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K-pop is HUGE in the West.
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Smithington



Joined: 14 Dec 2011

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:45 pm    Post subject: K-pop is HUGE in the West. Reply with quote

I don't know how many times Koreans have told me that K-pop is huge in the West. Where are they getting this information from? I had a woman telling me this on Saturday and I told her straight out that it is not. It's not even on the radar. Ninety-nine percent of Westerners have likely never heard of it. She seemed shocked and slightly annoyed. Then she starts talking about how enormously successful it is in France. I said that I doubted it very much. She persisted. I asked her to name the K-pop songs / groups that made it onto the French charts. She couldn't mention one, and I'm sure that if there was one she would have known it. Then she tells me about the K-pop concerts in France. I told her that it was likely Korean immigrants attending along with an occasional French friend. No she said.......and on and on.

Really, what makes every single Korean I meet think that K-pop is popular in Western countries? And why must K-pop so frequently be raised in discussion with me within ten minutes of meeting someone.?

Annoying, I tell ya!
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thebektionary



Joined: 11 May 2011

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just let them believe it. They want to have the feeling that they have some impact on the world and that their culture is appreciated and important. If I were you I wouldn't try to refute it... that might be slightly offensive to them.
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edwardcatflap



Joined: 22 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Really, what makes every single Korean I meet think that K-pop is popular in Western countries?


Because every time anything about K Pop gets reported in the press over here, there's something about it being popular all over the world tagged onto the end of the story. Without there ever being any any specific data about how popular, with whom and how this was measured. Eventually the Korean public have just accepted it as a fact. In reality it's probably about as popular in the West as Morrissey is here. Enough fans around to fill a concert hall, mostly ex-pats, and the average person on the street has never heard of him/them. Still, better than nothing
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atwood



Joined: 26 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Because their media is mostly propaganda. And education isn't far removed. But at least they don't believe that Korea is the only country that has four seasons any more. And the highest sky. And...
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stevieg4ever



Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Things like this are generally a self-fulfilling prophecy for Koreans and, as such, little evidence or statistical information is required to support it.
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stevieg4ever



Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

edwardcatflap wrote:
Quote:
Really, what makes every single Korean I meet think that K-pop is popular in Western countries?


Because every time anything about K Pop gets reported in the press over here, there's something about it being popular all over the world tagged onto the end of the story. Without there ever being any any specific data about how popular, with whom and how this was measured. Eventually the Korean public have just accepted it as a fact. In reality it's probably about as popular in the West as Morrissey is here. Enough fans around to fill a concert hall, mostly ex-pats, and the average person on the street has never heard of him/them. Still, better than nothing


Nail on the proverbial head
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RUBRUBBURNER



Joined: 04 Jul 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i've seen (presented in the korean media ONLY, of course) a number of european pop charts with kpop tunes sitting smack in the top positions; 'proof.'
ballsy tactics, i suspect...
...but have a stroll through youtube and you'd think it was all true. lots of useless 16 to 20-somethings posting videos of themselves wigglng around awkwardly; mimicking their favorite kpop choreography and soaking up all the "good dance sexy body lady" comments...
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Ibsen



Joined: 09 Dec 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just let them believe what they want to believe... No harm no foul I suppose. I encountered situations like this myself and found that smiling and nodding politely usually gets the best reactions.
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jfromtheway



Joined: 20 Nov 2010

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lol, I've had the OP's conversation almost word for word at least three times. I myself love hammering out Korea's Greatest Hits when I meet someone new. It's like when the wind moves your ball from the edge of the green to an inch from the hole. The hardest part is simply walking to the hole itself, because there's no way you're going to miss it. Just taaap it in. If that analogy is unclear: It's also similar to shattering the dreams of a child who doesn't know Santa Clause doesn't exist yet, but with an adult who believes what their government tells them.
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Dave Chance



Joined: 30 May 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There does seem to be an audience for it in the west.

It's just that they're all wannabe hipster dweebs who were too late for when the Japan wave broke Smile ...I'd also say western pop culture is becoming pretty repetitive, and some impressionable people are desperately searching for an alternative (obviously in the wrong place)

...these days the mass media/major corporations are pretty determined to filter out anyone who might threaten their stranglehold on people's minds. So cancel out any Jim Morrisons, Sex Pistols, Ken Kesey, etc...people don't really read anymore, so even if a Jack Kerouac, Timothy Leary or Baudelaire came along, not many people would know, less would recognize the value of what they were saying
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atwood



Joined: 26 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave Chance wrote:
There does seem to be an audience for it in the west.

It's just that they're all wannabe hipster dweebs who were too late for when the Japan wave broke Smile ...I'd also say western pop culture is becoming pretty repetitive, and some impressionable people are desperately searching for an alternative (obviously in the wrong place)

...these days the mass media/major corporations are pretty determined to filter out anyone who might threaten their stranglehold on people's minds. So cancel out any Jim Morrisons, Sex Pistols, Ken Kesey, etc...people don't really read anymore, so even if a Jack Kerouac, Timothy Leary or Baudelaire came along, not many people would know, less would recognize the value of what they were saying

There's plenty of alternative music in the U.S. and Britain. Bon Iver got a Grammy.

And lots and lots of people still read. They just don't blog about it.
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edwardcatflap



Joined: 22 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
There does seem to be an audience for it in the west.


Yes there probably is but we use the word 'popular' in different ways. If I went to a Morrissey concert in Seoul and saw a load of Korean faces looking like they were having a good time, I'd probably say to myself 'Morrissey's popular here.' But if someone asked me out of the blue, 'what music is popular in Korea?' I would say Big Bang and Girls Generation. Just as if I was asked what music was popular in the West, I'd name a band that's sold around 20 million albums in Europe and the US.
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Dave Chance



Joined: 30 May 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

atwood wrote:
Dave Chance wrote:
There does seem to be an audience for it in the west.

It's just that they're all wannabe hipster dweebs who were too late for when the Japan wave broke Smile ...I'd also say western pop culture is becoming pretty repetitive, and some impressionable people are desperately searching for an alternative (obviously in the wrong place)

...these days the mass media/major corporations are pretty determined to filter out anyone who might threaten their stranglehold on people's minds. So cancel out any Jim Morrisons, Sex Pistols, Ken Kesey, etc...people don't really read anymore, so even if a Jack Kerouac, Timothy Leary or Baudelaire came along, not many people would know, less would recognize the value of what they were saying

There's plenty of alternative music in the U.S. and Britain. Bon Iver got a Grammy.

And lots and lots of people still read. They just don't blog about it.


Bon Iver...nice guy I'm sure, sings/plays guitar decent, and what I said about western culture being repetetive still holds.

If you examine the impact that Morrison, Kesey, the Pistols et al had on society at large, you'd realize that it wouldn't matter a squat if Iver got 10 Grammys, I assure you if he was subversive in a real sense they wouldn't let him into the hall...Arcade Fire was similarly acclaimed, and haven't done anything in terms of mobilizing people for real change, Iver's just another safe outlet for wannabe bohemians that helps keep more dangerous impulses at arm's length, and is therefore a nice choice to highlight as a Grammy winner...not blaming you, it's obvious you're a bit younger and have no sense of the real battles that went on in the 60's/70's...

Don't expect Iver or anyone like him to lay it down in an interview like this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1njgyVnjTo
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Julius



Joined: 27 Jul 2006

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ibsen wrote:
Just let them believe what they want to believe... No harm no foul I suppose. I encountered situations like this myself and found that smiling and nodding politely usually gets the best reactions.


Right.
Unless I'm in an especially foul mood, then I'm happy to let them keep their precious illusions.

I've become confucian, you might say. I'd rather leave them with a good feeling. Wether it is true or not.
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fosterman



Joined: 16 Nov 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

K pop is not popular in the west with westerners
might be popular with koreans or other asians residing there.
but with natives and I mean folk born
there and raised , not including Kyopos it will NEVER get air play.
the day I see Big bang on MTV America, or nominated for a Grammy for best pop group and packing arenas across the states with white kids, then I will say K pop is popular.. until then.. keep dreaming.
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