“Flying Without Wings” by Westlife and BoA (2002)

A song wasted

It has been more than 15 years since I first heard the duet version of Westlife’s “Flying Without Wings” featuring BoA. My mother bought me a cassette tape of the Irish pop vocal group’s 4th album (and 1st greatest hits compilation) titled Unbreakable: The Greatest Hits Volume 1, which was released in 2002.

Westlife feat. Boa, "Flying Without Wings" (Image from https://991.com)

“Flying Without Wings” duet version did not get airplays from radio stations I used to listen to. The album’s carrier single “Unbreakable” even received moderate airplays, though it managed to land #1 at a local radio station’s weekly countdown, staying for a week. It hurts to admit it but "Unbreakable" was forgettable.

In comparison, Westlife’s duet with Mariah Carey titled “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” was more popular than any track off Unbreakable. British vocal group Blue’s “Best in Me” and “One Love” and A1’s “One Last Song” and “Learn to Fly” were more successful in terms of airplays.

Knowing BoA… and Kpop

I had no idea who this BoA person was until six years later when I chanced upon BoA’s music videos on Channel V. A quick visit to Wikipedia told me she is a Korean singer who enjoyed commercial and critical success in both Korea and Japan, which in my knowledge is the world’s 2nd largest music market. I was impressed that she released Japanese singles and albums.

BoA, Listen To My Heart (Image from http://www.jpophelp.com)

During that time, Kpop was getting popular and receiving more airplays. However, in my observation, BoA was nowhere to be mentioned or sung by teenagers who were becoming Kpop fanatics. Her songs were nowhere to be played by radio stations and by Myx and MTV.
It seemed that new Kpop fans were not interested in knowing BoA.

One proof is a young workmate who is into Kpop and Korean drama. She knows Westlife – of course, almost everyone knows Westlife even if they are not a listener – but nothing about BoA. It was until I told her about Westlife’s duet with BoA that she learned about her.

It is a shame for Kpop fans to not know BoA, the Korean singer with the most successful crossover into Japan. Some of the new Kpop fans even had the gall to call her obsolete. Little or never do they know that she opened the door for other Korean artists in Japan.

Even before the rise of modern Kpop artists, BoA was already popular in Japan. That was even before social media likes, shares, and views became the metrics for success in the music industry.

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