The globalisation of pop music

I caught a bit of PopAsia on SBS the other morning, and it got me thinking about the globalisation of pop music. I look at the clips and they don't seem that much different to Western pop music. My impression from watching the show is that there's a lot less solo artists and more groups.

As in Western pop, the Asian pop stars are also ridiculously thin and good-looking. The music sounds the same. It's hard to pinpoint what defines Asian pop, other than it's in an Asian language and the singers are Asian. There's lots of dancing and acting in the video clips, but that's the same for Western pop as well.

It's interesting to see how Asian beauty ideals differ from Western beauty ideals. The men are very lean, very pale and have very luminous skin. Western ideals dictate a more muscular build and a more tanned complexion.

Let me segue into this Bollywood song that's been stuck in my head ever since I saw Dhoom 2 (highly recommended) two weeks. It's a pop cultural masterpiece: the leads are ridiculously good-looking, the dancing is infectious and energetic, and the acting is dramatic and over-the-top. This song, Dhoom Again, is the lead track from Dhoom 2.  Love it.