The BIG BANG of K-POP

Korean pop has been worldwide popular for several years now and it doesn’t seem like it’s losing its momentum anytime soon. Why is the so called „Halleyu wave“ so popular? And where do K-POP idols stand in relationship with their fandom? Are their gods or slaves?

Picture source: http://www.animasia.org/archiv/k-pop-le-phenomene-qui-monte/

 

Korean pop (K-POP) is a critical part of a bigger phenomemon called the Hallyu wave, which exports rather romanticised portrayel of Korean culture through entertainment industry, especially through K-POP itself and korean television dramas. It’s international success can be dated to 2012 with hits such as Fantastic Baby by Big Bang or Gangnam Style by Psy becoming worldwide known thanks to their originality and unusual visual concept.

 The role of new media like youtube.com or streaming websites can’t be underrestimated as they play a bridge between the asian state and the rest of the world and at the same time as a tool for promotion and keeping in touch with their fans which will be discussed later.

If we want to understand the dynamics of K-POP we need to know more than just the songs, even though they also differ from mainstream pop music. There are three major production companies that rule the entertainment industry – SM Entertainment, YG Enternatinment and JYP Entertainment. These companies hold auditions for kids sometimes as young as 9 years old. The chosen ones start a very intense and difficult training program under a strict supervision of their label. They learn not only how to sing but also how to dance and rap. If a trainee is good enough he/she can be chosen to be part of an upcoming band. These bands are separated by gender and each member has a specific character assigned to them and designed by their production company. When they debut it is ussually with a lot of pressure on a new band as they are judged not only by their sklil but also by their looks, which may sound ridiculous, but image and outer appereance is very important in Korean society as can be proved by the fact that Korea has the most plastic surgeries per capita on earth. There is quite common for K-POP stars to undergo plastic surgery to fit the „ideal face“ concept. As a result the idols aren’t  only singers but over all entertainers and faces of the Korean society.

4minute
Picture source: https://www.siamzone.com/board/view.php?sid=4205273

This is very evident in their promotional activities, especially in new media. Websites like youtube are drowning in videos of numerous talk shows the band attends or some special footage of some kind of reality shows they participate in. But what is rather disturbing is blurring line between the distinction of private and public. Some production companies go so fas as to have their bands‘ members shoot videos showing the fans their houses. Would you like to see your favourite band making breakfast together or being silly and playing team games? You certainly can. The biggest difference between american and korean pop idol is that these rather personal videos in South Korea are still produced by the production companies, they are on official accounts and there are tons of the footage of your favourite idol if you look for it.

The other thing taking in account is the fact that K-POP is mostly aimed for younger audience, teenagers and adolescents. Which still can cause rather big difficulties even if not knowing about the situation of teenagers in Korea. The amount of video footage available on websites may tempt fans to spend their entire free time watching these videos and with the intimate and private feelings you can get from these videos, it may be very easy for them to suplement the normal social interraction, indirectly causing isolation and rather dull social life. In the case of South Korea it is rather extreme taking in consideration strict and hierarchical social system that can Koreans feel from their childhood. About the high pressure and crazy study schedules that the korean students must endure have been written many articles. The ICEF monitor also stress the concerningly high suicide rates among Korean students, that mostly results from the anxiety of university exam which is supposed to have a lasting influence on ones career. First hand experience about the korean students has a Canadian couple that for a period of time worked as teachers in South Korean and answered their fans‘ questions on their youtube channel. „The job of Korean student is to be students. They’re studying nonstop. They go to school, they stay in till 4 p.m. and then they go to another after-school programm,“ says Simon in the video.

To bring these facts together, using new media to create an illusion of the most intimate relationship between the idols and a fan possible and the absense of free time or students and then young adults to properly develop hobbies may be partly responsible for the kind of fans that are usually called Sasaeng fans.  These fans are so obsessed with their idol that they often engage in stalking or other questionable behaviour that often invades the idol’s privacy sometimes going too far.

This specific relationship between idols and fans, where fans feel the right to know everything about the idol that feels almost like some sort of ownership  can also results in rather ridiculous situations, like an idol apologizing to fans for dating another idol.

Picture source: https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2013/02/fans-of-korean-stars-cause-chaos-in-hanoi/

In this context the international success of K-POP may be actually a very good influence on the industry, as the international fans are often perplexed by the reaction of Sasaeng fans. New media in this sense on one hand contribute to the unique asymetrical relationship between fans and idols but on the other hand, through catching an attention of international fans, may also contribute to the change of this relationship.