YouTube’s “recommendations” include an endless list of cover versions of the 40 best songs sung by people around the world, but barely distinguished. The recent upsurge of “Glee” and an A-Capella culture has further intensified this trend. Each week, a new star is born on a popular cover, but the fame dies as fast as it is instigated, as he or she is replaced by the next mainstream YouTuber. With such a lengthy weekly cycle, it’s hard to keep up with the fashion videos of each week. Honestly, it’s easy to lose interest in these coverages.
Second year communications Cao Son Nguyen (real name is Nguyen Ngoc Cao Son), who makes videos on YouTube under the pseudonym Cao Son Nguyen (a piece about his ethnicity), offers a new perspective on YouTube’s music scene. Since July 2018, Cao Son has recorded on the website piano cover of popular songs and published. In just 9 months he had 3 million views and 100,000 subscribers. His cover version of Son Tung M-TP’s hit “ChayNgay Di (RUN NOW)” reached more than 1 million views.
Cao Son began playing classical piano at the age of 14. Since then he has participated in countless competitions and concerts. Unlike many of his high school friends, Cao Son wanted to continue his piano career at the university. Although he is not a bee music major, he plays a lot on campus. When he arrived at the International University, he immediately joined many teams and instrumental clubs in full size.
One might wonder why a student so interested in classical performances would choose to make pop covers. Like so many successful creators, Cao Son has created his channel out of boredom.
“I was just bored. I had no schoolwork to do, I did not have any piano competitions to practice, “he said. “That was before the first year. I just wanted to cover one of my favorite songs for my friend. “
The success of Cao Son was not felt overnight, but compared to the many YouTube channels that were often unrecognized, it was not long before he caught the attention he had received. The number of views and comments increased as Cao Son made more videos.
Although his YouTube fame is relatively new, Cao Son is not new to making covers. During his years of studying violin, after hours of practice Cao Son was brought to completion by his own interpretation of pop songs.
“Managing the time with the school and YouTube is really difficult,” he said. “That also affects my friendships.”
“(Working with Cao Son) is fun,” said one of his friends. “He wants everything to look good, so he spends a lot of time doing his job.”
The effort spent creating a high quality video cover will not go unnoticed by fans and their IU classmates. Another thing that Cao Son complained about being a YouTube star is the fact that budding novices already know him before an official launch.
“These are the people I may be friends with,” Cao Son said. “I do not want to start such things with a preconceived notion.”
Nevertheless, Cao Son is grateful for the success he has achieved over the last year and a half. Undoubtedly, the money he earns on YouTube surpasses any job he could have gotten while studying at IU. He is also grateful for the encouragement of his large fan base and the opportunities his videos have provided.
“IU has many talented people. (International University) Pianist”, “Cao Son said.” I do not know why they do not show it on YouTube. “
