With more than 80,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 90,000 followers on Facebook, 22-year-old An Coong has become a sensation on the Internet with her sweet piano covers of Vietnamese pop songs since the middle of last year.
It did not take much time for An to realize that the piano is her passion as she started learning to play the piano at the tender age of eight.
“No one in my family plays music so my parents decided to let me learn to play the piano to make a difference,” An recalled. “The more I practice, I more I love it.”
Two years later, An began to study at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music and fell in love with classical music.
“This kind of music requires a long and sophisticated process of practice. Each song also needs different skills so I faced a lot of difficulties but I never thought of giving up,” An said.
At the age of 16, the girl moved to the U.S. and is now studying psychology at the University of Washington. Music has become a means for An to ease her sadness and homesickness in a foreign land.
“I was homesick. I called to talk to my mother all the time. Then I started to make piano covers of my favorite songs and uploaded them on YouTube just for fun,” she said.
Only in a short time, An’s videos turned Internet sensations. Her songs received thousands of views from YouTube users, among which are “Nang am xa dan” (October 2013) with 502,000 views, “Con mua ngang qua” (May 2013) with 465,000 views, and “Khi nguoi lon co don” (September 2013) with 318,000 views.
An Coong's cover of "Nang am xa dan"
“An Coong can produce emotional melodies as her performance is a fascinating mixture of her inborn talent, musical techniques, and the profound soul of a psychology major,” Ngoc Anh, a student at Ho Chi Minh City-based Van Lang University, explained the reason why she has become a fan of An for a year.
An Coong's cover of "Con mua ngang qua"
Talking about the reason for which she chose to cover Vietnamese pop music instead of other genres, An said she wants to make a difference.
“I have seen a lot of foreign song covers on the Internet but it’s hard to find Vietnamese versions,” An said. “I want to add colors to Vietnamese songs in my own style and bring them to many more people,” she added.
An Coong's cover of "Khi nguoi lon co don"
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