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Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Since my induction into the world of kpop fandom during freshman year of high school, I have noticed many changes in the Korean music industry. Here I have highlighted some of them (and some of them may be nothing new; then consider it an ongoing trend). Feel free to add to the list in the comments. I’ll continue adding to this list once I think of something.
- When I first started listening to kpop, the only female rapper I knew was Lexy, formerly YG first lady. Now they’re a common denominator for girl groups. The rapper has to appear especially badass, complete with shades (sometimes never seeing their eyes for months *cough* Ji Yoon) and preferably a deep voice. She should also have some sex appeal and looks older than she really is.
- Speaking of girl groups, what’s with the explosion in group girls during 2009? I can’t keep up with them all! Chances are, if you belong to JYP, YG, or SM, you’re likely to become an idol sensation. Cube Entertainment’s 4Minute and DSP Entertainment’s Kara were able to defeat the odds, though. I say, good for them and good marketing on their part! Most of these girl groups are somewhere in their teens or early 20s. Some exceptions are Brown Eyed Girls, After School, and Jewelry (still constantly switching members), who have been surprisingly successful. Most likely because women have more sex appeal than young girls and they can get away with it without being criticized. Although I must say BEG and Park Jung Ah (formerly of Jewelry) have good vocals, too.
- So if you’re a solo artist and you’re successful, or at least moderately so (Ivy, Wheesung, Hyori, Lee Seung Gi, etc), it is likely that you have an amazing voice or you’re drop-dead gorgeous.
- If you’re Epik High, it doesn’t matter what you release; people will buy it anyway. Since their third and fourth albums, people have been eating out of the palms of their hands.
- We’ve all seen kpop artists venture into the American market (Se7en, BoA, Rain, and now the Wonder Girls). I guess they realized the Korean market is too small and shrinking even more with illegal downloads, or maybe some CEOs just got a little too egotistical and think they can beat the odds.
- It is also becoming increasingly common to stick a foreign member into idol groups. Whether you’re Thai, Chinese, American, anything un-Korean but you still look Asian, your popularity may skyrocket because locals are fascinated with how quickly you learned the language and adapted to the culture. Or they think your mispronunciations are cute. Or they think you’re “exotic” but not too exotic. If you speak English, that’s even sexier.
- But! For some reason, none of them have been given a chance to break into the U.S. market despite their fluency in English.
- If you’re a male rapper in an idol group, your chances of participating in a collaboration with a sexy solo female artist are high.
- Oh, there also has to be a main dancer in the group. So they can freestyle during their dance solos, even though most of them don’t know what they’re doing and are just gyrating like they do at the club (minus Hyoyeon *bias*).
- Speaking of dancing, it doesn’t matter if your song is terrible. As long as you have some addictive choreography, the whole nation will dance along (and upload everything on youtube)! Though, to be fair, “Gee” and “Tell Me” were pretty catchy tracks.
- Parodies have also gotten quite popular. People actually care enough about a music video to remake it! Points for creativity and some of them are actually pretty hilarious. My favorite are still Big Bang’s “Lies” parodies.
- Increasingly psychotic fan girls! Bloody letters and poisoning idols? Petitioning for someone’s death? Ruining someone’s career and driving them back to America over something he said five years ago on Myspace? Cursing out female artists for performing with male idol members, thus causing them to shut down their web sites? And of course the daily chase after idols’ vans. Despite all these crazy fans, there have also been some extremely fervent ones who did good deeds and donated large amounts of money to charity under the idol’s name.
- Kpop artists in the past have participated in variety shows, but not to the extent they do today. You can be nobody and rise to superstardom overnight simply due to an appearance in a popular program (Star King, Star Golden Bell, Family Outing, 1N2D to name a few).
- Korea’s version of the FCC has become increasingy strict and conservative about what they deem “inappropriate” lyrics, suggesting that they may damage the virgin ears of innocent minors. Some examples? “Mirotic” by DBSK for the line “I got you under my skin.” Hey, at least it wasn’t called “Erotic.” Or Seungri’s “Strong Baby” for the word “crack.” Right. Because that was totally a subliminal message to get kids to take drugs. Look at GD. He’s being sued for dry-humping a girl onstage in a concert that people paid to go to and may even serve jail time. Come on, look at all the “I Love Sex” pins he have plastered on his clothes. How do you buy a ticket expecting something squeaky clean and not controversial from this guy?
- On the other hand, if you’re a girl, the less clothes the better! No one will censor you; in fact, the cameraman will zoom in even more! Pelvic thrust all you want onstage!
- Idols can’t just sing anymore (and many times, they can’t sing to begin with). They have to be all-around entertainers, including acting, DJ-ing, and hosting shows. Especially since a large bulk of their earnings come from filming CFs, too.
- SM is getting bad press for mistreating its artists. Wait, that’s nothing new.
- Autotune!!! Never liked it, never will. ‘nough said.
- Aside from America, artists are also venturing into Japan, China, Thailand, and other Asian countries. They’re more accepting of Korean pop stars in Asia, though. Good revenue generator, and apparently it’s easier to learn Japanese and Chinese than English?
- Also, there have been a rise of copycats in other Asian countries, clearly ripping off kpop dances, music videos, and outfits. Imitation is the highest form of flattery?
- Unless you’re GD.
- In the case of SM, there has been a surge of incoherent lyrics (not talking about Engrish here) from Gee Gee Gee to Lachata to Ring Ding Dong.
- And in many kpop songs these days, integrating a simple line of Engrish into the lyrics apparently makes it catchier. “I wanna Gosship Girl!”
- There also needs to be at least one guy with a six pack in idol groups. Best if he shows some skin during performances, too. Even if he’s actually a sweet, shy boy, the company will sell his man meat to the maximum.
- Idol groups often have at least one strong singer, to make it appear as though everyone else can sing, too, even though we know they’re just backup vocals.
- The chest bump dance move is ubiquitous.
- If your name is Hyuna, you probably have more anti-fans than fans.
- 2009 seemed to be a year of idols gone wild. How many times has Kangin been arrested already? And yet he’s still pardoned, even after a DUI. Take that, Paris Hilton!
- If you are a kpop artist, you or someone you work with has probably gotten swine flu.
- This applies to the America music industry as much as it does to the kpop world, but digital sales are definitely replacing physical CDs. As JYP have said, CDs are just souvenirs now.
