Well, she's an established artist in Japan, 'tis true. And her English albums have gathered a large group of fans, some of whom cross over by getting into her Japanese music. There are some wonderful Asian musicians that have large followings in America, but we have yet to see an Asian artist have the American following of someone like Alanis Morissette, for example.

Wonder Girls are indeed a product to be sold, although you could really say that about most musicians in general. Hikki sticks to her guns, even if others produce her English stuff. The more I listen to TiTO, for example, the more I hear reminiscences of stuff like "Keep Tryin'" and "Traveling". So she always carries the same flavor in all her stuff, but manages to reinvent herself for each album, not unlike Madonna.

Having said that, I think there might be something to the thought of changing your music to fit a certain market. Hikki herself has acknowledged that some of the reasons for doing an R&B album is because "that's what's popular in the US right now". Yet it's still her personal flavor that shows through in her songwriting, even on an album like TiTO.

I think Americans need to get over the xenophobia and think against the J-pop/A-pop stereotypes that Asian musicians seem to be burdened with. We're all people and it's hard for me to see why Americans have an issue with that.