Music is a fun way to get in touch with Vietnamese culture and can even benefit your language learning.
But I have a confession…
When I lived in Vietnam I didn’t really listen to Vietnamese music, pop or otherwise. There are three main reasons.
- There’s a weird phenomenon that most Vietnamese people sing with a Northern accent, no matter where they are from.
- My teenage students were into K-Pop. That’s probably because…
- Pop music isn’t really mainstream in Vietnam.The kind of songs popular with my friends were ballads and love songs, which are not my cup of tea. Vietnamese pop music is often criticised in the media for being too Western or too much like Korean pop music.
By the time I left Vietnam I only had 6 songs on my ‘Vietnamese music’ playlist. And one of those was a parody of a K-Pop song.
So I decided to investigate and see if I could find some Vietnamese pop music (aka V-Pop) which is called nhạc trẻ in Vietnamese.
10 Vietnamese Pop Musicians
Here are some of my favourite Vietnamese musicians, covering a range of modern styles.
Word of warning: Many of these songs have a catchy beat to them but are still quite melancholic.
With that said, let’s get started with my V-pop list:
JustaTee
He mostly sings ballads but there are some poppier songs like this one.
Download Forever Alone from Zing MP3.
Emily
Model-turned-R&B-singer Emily is both a solo artist and regularly teams up with other singers like JustaTee.
Download Dừng Lại Nhé from Zing MP3.
FB Boiz
A fun boyband based in Saigon who describe their music style as R&B and Hip Hop.
Download Em Có Biết from Zing MP3.
Đông Nhi
A soloist who composes many of her own songs.
Download Khi Mưa from Zing MP3
Trương Qùynh Anh
She mainly sings ballads, but this is a poppier song.
Download Hãy Bước Qua Nhau from Zing MP3.
Á Đông
Their sound is very Vietnamese but accompanied by a pop or dance soundtrack.
Downloads of Vầng Trăng Tình Yêu seem unavailable outside of VN.
YunjBoo
A younger rapper who often collaborates with others. I’m not normally into rap but it’s refreshing to hear a southern accent!
Downloads of Hy Vọng Vô Hạn seem unavailable outside of VN.
Thái Tuyết Trâm
She sings several lovely acoustic covers of other Vietnamese songs.
Downloads of Tình Yêu Màu Nắng seem unavailable outside of VN.
Diễm Hương
She has an incredible voice. The first time I heard this song I got chills down my spine. It’s no wonder she was on Vietnam’s “The Voice”.
This is a good song to sing along to as it’s fairly slow and it’s easy to understand the basic message of the song.
Downloads of Who Cares seem unavailable outside of VN.
365 DaBand
This band have a Western or K-Pop vibe to them. They also occasionally sing in English, cover or mash-up English songs. Isaac also does solos.
Downloads of 365daband songs seem unavailable outside of VN.
Resources to continue exploring Vietnamese music
- To find Vietnamese lyrics search for [title] lời bài hát or [title] lyrics (eg. Forever Alone lời bài hát).
- For more V-Pop recommendations see Spotify or go here or see Reddit.
- If you do like ballads, you’re in luck! There’s a huge range of them with English translations here.
Over to you: Do you listen to music in a foreign language? Do you like any Vietnamese musicians?
40 replies on “Vietnamese Pop Music – 10 Artists”
I’m a huge pop music fan so I was really looking forward to this list. Well done! 😉
Music is one of my favorite tools and I use it A LOT when I’m in the process of learning a new language. It helps you with pronunciation, vocabulary and listening comprehension in general.
I’m off to listen to some V-Pop now! 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed this list. You’ll have to let me know what you think of V-Pop!
hi this is the new website for V-Pop Music http://www.4hongi.wordpress.com
xoxo
You have a great site on female Vietnamese singers! I’ve added it to the resources at the end.
I don’t know any Vietnamese, but I love this brooding song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ee7C1rIJCY
I’m learning Thai, and a Thai song that I really love is
Thanks for the link, Adam. I think it’s possible to enjoy music in a language you don’t understand, right?
Hey Claire! For more Vietnamese Pop Music Artist go to http://www.4hongi.blogspot.com this blog is daily update with new and old artists with their songs!
Thanks for the link. 🙂
Absolutely!
Thank you for this list! My sentiments exactly…either Vnese songs are like really slow ballad which i do not enjoy, or they are completely western R&B style. This list is exactly what I was looking for, please keep posting more songs like these 🙂
Great! I’m thinking about putting together a Part 2. Let me know if you find anything else you’d recommend.
This is my list, although majority is northern accent:
Hoàng Thùy Linh:
This is like a soft rock song: Rung Động (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjd7E5gjhtY)
These two songs have good beats but more serious, has been her style since her sex scandal I guess:
Ngày Không Anh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvy_VXXFEB4)
Đừng Vội Vàng (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B_9yRtUwXA)
Noo Phước Thịnh:
This has very catchy music:
Gạt Đi Nước Mắt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Olhfb94ARY)
HỒ QUANG HIẾU:
Nice beats although song is about breakup: KHÔNG CẢM XÚC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIUtnAfIZKk)
This one you probably heard a lot during tet: CON BƯỚM XUÂN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fivg9N5uqeQ)
And a one off hit by OnlyC, funny song with good beats:
Anh Khong Doi Qua (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BurYzEr9CpA)
Awesome! Thanks, SJ.
For anyone who is looking for new and trendy vietnamese music, I recommend checking out this blog http://vpopbox.tumblr.com
Deffo new impression of the upcoming Vpop scene! We are slowly improving…
I’ll check it out, thanks.
Your first bullet is completely wrong. Almost all Vietnamese songs are sung in the Southern accent. Listen to Minh Tuyet, Ho Ngoc Ha, or Anh Minh if you want to hear Vietnamese pop. However, almost all of the songs you hear will be a mixture of pop and love ballads.
I’m not denying there are some songs sung with a Southern accent, especially classics, but this article is about modern Vietnamese pop music.
TVo has no idea what he’s talking about. The only songs sung in southern accent are southern folk songs. Everything else is sung in a northern accent, even by southerners. TVO is probably a Vietnamese-American who can barely speak Viet, and 2 of the singers he lists are from Vietnamese-American variety shows that only old people watch and the youth in Vietnam don’t really follow.
Thanks 🙂
I used to cringe at Vpop but the music videos coming out recently have been a lot better.
Mr. Right by Isaac is quality EDM pop, or An Gi Day by Mr.T and Hoa Minzy, which I almost want to classify as trap.
Yeah, it’s coming along.
I really quite like Isaac’s music. I’m googling that other song right now, cheers!
Great V Pop info sharing!
I was wondering where could I buy CDs in HCMC or on-line of Thái Tuyết Trâm, Anh Khang, Thuy Chi?
I have seen CDs in bookshops like Minh Khai and Fahasa, but I’ve never looked closely at them. I would suggest you try that first.
Diễm Hương is a good singer.. All these songs including the albums can be downloaded here.. http://nhac.vui.vn/ enjoy ! there are other viet websites that allow you to download for free..
Her voice is incredible in that song especially.
That’s not a website I’ve heard of. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
http://chiasenhac.com/
http://nhac.vietgiaitri.com/
this is my list,I’m Vietnamese and I think this list of RnB and pop is good,so popular in Vietnam
She Neva Know- Justatee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyfMD94d2Yc
Thời gian sẽ trả lời -Justatee,big daddy,tiên cookie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyfMD94d2Yc
Im lặng – Lk,P.A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qvn9EINrYQ
Thu cuối – Hằng Bingboong,mr T,Yanbi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KH8eqKlohA
these are underground in vietnam,u can enjoy it <3 <3
sorry wrong link,this is thời gian sẽ trả lời
I`ve been to Saigon 12years ago when I met a young girl singer My Tam
I was impressed so much that I started
looking for her songs all the time
since now and believe me she was good
You must look a lot and find out
what I mean
I was looking for Thai Trinh, I guess she didn’t make it in the music business, she was so good….
Thai Trinh now is actually a V-pop star. You can check her music videos on youtube
Any place to find CDs? I just discovered my dad is/was Vietnamese via FamilyTreeDNA. Anyway, YesAsia doesn’t have them.
Song Tung Mtp should be on here
Vietnamese b-boy is the best at this video https://youtu.be/nF0pddKP034
Great artist. I listen to everything around the world.
Love Vietnam! We often peform for Vietnamese groups and other Asian groups when they visit us in New Zealand! We travelled from Hanoi to Hoi An in 2016 and I love hearing the local music!
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Cool!
From Veitnam i love to hear the music of Emily. Her sound is pretty good with high vocal. love it
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I visited vietnam last year, January 12 2020. I fell in love with vietnam and I married a vietnamese woman. I live in canada. I heard listen to foreignmusic is a good way to firmiliarise ones self with the language. I found the artist. HOANG THUY LINH. SHE IS AMAZING VOCALLY AND HER MUSIC IS VERY CRWTIVE AND so far is my favourite vietnamese artist. I highly recommend this artist to everyone
Man, I found this website quite informative. Keep up with the good work. I love to see more! <3