This was originally going to be a simple post introducing Sweet Cake. They are an adorable new girlband from Indonesia and already have a cute tune called "Cinta Yang Indah" under their belt. But during my search for more information on these powerhouse vocalists/all-around entertainers, I stumbled across a familiar phenomenon - an outpouring of hate and racist remarks from irate K-Pop fans. Sadly, it's not an isolated event. I noticed exactly the same thing when I researched Filipino girlband The Pop Girls and see similar comments every time I check out a Chinese act on YouTube. What's going on?
I understand some of the frustration with Sweet Cake. Their extremely low-budget video borrows heavily from Orange Caramel's "After School". But that clip was hardly original. Gwen Stefani already went down the Alice In Wonderland route a decade earlier and every second K-Pop diva steals shamelessly from Beyoncé's iconic visuals. Can't Orange Caramel fans just see the video as a tribute? I don't know much about the music scene in Indonesia but I'm guessing it's fairly rudimentary in comparison to the well-oiled Korean machine. Would it be so hard to encourage Sweet Cake instead of tearing them down? It's time for K-Pop fans to take a seat. That nation doesn't own the copyright on Asian pop music.
Anyway, back to Sweet Cake. I have no idea what "Cinta Yang Indah" is about or what the title even means - I'm hoping someone will enlighten me - but it's a perky pop song with a catchy chorus. And those qualities are international. As for the band, I can't find any information on them apart from the fact that the line-up appears to change every five minutes. I'm pretty sure they started off as a three-piece before expanding. The video (below) is not great but they are so endearing, it's hard to resist. Sweet Cake can't quite match it with flawless divas like 4Minute just yet but there is room for them in the weird and wonderful world of pop. Make them feel welcome.
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