K-Pop : Korea's Musical Explosion [1 ed.] 9781467725491, 9781467720427

Citation preview

stuart a. Kallen

Featuring quirky horse-riding dance moves and an infectious electronic beat, an unlikely music video and its leading man made history in 2012. In December of that year, “Gangnam Style” reached one billion hits on YouTube—the most views ever. Seemingly overnight, the South Korean pop star behind the hit—Psy (Park Jae-sang)—became a household name. But Psy is just part of the story. Other South Korean pop sensations such as Girls’ Generation, 2NE1, and BigBang are part of a global sensation called Hallyu, or the Korean Wave. South Korean bands are performing to sold out arenas all over the world, and fans can’t get enough of South Korean music, films, television, food, and manhwa (cartoons). K-Pop: Korea’s Musical Explosion traces the journey of South Korean pop music, from the early influences of American rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s to the success of a tiger-eyed sensation called Rain, who wowed American audiences in the early 2000s. Discover how this Korean Justin Timberlake, and those who came after him, rose through South Korea’s star-making system through grueling hard work to seduce international audiences with their tight choreographies, irresistible beats, outrageous outfits, and exciting stage shows. You’ll become part of the K-Pop fandom world too!

REINFORCED BINDING

Stuart A. Kallen

T WENTY- FI RST CENTU RY BOO KS / MI N N EAPO LIS

To all those fans of K-Pop and Hallyu all over the world. Keep on poppin’! —S.K.

Copyright © 2014 by Stuart A. Kallen All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Twenty-First Century Books A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kallen, Stuart A., 1955– K-pop : Korea’s musical explosion / by Stuart A. Kallen. p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–4677–2042–7 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) ISBN 978–1–4677–2549–1 (eBook) 1. Popular music—Korea (South)—History and criticism—Juvenile literature. I. Title. ML3928.K35K66 2014 781.63095195—dc23 2013009293 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – PC – 12/31/13

Table of contents chapter 1: The emergence of K-Pop chapter 2: The star Factory

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chapter 3: The Korean Wave chapter 4: K-Pop style

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Glossary 56 Must-have album Playlist source notes

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selected Bibliography 59 Further information 60 index

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chapter 1:

P

O -P K f o e c n e rg e m e e h T

South Korean pop exploded onto the world stage in the summer of 2012. That year the “Gangnam Style” video by the South Korean singer, rapper, and dancer known as Psy went through the roof on YouTube. Psy—whose real name is Park Jae-sang— was little known outside his native land. However, his “Gangnam Style” video, with its catchy electronic beats and amusing horse-riding dance moves, struck a universal chord. Within weeks of its July release, Psy’s video became a worldwide sensation. -riding dance moves Psy shows off his horse “Gangnam style” during a performance of september 2012. on The Today show in

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By the end of 2012, “Gangnam Style” had become the most popular online video in history, with one billion hits on YouTube. Psy was invited to perform his song and dance on several American television shows, including The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2013. Psy’s synthesizer-heavy, hip-hop music is part of the Korean pop, or K-Pop, genre. While many Americans and Europeans discovered the music in 2012, K-Pop artists have been performing and recording throughout the world since the 1990s. South Korean rock innovators laid the foundations for the style in the 1950s. Without these pioneers, K-Pop might not have become an international craze in 2012.

Korea’s Godfather of rock South Korea’s musical traditions date back centuries, but the first pop music was brought to the country by US soldiers fighting the Korean War during the early 1950s. After the war ended in 1953, the Americans remained, stationed in more than two dozen military bases around the country. By the mid-1950s, American GIs were introducing Koreans in the nation’s capital of Seoul to the rock-and-roll sounds of Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley, and Chuck Berry. South Korea’s

sic of american The rock-and-roll mu Presley (above) singers such as elvis in south Korea influenced musicians d the 1960s. during the 1950s an The eMerGence OF K-POP

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military government considered rock music immoral and banned it. But according to the music historian known as Egon: “The American records . . . made their way to the progressive populace via sessions at [South Korea’s] teahouses, whose owners smuggled the records into their collections.” Shin Joong-hyun was among the teenagers who heard Elvis and other rockers in Seoul teahouses. He learned to play guitar and decided to become a rock star. In 1957 he changed his name to Jackie Shin and south Korean guitarist Jackie shin, started playing music at clubs shown here in 2011, wrote songs and and social gatherings on US performed during the experimental pop music era of the 1960s. Army bases in South Korea. During the 1960s, Shin became Korea’s biggest rock star. He played songs he wrote, and he also composed hit songs for other Korean pop acts. Those performing Shin’s songs included the singing duo the Pearl Sisters and the female folksinger Kim Jung-mi. During this era, Shin was inspired by Western artists including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and the Jefferson Airplane. By the late 1960s, Shin had become an accomplished guitarist. Like many players, he imitated the Jimi Hendrix sound. This included distorting and bending the tones of his electric guitar, using sound effects such as the fuzz tone and wah-wah pedal.

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THE PEARL SISTERS In the late 1960s, the Pearl Sisters were among the top recording acts in South Korea. However, the group’s success was an accident. In 1967 group founder Bae In-soon decided, on a whim, to enter a singing competition hosted by the US Army. She mesmerized the soldiers in the audience and won the contest. That night, she persuaded her sister, Bae In-sook, to form a duet. They named their group the Pearl Sisters. The Pearl Sisters had singing talent, but they did not have original songs. They auditioned for Jackie Shin, who was already producing The Pearl sisters found some of South Korea’s top musical success with their first album, My Dear, in 1968. artists. Shin liked what he heard and began writing and producing songs for the sisters. The duo’s first album, My Dear (1968), was an instant success. The record featured songs written by Shin, such as the hit “A Cup of Coffee.” The album also featured American tunes such as Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” but was sung in Korean. My Dear sold more than one million copies, and the Pearl Sisters remained extremely popular until they broke up in the mid-1970s.

During this time, South Korea was run by a military regime headed by Park Chung-hee. Park helped transform South Korea from one of the poorest nations in the world to an economic powerhouse by developing a manufacturing and electronics industrial base. But Park believed rock and roll—especially Shin’s music—was subversive. Park barred Shin from performing and banned his music from the radio. After Park died in 1979, the

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government lifted the ban on Shin’s music. But by this time, music tastes in South Korea had changed, favoring syrupy love ballads and bubblegum music. These upbeat sounds with innocent lyrics were written for mainstream tastes. Few Koreans were interested in hearing Shin’s experimental rock. Looking back in 2008, Shin explained, “It was all . . . ‘Let’s be happy’ kind of stuff. It was completely physical, with no spirit, no mentality, no humanity. That trend has carried over all the way to today.”

singing and Dancing Because of changing tastes, Shin’s rock career was over by 1980. He opened a bar called Woodstock in Seoul. It became a popular music venue. Although Shin stopped recording, his music proved to have a lasting influence on Korean pop, and he became known as South Korea’s Godfather of Rock. One of Shin’s fans, Lee Soo-man, went on to become the prime promoter of K-Pop in the 1990s. Born in 1952, Lee was awakened to the sounds of South Korean rock in the 1960s. As he later recalled, “When I saw the Pearl Sisters, with their singing and dancing, I thought that was the style for me.” Lee began his career in the entertainment business in 1971, playing guitar and singing folk songs. In the following years, he also worked as a DJ for the hit radio show Viva Pops and as a talk show host on South Korean TV. Lee formed the heavy metal band Lee Soo Man and 365 Days in 1980. The heavy metal sound—which features loud, distorted guitars, extended bass and drum solos, and screaming vocals—was new to South Korea. Lee’s band was the first to play the style. However, another repressive South Korean president, Chun Doo-hwan, imposed strict censorship on entertainers and the media.

In 1981 Lee decided he had no future in the South Korean entertainment business. He moved to Southern California, where he attended college.

“a lot Korea could learn” While living in the United States, Lee witnessed the birth of MTV, television’s music video channel, which launched on August 1, 1981. By 1983 MTV had become an international sensation. It featured fast-paced videos with the hottest new singers, dancers, and musicians. US writer Mark James Russell says: it was the age of . . . skinny ties, big shoulder pads, and bigger hair. it was the age of tinny bubblegum pop and cheesy lite metal bands. it was the age of Michael Jackson. lee soaked it all in and decided that there was a lot Korea could learn.

In 1985 Lee returned home with a plan to introduce South Korea to the flashy dance moves and slick pop music he had seen on MTV. In 1988 his dreams began to take shape when he founded SM Entertainment, a music recording studio and artist management business.

lee soo-man, pictured here in 2010, founded the record label sM entertainment in 1988. his compan y has produced and managed some of the biggest artists in K-Pop music.

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Seo Taiji . . . Lee opened SM the same year that Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics. This event brought worldwide attention to South Korean culture. Around the same time, the South Korean government began to relax media censorship. As singers, songwriters, and musicians became freer to express themselves, Lee led a creative explosion that produced South Korea’s next big rock star, Seo Taiji. Like Lee Soo-man, Seo Taiji could trace his musical influences to Jackie Shin. As a young man, Seo was a good guitarist. He spent his free time at Shin’s Woodstock bar, where he heard the hottest local rock bands. In 1987, when he was seventeen, the heavy metal band Sinawe asked him to play bass with the group. Seo dropped out of high school to play in Sinawe. Because South Korean culture places a very high value on education, this decision was extremely rebellious. Sinawe had several fairly successful albums, but the band broke up in 1991. By that time, Seo was finding new inspiration in American hip-hop music, which had been growing in popularity since the early 1980s. Hip-hop artists of the era chanted rhythmic poetry called rap, creating beats with drum machines and rhythmic effects by scratching vinyl records on turntables.

. . . & Boys Seo envisioned a new sound that would meld hip-hop with rock music and a defiant punk attitude. In 1992 he joined up with two dancers, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Juno, to form Seo Taiji & Boys. Seo wrote and arranged all the group’s songs and recorded them in his home studio. The group’s first album, Seo Taiji & Boys I, was released in March. The lead track, “Nan Arayo”

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(I Know), is propelled by rap lyrics, catchy choruses, and the sounds of new jack swing. US pop star Janet Jackson was the first to popularize new jack swing on her 1986 album Control. The style blends hip-hop drum machine beats, dance pop synthesizers, and the bass heavy growls of rhythm and blues (R&B). The sounds on Seo Taiji & Boys I were unique in South Korea. The album charted at No. 1 and stayed there for a record-breaking seventeen weeks. In the video of “Nan Arayo,” the Boys performed a dance style called formation changing. In this type of dance, performers coordinate exaggerated moves such as wild jumping, kicking, and thrusting the arms in the air. The dance moves and song styles perfected by Seo Taiji & Boys spawned an army of imitators and were mimicked seo Taiji & Boys brought the by countless K-Pop stars in hip-hop, dance pop, and r&B the following years. sounds of new jack swing to south Korea with the release The music of Seo Taiji & Boys of their first album in 1992. might sound tame to modern ears. However, the group’s lyrics were critical of South Korean society and its strict school system, which Seo claimed brainwashed children. Few Korean entertainers had ever touched on these sensitive topics. This gave Seo Taiji & Boys street cred, or strong credibility, with fans. The band also attracted fans in Japan, where the school system was equally strict.

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Pride and Success Seo Taiji & Boys came on the scene as the times were changing. In 1993 South Koreans elected their first civilian president after thirty-two years of military rule. Yet the government still maintained strict censorship committees to scrutinize the works of writers, filmmakers, and musicians. In addition, concerts and other public gatherings were closely monitored for signs of rebellious behavior. But as South Korean pop became successful in other countries, the censors gradually loosened their grip, driven by feelings of national pride over their homegrown music. The relaxed standards freed South Korean music fans to express their passionate feelings about Seo Taiji & Boys. For example, after the group released its first album, Seo’s family home in Seoul became a magnet for obsessed teenagers. Every day dozens of girls stood outside and yelled, “We love you, Seo Taiji!” They left love notes to their idol, some with marriage proposals.

Musical Experiments While most bands stick with the style of music that brought them fame, Seo Taiji broke the rules. The group’s third album, Seo Taiji & Boys III (1994), featured several hard-edged songs mixed in with more typical ballads and pop songs. The song “Classroom Idea” borders on hard-core industrial metal, a style characterized by shrieking vocals and muddy, distorted guitar sounds. While creating groundbreaking music, Seo also rebelled against the South Korean music industry. During the 1990s, South Korean record companies aggressively targeted young music fans with ads in teen magazines and with promotions on TV and radio. Seo believed that this type of music promotion

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seo Taiji, performing here in 2008, has changed musical styles throughout his career. as a solo artist, he has recorded alternative rock, punk, and heavy metal music.

was crass and diminished his art. So he rejected public appearances and became a recluse. This only added to the singer’s mystique. In another exceptional move, Seo Taiji & Boys broke up in 1996 at the height of their popularity. Even as the group disappeared, its four studio albums and three live albums continued to resonate throughout South Korea. As Australian musicologist Roald Maliangkay states: [seo’s] band had an enormous influence on young people’s ideas on music, dance and fashion, and even on the Korean language and forms of communication. When in august 1997 a survey was carried out to find out what Koreans considered their most important cultural product, the band came out on top, ranked even higher than the Korean alphabet.

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Before and after seo Seo Taiji launched a successful solo career in 1998. Ever the innovator, he melded several different styles on his 2000 album Ultramania, including alternative rock, hard-core punk, and heavy metal. Well into his career, Seo continued to attract rabid fans who followed his music and the most intimate details of his personal life. For example, in 2011, it was discovered that Seo had been secretly married to actress Lee Ji-ah for ten years. The Internet lit up with speculation that Lee had played a role in the breakup of the band. Beyond the gossip, Seo had a lasting influence on South Korean pop. As music producer Koh Young-whan explained: “There were two eras. Before Seo Taiji and after Seo Taiji.” In 2012 Seo celebrated his twentieth anniversary in the music business. By this time, his fans had given him the nickname the President of Culture. As a freethinking innovator, Seo laid the foundation for modern K-Pop while pushing the musical boundaries of South Korean music in long-lasting ways. seo kept his marriage to actress lee Ji-ah (above) a secret for ten years. The couple was divorced in 2009.

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PLAYLIST

Pearl Sisters Pearl Sisters Hits: Complete Collection, 1991 “Rain” “First Love” Seo Taiji Ultramania, 2000 “Orange” “Ultramania” Seo Taiji & Boys I, 1992 (digital release 2012) “I Know” (‘04 Zero) (Live) “My Everything” (English version) Seo Taiji & Boys II, 1993 “Swamp of Death” Seo Taiji & Boys III, 1994 “Classroom Idea” Shin Joong -hyun Beautiful Riv ers and Mo untains: Th Psychedelic e Rock Sound o f S outh Korea Shin Joong-h ’s yun, 2011 “Moon Watc hing,” Shin Joong-hyun “The Man W ho Must Le ave,” Kim Sun “Beautiful R ivers and M ountains,” Shin Joong-h yun & The Men

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chapter 2:

The STAR Factory

In the late 1980s, heavy rains flooded the Seoul studio of SM Entertainment, nearly destroying Lee Soo-man’s struggling business. Rather than quit after this setback, Lee began working as a DJ. He planned to save enough money to update his equipment with modern microphones, digital recorders, computers, and synthesizers. With an active nightlife, seoul, south Korea, is a hot spot for young K-Pop talent.

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While spinning records in dance clubs, Lee studied his audiences. He learned which electronic dance songs got people up out of their seats and which ones made them wander off the dance floor. These observations helped Lee better understand South Korean musical tastes. Back at his studio, he searched for ways to produce records that sounded like the most popular songs in the clubs. To expand his understanding, Lee hired classically trained songwriters and students of electronic music.

Developing a system Lee scoured South Korean bars and theaters in search of talent. In 1990 he made his first big discovery. Hyun Jin-young was a wispy nineteen-year-old male singer with a high, girlish voice. Lee hired Hyun and began grooming him for stardom. He taught Hyun to rap and dressed him in baggy clothes like those worn by hip-hop artists in the United States. Lee’s formula was a success. When Hyun released his debut album, IWBH, short for International World Beat and Hip-Hop, it sold more than four hundred thousand copies in South Korea. This was SM Entertainment’s biggest hit to date. However, Hyun’s success was brief. He was soon arrested for smoking marijuana, a major crime in South Korea. SM was a hit album nearly ruined, yet again. hyun Jin-young scored

onal World with his debut internati 93. Beat and hip-hop in 19 The sTar FacTOry

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Lee was worried for Hyun, but he was even more deeply concerned about the fate of SM. He vowed to develop numerous acts in the future rather than putting all his efforts into a single star. And to prevent another drug bust, Lee decided to focus not only on developing talent but also on promoting good character traits among his stars. This was the beginning of Lee’s factorylike system through which he trained a reliable roster of K-Pop stars for SM Entertainment. In search of talent, Lee spent two years visiting cities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States. He auditioned and interviewed the brightest young songwriters, singers, and dancers. Most of them were in middle school or high school. The most promising prospects signed four-year contracts with SM, and Lee sent them to Seoul for training. At SM Entertainment, young entertainers endured long hours of dance lessons, singing practice, and acting classes. Working up to sixteen hours a day, they also studied English, Japanese, and other world languages. Most important, they were taught how to look and act like superstars. Prospects performed on a regular basis for Lee, who then pointed out their strengths and weaknesses.

h.O.T. Gets hot In 1996 Lee’s star system produced H.O.T. (standing for High Five of Teenagers), the first in a new generation of K-Pop bands. H.O.T. was based on a formula Lee developed after conducting polls in local high schools. He asked students what their ideal band would look and sound like, and the result was H.O.T. The five members of H.O.T. were sixteen to eighteen years old. All but one were from South Korea. The singer Kangta was the first to be recruited for H.O.T. He was only fourteen when

Lee saw him singing and dancing at an amusement park. Band members Moon Hee-joon and Lee Jae-won were friends who sang together. Jang Woo-hyuk came to the group after winning a dance contest. Tony An was an American whom Lee discovered at a Los Angeles audition. With their brightly colored, futuristic outfits and long shaggy hair, H.O.T.’s look was designed Kangta was the first for d member recruite to induce screams of adoration the band h.O.T. from young girls. The band’s songs were a mix of rap, electronic dance, slow romantic ballads, and a little rock and roll. H.O.T.’s first album, We Hate All Kinds of Violence, was an instant success. It sold eight hundred thousand copies in three months after its release in September 1996. The group’s cultivated image and precisely arranged dance moves did not mean it was a mindless band. H.O.T. often addressed tough topics in their songs. For example, “Warrior Descendants” condemned Moon hee-joon was selected for h.O violence and bullying, major .T. problems in South Korean schools. based on his vocal abilities and a look that would appeal to teenage fans

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The 1997 single “We Are the Future” was from the group’s second album, Wolf & Sheep. The song was critical of South Korea’s school system, and it criticized adults for stifling creativity in young people. With its strong language, “We Are the Future” was initially banned in South Korea. However, when the dramatic video won an American MTV award for Best International Video in 1998, the ban was lifted. By 1998 H.O.T. was the hottest band South Korea had ever seen. The group kicked off its first concert tour with a debut show at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. H.O.T. was the first K-Pop group to play the huge sports venue, and the band filled the stadium with seventy-two thousand screaming fans. SM took advantage of the band’s stardom and signed members to appear in dozens of TV commercials. H.O.T. even had its own soda drink for a time. In 2000 the group also starred in the South Korean science fiction/fantasy movie Age of Peace. In the futuristic film, band members play soccer stars in the next century. After one hundred years of war, the futuristic society maintains peace with other nations through a worldwide soccer tournament called the Galaxy Cup. The film features songs by H.O.T., which were released on the 2001 sound-track album H.O.T.—Age of Peace OST.

A Stormy Breakup After five studio albums, two concert albums, and greatest hits packages, H.O.T. broke up in 2001—in part because of the pressure they faced from fanatical fans. Angry H.O.T. fans blamed the band’s breakup on Lee’s business practices, which fans felt were unfair to artists. For example, in the United States, record companies pay artists a royalty. This might be 8 to 25 percent of the money received for selling a song or an album.

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FANATICAL FANS OF K-POP K-Pop fans are among the most dedicated in the world. They claim undying devotion to the stars they love. The fans have their own slang, styles, and beliefs. As K-Pop blogger Victoria Huynh explains, “K-Pop fandom is definitely not like the rest you see when it comes to American music. We are a different species compared to the teeny boppers out there, we’re special.” K-Pop fangirls commonly use the word spazz to describe their behavior. Spazzing includes screaming, jumping up and down, and squealing while talking nonstop about an idol. Fans of a particular band join groups with names such as Cassies, Hottests, and B2uty. Each group has its own colors so members can identify one another at concerts. For example, Cassies dress in red, carry red banners, and wave red lightsticks. Some K-Poppers think of themselves as married to their idols. As Huynh writes, “even if they’re underage, and no official ceremony took place, they’re still married. . . . Many fangirls consider their favorite idols as their boyfriend, hubby, and absolute soulmate.” With such dedication, the most tragic day in a fangirl’s life is the day her favorite group breaks up or, worse, a band member gets married. According to Huynh, “That’s our definition of an apocalypse for you.”

a security guard holds back screaming fans during a mall perfo rmance by K-Pop girl group 4minu te.

For every album sold, a group will earn a few dollars. SM terms were not so generous. H.O.T. band members each received only about one penny for every album sold. So for every million records sold, each H.O.T. member earned about $10,000. During the band’s career, H.O.T. sold twelve million records, earning each band member only about $120,000. When the band broke up, crowds of H.O.T. fans gathered around the offices of SM Entertainment to protest. Some threw eggs at the building, while hundreds of angry messages, including death threats, were phoned in to the offices. Lee explained to his critics that groups like H.O.T. did not write and produce their own songs. For that reason, members received a low royalty when its albums were sold. As music critic Mark James Russell explains: [In] SM’s defense, we are not talking about musical artists in the Western sense. These are not singersongwriters who started in small clubs and coffee shops and slowly built up a following. These are performers who were created by the labels—the labels (SM and others) discovered the performers, trained them, groomed them, produced their albums, managed them, chauffeured them, and pretty much took care of everything.

In addition, SM Entertainment relied on the earnings of successful artists such as H.O.T. to help support and train about seventy recruits at any given time. Most of those budding talents never achieved superstar status. All the same, SM invested in providing them with songs, costumes, dance instructors, chauffeurs, studio time, and language lessons. After H.O.T. disbanded, its members continued their careers in the music industry. Moon and Kangta became solo

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after h.O.T. broke up in 2001, three of the group’s members left sM formed entertainment. From left: Jang Woo-hyuk, Tony an, and lee Jae-won 2003. a new band called JTl and continued to produce music together until

performers. The other three members formed a new band, JTL, and signed with another entertainment company, YJ Media.

a letter from s.e.s. H.O.T. was only one of the successful groups SM Entertainment produced in the 1990s. The company also launched the nation’s first popular girl group, S.E.S. The group took its name from the initials of its band members, Sea, Eugene, and Shoo. Sea was only sixteen when Lee discovered her singing at her performing arts high school in 1996. Eugene was hired on the basis of an audition tape, and Shoo was already in training at SM. Both were fifteen years old. In 1997, after a year of intense rehearsal, S.E.S. released its self-titled first album, S.E.S. It quickly sold 650,000 copies. The video of the first single, “I’m Your Girl,” was meant to show that

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S.E.S. was the female version of H.O.T. The girls coordinated their hair, outfits, and dance moves to complement the boy band. However, the smiles were sweeter and the dancing bouncier. “I’m Your Girl” was an instant hit. By the time S.E.S. released its 1999 album, Love, the group was so popular that it sold more than 760,000 copies of the album. This made Love the best-selling K-Pop girl group album in history at that time. Sales of Love were increased by controversy. In 1999 South Korea’s national television station, KBS, had a dress code that banned performers with dyed hair. Sea ignored this ban and bleached her hair blonde before a scheduled performance on KBS. She felt that a new image would complement the music on Love. Other band members followed Sea’s example. This rebellion was very popular with S.E.S. fans. The uproar also pushed the network to drop the hair dye ban the following year. By the early 2000s, S.E.S. was presenting a Girl group s.e.s. made a bold move more mature look and by dyeing their hair blonde for the sound. Having moved cover of their album love (1999). away from playful pop music, the band’s fourth album, Letter from Greenland, featured jazz-flavored songs and R&B ballads. However, the new sound was not as popular with fans, and the album sold fewer than half as many copies as Love.

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S.E.S. released its fifth and final album, Friend, in 2002. By this time, S.E.S. fans had moved on to support other groups. The album sold only around ninety-five thousand copies. S.E.S broke up, but the band members remained friends as they pursued solo careers.

The r&B of Fin.K.l The popularity of S.E.S. fueled a wave of competing girl groups. One of the most successful, Fin.K.L, was founded in 1998. The initials Fin.K.L stand for Fin Killing Liberty. Fin means “end” in French, and the band’s name was intended to mean that the group wanted to stop the oppression of freedom. The group’s name was selected from a poll of young South Koreans conducted by the group’s record company, DSP Media. The four teen members of Fin.K.L followed a familiar path to stardom for K-Pop stars: they won contests, passed singing auditions, or were discovered by record company scouts while performing in high school. DSP hired the lead singer, Ock Joohyun, after she won a talent contest on a radio show. Lee Jin was enlisted to join Fin.K.L after a singing audition for DSP executives. A third member, Sung Yu-ri, was singing at her high school when a DSP talent agent hired her to join the band. Lee Hyori was discovered at a mall performance. She was picked not only for her singing abilities but also for her model good looks. Rather than imitate the pop-music style of S.E.S., Fin.K.L’s strength was its slow, R&B-style soulful music. The group’s five albums often featured songs about lost love and personal disappointment. Like many first-generation K-Pop bands, Fin.K.L did not stay together for long. Group members began solo careers in 2002. Lee Hyori was among the most successful of the band’s members.

She released several top-selling albums in the years immediately after the band broke up. She also became a fixture on South Korean television, hosting several music programs and starring in a comedy series. Lee Jin and Sung Yu-ri moved on to acting in television and films too.

Boa’s Best of asia While S.E.S. and H.O.T. were selling millions of records at home, sales figures for South Korean lee hyori began a solo career in 2002 and released her fifth studio album, Monochrome, bands fell far behind those in May 2013. here she performs on the of groups from other Korean Tv program show champion. countries. For example, records by most South Korean bands sold fewer than one million copies while records by American bands such as the Backstreet Boys sold more than one hundred million. To boost record sales, SM tried marketing South Korean groups in Japan but met with little success. That changed in 2000, when the singer known as BoA appeared on the scene. Kwon Boa, born in 1986, was only eleven years old when she accompanied her older brother to an audition at the SM Entertainment offices in Seoul. While Boa’s brother was not hired, Lee saw something special in the young girl and began

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K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

developing her talents. She took the stage name BoA, which is based on her first name and also stands for Best of Asia or Beat of an Angel. BoA spent two years in intense training, perfecting her singing and dancing talents. She also spent many hours learning Japanese and English. BoA was only thirteen when her debut album ID; Peace B was released in 2000. Music on the album was strongly influenced by American hip-hop and R&B singers such as Nelly and Janet Jackson. The upbeat, urban dance sound was an instant hit with K-Pop fans. ID; Peace B sold 220,000 copies in South Korea and peaked at No. 10 on the pop charts. With the success of BoA, SM Entertainment made an effort to launch her career in Japan. The singer quit school and moved to Tokyo to immerse herself in the Japanese language. BoA’s efforts paid off in 2002, when her first Japanese album, Listen to My Heart, sold one million copies. Most of the songs on the album were written by professional songwriters, although BoA did cowrite one tune called “Nothing’s Gonna Change.” While the synth-based pop song was a hit, BoA later stated that she did not “have any talent for writing songs.” Despite her modesty, BoA was the first person in more than twenty years, of any nationality, to score both a No. 1 debut single and a No. 1 debut album in Japan. In 2003 BoA’s second Japanese album, Valenti, sold even better than her first. With her popularity soaring, BoA recorded with several high-profile artists, including Howie D of the Backstreet Boys and the Japanese hip-hop group m-flo. That same year, BoA also launched her first Japanese concert tour, the First Live Tour 2003—Valenti. In 2004 the MTV Asia Awards honored BoA with two awards: Most Influential Artist and Favorite Artist Korea.

The Star Factory

27

Like many first-generation K-Pop artists, BoA’s popularity continued well into the twenty-first century. And BoA’s fans have changed little over the years. In 2010 Canadian K-Pop journalists Simon and Martina Stawski described the near hysteria when BoA took the stage at the Asia Song Festival at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium: When Boa went on, we couldn’t hear the show. like, not at all. Why? Because the people . . . [were] screaming Boa speaks Korean, Japanese, and english. in 2009, after releasing hit albums in south the whole time. and not Korea and Japan, she debuted Boa, an regular screaming. it was cold english-language album. outside, and one of the girls was screaming so much that her face was covered in sweat. no joke.

BoA, H.O.T., and other K-Poppers of their generation developed and nurtured their talents in the star-factory system. These South Korean artists went on to achieve overwhelming success. And their music laid the foundation for a K-Pop wave that would soon engulf the world.

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K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

PLAYLIST

BoA

ID; Peace B, 2000 “ID; Peace B” Listen to My Heart, 2002

“Listen to My Heart” Valenti, 2003 “Valenti” “Jewel Song” .

Fin.K.L Fine Killing Liberty, 1998 “Blue Rain” “To My Boyfriend” Now, 2000 “Now” “Feel Your Love”

H.O.T. We Hate All Kinds of Violen

ce, 1996 “Candy” H.O.T—99 Live in Seoul, 20 00 “KangTa (Greatest Love of

All)”

S.E.S. Love, 1999 “Love” “Twilight Zone” Letter from Greenland, 20 00 “Show Me Your Love” “Be Natural”

29

chapter 3:

The Korean WAVE

The top K-Pop acts from the 1990s and the early 2000s are considered the first generation of Korean pop stars. Many of these pioneers, such as H.O.T. and S.E.S., worked for SM Entertainment. Most first-generation K-Pop groups were largely unknown outside South Korea and Japan. After 2005 a second generation of K-Pop artists saw their popularity increasing far beyond South Korea. K-Pop was catching on in China, Southeast Asia, Turkey, and even in the United States and Europe. Digital music stores such as iTunes, the social media website Facebook, and the video sharing site YouTube made the music of K-Pop acts easily available to fans all over the world.

K-Pop superstar rain performs for thousands of fans at Olympic Park in seoul in 2011.

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The popularity of K-Pop was part of a growing interest in South Korean pop culture known as Hallyu, or Korean Wave. Hallyu includes South Korean movies and dramatic TV shows called K-dramas. South Korean manhwa (comics and cartoons), anime (animated films), and cuisine are also part of Hallyu.

not Fitting the Mold The K-Pop artist known as Rain was one of the first to benefit from the worldwide interest in Hallyu. Born Jung Ji-hoon in a poor Seoul neighborhood in 1982, Jung was a shy, quiet child. He developed a passion for dance and spent his early years watching MTV-Korea and imitating the dance moves of pop star Michael Jackson. Jung won a talent contest in sixth grade. By the time he was in high school, he was spending his days dancing on street corners with other pop-obsessed teenagers. There, a producer discovered Jung and asked him to join the boy band FanClub.

VE HALLYU: THE KOREAN WA an Wave.” It’s all about the

In the Korean language, Hallyu means “Kore ment, food, and culture growing popularity of South Korean entertain n to experience the Korean throughout the world. Japan was the first natio cultural exports, such as manga Wave. The Japanese are proud of their own ), and J-Pop stars. However, by the (comics), animated films, Japanese pop (J-Pop with South Korean TV dramas early 2000s, the airwaves in Japan were filled l-based acts. In the following and the K-Pop music of Rain and other Seou s with his Rainy Day Tour, years, Rain exported Hallyu to the United State Las Vegas. In later years, Super selling out concert halls in New York City and s were the leading voices of Junior, Girls’ Generation, and other K-Pop band t. The Korean Wave has also Hallyu throughout Southeast Asia and the Wes North Africa, and the Middle East. made inroads in India, Russia, Latin America,

The KOrean Wave

31

FanClub released two albums, which were poorly received. The band broke up and Jung set out on his own. He auditioned relentlessly but was rejected by eighteen music management companies. According to music critic Mark James Russell, “No one was interested in the tall, slightly awkward-looking teenager. At the time, the main look for male singers in [South] Korea was cute, like the young boys who looked like they stepped out of the pages of a Japanese manga. Jung did not fit the mold.” One producer even suggested Jung get plastic surgery on his eyelids to make him appear more American.

Working through the levels Jung’s fortunes improved in 2000 when he auditioned for Park Jin-young of JYP Entertainment. At the time of the audition, Jung’s mother was terminally ill with diabetes. Jung was desperate for a record deal before she died. During his audition, he danced and sang for more than four hours. Park saw Jung’s hunger to succeed and signed him to the label. Unlike other producers, Park liked Jung’s eyes, which he compared to tiger eyes. Signing with JYP was only the beginning of Jung’s steep path to success. JYP divided its recruits into several ranks. Jung, like all prospects, began at Level A, the bottom rung. During this period, Jung lived at home while he studied singing, dancing, and languages with other recruits. Though Jung was not a good student, JYP required him to attend university. He did not excel at his studies but was clearly better at dancing and singing than the other novices. He soon moved to Level B. He was assigned a personal manager and moved into one of JYP’s dormitories. Jung dramatically increased the time he spent practicing and training. Like other Level B candidates, he performed at monthly contests attended by Park and other JYP executives. During his

second grueling year, Jung set a record, winning twelve monthly showcases in a row. At this point, Jung moved up to Level C, JYP’s highest ranking. And JYP invested more than half a million dollars in his training. All the same, Park rarely complimented him. As Jung later recalled, “I thought if I could satisfy Park Jin-young, I would be able to satisfy anyone in the world.”

Raining Success After two years of relentless practice, JYP decided Jung was ready for the big time. Park picked the name Bi for the unknown singer. Bi is the Korean word for “rain.” In 2006 Park explained his choice: “There was something sad about him then, and there still is, something cool and gloomy.” Jung says that “when I’m dancing I give off the feeling of a rainy day.” Rain’s 2002 introductory album, Bad Guy, was not an overwhelming success by K-Pop standards. However, his second single from Bad Guy, “Handshake,” helped push album sales over 180,000 copies. The second album, Ways to Avoid the Sun, was released the following year. It put Rain at the top of the South Korean charts and made him a star at home. Like many K-Pop artists, Rain bolstered his popularity by stepping outside his traditional role as a singer and dancer. In 2003 Rain made his South Korean acting debut. He played the lead role in the sixteen-episode television drama Sang Doo! Let’s Go to School. The following year, Rain starred in the popular K-drama Full House with Song Hye-kyo, one of South Korea’s most popular actresses. This television show introduced Rain to the world. It was seen in more than a dozen nations, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, Turkey, Morocco, and Israel. In 2006 Full House was broadcast in the United States with English subtitles on ImageAsian TV.

The Korean Wave

33

Rain’s World Full House helped make Rain’s third album, It’s Raining, a mammoth success. In 2004 the record sold more than one million copies in Asia and topped the charts in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand. The album presents a strong R&B sound on songs such as “I Do,” “Familiar Face,” and “Quiz,” which all feature Rain’s smooth crooning. “My Groove” offers a rapping Rain, while “It’s Raining” has an electronic dance sound. By 2005 Rain was the biggest star in South Korea. His face was everywhere, from bus billboards to TV commercials. MTV Asia gave Rain numerous video and music awards and named him Star of the Year in 2005. His Rainy Day Tour, which began in Seoul that year, visited cities in Japan, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Thailand. The Rainy Day Tour ended in February 2006 with sold-out shows in New York City and Los Angeles. Rain was on a roll. In 2006 he released his fourth album, Rain’s World, and appeared in the South Korean romantic comedy I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK. The film won several honors, and Rain was named Best New Actor at the prestigious Baeksang Arts Awards in South Korea. Rain’s next tour, Rain’s Coming, proved that the K-Pop singer had become an international superstar. The 2006 tour featured an elaborate and expensive stage show produced by designers who had previously worked with superstars Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, and the Rolling Stones. The tour, which traveled through Asia and the United States, grossed more than $100 million. When Rain appeared for the US leg of the tour, the New York Times labeled him the Korean Justin Timberlake. The newspaper described the “Rain-mania” of his fans. Tickets

34

K-POP: Korea’s Musical Explosion

for the two shows in New York City’s famous arena, Madison Square Garden, sold out in a matter of days. In April 2006, Rain was mentioned in the Time magazine article “100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World.” The following year, he ranked No. 1 on Your Time 100, Time’s online poll of the most important people of the year. Rain was also on People’s list of the “Most Beautiful People” in the world. Rain never slowed his hectic schedule. In 2008 he appeared in the American action film Speed Racer, based on a 1960s Japanese animation series of the same name. He also recorded his fifth album, Rainism. The following year, he promoted the album with The Legend of Rainism Tour in Asia and the United States. In 2009 Rain starred in the American movie Ninja Assassin. His performance earned him the Biggest Badass Award at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. Rain continued his college education rain starred as a young assassin looking for revenge in the 2009 movie ninja assassin.

The KOrean Wave

35

throughout it all. In 2011 he was earning a master’s degree at Dangook University Graduate School of Arts in the Performing Arts Department. Park attributes Rain’s work ethic to a sense of obligation to his late mother. “He promised his mom that he was going to be the No. 1 singer in the whole world. That’s why he never parties, never drinks, never goes out, and practices hours every day.”

The Super Junior Miracle As a solo performer, Rain grew into a one-man, multimilliondollar industry. Yet Rain’s strongest competition was not a solo artist. It was Super Junior, a boy band featuring thirteen members at its peak. SM Entertainment recruited the band members between 2000 and 2004 from auditions in Beijing (China), Seoul, and Los Angeles. The members were models, actors, radio hosts, and MCs. Unlike Rain, members of Super Junior were picked for their cuddly, nonthreatening appearance. They were meant to look like the boys in Japanese shojo manga, romantic comic books aimed at teenage girls. Super Junior, also known as SJ and SuJu, debuted as a twelve-member band in 2005. Its first album, Super Junior 05, was an instant hit in South Korea and other parts of Asia, driven by the success of the group’s second single, “Miracle.” In 2006 another member was added to the lineup. To promote the group to international audiences, SM offered the group’s second single, “U,” as a free download from the group’s official website. “U” has a huge vocal sound driven by a low thumping bass line and sharp electronic drum snaps. The single generated more than 400,000 downloads within five hours of its release. The number of downloads eventually exceeded 1.7 million.

36

K-POP: Korea’s Musical Explosion

in addition to their musical skill, super Junior members were selected nce for their romantic looks and experie g. elin mod and on visi in tele

super subgroups In 2006 Super Junior racked up seven music awards in South Korea. Individual members of the group took advantage of their growing popularity by forming subgroups. K-Pop fans loved them all. Three members—Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung— performed in a band they called Super Junior-K.R.Y. (for the first initial of each person). Six other members—Leeteuk, Heechul, Kangin, Sungmin, Shindong, and Eunhyuk—formed Super Junior-T. Another subgroup, Super Junior-M, featured Han Geng, the only Chinese member of the band. The M stands for “Mandarin,” the official language of China. When Han formed Super Junior-M in 2007, he added two Chinese singers, Zhou Mi and Henry, who had not been part of the original Super Junior. Super Junior-M was extremely well received in China and went on to become the best-selling subgroup of Super Junior. Due to his success, Han earned the nickname King of Popularity in China.

The KOrean Wave

37

In 2009 Super Junior recorded its third album, Sorry, Sorry, and the subgroup projects were put on hold. With its catchy electronic pop sounds, dance grooves, and tight harmony vocals, Sorry, Sorry quickly became the No. 1 album in South Korea and went on to win ten music awards. The video for the album’s title track features the group showing off its polished dance moves, interspersed with shots of the handsome and fashionably dressed individual band members. Sorry, Sorry went on to become the best-selling K-Pop album in Thailand, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan. With a growing fan base throughout Asia, Super Junior was nicknamed the King of the Hallyu Wave. Super Junior’s popularity continued to grow during its all-Asia tour in late 2009. In 2010 Super Junior scored another hit with Bonamana. The album was a best seller and remained at the top of Taiwan’s music charts for a record-breaking sixty-one weeks.

Girls’ Generation “Kissing you” Super Junior was so successful, the producers at SM formed a nine-member sister group called Girls’ Generation. As it had done with Super Junior, SM recruited band members from a roster of models, talent show winners, and actors from TV shows and commercials. Initially the group was to be called Super Girls, a female Super Junior, but the name Girls’ Generation eventually won out. The group’s debut album, Girls’ Generation, came out in 2007 and generated several hit singles. They included the title track, “Girls’ Generation,” “Baby Baby” and “Kissing You.” The songs mix Korean and English words. Three of the band’s members—Jessica, Tiffany, and Sunny (they go by their first names)—were born in California, and English is their native

38

K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

language. This gives the group an advantage in interviews with the international press, most of whom speak English. According to Tiffany, “We definitely like to sing in English. We need to be nine Beyoncés.” In January 2009, Tiffany’s wish moved one step closer to reality. SM posted a video of the Girls’ Generation new single, “Gee,” on YouTube. The video portrays the nine band members as clothing store mannequins. When the store closes, they come to life and begin singing and dancing. According to South Korean cultural analyst Yun-Jung Choi, “Overnight, Girls’ Generation became fashion icons, sending young girls and women alike scrambling for their daring primary-colored pants and tight t-shirts.” On its first day on YouTube, the “Gee” video received one million views. The single went to No. 1 in South Korea within two days. Shortly after the release of the “Gee” video, the song came out on a five-song extended play (EP) album of the same name. By early 2013, the “Gee” video had attracted more than ninety-seven million views—thirty million more than Lady Gaga’s video “The Edge of Glory,” which was released around the same time. Gee was popular throughout Asia and helped increase the popularity of K-Pop culture. Record reviewer James Brooks explains: Gee was a landmark event in the world of hallyu. it set chart records in south Korea that have yet to be broken, and made history when a Japanese version of the song went double platinum and became the first single ever by a non-Japanese girl group to reach no. 1 on that country’s notoriously insular pop charts.

The members of Girls’ Generation have become global fashion icons for their feminine and glamorous looks.

Oh! Follows Gee

In 2010 Girls’ Generation released the full-length album Oh! The title track, with its fast-paced electronic house beats and tight harmonies, topped several Asian digital music charts within ten minutes of its release. Girls’ Generation far surpassed the popularity of its brother group, Super Junior. In 2011 Girls’ Generation received numerous prizes at the Seoul Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, the Popularity Award, and the Hallyu Award. The band played sold-out concerts throughout Asia and even warmed up for the American alt-rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers when it toured in Japan.

40

K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

In January 2012, Girls’ Generation made its American TV debut on The Late Show with David Letterman. The group performed the English-language version of its hit single “The Boys.” This title track from the band’s third full-length album was released in three versions: Korean, Japanese, and English. The famed American songwriter Teddy Riley cowrote “The Boys.” Riley is credited with inventing the new jack swing sound and has produced hits by Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, and Usher.

International Buzz In a November 2011 interview, SM Entertainment representative Kim Young Min stated that it cost about $2.5 million to train each of the nine members of Girls’ Generation. The money went to living and housing expenses, as well as for choreographers, trainers, voice coaches, dance teachers, and language tutors. The huge cash outlay proved to be a good gamble for SM Entertainment. But beyond the big profits, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, and Rain did something remarkable. They proved that the appeal of K-Pop and South Korean culture extended beyond Seoul to Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. While few people had been aware of Hallyu in the early 2000s, the tsunami of sound generated by the Korean Wave became part of the modern pop music canon. With an international buzz, irresistible beats, and flawless singers and dancers, the super second generation of performers was out to conquer the world.

The Korean Wave

41

PLAYLIST

Girls’ Generation Girls’ Generation, 2007 “Girls’ Generation” “Baby Baby” Gee, 2009 “Gee” The Boys, 2011 “The Boys” Snoop Dogg) “The Boys” (Featuring I Got a Boy, 2013 “I Got a Boy” “Dancing Queen”

Rain It’s Raining, 2004 “It’s Raining” “Into the New World” “Kissing You” “My Groove” Rain’s World, 2006 “Rain’s World” “Touch Ya” Rainism, 2008 “Rainism”

Super Junio r Super Junior 05

, 2005

“Miracle” “U”

Sorry, Sorry

, 2009 “It’s You” “Sorry, Sorry ” Bonamana, 2010

“Bonamana” “Boom Boom ” Mr. Simple, 2 011 “Mr. Simple” “Superman” “A-Cha” Super Junio r—M Me, 2008 “At Least Th e

re’s Still You

42

”

chapter 4:

K-POP style

The year 2012 was all about Psy and his “Gangnam Style.” The song was the first South Korean hit to enter Billboard ’s Top 10. It eventually sold more than eight million copies in the United States alone, reached No. 2 on the magazine’s Hot 100 chart, and climbed to No. 1 on its rap charts. The video of “Gangnam Style” entered the Guinness World Records as the most “liked” in YouTube history.

43

neres (front Psy teaches ellen DeGe nam style left) how to dance Gang on her talk during an appearance , 2012. show on september 18

At the end of the year, Rolling Stone magazine named Psy one of the Game Changers of the Year. In fact, Psy was so popular that Scooter Braun, the manager of teen idol Justin Bieber, signed a contract to represent the South Korean megastar. Through it all, Psy remained humble, telling Rolling Stone, “I was not the best, but I did my best. All the time.”

Psy Makes Beats A new voice to many people, Psy had actually been perfecting his talents for more than a decade. Born in 1977, Psy rebelled against his parents. He ignored his studies and took inspiration from Western music videos on South Korean television. When he was fifteen, he became obsessed with a 1985 video of the British rock band Queen playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” live at the LiveAid concert at Wembley Stadium in London. With his love of Western music cemented, Psy talked his parents into sending him to Boston University in Massachusetts. After spending one semester studying business administration, Psy dropped out to attend the respected Berklee College of Music in Boston. College didn’t hold Psy loved the British rock band Psy’s attention, though, and he Queen, especially their liveaid skipped classes. While in the performance (above) in 1985.

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K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

United States, he fell in love with the gangsta rap and hip-hop music of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. Psy began to create his own Korean-style hip-hop beats with computers and electronic keyboards. And he worked on his English so he could better understand American culture. Returning to Seoul in 2000, Psy tried to get a record contract. Executives liked Psy’s music—but they didn’t like his looks. As he explains: “They suggested plastic surgery right in front of me: ‘We gotta change something, for example, your face?’ ”

Psycho Psy Psy readily admits he is not as handsome as typical South Korean teen idols. But he refused to surrender to the demands of record executives. Instead, Psy decided to release his own music. This gave him a sense of freedom that few other South Korean artists enjoyed. From the start, Psy was controversial. His 2001 debut album—PSY from the Psycho World!—included rap songs such as “I Love Sex” that featured candid lyrics. South Korean government censors fined Psy for his lyrics, which they viewed as inappropriate. The press didn’t like him either. For example, when Psy performed his jerky dance moves on South Korean TV, the press mockingly nicknamed him “The Bizarre Singer.” Psy’s behavior offstage also attracted government attention. In late 2001, he was arrested for smoking marijuana and ordered to pay a heavy fine. Rather than tone down his style, Psy wrote songs about the controversies. Government censors complained about the defiant and obscene lyrics on his second album, Sa 2/Adults Only. Believing Psy’s music had a negative influence on teens, the government restricted sales of Sa 2/ Adults Only to adults over the age of nineteen.

K-POP Style

45

“a little chubby newcomer” By 2010 Psy was out of money and his career seemed to be over. At the suggestion of his wife, Psy signed a record deal with YG Entertainment, run by his old friend Yang Hyun-suk. The record deal saved Psy’s career. However, he continued to challenge authorities. For example, “Right Now,” the first single from his 2010 album PSYFive, included the line “Life is like toxic alcohol.” Government censors restricted sales of this album to adult buyers. Despite the controversies, Psy was gaining popularity with critics and was winning music awards in South Korea. His big break came in January 2012, when he was showcased alongside popular South Korean artists BigBang and 2NE1 at a concert in Osaka, Japan. The show, called the YG Family Concert, attracted eighty thousand K-Pop fans and was broadcast on Japanese national TV. Walking onto the stage, Psy displayed his

THE BIG THREE

ment has dominated the The South Korean music factory SM Entertain the company in 1988. SM is one K-Pop business since Lee Soo-man founded t powerful music management of the “Big Three” labels, South Korea’s mos rtainment and YG Entertainment— companies. The other two labels—JYP Ente . Park Jin-young of JYP were created by first-generation K-Pop stars solo artist in the early 1990s. He Entertainment had a successful career as a idol status, so he founded JYP felt he was getting too old to maintain his teen on to sign Rain, the Wonder Girls, Entertainment in 1997. The company went and other successful K-Pop acts. & Boys, created YG Yang Hyun-suk, a former member of Seo Taiji ucing R&B and hip-hop groups. Entertainment in 1998. YG specializes in prod ang, and Psy (until 2012). The company’s top artists included 2NE1, BigB

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K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

unique self-effacing humor when he held up a sign in Japanese saying, “I’m a famous singer well-known for driving the audience wild in Korea, but here, today, I’m just a little chubby newcomer.” Psy then went on to rap while imitating the outrageous dance moves of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The audience went wild, and the critics were amazed.

an international sensation Based on his success in Osaka, Psy developed the cheesiest dance moves he could imagine. After rejecting panda and kangaroo dances, he came up with the Gangnam Style horse trot that would lead him to global fame. The song “Gangnam Style” was released in July 2012 on Psy’s sixth album, an EP called PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1. By August the video was No. 1 on YouTube’s Most Viewed Video chart. The “Gangnam Style” video also went to No. 1 on iTunes Music Video Charts, topping Justin Bieber’s “As Long as You Love Me.” With “Gangnam Style,” Psy had finally achieved international success. And in October 2012, the United Nations (UN) recognized Psy—despite continued battles over obscene lyrics—as an “international sensation.” He met with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. The South Korean-born leader told reporters that Psy’s music had great power, “particularly in helping to overcome intolerance. It helps to reach out to audiences in a way that many other forms of culture or interaction cannot do.”

BigBang’s crazy Flow Psy’s record company, YG Entertainment, represented other amazing South Korean talent. For example, the supergroup BigBang (also written as Big Bang and BIG BANG) launched in

2007 with five members—G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri. Unlike many cuddly K-Pop boy bands, BigBang featured an authentic hard-edged urban sound based on R&B, hip-hop, and house styles. Each of the five members had his own individual look, with an emphasis on leather, studs, and chains. BigBang broke K-Pop star-factory traditions by composing and producing its own music. G-Dragon, who began his professional career at the age of eight, wrote many of BigBang’s early hits, including “Lies,” “Last Farewell,” and “Haru Haru.” After releasing several well-received EPs in South Korea and Japan, BigBang took a break while group members pursued

BigBang members wear hard-edged s, fashion featuring leather, piercing nts. acce elry jew y and tough-gu 48

K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

solo projects. G-Dragon’s album Heartbreaker was the most successful South Korean album of 2009. It won Album of the Year at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. G-Dragon produced another successful album with TOP. The album, GD & TOP, came out in 2011 and produced three hit singles. Diplo, an American rapper, produced one of the album’s most popular songs, “Knock Out.” Diplo blogged his praise: “[G-Dragon and TOP] are rapper rappers . . . not phony . . . they have crazy flow . . . these are my favorite new rappers.” BigBang reunited in 2011, releasing the EP Tonight. Even with the band’s two-year break, the song was an instant hit and interest in the band remained high. The video of Tonight’s lead single, “Love Song,” attracted two million YouTube views in just two days. The group’s comeback was also appreciated in Europe, where the group won the Best Worldwide Act award at the 2011 MTV European Music Awards.

The Alive Tour In 2012 BigBang embarked on its first world tour, the BigBang Alive Galaxy Tour 2012. Performances featured songs from BigBang’s newest EP, Alive, which was released in separate Korean- and Japanese-language versions. Concert tickets for the band’s three Seoul shows sold out in hours. In Jakarta, Indonesia, all BigBang concert tickets sold out in only ten minutes. In Singapore a second show was added to cope with the huge demand for tickets. BigBang performed its first US concert in Los Angeles, where ticket demand was so high a second show had to be added there too. By this time, the Gangnam Style wave was cresting, and Americans were taking notice of other K-Pop bands, especially BigBang.

K-POP Style

49

BigBang’s Los Angeles show was a typical K-Pop extravaganza. The arena was filled with twenty thousand fans, mostly tween and teenage girls dressed in BigBang T-shirts, caps, jewelry, bandanas, and sunglasses and waving BigBang glowsticks. Canadian choreographer Laurieann Gibson, who had previously worked with Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, arranged the band’s dance moves. As the band performed, flames shot in the air, dancers popped out of fake sewer pipes, and break-dancers spun like whirling tops. After each song, the lights went dark and band members sprinted backstage to change costumes. Of the show, California concert reviewer Joseph Lapin wrote, The girls were losing their freaking minds. it was pandemonium. . . . i thought the arena was going to split at the seams . . . and the crowd screamed so loud my eardrums must have popped. . . . [They were] busting moves with as much style as usher. They owned the stage, pointing to the crowd, and causing young girls and their mothers to cling to each other.

new evolution Like many K-Pop giants, BigBang has a sister supergroup. The four-person band 2NE1 made its first big splash in “Lollipop,” a song and video recorded with BigBang in 2009. “Lollipop” was the jingle for a South Korean TV ad for the Cyon, a cell phone made by LG, a South Korean electronics giant. The song went on to sell more than three million digital downloads. 2NE1 was the first K-Pop band to debut in a commercial. After the success of “Lollipop,” nearly every TV ad in South Korea had its own K-Pop jingle. The name 2NE1 stands for “new evolution of the twentyfirst century.” In her flawless English, band member CL says

the name of the band is pronounced just like the number “twenty-one.” The group’s name is also sometimes referred to as “to anyone.” 2NE1 is another YG creation. In 2004 studio executives recruited Minzy, a fourteen-year-old singer, dancer, and rapper. The granddaughter of a renowned South Korean folk dancer, Minzy was already an Internet sensation for a dance video she had posted on YouTube. Minzy dropped out of high school to join three other YG recruits CL, Dara, and Bom. When “Lollipop” launched in March 2009, 2NE1’s look and sound were the result of four years of hard work. The group’s first official single, “Fire,” was released several months later. The “Fire” video attracted more than one million views the first day it was posted on YouTube.

The Perfect all-Kill 2NE1 followed its initial success with the 2009 EP 2NE1 and the full-length 2010 album To Anyone. While singles from these albums were topping the Asian charts, group members were also releasing solo work. Dara led the way with the 2009 single “Kiss,” which features CL rapping. Bom followed with the song “You and I,” the most successful of the group’s solo works. Minzy also collaborated with CL on the single “Please Don’t Go” in 2009. In April 2011, Bom released her second solo single, “Don’t Cry.” Within twenty-four hours, the song topped all five of South Korea’s music charts, a feat known as an “all-kill.” 2NE1 re-formed in 2011 to record the EP 2NE1 2nd Mini Album. When the album’s lead single “I Am the Best” was released, it too achieved a perfect all-kill. This was followed by the release of four other chart toppers including “Hate You”

K-POP sTyle

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and “Ugly.” By the end of the year, all five singles had reached No. 1 on every South Korean record chart. This put 2NE1 in the record books as the first K-Pop act in history to release five allkill singles in a row.

aggressive Female Power By this time, 2NE1 was attracting widespread international attention for its unique style. Unlike many sugary K-Pop girl groups, 2NE1 cultivates a tough look of aggressive female power. And the band’s outrageous outfits and accessories are must-have items for 2NE1 fans, who called themselves Blackjacks.

2ne1 perform with attitude at the seoul Music awards in January 2013. 52

K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

2NE1’s defiant attitude is on full display onstage. When the group played its first US concerts on the New Evolution World Tour 2012, Los Angeles Times concert reviewer August Brown described the experience: There were shirtless male dancers with pink Mohawks trapped inside giant kick drums; there were huge inflatable slides shaped like lipstick tubes; there were Jeremy Scott-designed dresses made to look like the girls were trapped in the jaws of fluffy space monsters. . . . But more importantly, 2NE1’s chemistry made the spectacle click. They have an appealing way of subverting their roles in the band—the doe-eyed, 18-year-old Minzy turns out to have dance moves to make Snoop [Dogg] come back to hip-hop; the brash Dara builds coy steam, but proves unattainably fierce.

2NE1 continues its climb to success. In 2012 rapper and producer will.i.am, of the Black Eyed Peas, agreed to produce the band’s next album. He said, “K-Pop . . . is exciting . . . that’s why I signed those girls [2NE1] and am producing them, to blow them up outside of Korea.”

“Global, Digital, and Danceable” Through the phenomenal success of 2NE1, Psy, and other K-Pop stars, the K-Pop music scene has detonated in the United States. Some of the music world’s biggest stars, including will.i.am, Akon, and Kanye, are signing and producing K-Pop artists. K-Pop sales continue to soar in Asia, Europe, and South America. In 2012 K-Pop music and merchandise sales generated $3.4 billion worldwide, a 27 percent increase over 2011 sales. As an additional measure of the K-Pop explosion,

K-POP Style

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KCON In October 2012, thousands of K-Pop fans poured into Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, to celebrate all things Hallyu. KCON, a convention devoted to South Korean music, food, and film, was the first K-Pop convention ever held in the United States. The event featured workshops on fashion in which South Korean designer David Yi offered tips on dressing like the biggest K-Pop stars. Another workshop taught K-Pop choreography. South Korean food vendors sold popular dishes such as bulgogi (thin strips of grilled meat) and kimchi (a spicy cabbage dish). The full-day event also featured autograph-signing sessions, celebrity panels, contests, and screening of South Korean films and TV dramas. The biggest KCON event was a concert (above) featuring K-Pop bands such as the boy band B.A.P., the girl group 4Minute, and EXO-M, whose members sing in Mandarin, Japanese, and English while they perform.

thousands of fans packed the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, in 2012 for the first ever KCON (K-Pop convention) in Southern California. With unshakable hooks, eye-popping outfits, and expert choreography, K-Pop is breaking entertainment records on nearly every continent. The world has embraced Hallyu. As music critic August Brown writes, K-Pop “represents every direction that pop culture is going . . . global, digital and danceable. . . . K-Pop today looks a lot like the future of music everywhere.” For the legions of fans at the center of the K-Pop universe, that future cannot come soon enough.

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K-POP: KOrea’s Musical exPlOsiOn

PLAYLIST

2NE1 2NE1, 2009 “Fire” “Lollipop” “I Don’t Care” m, 2011 2NE1 2nd Mini Albu “I Am the Best” “Ugly” “Hate You” BigBang BigBang, Vol. 1, 2006 “La La La” Remember, 2008 “Sunset Glow”

“Strong Baby” ert: Alive Tour BigBang Live Conc in Seoul, 2013 “Tonight” “Fantastic Baby”

G-Dragon Heartbreaker, 2009 “Heartbreaker”

G-Dragon and TO P GD & TOP, 2010 “High High” “Oh Yeah” Psy PSY from the Psyc

ho World!, 2001 “Lady” “Freedom” “Modern Times” PSYFive, 2010 “Right Now” “Mr. Ssa” PSY 6, 2012 “Blue Frog” “Year of 77” “Gangnam Style”

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Glossary ballad: a song, usually with a slow tempo, that tells a story bubblegum: a style of music with bouncy rhythms, innocent lyrics, and sing-along choruses. The music is geared toward preteens and teens. debut: the first public appearance of a person, record, or video Hallyu: in English, the word means “Korean Wave” and describes the worldwide interest in all things South Korean, including music, food, films, and fashion K-Pop: an abbreviation for Korean Pop, popular music produced in South Korea, commonly under the star-factory system run by the nation’s three major entertainment agencies, SM, YG, and JYP new jack swing: a musical style that emerged in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the late 1980s. The music, popularized by Janet Jackson in the United States and Seo Taiji & Boys in South Korea, draws on a number of genres including hip-hop, dance pop, soul, funk, smooth jazz, and R&B. producer: a person who works with a band to manage and oversee the songwriting, recording, and performing processes rhythm and blues (R&B): a musical style developed by twentieth-century African American artists who merged gospel harmonies, swinging blues rhythms, and soulful lead vocals royalty: a percentage of sales paid to a writer or songwriter for the creation of a book, song, or other artistic work synthesizer: an electronic keyboard instrument that produces unique sounds or imitates other instruments such as drums, violins, or horns. The synthesizer is also sometimes referred to simply as a synth.

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Must-Have Album Playlist 2NE1

Psy

2NE1, 2009

PSY from the Psycho World!, 2001

2NE1 2nd Mini Album, 2011

PSYFive, 2010

BigBang BigBang, Vol. 1, 2006

PSY 6, 2012

Rain

Remember, 2008

It’s Raining, 2004

BigBang Live Concert: Alive Tour in Seoul, 2013

Rain’s World, 2006

BoA ID; Peace B, 2000 Listen to My Heart, 2002 Valenti, 2003

Fin.K.L Fine Killing Liberty, 1998 Now, 2000

G-Dragon Heartbreaker, 2009

G-Dragon and TOP GD & TOP, 2010

Girls’ Generation Girls’ Generation, 2007 Gee, 2009 The Boys, 2011 I Got a Boy, 2013

H.O.T. We Hate All Kinds of Violence, 1996

Rainism, 2008

Seo Taiji Seo Taiji & Boys I, 1992 Seo Taiji & Boys II, 1993 Seo Taiji & Boys III, 1994

S.E.S. Love, 1999 Letter from Greenland, 2000

Shin Joong-hyun Beautiful Rivers and Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound of South Korea’s Shin Joong-hyun, 2011

Super Junior Super Junior 05, 2005 Sorry, Sorry, 2009 Bonamana, 2010 Mr. Simple, 2011

Super Junior—M Me, 2008

H.O.T.—99 Live in Seoul, 2000

Pearl Sisters Pearl Sisters Hits: Complete Collection, 1991

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Source Notes 6 Egon, “The Godfather of South Korean Rock,” NPR, September 11, 2008, http:// www.npr.org/templates/story/story .php?storyId=94247883. 8 Mark James Russell, Pop Goes Korea (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2008), 143. 8 Ibid., 135. 9 Ibid., 139. 12 Ibid., 144. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 21 Victoria Huynh, “10 Reasons Why the Kpop Fandom Is Not Like the Rest,” Ningin, June 2, 2011, http://blog.ningin. com/2011/06/02/10-reasons-why-thekpop-fandom-is-not-like-the-rest. 21 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 Russell, Pop Goes Korea, 154–155. 27 “BoA’s Bio,” JpopAsia, February 28, 2013, http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/boa. 28 Simon Stawski and Martina Stawski, “Jumping BoAs and Kpop Fan Groups,” Eat Your Kimchi, October 27, 2010, http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/jumpingboas-kpop-fan-groups. 32 Russell, Pop Goes Korea, 146. 33 Ibid., 147–148. 33 Deborah Sontag, “The Ambassador,” New York Times, January 29, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006 /01/29/arts/music/29sont. html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 39 Robert Michael Poole, “A K-Pop Sensation Plays Letterman,” Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2012, http:// blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/01/31/girlsgeneration-plays-letterman. 39 Yun-Jung Choi, “The Globalization of K-Pop,” Situations, Winter 2011, 70.

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39 James Brooks, “To Anyone: The Rise of Korean Wave,” Pitchfork, November 2, 2011, http://pitchfork.com/features/ articles/8700-to-anyone-the-rise-ofkorean-wave. 44 Brian Hiatt, “Can Psy Move Past ‘Gangnam Style’ ?,” Rolling Stone, December 6, 2012, 22. 45 Ibid. 46 Vital Warning, “Psy’s ‘Right Now’ Gets Banned by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family,” allkpop, September 6, 2011, http://www.allkpop .com/2011/09/psys-right-now-getsbanned-by-the-ministry-of-genderequality-and-family. 47 Roger Hamilton, “6 Trips to Get to Gangnam 1 Billion Views,” NextUp.Asia, February 13, 2013, http://www .nextupasia.com/6-trips-to-get-togangnam-1-billion-views. 47 Michelle Nichols, “U.N. Chief to Meet South Korean Pop Star, Austrian Skydiver,” Reuters, October 23, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012 /10/23/entertainment-us-un-gangnamskydive-idUSBRE89M12L20121023. 49 Diplo, “GD and TOP—Knock Out,” Mad Decent, January 20, 2011, http://www .maddecent.com/blog/gd-and-topknock-out. 50 Joseph Lapin, “BIG BANG—Honda Center—November 3, 2012,” OC Weekly, November 5, 2012, http://blogs .ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2012/11 /bigbang_honda_center_k-pop.php. 53 August Brown, “Live Review: K-Pop’s 2NE1 at Nokia Theater,” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2012, http://articles .latimes.com/2012/aug/25 /entertainment/la-et-ms-live-reviewkpops-2ne1-at-nokia-theatre-20120825. 53 Choi, “The Globalization of K-Pop,” Situations, 71. 54 Brown, “Live Review.”

Selected Bibliography Barry, Robert. “Gangnam Style & How the World Woke Up to the Genius of K-Pop.” Quietus, December 18, 2012. http://thequietus.com/articles/11001-psy-gangnam-style-k-pop. “BoA’s Bio.” JpopAsia, February 28, 2013. http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/boa. Brooks, James. “To Anyone: The Rise of Korean Wave.” Pitchfork, November 2, 2011. http:// pitchfork.com/features/articles/8700-to-anyone-the-rise-of-korean-wave. Brown, August. “Live Review: K-Pop’s 2NE1 at Nokia Theater.” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2012. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/25/entertainment/la-et-ms-live-reviewkpops-2ne1-at-nokia-theatre-20120825. Choi, Yun-Jung. “The Globalization of K-Pop.” Situations, Winter 2011, 69–75. Diplo. “GD and TOP—Knock Out.” Mad Decent, January 20, 2011. http://www.maddecent.com /blog/gd-and-top-knock-out. Doyle, Patrick. “Things You Didn’t Know about Psy.” Rolling Stone, November 22, 2012. Egon. “The Godfather of South Korean Rock.” NPR, September 11, 2008. http://www.npr.org /templates/story/story.php?storyId=94247883. Hamilton, Roger. “6 Trips to Get to Gangnam 1 Billion Views.” NextUp.Asia, February 13, 2013. http://www.nextupasia.com/6-trips-to-get-to-gangnam-1-billion-views. Hiatt, Brian. “Can Psy Move Past ‘Gangnam Style’ ?” Rolling Stone, December 6, 2012, 22. Huynh, Victoria. “10 Reasons Why the K-pop Fandom Is Not Like the Rest.” Ningin, June 2, 2011. http://blog.ningin.com/2011/06/02/10-reasons-why-the-kpop-fandom-is-not-likethe-rest. Lapin, Joseph. “BIG BANG—Honda Center—November 3, 2012.” OC Weekly, November 5, 2012. http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2012/11/bigbang_honda_center_k-pop. php. Maliangkay, Roald. “Hard Acts to Follow: Seo Tae-ji Phenomenon in the 1990s.” K-Pop Essentials for Academics, September 24, 2011. http://kpopreader.com/2011/09/24/ hard-acts-to-follow-seo-tae-ji-phenomenon-in-the-1990s. Nichols, Michelle. “U.N. Chief to Meet South Korean Pop Star, Austrian Skydiver.” Reuters, October 23, 2012. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/23/entertainment-us-ungangnam-skydive-idUSBRE89M12L20121023. Russell, Mark James. Pop Goes Korea. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2008. Sontag, Deborah. “The Ambassador.” New York Times, January 29, 2006. http://www .nytimes.com/2006/01/29/arts/music/29sont.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. Stawski, Simon, and Martina Stawski. “Jumping BoAs and Kpop Fan Groups.” Eat Your Kimchi, October 27, 2010. http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/jumping-boas-kpop-fan-groups. Vital Warning. “Psy’s ‘Right Now’ Gets Banned by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.” allkpop, September 6, 2011. http://www.allkpop.com/2011/09/psys-right-now-getsbanned-by-the-ministry-of-gender-equality-and-family. Woo, Michelle. “10 Old-School K-Pop Bands to Make You Remember Why You Fell in Love with K-Pop.” OC Weekly, October 10, 2012. http://blogs.ocweekly.com/ heardmentality/2012/10/10_old-school_k-pop_bands_to_m.php?page=2.

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Further Information Books Chi, Crystal, and Sangoh Bae, eds. K-Pop Lyrics Vol. 2—Girls Generation. Seoul: SlowBooks, 2012. The second of nine volumes about K-Pop includes the lyrics of Girls’ Generation songs translated to English. Other groups in the series include PSY, Super Junior, and 2NE1. Mendelson, Aaron. American R&B: Gospel Grooves, Funky Drummers, and Soul Power. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2013. This book in the American Music Milestones series gives a great overview of the history of R&B music in the United States and includes must-have playlists to learn more about the genre. Miller, Jennifer A. South Korea. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2012. This book offers a quick and easy exploration of the culture, environment, and people of South Korea. Russell, Mark James. Pop Goes Korea. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2008. Written by an American living in Seoul, this is one of the few books for kids that covers the development of South Korean film, television, comics, and music since the 1950s. Sacks, Nathan. American Hip-Hop: Rappers, DJs, and Hard Beats. Minneapolis: TwentyFirst Century Books, 2013. This book in the American Music Milestones series gives a great overview of the history of hip-hop music in the United States and includes must-have playlists to learn more about the genre. Shim, Elizabeth, and Allie H. Yoo. Seoul Sweet Seoul. Lawrence, MA: Small Planet Publishing, 2011. This guide to modern Seoul is written by two young Korean American writers who describe South Korean culture through the context of K-Pop.

Websites AllKPop http://www.allkpop.com Since it was launched in 2007, this site has been covering the rising popularity of K-Pop. With more than five million monthly readers worldwide, Allkpop features videos, photos, news, live cams, tour schedules, and more from the biggest South Korean stars. Eat Your Kimchi http://www.eatyourkimchi.com This site is maintained by a Canadian couple, Simon Stawski and Martina Stawski, who moved to South Korea in 2008 and began posting videos about their new lives. The site has evolved into a K-Pop mainstay with blogs, music videos, and record charts.

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GoKpop http://www.gokpop.com This site features an alphabetical listing of K-pop groups along with biographies and pictures. The Charts section has weekly music sales charts that allow visitors to click on a song and watch the accompanying music video. Kpopedia http://www.kpopedia.com Launched in 2001, this site is a source of K-Pop music, history, news, events, celebrity gossip, and videos. K-Pop Essentials for Academics http://kpopreader.com This site provides in-depth coverage of K-Pop music, stars, and history along with articles and book reviews concerning South Korean food, film, television, and other cultural topics. Korea.net http://www.korea.net The official website of the Republic of South Korea features details about South Korean history, government, business, art, music, sports, food, and other cultural matters. Mnet http://global.mnet.com One of the most all-inclusive K-Pop sites on the web, Mnet features videos, concert footage, and fan polls. The site also has a video fashion show called “Stitch,” in which David Yi provides tips for how to dress like the biggest K-Pop stars. Rain http://rain-jihoon.com/n2/eng The official website of the entertainer Rain provides photos, videos, messages from the singer, and tour dates. SMTOWN http://www.smtown.com The official English-language site of SM Entertainment provides news, videos, and sound clips from the company’s latest South Korean sensations. Soshified http://www.soshified.com This website, hosted by the international fan club for Girls’ Generation, draws 10 million views every month. It features the videos, news, reviews, English translations of song lyrics, gossip, and well-written editorials for SONEs—fans obsessed with Girls’ Generation and its subgroups. YG Family http://www.ygfamily.com This site, presented in English, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese, features news, music, videos, and other information about the hottest acts coming out of YG Entertainment, including BigBang, 2NE1, G-Dragon, and Psy.

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Index Bae In-sook, 7. See also Pearl Sisters, the Bae In-soon, 7. See also Pearl Sisters, the ballads, 8, 12, 19, 24, 56 Bi, 33. See also Rain BigBang, 46, 47–50; albums, 55; Best Worldwide Act award, 49; songwriting, 48; world tour, 49–50 “Big Three” Labels (Korea), 46. See also JYP Entertainment; SM Entertainment; YG Entertainment BoA, 26–28; achievements, 27; albums, 27, 29; Asia Song Festival, 28; in Japan, 27–28; songwriting, 27 Braun, Scooter, 44 bubblegum pop, 8–9, 56. See also K-Pop Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2013, 5 DSP Media, 25 electronic music: beats, 4; dance sounds, 17, 19; fuzz tone, 6; keyboards, 45; synthesizers, 11, 16, 56; wah-wah pedal, 6 Ellen DeGeneres Show, The, 5, 43 fandom: Blackjacks, 52; protests, 22; relationship to stars, 12, 21; spazz, 21, 28, 50 Fin.K.L, 25–26; albums, 29 “Gangnam Style,” 4–5, 43. See also Psy G-Dragon, 48–49; songs, 55. See also BigBang “Gee,” 39. See also Girls’ Generation Gibson, Laurieann, 50 Girls’ Generation, 38–41; albums, 40, 42; Red Hot Chili Peppers, 40; Seoul Music Awards, 40 government censorship (Korean): in the arts, 6–8, 12; in media, 10, 20, 24, 45–46 Hallyu. See Korean Wave (Hallyu) Han Geng, 37. See also Super Junior heavy metal music, 8–9, 10, 14 hip-hop influences on K-Pop, 27; beats, 10–11; fashion, 17; music, 10–11, 45; rap, 10–11, 19

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H.O.T. (High Five of Teenagers), 18–20; albums, 29; movies, 20; songs, 19–20 Hyun Jin-young, 17 jazz, 24 J-Pop (Japanese Pop), 31; pop chart, 39 Jung Ji-hoon. See Rain JYP Entertainment, 32, 46; star training system, 32–33. See also Park Jin-young Kangta, 18–19, 22. See also H.O.T. (High Five of Teenagers) KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), 24 KCON, 54 kimchi, 54 Korean War, 5 Korean Wave (Hallyu), 38; beginnings of, 30–31; in China, 30, 33; in Europe, 30; in Israel, 33; in Japan, 31, 33–34; K-dramas, 31, 33, 54; in Morocco, 33; secondgeneration artists, 41; in Southeast Asia, 30, 33–34; in Turkey, 30, 33; in the United States, 30, 33 K-Pop, 4–5; dance, 11; electronic influences, 34, 40, 45; endorsements, 20, 50; experiments, 12–13; Facebook, 30; fans, 11, 12, 14, 20–22, 24–25, 28, 34–35, 37, 50, 54; fashion, 19; heavy metal influences, 12; hip-hop influences, 34, 45, 48; history of, 5–8; house influences, 48; industry, 53–54; iTunes, 30, 47; languages, 38; modern, 14; new records, 39; R&B influences, 34, 48; training of stars, 18, 22, 27, 32–33; urban sounds, 48 Kwon Boa, 26. See also BoA Late Show with David Letterman, The, 41 Lee Hyori, 25–26. See also Fin.K.L Lee Soo-man, 8–10 Lee Soo Man and 365 days, 8 manga, 36 Minzy, 51. See also 2NE1 MTV, 9; Asia Awards, 27, 34; Best International Video, 20; European Music Awards, 49; Korea, 31

new jack swing, 11, 41 Olympics, Summer 1988, 10 Park Jae-sang, 4–5. See also Psy Park Jin-young, 32, 46. See also JYP Entertainment Pearl Sisters, the, 6–8; songs, 7, 15 playlists, 15, 29, 42, 55, 57 Psy, 4–5, 43–47; albums, 45–47, 55; Berklee College of Music, 44; controversies, 45; dance moves, 47; early life, 44–45; Game Changer of the Year, 44; Guinness World Records, 43. See also Park Jae-sang punk: attitude, 10; hard-core, 14 Queen, 44 Rain, 31–36; as an actor, 33–35; albums, 33–34, 42; fans, 34–35; Most Beautiful People, 35; MTV Movie Awards, 35; Star of the Year, 34; success, 34; Time 100 Most Influential People, 35; tours, 31 rhythm and blues (R&B), 11, 24, 25, 56 rock and roll, 5, 19; alternative, 14; experimental, 8 Saturday Night Live, 5 school system: in Japan, 11; in Korea, 10–11 Seo Taiji, 10–13; solo career, 14; songs, 15 Seo Taiji & Boys, 10–11; breakup, 13–14; innovation, 12–13; songs, 10–11 Seoul, 16 S.E.S., 23–24; albums, 24–25, 29; controversy, 24; songs, 23–24

Shin, Jackie, 6. See also Shin Joong-hyun Shin Joong-hyun, 6–9; songs, 15; Western inspirations, 6. Sinawe, 10 SM Entertainment, 9–10; business practices, 20, 22–23; history of, 46; marketing strategy, 26; recruitment, 18–19, 22–23, 36; setback, 16–17; star training system, 18, 22–23, 28, 41; success, 17 South Korean economy, 7 Super Junior, 31, 36–38; albums, 36, 38, 42; subgroups, 37–38 Today Show, The, 5 2NE1, 46, 50–53; aggressive look, 52–53; albums, 55; fans, 52; songs, 50–52 US Army: Korean bases, 5–6; singing competitions in Korea, 7 will.i.am, 53 Wonder Girls, the, 46. See also JYP Entertainment Woodstock bar, 8, 10. See also Shin Joonghyun Yang Hyun-suk, 10, 46. See also Seo Taiji & Boys; YG Entertainment YG Entertainment, 46–48, 51; Family Concert, 46 YouTube, 4–5, 30, 39, 49; K-Pop hits, 51; Most Viewed Video, 47

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About the Author Stuart A. Kallen has written more than 250 nonfiction books for children and young adults over the past twenty years. His books have covered a wide arc of human history, culture, and science from the building of the pyramids to the music of the twenty-first century. Some of his recent titles include Che Guevara: You Win or You Die, The History of Latin Music, and The History of R&B. Kallen, who lives in San Diego, California, is also a singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Photo Acknowledgments The images in this book are used with the permission of: © Emily Harris/Independent Picture Service (geometric pattern design); © Login/Shutterstock.com, p. 1; REUTERS/ Brendan McDermid, p. 4; © Charles Trainor/Time & life Pictures/Getty Images, p. 5; © Yohhap/epa/CORBIS, p. 6; © Independent Picture Service, p. 7, 11, 17, 24; PRPP_Pacific Rim Photo Press/Newscom, p. 9; Yonhap News/YNA/Newscom, pp. 13, 14; © Lain Masterton/Alamy, p. 16; © Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images, pp. 19 (top), 23 (all); JS4/ZCH Wenn Photos/Newscom, p. 19 (bottom); © Ted Aljibe/ AFP/Getty Images, p. 21; © Starnews/AFP/Stringer/Getty Images, p. 26; © Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images, p. 28; Kimm Hee-Chul/EPA/Newscom, p. 30; © Juliana Malucelli/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection, p. 35; © Sam Yeh/AFP/ Getty Images, p. 37; © Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images, p. 40; AP Photo/ Michael Rozman/Warner Bros, p. 43; © Reuters/CORBIS, p. 44; © ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images, p. 48; © The Chosunilbo JNS/Multi-Bits via Getty Images, p. 52; Peter Kaminski/Wikimedia Commons, p. 54. Front cover: © Login/Shutterstock.com, (mosaic pattern); © iStockphoto.com/ dwphotos (crowd); © Emily Harris/Independent Picture Service (geometric pattern design). Main body text set in Adrianna 12/16. Typeface provied by Chank.

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STUART A. KALLEN has written more than 250 nonfiction books for children and young adults over the past twenty years. His books have covered countless aspects of human history, culture, and science from the building of the pyramids to the history of R&B and other musical genres. For Twenty-First Century Books, he has written a number of titles including Che Guevara: You Win or You Die; We Are Not Beasts of Burden: Cesar Chavez and the Delano Grape Strike, California, 1965-1970; and The Race to Discover the AIDS Virus: Luc Montagnier vs Robert Gallo.. Kallen, who lives in San Diego, California, is also a singer-songwriter and guitarist.

FRONT COVER: © Login/Shutterstock.com, (mosaic pattern); © iStockphoto.com/dwphotos (crowd); © Emily Harris/Independent Picture Service (geometric pattern design).

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BOOKS A DIVISION OF LERNER PUBLISHING GROUP 241 FIRST AVENUE NORTH • MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401 WWW.LERNERBOOKS.COM PRINTED AND BOUND IN U.S.A.

south Korean pop music, or K-Pop, made history when the “Gangnam style” video reached one billion hits on youTube in 2012. since then fans in the united states and around the globe have caught hallyu (the Korean Wave) fever. Packing arenas for the fun dance moves, irresistible electronic beats, and amazing stage shows of bands such as Girls’ Generation and BigBang, K-Pop fans can’t get enough of these sensational acts!