Last year I started a series on the blog called Asian Groups, sharing music from boy bands and girl groups from Asian countries. I've also written more posts about Asian groups.
Today's post is a slight twist on that, featuring two Asian/Pacific groups- Australian girl group H3RIZON and Hawaiian boy band CROSSING RAIN.
Note: I've titled this post Asian/Pacific Groups because one group has members with Asian (Filipino) heritage) and is from Australia, and the other is Hawaiian. Also there are many Asians in Hawaii. :)
H3RIZON
H3RIZON are the first Australian girl group to be signed to Epic Records (as part of a joint venture with RZ3 Recordings) and the first Asian-Pacific girl group to be signed to an American record label in general. They are a trio, made up of Bernie (full name Bernadette Marquez), Gabby (Gabrielle Montalbo) and Tiara/Taya (Taylah Albert).
The girls are all from Sydney and met backstage at local shows by Filipino artists, officially forming their group in 2018. Gabbie and Bernie are Filipino and Tiara (also known as Taya/Tay) is Mauritian.
H3RIZON's music is a mix of R'n'B, soul and pop. Their singles include SERIOUS (released in 2021), F YOUR FLOWERS, SWEET SYMPHONY, You Don't Know Nothin' and Naughty.
H3RIZON's latest release is the double single Naughty + Wanna Love You, which came out in January. Their first EP for Epic is due out this year.
SERIOUS
This is SERIOUS, one of the group's early singles. It came out in August 2021. This is an audio but judging by a comment on YouTube, there used to be a music video as well.
You Don't Know Nothin'
You Don't Know Nothin' was released last November. It was their debut single on Epic Records and was produced by American record producer and songwriter Tricky Stewart (co-owner of RZ3 Records).
You Don't Know Nothin is an acapella style song with minimal music and really shows off the girls' voices. It's a cover of the 1994 single of the same name by the American female quartet For Real.
Naughty
Naughty is H3rizon's latest single, released in January, along with Wanna Love You. It's an upbeat song about partying and being "naughty"!
Wanna Love You
And here is the video for Wanna Love You. I like the slow, sultry R'n'B vibes of this.
For more on H3RIZON visit these links:
For creative girls interview (2021): https://forcreativegirls.com/on-radar-h3rizon-the-australian-rnb-girl-group-putting-out-serious-hits-and-empowering-women-of-colour/
Rolling Stone feature: https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/h3rizon-sydney-girl-group-you-dont-know-nothin-single-video-52047/
Official website: https://www.h3rizonmusic.com
Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtlJKVTnRTrwVtUbzsbBQXA
Official Linktree (includes links to the girls' individual Instagram pages): https://linktr.ee/h3rizonmusic
CROSSING RAIN
Hawaii (also written as Hawai'i) based pop group CROSSING RAIN aim to showcase the diversity of their home through their vocals, harmonies and choreography. The group (also known as XR) consists of 5 members- leader/main rapper Monarch (real name Wyatt Keola Dean Kaneshiro), main vocal Jorden aka J (full name Jorden Kealoha-Yamanaka), main vocal/main dancer Devin (Devin Teryua), main dancer Asher (Asher Morgado) and main dancer/vocal Shotaro (Shotaro Takasawa).
They were originally a 6 member group but Haru (Evan Harutoshi Doria) is no longer a member. However, he still has a good relationship with the others and made an appearance in the video for their latest single BLACK HOLE HEART (see below)!
Monarch was born in New Zealand but grew up in Hawaii and Shotaro (the youngest member at 15) is from Japan. The other members are originally from Hawaii. J is the son of Hawaiian award winning musician Mark Yamanaka
CROSSSING RAIN's music is a blend of R'n'B, hip hop and pop, and they are influenced by J-pop and K-pop. (I've seen them described as "H-pop"!) They made their debut with the release of their first album DREAMS in December 2021 and the single Come Back 2.0 the following February. Their other singles include Unfamiliar, 2 LITTLE 2 LATE and their latest, BLACK HOLE HEART.
Come Back 2.0
This was the group's first single, which was released in February 2022. It's an energetic song that's more of the poppy side, sung mostly in English, with a few Japanese lyrics.
Unfamiliar
Unfamiliar was released last September. The members' family and friends feature in the video and it's cool to see the different cultures of Hawaii being showcased. :)
2 LITTLE 2 LATE
2 LITTLE 2 LATE came out in January. It's about regrets in love. I like the music in this, gives me a bit of 2000s nostalgia! While the majority of the song is in English, Shotaro also raps in Japanese! :)
BLACK HOLE HEART
Finally, here is BLACK HOLE HEART, CROSSING RAIN's latest single. This song has a reggae style and there's also a backing band, which adds an extra dimension.
BLACK HOLE HEART was released on 24th February. Former band member Haru appears in the video.
For more on CROSSING RAIN visit these links:
Kapi'o News article (2022): https://kapionews.com/index.php/2022/04/29/crossing-rain-a-hawai%CA%BBi-boy-band-forges-their-way-forward/
Spectrum News feature (2022): https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/arts-entertainment/2022/07/05/hawaii-k-pop-band-crossing-rain-is-crushing-it-here-and-beyond
Kprofile: https://kprofiles.com/crossing-rain-xr-members-profile/
Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSINGRAIN
Official site: https://www.crossingrain.com/
Hope you liked the post! :) Do you have any favourite Asian-Pacific groups? Let me know and maybe I can feature them in a future post! :)
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