Last year a children's market war broke out in Taiwan's pop music world. It was all touched off by an innocent idea and three gentle boys with an average age of 17. The heroes of this fairy tale, a group called the Young Tigers, achieved a number of firsts in the local world of pop.
To begin with, a marathon drive to collect 10,000 signatures for "We love the Young Tigers" at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall last April had to be cancelled because of jostling and injuries among the screaming fans.
Then last June the Young Tigers undertook an island-wide tour coinciding with the release of their latest single. All 25 concerts were sold out and many young fans skipped classes to follow the group from venue to venue. All told, some 500,000 tickets were sold.
Despite the massive popularity of the Young Tigers, their singing makes little genuine impression. Parents who are out of touch with what their children are doing may wonder why they seem to have lost all interest in life: "What are these 'Young Tigers'? How come I've never heard of them?"
The Young Tigers' fairy story was launched eighteen months ago by a variety show on the CTS television channel. Following a successful precedent set on Japanese television, three nice-looking boys were recruited as assistants on the show and were dubbed the Young Tigers.
Soon crowds of young girls were mobbing the recording studio, not to see the show but to catch a glimpse of their adored Young Tigers.
They never thought of making records and couldn't even sing properly, but the Young Tigers were encouraged to produce an album and two singles within a year. Record sales of over a million soon had the critics eating their hats.
Their success opened up a previously neglected children's market for pop. The Young Tigers largely appealed to children between 3 and 12 years old, and record dealers actually found many of their most loyal fans to be kindergarten kids.
Another young figure to burst on to the pop scene last year was Chengchi University student Chang Yu-sheng, singer of a soft drinks ad theme song "My Future Is No Dream."
Unlike the Young Tigers, Chang Yu-sheng's songs reached every corner of Taiwan and appealed to all age groups. Everyone from three-year-old toddlers to pensioners in their 60's knew the lyrics. Chang's high pitched singing style, his closed eyes and clenched fists, and his student attire of black-rimmed specs, white shirt and satchel were suddenly all the rage.
Every parent knows how eagerly children want to have something they like, and how quickly they will tire of it. Because of children's rapidly changing tastes and careless spending habits, many record producers have been inspired by the success of the Young Tigers and their recording company to grab a slice of the action.
A lot of parents imagine their children are still happy with the old entertainment favorites. They don't realize how the times are changing, or how much children especially have changed.
"Children today are maturing much earlier," says kindergarten teacher Tseng Li-hua. She once heard a five-year-old boy say to the little girl next to him: "When I grow up I'm never going to get divorced." When asked if he knew what divorce meant, he replied with confidence: "It's when two people who love each other can't get on together!"
Children may lack full understanding, but they certainly can't be described as "unspoilt" or "naive." With children watching all kinds of soap-operas and dramas on TV, no wonder the old nursery rhymes and children's songs sound so completely out of touch.
"Modern children are a bag of contradictions--they are still gentle and tender by nature, and still enjoy cartoons, toys and children's stories. Yet on the other hand the adult world seems so close and fascinating, of course they want to dive into it as soon as possible," says Chung Ssu-chia of Chengchi University's psychology department and adviser to the Parents Monthly periodical.
If you press them to say why they like these singers they will say, "The Young Tigers are so handsome!" "They can turn somersaults--great!" or "Chang Yu-sheng is a soldier (he's just started his military service), and I just love soldiers!" But if you ask them what their songs are really all about, they just look bewildered.
"Children's idol-worship starts from identification with a certain look or image. The idol's inner qualities, his thoughts or his music, don't count for much," says professor P'eng Yun of Chengchi University's Institute of Journalism.
In this respect television, as the arch creator of media illusion, plays a major role.
Statistics show that most children's identification with idols begins with television. Variety shows are well designed to create illusory effects through special lighting effects, snazzy camerawork and dubbing to videotapes. Once young pop fans are swept up in all this, why should they worry about its content and meaning?
An "image" is important for attracting children, so it's not too hard to see why these singers could take the pop scene by storm without a single record to their credit.
"There are many subtle differences in taste between kindergarten children and students at elementary school or junior high school," points out Sung Wen-shan, manager of the Young Tigers. Apart from good looks, pop fans of kindergarten age up to 7 or 8 are also attracted by friendliness, shyness or an instantly recognizable "children's type." The songs they find most attractive are simple, clear and easy to sing.
There are many ways of packaging a pop idol, but there are no ready-made formulas for success. No one would dare guarantee what will appeal to child fans and win their hearts at first sight.
Ch'en Wen-ling, deputy director of Ufo Group Records, denies that recording companies intentionally create pop idols as market leaders, as is widely believed outside the industry. The companies are only concerned to cater to existing fads and have no time to launch new ones.
Be that as it may, Ch'en Wen-ling has studied child fans' idol-worshipping attitudes quite thoroughly. She thinks it involves a whole range of feelings including emotional identification, transplanting affection, the sense of belonging and role learning.
Identification means that young fans regard their idol as their spokesman--"He is the embodiment of my dreams," "He speaks the words that are in my heart."
The Young Tigers are typical pop idols. Once they were certain their image of orderliness, self-respect and being successful students, playful kids and big earners had popular appeal, they did all they could to keep it up. "Children want their idols to be perfect," Sung Wen-shan acknowledges. Once a pop star's image is sullied by gossip or rumors, especially if they point to an ugly truth, the whole bubble can burst.
Ch'en Wen-ling points out that identification with a pop idol is a form of self-affirmation. These kids lack the self-confidence to go out and do things, so they rely on pop idols to release all their pent-up emotions.
Another important reason for liking certain singers is to establish a set of tastes in common with one's peers.
"Don't laugh, peer pressure is really very important," stresses P'eng Yun. If a child can't join in with his peers he will feel lonely and anxious because he doesn't fit in.
Finally, Ch'en Wen-ling points out, pop idols give children an example to follow.
P'eng Yun is strongly in agreement. A child's socializing process means he must find a model to guide him along. Previously such models were taken either from the home or from school, including both teachers and classmates.
"Today it's different," P'eng Yun says. Modern parents are busy at their jobs, and many children have to attend extra-curricular classes. Children of nuclear families have no grandparents around, and sometimes no siblings either. No wonder today's children often lack the opportunity to learn genuine, stable patterns of adulthood within a close and lasting family relationship.
Maybe pop-idol worship is a necessary stage in growing up, but parents should not be content to let their impressionable young children pattern themselves on images molded by the mass media. They should spend more time with their children, talking to them and letting them express themselves. Surveys of child psychology show that whatever other idols they worship, children's most sincere and lasting admiration is always reserved for their own mother and father!
[Picture Caption]
Another money-spinner dreamed up by the record companies is to exploit the lure of pop idols to promote spin-off products such as Young Tigers' stationery sets and T-shirts, which kiddie fans adore. (photos by Huang Li-li, courtesy of My Type Fashion Consulting Co., Ltd. and Great Dab Stationery Co., Ltd.)
Yi Neng-ching's sweet voice and lovely looks go down just great with kiddie fans. (photo by Fan Yi-shun)
These are the three Young Tigers who touched off the kiddie-pop war. (photo courtesy of Carrier Creative Mate)
Pop music is increasingly aimed to appeal to young children's tastes, while parents are wondering where all their children's pocket money is going. (photo by Huang Li-li)
Yi Neng-ching's sweet voice and lovely looks go down just great with kiddie fans. （photo by Fan Yi-shun）
These are the three Young Tigers who touched off the kiddie-pop war. （photo courtesy of Carrier Creative Mate）
Pop music is increasingly aimed to appeal to young children's tastes, while parents are wondering where all their children's pocket money is going. （photo by Huang Li-li）
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)
