Son Tung M-TP

Sơn Tùng M-TP
Born	Nguyễn Thanh Tùng (1994-07-05) July 5, 1994 Thái Bình, Vietnam
Occupation	singer songwriter actor
Musical career
Genres	Electronic dance Pop-dance Pop R&B V-pop
Instruments	Vocals piano Beatbox
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Văn Production JSC (2012-2014) · Wepro Entertainment JSC (2014-present)

Nguyen Thanh Tung (Vietnamese:Nguyễn Thanh Tùng, born July 5, 1994), better known by his stage name Son Tung M-TP (Vietnamese: Sơn Tùng M-TP), a Vietnamese singer-songwriter and actor. Most of his songs became big hits and earned the top ranking in Vietnamese music charts, such as Cơn Mưa Ngang Qua (“The rain gone by”), Em Của Ngày Hôm Qua (“You of yesterday”), Chắc Ai Đó Sẽ Về (“Someone will come back”), Thái Bình Mồ Hôi Rơi ("Thai Binh & my father's sweat") Không Phải Dạng Vừa Đâu (“I’m quite something"), Khuôn Mặt Đáng Thương ("Pitiful face"), Âm Thầm Bên Em ("A silent love"), Buông Đôi Tay Nhau Ra ("Let our hands go")

His debut leading role, Đình Phong, in the film Chàng Trai Năm Ấy (English title: Dandelion) won The Golden Kites Awards for The Best Newcomer and received overwhelming positive feedbacks from the media, film reviewers and public audiences. In 2015, he won the MTV EMA Milan 2015: Best Southeast Asian Act.

Life and music career

Childhood and early beginnings

Nguyen Thanh Tung was born and raised in Thai Binh city, Thai Binh province, Viet Nam. He is the eldest brother in a family of two sons. His father is a businessman and his mother is Thai Binh Theatre's former singer. His passion for music was inspired and influenced by his mother.

He attended Ky Ba Elementary School, Ky Ba Middle School, Tay Son Middle School, and Le Quy Don High School in Thai Binh. Nguyen Thanh Tung was awarded for academic excellent performance and also received Outstanding Student Leadership Awards (Chiến sĩ nhỏ Điện Biên Awards).

At an early age, he studied piano and singing at the Thai Binh Youth Center and participated in numerous children musical festivals. He began his music career when he was in senior high school. He joined a group of underground artists (LadyKillah) with the stage name M-TP (M: Music, T: Tài năng - Talent, P: Phong cách - Style. His very first “studio” was the shared bedroom with his younger brother. All he had were an old computer from his uncle, a free recording software downloaded from the internet, and a microphone. In that “studio”, he started to compose, self-record, and publish his songs on the internet. M-TP started to get attention from online listeners. His fan club, SKY, was established in 2011 even before his official debut.

2012 - 2014

In 2012, Nguyen Thanh Tung finished high school and decided to pursue his music dream in Ho Chi Minh City. He passed the entry examinations of the Vocal Music Department at Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City with first rank scores.^[1]

After sharing his songs on the internet, one of these songs Con Mua Ngang Qua (“The Rain Gone By”) came to the attention of a famous and highly respected songwriter in Viet Nam – Nguyễn Cường. Mr. Nguyen nominated this song to the national television music show Bài hát yêu thích (The favorite song). This was the first time M-TP performed on a national big stage. With a catchy, youthful, vibrant melody, meaningful lyrics and outstanding performance, the song received many compliments from the judges and won the Favourite Song Award for that month.^[2]

The success of the song also led him to a contract with Van Production in November 2012. At this time, he changed his stage name to Son Tung M-TP.

In the early 2014, Son Tung M-TP released his first official MV Em Cua Ngay Hom Qua (“You of Yesterday”) on YouTube.^[3] As at 16/10/2015, it has reached more than 62 million views. This MV brought the name Son Tung M-TP to non-Vietnamese audiences and gained Asian media's attention .^[4]

In June 2014, Son Tung M-TP played the leading role in the film Chàng Trai Năm Ấy (English title: Dandelion).^[5] This film was released in December 2014, attracting million audiences to the cinema.^[6][7] Son Tung M-TP's touching performance has won audiences' hearts and proving his outstanding ability in acting. He also awarded The Best Newcomer in the 2014 Golden Kite Awards of the Vietnam Cinema Association for this role.^[8][9][10]

In October 2014, M-TP Son Tung terminated the contract with Van Production joined Wepro Entertainment JSC.^[11][12]

2015 - present

In the early 2015, Son Tung M-TP was one of the contestants (in the team with producer SlimV and DJ Trang Moon) on the TV reality show, The Remix (Hoà Âm Ánh Sáng). This show brought his name closer to the Vietnamese public. One of the judges, a veteran musician, Lưu Thiên Hương stated that Son Tung M-TP was the rare gem of Vietnam music.^[13] Though withdrawing from the show after the seventh episode due to his health condition, Son Tung M-TP performances still earned the highest YouTube views on The Remix YouTube channel.^[14] Besides performing the remix versions of his old songs, Son Tung M-TP also presented his new singles Khuôn Mặt Đáng Thương (“Pity Face”) and Thái Bình Mồ Hôi Rơi (“Thai Binh & My Father's Sweat”). These songs quickly became hits on popular Vietnamese music charts.^[15]

In July 2015, Son Tung M-TP had a mini show, "M-TP and friends", to celebrate his 21th birthday with 8000 audiences.^[16]

In August 2015, he introduced his new R&B pop song Âm Thầm Bên Em (“A silent love”) through YouTube live streaming. He was the first artist in Vietnam using this method. After that, the song's official MV was released and attracted million views in just a few days.^[17][18]

In August 2015, he won the national round in the 2015 MTV EMA Awards and represented Vietnam for the Southeast Asia round. On the 15 October 2015 Son Tung M-TP was announced the 2015 Best Southeast Asia Act and entering into the voting competition for the 2015 Best Asia Act.^[19]

Son Tung M-TP’s first concert "M-TP Ambition" ,will be happening in two major cities of Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh city (December, 5th 2015) and Ha Noi (January, 9th 2016), with 20000 audiences.^[20]

Musical style

His mainstream music genres are electronic, pop dance, and pop ballad, but his work is often a mixture of dance, R&B, rap, hip-hop, and Vietnamese traditional music. According to him, his music is the fusion of Vietnamese traditional music, K-pop and US-UK pop.

Controversies

Many of Son Tung M-TP songs composed and released during his high school years using beats and music arrangements that he downloaded from the internet. Because of that he was accused for violating the music copyrights. However this accusation was not persuasive to many people as these songs were not used for a commercial purpose and could be seen as his hobby, passion and learning process to be a songwriter.

In June 2014, Son Tung M-TP faced a scandal about the commercial licence to use the beat for his first official release Em của ngày hôm qua (“You of Yesterday”). As the result, the song was withdrawn from all the music award nominations, music charts.^[21] His record company, Van Production, refused to take the responsibility and left him alone with all the criticism from the public and media. This supposedly was the reason he terminated the contract with his record label. The MV Em Cua Ngay Hom Qua was hidden on YouTube when it reached more than 40 million views. There is no official or legal claim has been made in relation to this allegation, however, it was suspectedly Van Production’s injunction against Son Tung M-TP for his contract termination.^[22] The MV was re-published and still continuing to be viewed by million viewers from many different nationalities. Son Tung M-TP also made a remix and changed the song's beat and arrangement.

In November 2014, his song for the movie Chang Trai Nam Ay, Chac Ai Do Se Ve (“Someone will come back”) also was alleged to infringe the copyright of Jung Yong-Hwa's song, Because I Miss You. This allegation only ended when FNC Entertainment,Jung Yong-Hwa's record label, informed that they considered the similarities between two songs but found no copyright infringements.^[23][24][25]

Endorsements

Son Tung M-TP is one of the most highly visible celebrities in Vietnam, his many product endorsements including: Yamaha, Oppo Smartphone, Omo, Jollibee, Oishi C+, OXY face wash

Discography

Singles

• "Cơn mưa ngang qua"- The Rain Gone By (2012)^[26]
• "Đừng về trễ"- Don't come home late (2013)^[27]
• "Em của ngày hôm qua"- You of Yesterday (2013)^[28]
• "Chắc ai đó sẽ về" - Someone will come back (2014)^[29]
• "Không Phải Dạng Vừa Đâu" - I'm quite something (2015)^[30]
• "Thái Bình Mồ Hôi Rơi"- Thai Binh & My Father's Sweat (2015)^[31]
• "Khuôn Mặt Đáng Thương" - Pitiful Face (2015)^[32]
• "Tiến lên Việt Nam ơi" (Football song for Vietnam team) (2015)^[33]
• "Ấn Nút Nhớ...Thả Giấc Mơ" (OMO detergent endorsement song) (2015)^[34]
• "Âm Thầm Bên Em"- A silent love (2015)^[35]
• "Buông Đôi Tay Nhau Ra" - Let our hands go (2015)^[36]

Collaboration Singles

• "Sống như những đóa hoa" - "Live like flowers" (2014).^[37] The song was recorded and filmed for a social awareness purpose.

Achievements

References

External links

• Son Tung M-TP Official Youtube Channel
• Son Tung M-TP on Facebook
• Son Tung M-TP on Instagram
• Wepro Entertainment official website