Vietnamese singer nomination for MTV Europe Awards 2017 causes controversy

After the organizers announced the 9 nominees for the MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMA 2017), many people reacted strongly and said that the list was inappropriate.

As scheduled, MTV EMA 2017 recently released a list of nominees to find a representative from Vietnam to compete in the Best Southeast Asia Act category after the voting round.

However, when the most deserving singers who met the criteria for the award had participated in previous years, MTV EMA could not avoid controversy when there appeared faces that were considered not really suitable.

'Everyone in Vietnamese showbiz has a trophy to bring home as a gift'

This year’s nomination list is different from previous years. In addition to young faces such as Isaac, Huong Tram, Vu Cat Tuong or Trong Hieu, MTV Vietnam’s nomination list also includes many long-time singers such as Dam Vinh Hung, Le Quyen, Tuan Hung, Duong Trieu Vu and Trinh Thang Binh.

In addition, instead of deciding the winning singer based on the number of votes like previous years, this year MTV Vietnam and MTV Asia will be the ones to decide. Based on the list of 3 artists with the largest number of votes, the organizing committee will find the most suitable name to represent Vietnam.

Regarding the criteria, the artists competing for the award must have at least 3 years of artistic activities in the field of music and performance. Of course, all the nominees of this year's award season meet this requirement. The second criterion is to have a new product that has achieved resonance in the 2 years 2016-2017.

Le Quyen is a big name but her music does not attract attention from young people.

Dam Vinh Hung, Le Quyen, Tuan Hung are big names and of course, their position in the Vietnamese music industry cannot be denied. Last year, all 3 also worked hard but clearly their music products did not "reach the resonance" as the criteria set by the Organizing Committee.

Tuan Hung's Tan did not attract as much attention as the male singer's previous products. As for Le Quyen, her music - including the single Le Quyen & Thai Thinh released in 2016 - has mainly targeted Bolero music lovers. Young audiences have almost no idea what new products the female singer has released recently.

Similarly, the appearance of Duong Trieu Vu and Trinh Thang Binh is also a big question mark. Their music products not only did not create a buzz, but also remained somewhat quiet at a time when Vpop 2016 had many successful songs, becoming a phenomenon that covered the streets, shops, etc.

"MTV is starting to go into a boring phase, in a few years everyone in Vietnamese showbiz will have a trophy to bring home as a gift," audience member Le Van Dat humorously commented.

Meanwhile, Ny Nguyen expressed disappointment: “Couldn’t vote for anyone. Son Tung, Dong Nhi, Noo have MVs with hundreds of millions of views, while Dam Vinh Hung has one MV, Le Quyen has one album. Trinh Thang Binh and Vu Cat Tuong have one song, but it didn’t explode. Maybe Huong Tram and Isaac have only 30% chance of winning.”

Missing prominent faces

The number of songs that really made a splash in 2016 was not much. To review, we can mention Anh Cu Di Di (Hari Won), Gui Nguoi Yeu Cu (Ho Ngoc Ha), Gui Anh Xa Nho (Bich Phuong), Sau Tat Ca (Erik), Khoi Sau Mot Co Gai (Soobin Hoang Son)...

In 2017, the situation was more positive. At the beginning of the year, Son Tung created a fever with the song Lac troi, while Bich Phuong also created a trend of covering and editing photos with Bao gio la chong.

Many people are wondering about the absence of Son Tung M-TP. He received the MTV EMA award in 2015.

After that, Vpop had many more successful songs. But in general, there were still familiar faces, who had many hits since 2016 such as My Tam (Dau chi rieng em), Son Tung M-TP (Lac troi, Noi nay co anh), Bich Phuong (Bao gio la chong), Soobin Hoang Son (Di de tro ve, Xin dung lang im), Erik (Ghen), Only C (Yeu la tha thu)...

In that list, both My Tam and Son Tung M-TP have won the Best Southeast Asia Act award, so they are not on the nomination list this year.

And it is not difficult to see that only Soobin Hoang Son, Erik, and Bich Phuong meet the criteria set by the Organizing Committee. Therefore, except for Erik who has not been active in the arts for 3 years, the absence of Soobin Hoang Son and Bich Phuong in the nomination list makes many people really confused.

However, according to the announcement of the Organizing Committee, to have their names included in the nomination list, the artists themselves will be the ones to submit their applications. This is probably the reason for the absence of names that the audience considers worthy, instead there are faces that have not really exploded.

Chances of winning are slim.

MTV EMA is a fan voting platform, meaning the singer with the most fans will have the chance to win in the end.

This means that Vietnamese singers must have a large fan base to have a chance to win the Best Southeast Asia Act award. At this stage, our country's representative will have to compete with many strong opponents from Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore...

Remember in 2016, Dong Nhi, despite being one of the top singers with the most fans in Vpop, still struggled to win the final victory with a small gap compared to the second place.

While the two people who won this award, Son Tung and My Tam, both have a large fan base. In fact, Son Tung's case can be said to have the largest fan base today.

Looking back at the current nomination list of 9 singers and ignoring the criteria, but only considering the number of fans, the most important factor in the race, it can be seen that no one is really strong enough like those who have represented Vietnam before.

Therefore, Best Southeast Asia Act 2017 is definitely a much tougher battle than previous years. This means that the chance for Vietnamese singers to step onto the red carpet of the awards ceremony in London (UK) will be more fragile than ever.

Isaac is one of nine singers on the nomination list.

International scale but still domestic playground

In recent years, Vietnamese singers appearing on nomination lists or receiving awards at international award ceremonies is no longer new. However, the inverse proportion to the quantity and quality of the awards has caused much controversy among the music public.

Many awards are criticized by even the home audience as “village treasures” and the Vietnamese singers who receive them are not truly deserving. In fact, many people who have been silent all year are still honored.

Therefore, despite their participation in international award ceremonies, the awards Vietnamese singers receive generally only help them strengthen their position domestically, but in reality do not have much value in the international market, and it is even more difficult to popularize Vietnamese music to the world as many artists still aspire to.

Even Dong Nhi, despite receiving the Best Southeast Asia Act award in 2016, did not appear on the red carpet and main stage of the MTV EMA awards ceremony in the Netherlands.

This year, MTV EMA will take place on November 12 in London (UK). The event will feature Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, Fifth Harmony…

Singer Katy Perry will host the show. The Vietnamese representative competing for this year’s award will be announced on September 8.

According to Zing