What Sun Ho should've done instead

There have been so many angry articles about the whole Kong Hee & CHC saga that I thought I could do a light-hearted one talking about Sun Ho's terrible music career which crashed and burned big time in America. OK, so here's the challenge I was issued:

"It's so easy for you to tell us where Sun Ho went wrong - I think it's pretty obvious for us when we watch her China Wine or Mr Bill music videos, duh. But if you were Sun Ho's business manager, what would you have done differently to ensure that she would've had more success in America? Could you have turned Sun Ho into a star if you were in charge of her career?" 

Would I be able to turn her into a star in the west? 

Fair enough, so let's refer to some of the mistakes she made and take it from there.

Mistake 1: Wrong music style
Solution: Stick to dance music, avoid reggae and Jamaican dancehall

Sun Ho's American English-language pop music spanned three genres: euro-dance, reggae-dancehall and mainstream pop. When you are introducing a product into a new market, you need to have a very clear brand identity. Who is Sun Ho? What is her music style? How do I recognize a song by Sun Ho?

Don't give me the argument about singers like Madonna and Kylie being so versatile - yes, but they are super big stars and you need to look at the early part of their careers when they first became big stars. Kylie's ride to fame was based on a very distinctive Stock, Aitken & Waterman sound, think of her early hits like the Locomotion, I Should Be So Lucky, Je Ne Said Pas Pourquoi and Hand On Your Heart. Likewise for Madonna, her early hits like Everybody, Burning Up, Lucky Star and Borderline - again, very distinctive sound. You know exactly what to expect from them in their early part of their career.

You need to establish your brand identity with your music - choose a style and stick to it. Once you've proven yourself with your chosen genre, then okay, fine, have fun, work with singers from different genre from different countries and make funky, unusual songs to demonstrate your versatility - but first things first - get your business off the ground, establish a fan base who will support you in this market first. Sun Ho has not earned the right to experiment like that - not in America anyway. In the Far East, sure she could do what she wants and count on her fan base in places like Singapore and Taiwan to appreciate her efforts and support her - but not in America.

Actually, her career started off okay there - she did get some minor success in the dance charts but the problem was her dance music didn't go mainstream. Now what I think she should have done was to build on that small initial success in the dance charts and continue doing dance music, rather than waste all that time and money on reggae - a genre which is not at all mainstream in the USA. Dance music can be mainstream and Sun Ho's voice did suit that genre - she should have stuck with it.

Mistake 2: Wrong image, Geisha?!
Solution: Be yourself, Sun Ho.

 

You can't fault her for trying, Sun Ho has attempted to sing and speak in both Jamaican and American accents - but it is clearly not who she is. Let's talk about what is believable. Is it believable for a Singaporean to pick up an American accent after having lived in America for a while? Of course, that happens a lot. Heck, even Singaporeans in Singapore sometimes speak with an American accent. But a Jamaican accent? What is going on here? She has been living in Hollywood, not Kingston Jamaica! And what's this about calling yourself Geisha?! WTF Sun Ho?

I think Sun Ho is confused about the distinction between an actor and a singer. As an actor, you assume a character when you act - as an actor, you can be a murderer, a doctor, a terrorist, a zoo keeper, a primary school teacher, a terminally ill cancer patient, a pimp or a politician - but that is simply the character you assume when you act. As a singer, your image is everything. You want your fans to like you, embrace you, understand you - you can see how successful singers like Shakira, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga have done this as you know exactly what they stand for. They're not trying to act, they're not trying to be something they're not, they make it explicitly clear who they are and what they stand for.

It is one thing to experiment with different music styles and collaborate with a diverse range of musicians - but let's look at 'Hips Don't Lie' by Shakria & Wyclef Jean as a case study. Like Sun Ho, Shakira worked with Wyclef Jean - but did she compromise on whom she was? No, she didn't try to be Jamaican, she didn't try to change the way she sang - she was true to her Latino-Colombian self and even sang in a mix of English and Spanish. She had a strong brand identity and she didn't compromise the way Sun Ho did. Shakira worked with Wyclef Jean, she didn't try to be Wyclef Jean - unlike Sun Ho, who thought she was black and from Jamaica despite singing about China Wine.

 

Sun Ho already has an established Mandopop career with a tried and tested image - why try to reinvent yourself when you clearly have something that has already worked? If it ain't broke, why fix it? There is a sense of insincerity in the way she is pretending to be something she is not - and that doesn't go down well with singers when they are trying to reach out to fans. The fans want to know whom they get liking, whom they are relating to and it is very hard to get close to someone if you can sense that they are not being themselves.

Mistake 3: Spending way too much money
Solution: Limpeh will control your budget.

You cannot guarantee success merely by spending more money and hiring the most sought after producers and choreographers in the business - yes Sun Ho did work with some of the best industry but make no mistake here, she used CHC's $24 million to buy their time, these people didn't work with her for free because they liked her Mandopop. Oh and I would make her rent a far more modest apartment, no mansion in Hollywood Hills for you Sun Ho, not if I was your manager.

There is a very basic principle of business here. You need to recoup your initial investment if you want to make a profit and if you sink in $24 million, well, you're setting yourself up to fail. Let me show you an example of how you can make a song go viral on Youtube on a shoestring budget. I am sure many of you would've seen the music video for OK Go's 'Here It Goes Again'.

The song charted mostly because of the popularity of the music video which has so far accumulated over 52 million hits on Youtube. It was simple, quirky, funny and memorable - it made people want to share it on websites like Facebook and Twitter and there have been so many parodies of it since. The concept was original and very well executed - what is amazing is that the song isn't really that great and people tend to remember the thread mill dance routine rather than the song itself. But this is a great example of how you need good, original ideas to make a song chart, rather than millions of dollars. Sun Ho spent $24 million and she did not chart - I was unable to find any figures for OK Go's 'Here It Goes Again' but come on - six thread mills in a gym and a single, continuous short. I can appreciate the amount of rehearsal time it must've taken them to get that 3 minute routine so sleek - but this is a great example of using one's creativity and imagination instead of throwing money at a music video.

How can I get Sun Ho the next viral music video if I cannot come up with an equally brilliant idea? Simple. In a place like Los Angeles, New York or London - heck, in any big city, there will be thousands of budding young film makers. Most of them will be rubbish but a few of them would be excellent. I have a simple way to seek out the few young, talented but penniless film makers: a competition. In Limpeh's competition, I would release a sample (say 60 seconds long) of Sun Ho's latest track on the internet and invite film makers to pitch me their concept or the music video - the winner will get a decent cash prize and a chance to turn his concept into reality. We spend some money publicizing the competition then we wait, give it like a month.

 

And instead of me having to wreck my brains for a good concept, I have the brightest brains in the country offering me their best ideas - all I have to do at the end of that month is to pick the best idea. Say if my cash prize is US$10,000 - I am spending US$10,000 to get thousands of people to give me their best ideas. Do you know how much consultants in this industry cost? After all, if you hire one director, you only get his ideas. This way you have a pool of great ideas from thousands of great minds. That is fantastic value for money - after all, how else are you going to get so many brains to come up with the best possible idea for your music video?

Is this idea original? Nah, I confess, it isn't. It has already been done by the band LMFAO in the UK with C4 and Turborg. It's a great idea and a win-win situation - the band gets a brilliant music video at a fraction of the cost and some young film maker gets his/her first big break. Wonderful, isn't it? Ha, I know some of the people in the video below.

The fact is the music industry has been around for a long time. Why try to come up with a new business model? Simply look around and do your research - find out what has worked for others and use their business ideas. It isn't rocket science - but it proved too much for Sun Ho's team. Tsk tsk.

Mistake 4: Focusing only on her music career
Solution: Multi-media approach: TV, film, reality TV, advertising

If you wish to tackle a market like the US, you cannot put all your eggs in one basket, you have got to attack the market on all fronts. You have got to think laterally. Now Sun Ho should've tried to do some acting - I don't care whether it's TV, reality TV or film - it would be another way or her to raise her profile in America to get people more interested in her music. I can think of several singers who have done both TV and film - Natalia Imburglia, Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue and Delta Goodrem all found fame first with the Australian soap Neighbours before going on to have very respectable pop careers as singers.

 

Even I have done some reality TV programmes in the UK, there are so many reality TV shows out there right now - it's not just Big Brother you know, but anything and everything dealing with all aspects of life from parenting to food to showbiz to talent contests. I could easily see her as a judge on some second-rate talent programme where they try to turn high school drop outs into singers - y'know, the kind of programme which tries to combine the celebrity factor with a human touch. "Shaniqua left school two years ago with no qualifications and no hope - her mentor Sun Ho has four weeks to change all that and to help Shaniqua find the confidence to believe that she can make it as a singer. Let's join Sun and Shaniqua in this amazing, heart warming journey."

Why didn't Sun Ho's agent try to raise her profile by getting her onto some celebrity-related TV programme? After all, when Shilpa Shetty took part in Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, nobody knew who she was - we just knew that she is very famous in India but nothing she had done previously was meant for the mainstream UK market. Given that Sun Ho is indeed very famous in places like Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, surely that would've been more than enough to get her onto various celebrity related programmes? Any kind of TV air-time would've helped boost her music career, so why wasn't that route pursued?

 

Was her agent too ignorant about the American market? Did her agent not have the right connections to get her into the right TV programmes? Was she just too lazy to go for all these auditions and screen tests? Good grief. If I was her agent, I'd be trying so hard to get her onto a whole range of reality TV programmes and it's not that hard, trust me. If a nobody like me can get to do these programmes, surely someone like Sun Ho's reputation could do plenty.

Furthermore, there is the lucrative world of advertising. Now don't turn your noses up at advertising - if you're a nobody in America, being on a mainstream ad for a major brand could mean your face being seen by millions every 15-20 minutes whenever there is an ad break. Say if you do one episode in a soap, you are on screen for that 30 or 45 minutes and that's it - but a major ad campaign can run for up to a year on all commercial channels. What better way to get your face out there? It can get your noticed and in a place like America, boy there are not that many methods to gain this kind of instant recognition. Besides, if you get chosen for a big ad campaign, it's bloody good money for the model/actor.

And hey, even Limpeh has done plenty of ads. They seem to love me as an Eskimo/Inuit for some reason and my most memorable ads have been as an Eskimo/Inuit.

Now it takes a bit of luck to land yourself a major ad campaign - you need to be noticed by the right casting directors who are responsible for all the big accounts. However, you need to have the right agent, with the right connections and even then, you still need a lot of luck as competition is fierce. Sun Ho is a beautiful, confident woman with a great voice - was her agent pushing her for as a model for advertising at all?

Mistake 5: Trying her English language music in America first
Solution: Launch your English language pop career in Asia first, then the UK, before trying America.

Sun Ho is a star in Asia - her American campaign should've been built on her success in Asia, rather than this crazy effort to reinvent herself as someone totally different in America. After all, she could first try to market her English language songs to her Asian fans, try out her English material in Singapore and Taiwan first before trying them in America! At least she knows she has a fan base in Singapore and Taiwan who know her, love her and will support her. I grew up in Singapore on a diet of British and American pop music all through my teenage years - Singaporeans love English language pop music. Lady Gaga played Taipei on her Asian tour and she doesn't speak Mandarin - yet the Taiwanese fans love her music.

 

If I were Sun Ho's manager, I would make Sun release her first English language album in Singapore and Taiwan first and gauge the success. Did the Singaporean and Taiwanese market like her music? Which tracks did the fans like? Were the local DJs happy to play her music on the radio? What kind of reviews did she get in the local press, in magazines like 8 Days and I-S? Based on the results in the local market, it would be a very cheap way to test the album out before going all out in America. It would also give us the chance to re-record or remix any tracks which were not up to standard before issuing the international/US release of the album.

After all, if you were to turn up at 98.7 FM in Singapore and told them, "hey, I've got the new Sun Ho album here, please support local talent thanks!" The DJs are bound to give you their attention and try their best to help you. But if you were to turn up at some New York, Chicago or Los Angeles radio station and ask them to play Sun Ho's new single, what do you think is going to happen?

Did Sun Ho think that Singapore was unimportant? That America was her key market now and she could forget all about Singapore? That was a bad mistake to make as some local success would've gone some way to help her recoup her initial investment - Singapore is not a small country after all. It has a population of 5.1 million quite rich people who are willing and able to spend good money on entertainment, why did she ignore Singapore as part of her international marketing strategy? I would've put Singapore at the heart of her marketing strategy - after all, what she is trying to do is not easy and what you should always do is start off in your home town where you know you have local knowledge and good contacts, so you can start off with a victory on home ground. It may be a small victory but an important one - there are plenty of other Asian victories she could've had with her English-language material, in Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong etc.

But no, instead Sun Ho started off by trying to conquer America. Good grief - she grossly overestimated her appeal and talent and grossly underestimated the challenge. Instead of America, I would've marketed her to easier markets to crack - such as the UK. After all, the UK has a much better track record in terms of Asian artists making it into the charts such as Panjabi MC, Cornershop, M.I.A., Far East Movement, Apache Indian and China Black have all made it into the upper echelons of the UK singles chart.

Furthermore, we have also seen a number of non-English songs made it into the top 40 charts in the UK, with singles such as Moi... Lolita by Alizée (French), Mundian To Bach Ke by Panjabi MC (Punjabi), 99 Luftballons by Nena (German), Lambada by Kaoma (Brazilian-Portuguese), Yéké yéké by Mory Kanté (Mandinka - a West African language from Guinea) - I could go on, but you get the idea. It is far easier for a foreign singer like Sun Ho to tackle a market like the UK. Who knows, she could've stayed true to her Singaporean roots for the UK market - rather than pretend to be American or Jamaican in the US.

And after she makes her name in the UK, it would be a lot easier to cross over to America but I think she made a terrible mistake in trying to run before she could walk in attempting to conquer the American market like that. Mundian To Bach Ke was already a huge hit in Europe - reaching #1 in Italy and Belgium, #5 in the UK and #2 in Germany. It was only after Jay-Z did a remix for the American market that it charted in America, reaching #33 in the US Billboard Chart. Technically speaking, even though Panjabi MC is marketing himself in the Bhangra genre and does not sing in English (and that iconic music video was shot in KL!), his nationality is British and he was born and bred in Coventry in the West Midlands, England. That is why this wasn't considered an 'Asian artiste/singer' in the US but a British artiste. Would Mundian To Bach Ke have been a hit in the US without the huge success it had in Europe? No way. What is interesting is that despite being born and bred in England, Rajinder Singh Rai aka Panjabi MC never tried to be 'white' - his image was Indian, his music was Indian, his passport was British. Sun Ho could've learnt a thing or two from him!

So there you go, that's 5 things Limpeh could've done for Sun Ho had she hired me as her business manager. I can't guarantee that she would become a huge international star even if she did everything on my list, but I certainly wouldn't have spent S$24 million - I would've spent a lot less than that, so at least if it all went tits up and we achieved nothing, we wouldn't have wasted that much money in the process.

In conclusion, I want to remind you how difficult it is to get a head start in this industry. It is as difficult for a Singaporean actor to make it in Singapore as it is for an American actor to make it in Hollywood. The key thing is that nepotism is rife and so much depends on whom you know, if they can get you that audition and put you in front of the right people. I remember how I got my first big break in Singapore back in the 1990s because I knew Margaret Chan's daughter as we were in VJC together and that's how a group of us from VJC-TSD ended up on the Ra Ra Show a few times!

Fast forward to today, I was involved with a comedy programme on E4 called the Midnight Beast. Now it's a comedy about 3 guys struggling to make it in the music industry and whilst the pretty much play themselves in the series, their real life situations couldn't be further from the truth. They all have wonderful supportive parents who enrolled them in prestigious drama schools from a young age and one of them, Ashley, has even done Dr Who. I have spoken to his dad and I told him, "I hope Ash realizes just how lucky he is to have a supportive dad like you!" His father works in the industry too and so he was able to guide his son through this industry from a young age.

Sun Ho didn't realize how important this aspect was - of having someone hold your hand and say, "you just focus on performing, let me worry about the business side of things". It doesn't matter if you're an outsider who doesn't know anyone in the system - you either hire a good business manager who does have the right connections (why didn't Sun Ho do that?) or you learn very quickly how to operate in this industry and be your own manager. I didn't do badly, come on - Limpeh was the Ah Beng from Ang Mo Kio and I managed to end up working with the Midnight Beast. See if you can spot me in this trailer.

What do you think? What career advice would you have given Sun Ho? Do you think she could've been a star if she had a better manager? Please leave a comment. Thanks!