Asian-American performers defy ‘stereotypes,’ organizer says

When YouTube singer Clara Chung performed at a concert in Metcalf Hall on Thursday, many attendees said her success serves as just one example of ways that Asian-Americans can express themselves.

“One of the common stereotypes is that Asians are hard workers, good at math – stuff like that. We wanted to show that Asians can express their creativity through other means,” said School of Management junior Jay Chen, a representative of the Chinese Student Association, which organized the concert with the Korean Student Association.

More than 300 BU students attended the concert, which featured a series of local acts, including an acoustic performance by recent BU graduate Arun Govada, a duet with College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Elaine Shin and College of Communication freshman Eugene Kim, another duet with CAS junior Dillon Le and Boston College student Kimmi Vo and a performance by BU’s Korean a cappella group K-Soul.

The Jubilee Project, a trio of Asian-American college graduates who aim to spread awareness and fundraise for a number of causes through their YouTube videos, emceed the concert.

Chung’s performance included songs from her YouTube performances and a dance off with audience members for a $100 gift card from sponsor yesstyle.com.

Chung said that she uploads videos on YouTube of herself singing in her dorm at the University of California, Irvine.

With more than 10 million views on her YouTube channel, Chung is now a full-time singer whom the performers called a source of inspiration for aspiring artists and Asian-American entertainers.

“She’s adorable,” said freshman Michaella Chung, a freshman in the School of Education. “She’s so genuine about her music, so authentically excited by it.”

Govada, who had the opportunity to meet Chung last year, said that speaking with her gave him the motivation to start posting his songs on YouTube.

“If you’re just singing by yourself in your room, you won’t have that chance to grow. On YouTube, you can see what people like, what people think you could work on, and I find that really, really rewarding,” he said.

Shin said that uploading videos on YouTube is often a daunting task for aspiring musicians.

“I want to start, I really do. I just need to push the ‘upload’ button,” she said.

Chung said that uploading her videos onto YouTube was initially an “uncomfortable” experience for her as well.

“It puts you in a very vulnerable and open state, but it’s also unique from other major artists and their labels, [who’ve] got walls and walls between them and their fans,” Chung said.

Jason Lee, a co-founder of the Jubilee Project, called YouTube an important tool for allowing Asian-Americans to be heard.

“I think Asian-Americans were always trying to look for a place to express themselves and find a voice. Often you didn’t see Asian Americans on TV or in film, but I think social media and YouTube are giving a great voice for the Asian-American community, and that’s why Asian Americans are so prominent there,” he said.

Lee co-founded the Jubilee Project with Eric Lu and Eddie Lee after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010 and started creating “entertaining videos that will empower, enable and inspire others to do good as well,” according to the project’s website.

“Word on the street is that there is a movement going on in the Asian-American community right now,” Lu said. “There’s a documentary in the works about this going on as we speak. There’s definitely something going on, something exciting is happening.”