Day 3 of stalking Asian celebrities and we came up with a largely Asian American mix of pictures. It seems celebrities in Asia take Saturday mornings off in the social media world.
1. Jason Chen (@jasondchen) and Joseph Vincent (@josephvincent) go on a man-date together to the #HappiestPlaceOnEarth aka Disneyland.
2. It’s always good to see people like Psy (@psy_oppa) working hard on a Friday, especially when all you can do is countdown the hours before your weekend hits.
3. Finally, here’s something cringeworthy that woke me up from my end of the day stupor. Posted by one of the “K-town Reality Show” producers, Eddie Kim (@iameddiekim), of comedian Danny Cho (@dannycho).
A month ago, DANakaDAN x afterschoolspecial released their music video for DREAMERS. The video, produced by Scott Yoshimoto and Daniel J. Seo of The Dreamlapse Project, featured many cameos by your favorite YouTube stars from Ryan Higa and Joseph Vincent to Jason Chen and David Choi. We wanted to find out more about this huge collaboration so I contacted DANakaDAN, Scott and Daniel to see what they have to say about this project.
First we have DANakaDAN:
Audrey Magazine (AM): Tell me how the collaboration started.
DANakaDAN (D): We started about… 11 months ago. Scott and I have worked on a video before and we wanted to do another project. DREAMERS has always been the song I’ve wanted to do a video for and I wanted to do it right, so I asked Scott and we started to work on it. Continue Reading »
Apparently sitting a few feet away from one of the biggest (and cutest!) Asian American YouTube stars (and by that I’m saying 130,000+ subscribers and 24,000,000+ upload views) wasn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be, at least not with Jason Chen. I mean, his latest video cover on “Never Say Never” got 50,000+ views in just one day. But still, it’s crazy to believe that I spent two hours eating Taiwanese desserts and chatting with the guy whose songs I put on repeat.
So before I tell you how the interview went over tea and boba drinks, (with two interruptions by fans wanting to take pictures), here’s a quick intro and some fun facts:
It’s not easy breaking into the music industry; it’s even harder being an Asian trying to break into the industry, but it’s amazing how the Asian community has grown in terms of musical artists. On Friday, February 4th, talented musicians shared the stage of the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium in a concert put together by the Asian Pacific American Student Association (APASA). As one of the performers of the night explained: it’s funny how Asian parents always push us to learn instruments such as piano and violin, expect us to play them well (and by well I mean finish the highest level examination), but when we tell them we want to pursue a career in music, they just shake their heads in disagreement. Why build up our interests and discourage it later on? But nonetheless, the artists this night fought for what they were passionate for, and that’s something we should all look up to.
Joseph Vincent.
Opening the show was Oak & Gorski (oakandgorski), a dual formed by Ken Oak and Ed Gorski in 2004. They have sold more than 30,000 albums independently and have recently launched their newest album Love Destroyer. For the night, Ed was on the rhythm guitar and Ken on the cello as they performed several of their songs. Like Billboard Magazine described, their songs were very “soulful” and “calming.” Then, Jason Chen (miniachilles) followed with two Bruno Mars covers and his first single on iTunes, an original titled Just for a Moment. He has gained fame through YouTube in a short period of time, with more than 130,000 subscribers and more than 22,000,000 upload views. He sounds just like he does on YouTube, meaning he’s just as incredible, so it’s definitely worth seeing him live. Before intermission, guest performer Heavy Impact from ABDC hit the floor and showed us how they worked their bodies.
Oak and Gorski.
- Jason Chen.
As the audience sat back into their seats, Jason Yang (jasonyangviolin), a USC alumni, was glad to be back performing at the place he feels most comfortable. Not only is he majorly gifted, he’s also quite humorous, as he explains that he was going to say “Happy Lunar New Year” after the section of the performance that sounds especially Chinese. His youtube received over 4,000,000 views and as his fan said, Jason is really taking violin to the next level. After was the heart-throbbing Joseph Vincent (hoorahjencar), who greeted us with his charming smirk. He really knows how to sing, but more importantly, he really knows how to engage the audience, welcoming us to sing along. His YouTube channel has over 140,000 subscribers and over 27,000,000 upload views. Clara Chung (ClaraCMusic), whose debut album released last September,was brought on to end the show. She has over 88,000 subscribers on YouTube, but her live performances are even better because she’s super cute in person and very approachable. She wasn’t afraid to get comfortable on stage by taking off her shoes too!
Jason Yang.
Clara C.
Subscribe to all their YouTube channels, like their facebook fan pages and attend their performances to show your support for the Asian music community!
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!
