Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alyssa]

My two co-workers are 22 (but from what I understand, 21 in Korean age) and so they treat me like I am this old person, like letting me through the door first, and always bringing up my "age" and since I have been here they have always pressed the "well, you are older" issue about anything. I felt like an old lady. I am only 2 years older than both of them, but that does not matter to them.

So, this whole weekend we have had a sort of "debate". It centered around a pop idol, I had never heard of. His name is Rain, and my two co-workers both adore him. I live a hop and a skip from N.Y.C and so they told me that he was really famous in N.Y.C. I was kind of shocked and said "really?" They both looked really shocked and they pulled up article after article about him.


Sure enough, in every English newspaper here, there was an article about Rain, how he had two sold out concerts in New York, and how he was to become the next 'sensation' in America. Well I was speechless. Not only that, I looked at a few sights they showed me that were Korean, and right on the front page was this "Rain" singer, with a young American girl and they were hugging.

So I felt like I was an old lady, never having heard of this superstar. Well tonight I just happened to look at the New York Times article about him. It made all the articles in the Korean papers look so fabricated.............




I don't think I will show them this article, but from what I read, almost all of the audience members were Asians, I guess that is why I never heard of him, and not because I was "too old"





Korean Superstar Who Smiles and Says, 'I'm Lonely'
By JON PARELES
Rain, a 23-year-old Korean pop singer who is a superstar in Asia, is out to conquer the United States next. It won't be easy.

His first step was two sold-out shows at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, last night and Thursday night. The audience on Thursday was about 95 percent Asian, at least 90 percent female and always ready to scream. Like Rain, they were following the drill of a Michael Jackson concert from the early 1990's: songs that switched between stark beats and sweet choruses, angular group dances and tough-guy preening that gave way to professions of love.

Slender and wiry, Rain, known in Korean as Bi (pronounced "bee"), also acts in soap operas. He's a product of the globalization that pumps American products through worldwide media channels. People who fear mass-market threats to local styles need look no further for an example. If there's anything beyond the lyrics that's particularly Korean about Rain's songs, it's not obvious.

On the three albums he has released since 2002, Rain and his songwriter, producer, promoter and mastermind, Jin-Young Park, have imported and digested pop-R&B from the English-speaking world, emulating it with Korean lyrics. Since Rain's voice is lower and huskier than Mr. Jackson's, he dabbles in other pop-R&B approaches: the acoustic-guitar ballads of Babyface, the light funk-pop of Justin Timberlake, the crooning of George Michael and the importunings of Usher. Seeing him onstage was like watching old MTV videos dubbed into Korean.

The moment Rain appeared onstage, he was mimicking Mr. Jackson's costumes and moves: a fitted leather jacket, a dark suit and slouch hat, the freeze-frame postures. He's a fine dancer and a passable singer. At first, he tried Mr. Jackson's tense demeanor, but soon he was smiling. "I'm lonely," he announced, "I need a girlfriend," and he brought a young woman onstage from the audience, handing her a teddy bear and a bouquet of roses before giving her a chaste hug. (Perhaps with crossover in mind, the woman he chose was one of the few non-Asians in the audience.) By the end of the show Rain was dedicating a ballad to his late mother. Rain seems like a nice guy, but he doesn't have the tormented charisma of Jackson, the relaxed sex appeal of Usher or the quick pop reflexes of Mr. Timberlake.

The show was a combination of slick video-era effects — at one point, Rain jumped, and the buildings in a video image behind him shook — and odd moments. Mr. Park took the stage repeatedly while Rain changed costumes. Speaking in hip-hop-style English, he reminded everyone that he wrote all the songs, he introduced Sean Combs (Diddy) and the teenage singer JoJo to praise Rain, and he performed his own songs from the mid-1990's. Given his voice, he was wise to make Rain the vehicle for his newer material. The obstacle to Rain's intended United States career is that by the time Mr. Park has figured out how to imitate the latest English-speaking hit, American pop will have jumped ahead of him. Perhaps collaborators like Diddy could help Mr. Park keep Rain up to date. But for the moment, here in the United States, Rain sounded like a nostalgia act.

[djsmnc]

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[peppermint]

They just buy into the Hallyu phenomenon a little too much.

[Troll_Bait]

Do you happen to have the URL for that article?

I'd love to have it, and so would many others, I suspect.

As you said, your "not understanding" Rain has little to do with your age, and a lot to do with the fact that you haven't been force-fed pablum from the Korean propaganda machine since birth.

From the time they're young, Koreans are told about the many Koreans who are "famous" outside of Korea, and when they collide with the real world, it's sad to see the shock and disappointment on their faces as their internal house of cards come tumbling down.

[Alyssa]

Well here is where I got it, just go to the New York Times and type in Rain, it will pull up a couple of pages, his article is on the second page.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/arts/music/04rain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Qinella]

I searched for Rain on Google and was reading some online message board things about him. People are saying his success at the Madison Square Gardens, coupled with his alleged ties with Diddy, signals the coming of "K-pop" sensation sweeping the US (surfing atop the Korean Wave, no doubt).

That may or may not happen, as it all depends on who wants it to happen, but the thing that gets me is when people talk about K-pop as if it were some great thing. Now, I hate pop music as much as the next intelligent nose-breather, but Korean pop is something far worse than anything I'd been subjected to in the US. It's horrible, recycled mimicry, at best. And when they start in with the "ballads", I just can't handle it. Who could ever dig that *beep*?


Q.

[itaewonguy]

they were trying to say he packed out the madison square garden
but I know Billy was playing the main room, so Rain had the theater
the theater holds 5000 people.. so that si how ever a good turn out!
and the tickets were about 120dollars I think..so two nights.. they made a good amount of cash.. I mean its a good idea.. plenty of asians in the nyc, next he will be playing LA, Vancouver , toronto you watch..
I mean why not.. heaps of spanish , stars and other country peolpe do it.. go on him for doing it.. park Jin Yong the producer knows alot of people in hiphop. even P diddy appeared at the concert and spoke a few words to the crowd about RAIN! and of course how he is gonna be the next model for SEAN JOHN in asia.. but still why not.. RAIN is big in asia..
but breaking into the american mainstream.. might be hard..
but not impossible.. there are enough asians to support him.,.
probably is.. spanish stars sing in spanish.. so being from mexico, or Porto rico or spain doesnt matter. but rain is KOREAN! so only singing in korean is not gonna do it for him in the usa.. singing in English..
well thats the way to go.. so PJY will put him with little kim, and some other acts, little john too I think.. maybe NAS and who ever else JYP has produced for.,. will smith.. he does any duet with these guys he will get exposer.. but will the ebony girls dig RAIN? will the white girls dig him?
will the guys like him?
if the songs are good , and he sings in perfect english.. he might be the break through for asian artists trying tio take a stake.. the african americans have been at the top for 100 years...this could be a break through for asian americans.. to start doing it in English tho .. for main stream anyway..
but rain can travel around states, canada, doing shows. and will probably make good money!


ohh and to the OP.. your co workers. they will believe anything that is put on paper.. next they will say RAIN more famous than Usher!! in the states!! hahahahaha
the crowd was 96% asian.. and I would say 85% koreans...

[Satori]

Haven't heard this guy, but if I know anything about Korean RnB, it ain't gonna happen. And I'm an RnB fan to the max. The Korean stuff doesn't even deserve the title RnB, it's the most horridly awkard and mawkish immitation of the real thing. The music, the vocals, the melody lines, the attitudes, the emotions, it's all complete mimickry, they don't know what it means and they are not feeling it. I'd rather dip my balls in a bucket of hot tar than listen to Korean RnB...

[mindmetoo]

[billybrobby]

[Swiss James]

I think as soon as it becomes as cool to be Korean as it is to be Jamaican, there'll be no stopping this Rain chap.

[Hollywoodaction]

Tust me, Korean pop is better if you don't know what they are saying (not to say that it's any good).

[Tiger Beer]

I'd take 'you are too old to understand pop music' as a compliment.

Kinda like when I became too old to enjoy playing with toy trucks.

It gets worse though.. as I get older and older.. the entire spectrum of latest pop stars keep coming out that I have absolutely no interest or desire in knowing anything about. It extends to hip-hop and rap as well.

..and no.. I don't have the latest edition of the last spidey comic either (is my thinking).

Actually I lost interest in 'pop music' right in the right place - as a teenager. Isn't it only for people between the ages of 13-16 anyways?

By the time a person becomes 21.. they should know an entire other spectrum of music styles and artists that blow away whatever the current pop fad is being pushed out to the modern teens for that year.

[eamo]

[Satori]

Pop music also produces the most outstanding music you'll ever hear...the idea that because it's on the charts it's no good is pure bunkum...