Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade. Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and shrinking in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974. In the 1980s, Cantopop peaked with a fanbase and concerts all over the world, especially in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This was even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.
Besides Western pop music, Cantopop is also influenced by other international genres, including jazz, rock and roll, R&B, disco, electronic, ballad and others. Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Boasting a multi-national fanbase, the genre has gained popularity in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Additionally, it has found following in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in southeastern mainland China. Hong Kong remains as the significant hub of the genre.China Briefing Media (2004). Business Guide to the Greater Pearl River Delta. China Briefing Media Ltd. .
History 1920s to 1950s: Shanghai origins Western-influenced music first came to China in the 1920s, specifically through Shanghai.Broughton, Simon. Ellingham, Mark. Trillo, Richard. (2000) World Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides Publishing Company. Artists like Zhou Xuan () acted in films and recorded popular songs.
After the People's Republic of China was founded by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the new government quickly denounced pop music—particularly Western pop—as decadent. Beginning in the 1950s, massive waves of immigrants fled Shanghai to destinations like North Point in Hong Kong. As a result, many first generation Cantopop artists and composers hail from Shanghai.
1960s: Cultural acceptance By the 1960s, Cantonese music in Hong Kong was still limited largely to traditional Cantonese opera and comic renditions of western music. Tang Kee-chan, Cheng Kuan-min (), and Tam Ping-man () were among the earliest artists releasing Cantonese records.
The generation at the time preferred British and American exports. Western culture was at the time equated with education and sophistication,Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong – Volume One. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. ISBN Volume One 962-7283-59-2 and Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and The Beatles were popular.
Conversely, those who preferred Cantonese music were considered old-fashioned or uneducated. and Chan Chai-chung () were two popular Cantonese singers who specifically targeted the younger generation. Connie Chan Po-chu is generally considered to be Hong Kong's first teen idol, mostly due to her career longevity. Josephine Siao is also another artist of the era.
1970s: Beginning of the Golden Age (Rise of television and the modern industry)
Local bands mimicked British and American bands. Two types of local Cantonese music appeared in the market nearly concurrently in 1973: one type cashed in on the popularity of TVB's drama series based on the more traditional lyrical styles. The other was more western style music largely from Polydor Hong Kong (). Notable singers from the era include Liza Wang and Paula Tsui. At the same time, television was fast becoming a household must-have that offered free entertainment to the public. For example, The Fatal Irony () and Games Gamblers Play () took the local music scene by storm as soon as they were broadcast on the radio and television.馮應謙.(2009). 歌潮．汐韻－香港粤語流行曲的發展.香港次文化.
Soap operas were needed to fill TV air time, and popular Cantonese songs became TV theme songs. Around 1971, Sandra Lang, a minor singer who had never sung Cantopop before, was invited to sing a Cantonese TV theme song "A marriage of Laughter and Tears" (). This song was a collaboration between songwriters Yip Siu-dak () and the legendary Joseph Koo. It was ground-breaking and topped local charts. Other groups that profited from TV promotion included the Four Golden Flowers.
Sam Hui is regarded by some to be the earliest Cantopop star. He was the lead singer of the band Lotus formed in the late 1960s, signed to Polydor in 1972. The song that made him famous was the theme song to Games Gamblers Play (), also starring Hui.
The star of TV theme tunes was Roman Tam. Three of the most famous TV soap opera singers were Jenny Tseng, Liza Wang and Adam Cheng. The Wynners and George Lam also amassed a big fan base with their new style. Samuel Hui continued to dominate the charts and won the Centennial Best Sales Award in the first and second IFPI Gold Disc Presentations twice in a row in 1977 and 1978. Polydor became PolyGram () in 1978.
It was at this time that the term Cantopop was first coined. The Billboard correspondent Hans Ebert, who had earlier coined the term Cantorock in 1974, noted a change in its style to something similar to British-American soft rock, therefore started to use the term Cantopop instead in 1978.
In 1974, as the theme song of The Fatal Irony () was very successful, TVB sold to the mainland and other countries and Cantopop reached overseas audiences through drama series.馮應謙.(2009). 歌潮．汐韻－香港粤語流行曲的發展.香港次文化
1980s: The Golden Age of Cantopop
During the 1980s, Cantopop soared to great heights with artists, producers and record companies working in harmony. Cantopop stars such as Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Sally Yeh, Priscilla Chan, Sandy Lam, Danny Chan, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau quickly became household names. The industry used Cantopop songs in TV dramas and movies, with some of the biggest soundtracks coming from films such as A Better Tomorrow (). Sponsors and record companies became comfortable with the idea of lucrative contracts and million-dollar signings. There were also Japanese songs with Cantonese lyrics.
The "Queen of Mandarin songs" Teresa Teng also crossed over to Cantopop. She achieved commercial success with her original Cantonese Hits under the Polygram Label in the early 1980s. Jenny Tseng was another notable singers, who was born in Macau.
In the 1980s, there came the second wave of "band fever" (the first wave came in the 1960–70s, which was much influenced by the global Beatlemania at that time. Young people thought that forming bands was fashionable. Many new bands emerged at that time, such as Samuel Hui's Lotus, The Wynners, and the Teddy Robin and the Playboys. However, the bands emerged in this first wave were just copying the western music style, mostly covering British and American rock songs, and prefer singing in English rather than Cantonese). Different from the first wave in the 60s, the "band fever" in the 80s did not show an obvious relationship with the global culture at the time being, but much related with the marketing strategy of the local record companies and mass media. Many independent bands and music groups were signed by big record companies, and this made a positive impact to the Hong Kong pop music world, as their works were highly original, with strong individuality, and they were all devoted to writing songs in local language, i.e. Cantonese. The subjects of their works were different from the mainstream (which was mostly love ballads). Politics and social life were popular subjects for the bands in their creation. The "band fever" also brought variety in musical style to the Hong Kong mainstream music world (which was almost monopolised by Pop-ballad for a long time). Styles like Rock, Metal, Pop-Rock, Folk, Neo-Romantic, Pop and some experimental styles (e.g. Cantorock) were introduced. Among them, Beyond and Tat Ming Pair () gave the greatest impact to the Hong Kong music world. Some renowned bands and groups included: Beyond, Raidas, Tat Ming Pair, Tai Chi (), Grasshopper (), Little Tigers (), Paradox (), Blue Jeans (), Echo, Wind & Cloud (), Citybeat ().
The second wave of "band fever" also brought a group of new music lovers to the Hong Kong mainstream music world. Most of them were the just-grew-up generation, or the music lovers of the western Avant-garde music, also the Euro-American Rock-band lovers. This contributed to a great change in the population and age distribution of the music listeners from the 70s. Record companies were laying ever more stress on the buying power of these young new customers. The second wave of "band fever" emerged from the mid-1980s (around 1984) and reached its climax in 1986–87. However the "band fever" cannot put for a long time. Along with the death of the legendary Wong Ka Kui, the leader and co-founder of Beyond, in 1993, and the disband-tide emerged in the early 90s (Tat Ming Pair disbanded in 1990), the "band fever" gradually faded away and totally got down in the early 1990s., originally printed in Ming Pao Weekly, 2002.
As Cantopop gained large followings in Chinese communities worldwide, Hong Kong entrepreneurs' ingenious use of the then new Laserdisc technology prompted yet another explosion in the market.
1990s: Four Heavenly Kings era In the 1990s in Hong Kong, the "Four Heavenly Kings" () — Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok — dominated pop music, and coverage in magazines, TV, advertisements and cinema. They had wide audience across different regions, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Southeast Asia, and even South Korea. The female counterparts in this era were Sammi Cheng, Cass Phang, and Kelly Chen.
In 2019, Andy Lau spoke of his desire for a reunion of the Four Heavenly Kings in an interview with the press.
2000s: New era At the turn of the century, Cantonese was still dominant in the domain of Chinese pop.Donald, Stephanie. Keane, Michael. Hong, Yin. (2002). Media in China: Consumption, Content and Crisis. Routledge Mass media policy. . pg 113 The deaths of superstars Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui in 2003 rocked the industry. In addition, with the Four Heavenly Kings fading out and the rise of Taiwan Mandopop singer-songwriter superstars like Leehom Wang, David Tao, Jay Chou and Singapore singer JJ Lin, influence of Cantopop started declining with fans turning to Taiwan Mandopop in the 2000s.
During the period, a transitional phase also took place with many overseas-raised or overseas-educated artists such as Nicholas Tse and Eason Chan gaining popularity and recognition. In 2006, Time magazine praised Eason Chan's Cantonese album U87 as one of the "Five Asian Albums Worth Buying". Besides holding the record for winning the "Ultimate Male Singer - Gold" award (10 times) and "My Favorite Male Singer" award (9 conservative years) at the "Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation" in HK, Eason Chan also won numerous awards at major music award ceremonies locally and in other regions. He became one of the representative figures of Cantopop in the 2000s. Cantopop was not restricted only to Hong Kong, but became part of a larger music movement.
In 2005, Cantopop began a new upswing. Major companies that drove much of the HK segment included Gold Typhoon Music Entertainment (EMI, Gold Label), Universal Music Group, East Asia Entertainment () and Amusic and Emperor Entertainment Group.
The decade was also dubbed a "People's singer" era (), as most performers were frequently seen promoting publicly, in contrast with the 1990s when that era's "big-name" singers () seemed unapproachable. episode 3