Korean Wave

What would be interesting is if the fandoms of both intersect in some way, given the differences and similariteis bewteen the two.

When Alexander Abad-Santos asks, "Why Do You Like K-pop," he is clearly asking for a mainstream opinion. He surveys three stories on Psy's reception with little commentary.  

This interview with Yunho and Changmin from the male group TVXQ shows how releveant American pop, particulary R&B and soul, remain for K-pop.  When asked about his listening habits, Yunho cited Babyface's first album  (Babyface's first album was released in 1986). Yunho still holds Michael Jackson as a musican role model.

 

Both members are aware of their international fans.  Given that the group is the one of a handful of successful Korean artists in Japan, one wonders if they would stand a better chance of successfully navigating the American market, especially in the wake of Psy.  Known for their good looks and a sound influenced by R&B and soul, they present an alternative face for K-pop in the United States.

KDK presents a comprehensive interrogation of the recent fundraiser by Martina and Simon of Eat Your Kimchi, as they seek to fund their business venture through donations from their fans. 

Evan Ramstad devles into an often overlooked aspect of K-pop: fan activity. Ramstad focuses on services crucial to K-pop fandom, such as subtitling and translation.  However, it's unclear how their activities function as a business and profit-making venture.  

 

Lyric translation is just the tip of the iceberg: fans are busy sharing information and photos about artists and groups, translating tweets and subtitling Korean shows.  International fans, often not allowed to join Korean fan clubs, have created communities around such activities.  Fans are often the best reposittories about information about K-pop, which is crucial given the amount of coverage, and sometimes misinterpretation, it receives.  

This post by Ade reveals how Kdrama impacts international viewers' interest in Korea. 

 

Ade is a 19-year-old muslim young woman who studies Pharmacy at Islamic University in Indonesia.

 

Ade states that one of the things she wants to do in Korea is see the Gyeokbokgung and Deoksugung palaces, and that she loves sageuk dramas.

 

Often, people think that it is the modern Kdramas that draw viewers interest in Korea, but the historical dramas are also appealing, as people are drawn to Korean historical figures and places.

This article takes some liberties with the history of Hallyu, conflating its East Asian and global spread and contributing to the narrative that Psy's international fame is completely unrelated to the Korean agencies that produce such idol groups as Super Junior and solo artists like Rain.

 

This article does not make distinctions between Hallyu's engagement in East Asian countries like Japan, which is several years old, and its engagement with Europe, Central and South America, and the United States.  

 

Psy strikes many who are unfamiliar with K-pop as different, but what happens at a Psy concert isn't that much different than what happens at a Super Junior concert.  Even more amazingly, the article contends that "Though he is managed by YG Entertainment, the fact that he was managed by them did not contribute to his success."  That is hard to believe, as Psy is a member of the label, has toured with the YG Family (other artists on the label) and features some of those artists in his video for Gangnam Style.

 

Psy's experience is very different from Jang Geun Suk, who has practically taken up residence in Japan, but remains virtually unknown beyond East Asia.

BTS Celebs talks to Steven Lee, a producer who frequently works with K-pop artists.  This is one of the few interviews that delves into those who are behind the scenes.

 

It gives some interesting backgound information, but the interviewer does not ask the one question I would ask, namely: how does he feel about criticisms about K-pop being manufactured and fake, as he spends so much time and energy in the studio creating the music?

James Little gives in-depth insight into Simon and Martina, the couple behind the internet phenonemon, Eat Your Kimchi.  Soon after this story was posted, the couple began fundraising for their Eat Your Kimchi business through a video posted on YouTube on September 5, 2012, which also ran on their website.

 

By providing more details about the couple's motives for doing what they do, the article does provide more context for the fundraiser. While the fundraiser video, post on EYK and description on Indiegogo all suggest that the couple needed the funds to support their business venture by renting a studio and paying for full-time video editor, the article quotes the couple as suggesting they are in fact financially set: "Simon and Martina freely admit that the website, and the businesses associated with the website, are now successful enough that they do not have to worry about the security of their livelihoods."    Such discrepencies relate to comments on YouTube and in an allkpop forum, as well as posts on Tumblr and blogs (including a post on House of Hallyu, written by a colleague of mine), all of which question the manner in which the couple fundraised for the business. 

 

The inteview covers the development of the popularity of the couple, but overstates their importance to the international K-pop fandom.  EYK features humorous videos about K-pop, but it is far from being "the top source of information on K-pop in English."  That would be Soompi, the oldest source of information about K-pop in English (the site began in the 1990s, concurrent with the rise of Hallyu K-pop).  allkpop would be a close second for the source from which English speakers receive news about K-pop. EYK do humorous skits, critique K-pop videos and provide informative insights into getting around Korea as a non-Korean. They do not provide a steady stream of information about K-pop.

 

Also, the piece participates in the misrepresentation of K-pop fandoms as crazed groups of teenagers who blindly follow their favorite groups and attack those who do not.   While there are numerous sites dedicated to individual K-pop groups, a cursory glance at the rules for many forums and sites explicity state that bashing of other groups are not tolerated.  

 

Moreover, there are several site in English that do what EYK claims to only do: criticize K-pop.  For example, Asian Junkie bills itself "as a place for a collection of individuals to mock, analyze, and satirize the comings and goings of the Asian entertainment world."  

 

 

 

 

Jeff Yang's take on Psy's Gangnam Style covers its bases, including the social critique of the Korean district and the unprecedented coverage in American media. He talks to people who are in the know, like Susan Kang from soompi.

 

However, he reinforces misrepresentations about K-pop and its fanbase in the United States and continues the wikireality that all of K-pop has no substance.