Vietnamese Music to the World: New Standards and Challenges

Impressive highlights

“At first, I watched the MV Bắc Bling from Vietnam just because it was a popular trend. Then I loved it, partly because it was good, and partly because it was very Vietnamese. I like the music genre that combines modernity with national characteristics. I hope your upcoming music products continue to promote such characteristics to create their own uniqueness,” said Mr. Yuinatsume, an audience member from Japan, who did not hesitate to praise the MV Bắc Bling by singer Hòa Minzy.

Maverick, a viewer from Brazil, wrote on YouTube: “A Vietnamese friend introduced me to the MV Bắc Bling . The MV made me exclaim with delight, it was really good and impressive when integrating cultural elements of the host country in a very unique and youthful way. It made me more interested in Vietnamese culture.” Not only compliments, a series of short videos “catching the trend” of dancing and singing along to the song continuously appeared on social networks from viewers from many countries.

MV Bac Bling by Hoa Minzy is causing a fever

The MV Bắc Bling was produced by Hòa Minzy in collaboration with comedian Xuân Hinh, musician Tuấn Cry, and producer Masew, combining traditional folk materials with modern electronic music. The MV introduces many landmarks, historical and cultural relics of Bắc Ninh along with the quintessential beauty of Vietnamese people, such as communal house culture, black teeth customs, betel and areca nut chewing, etc. The MV has continuously achieved many world-class titles, such as top 1 MV Best Debut (Most impressive MV debut globally), top 1 Song Best Debut (Most impressive song debut globally).

With the “heat” of Bac Bling, recently, Ha Anh Tuan’s Sketch a rose in Saigon concert held at The Global City (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) not only attracted 20,000 spectators but also made an impression with the collaboration with world piano legend Yiruma (Korea). Notably, Yiruma and Ha Anh Tuan performed Dear, Memory - a song Yiruma composed specifically for Ha Anh Tuan. Although it was just an exchange song, this affirmed the respect of an internationally famous artist for Vietnamese artists.

Previously, Ha Anh Tuan had a collaboration with world music legend Kitaro (Japan) at the live concert The glorious horizon . For the first time on the Vietnamese stage, the familiar songs Alone in the morning, Spring, April is your lie sung by Ha Anh Tuan were arranged and created by Kitaro.

Resetting the new standard

After the show in Vietnam, Ha Anh Tuan announced that he would bring Sketch a rose to the "holy hall of honor" Dolby Theatre (USA) in October. This is also the place where the Oscars are held every year. The male singer "promised" the audience to wear Vietnamese ao dai to the concert. Before that, in 2024, Ha Anh Tuan marked his journey to bring Vietnamese music to iconic theaters around the world: Esplanade Theater (Singapore), Sydney Opera House (Australia) with a total of nearly 6,000 audiences. Ha Anh Tuan's large investment, regular organization and certain standards have opened the way and standard methods for domestic artists to follow.

Concert Sketch a rose at Esplanade Theatre (Singapore)

Before Ha Anh Tuan and Hoa Minzy, there were many projects by Vietnamese artists collaborating with international artists, or contributing to bringing Vietnamese music closer to the world audience. Recently, young singer 7dnight (Ngo Tuan Dat) had a short 30-second music clip in the song Khong Sa Ca that became a global phenomenon when it reached over 1 billion listeners. Hoang Thuy Linh once had See Tinh that caused a fever in many countries around the world.

Son Tung M-TP has twice collaborated with international stars to "create a storm": with Snoop Dogg in "Give it to me" and with Mai Davika (Thailand) in "Run Now" . Duc Phuc collaborated with legendary Boyband 911 in "I agree " to create a fever. Vietnamese music has also had a number of viral songs in some countries such as: "Ghen Co Vy" (Erik, Min, Khac Hung); "De den de di" , "Thuy Trieu" (Quang Hung MasterD, Gulf Kanawut - Thai star); "Nga tho", "Da vu", "Ben tren thang lau" (Tang Duy Tan), "Happy for you" (Vu, Lukas Graham - Denmark)...

Vietnamese music has always appeared in the world market in the form of a trend on social networks associated with a short, catchy, “addictive” piece of music, a dance on TikTok… People are also skeptical about the true “vitality” of the songs, because creating a trend is not enough. Songs like Bac Bling, Easy to Come, Easy to Go, Thuy Trieu… impress international audiences because of the song itself, not because of the dance, because the 30-second piece of music is a good sign.

Or like the music project Sketch A Rose by Ha Anh Tuan, which is regularly held in the world's "music cathedrals" with strict organizational standards, the special idea is shaping the value of a music brand. To be able to go further in the journey of "exporting music", to not stop at the small number of songs enjoyed as an independent product, besides the strategy, effort, and seriousness of the artist, the quality of the music product must be the core.

From the end of January 2025, IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), representing the global recording industry, announced the launch of the Official Vietnam Chart. Duong Domic's "Lot ket ket" is the first song to reach number 1.

This, along with recent music projects that have caused a stir, has made the Vietnamese public think more about the position of Vietnamese music in the digital age, on the current global music map.

TIEU TAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nhac-viet-ra-the-gioi-tieu-chuan-va-thach-thuc-moi-post789376.html