Dawen Wang (), known as Dawen, is an American singer and songwriter. He first gained prominence when he won Kollaboration Acoustic 4. Dawen's first single "Wake Up", deals with Asian American

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

and prejudice towards minorities.Q&A with Singer-Songwriter Dawen, embarking on New York "American Me" Tour , Hyphen magazine – Asian American arts, culture, and politics
/ref> Dawen became popular for translating famous popular songs into Chinese on YouTube, with his Mandarin cover of

Rebecca Black Rebecca Renee Black (born June 21, 1997) is an American singer, songwriter, YouTuber, and DJ. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 debut single "Friday (Rebecca Black song), Friday" went viral video, viral on You ...

's "

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth ...

" becoming a viral runaway hit in 2011.

Early life

Born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

on October 28, 1981, Dawen grew up in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

and attended Lexington High School as a freshman. At the age of 14, Dawen moved to Hong Kong to reside with his mother, attending Sha Tin College. Dawen returned to the United States to study at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He majored in English and vocal performance. After graduation, he worked at

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

for two years. His brother George Wang, is a new media and TV producer based in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Dawen first appeared on the music scene as an indie artist in the mid-late 2000s. He started off in Chicago, Illinois, playing at open mics and at various music venues. In the fall of 2008, he decided to move to Los Angeles, upon the advice of his brother George, to further pursue his music career. In late 2009, he released his debut album, "American Me" and followed soon after with a tour including stops in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and Hong Kong. In August 2010, Dawen entered the talent show Kollaboration and emerged the Grand Prize Winner, increasing his prominence and exposure online. His translations of American pop songs, such as Rebecca Black - "Friday" and

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

- "

I Want It That Way "I Want It That Way" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released on April 12, 1999, as the lead single from their third studio album, ''Millennium''. It was written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, while Martin and Kris ...

", have turned into YouTube hits. His brother shot a music video for his

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

cover of Bruno Mars - "Just the Way You Are" in 2011. The video was uploaded onto YouTube, where it caught the attention of Universal Music Taiwan. Dawen later moved to Taiwan in 2012 to sign with Universal Music Taiwan. Although Dawen grew up speaking Mandarin, he was not fluent in the language. Upon moving to Taiwan, he took an intensive Mandarin course. He released his first Mandarin language album "Hello" at the end of 2013. Dawen was awarded Most Popular New Artist at the Singapore Hit Awards in November 2014. Dawen's first Mandarin single, "A Change of Heart" (" 回心轉意") debuted in episode 9 on the Taiwanese idol drama, '' Lady Maid Maid'' (愛情女僕), broadcast on SETTV. It has been regularly featured on subsequent episodes and has since been released as part of a fourteen song TV soundtrack compilation, available as a digital download on Taiwan-based KKBox.

Discography

Studio album

* (2009) ''American Me'' * (2013) ''Hello'' * (2015) ''Happy Or Not'' * (2019) ''The International Space Station''

References

External links

* * {{authority control Living people American expatriates in Taiwan American keyboardists American male singer-songwriters American musicians of Chinese descent American people of Hong Kong descent Bienen School of Music alumni Musicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts Singers from Los Angeles Singers from Taipei Northwestern University alumni Musicians from Lexington, Massachusetts Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts 1981 births Lexington High School (Massachusetts) alumni 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers