beating people up with their karate moves; the nerdy guy or girl in the background; or the outcast foreigner with a thick accent and only speak broken English. What’s even more exciting to me is that on Glee Charice, a girl born and raised in the Philippines is playing the role of a Filipina girl born and raised in the Philippines who “totally” speaks English, as she told Rachel Berry.

As soon as Charice’s character Sunshine Corazon began singing her breathtaking version of “Listen” from Dreamgirls, tweets about Charice exploded on Twitter and people immediately updated their Facebook statuses to praise the young vocal prodigy. YouTube star AJ Rafael tweeted to the singer, “Charice, I love you. You make us singers proud. And most importantly you make us Filipinos proud.” Hundreds of Filipinos instantaneously retweeted Rafael’s message in support of their fellow Filipino.

The fact that individuals like Charice, Harry Shum, Jr., Jason Wu, AJ Rafael and Manny Pacquiao can become household names here in the U.S. shows the positive shift going on in our society right now. More and more people are recognizing the talents of Asian Americans and are no longer limiting them to just being intelligent and hard working. We’re slowly moving away from further perpetuating stereotypes about Asians such as being the “model minority” and it is FREAKING AWESOME. It’s awesome that young Asian Americans growing up right now can look up to musicians, dancers, fashion designers and athletes who may have similar backgrounds to theirs and look like them.

Glee airs on FOX Tuesdays at 9PM.