Korean Job Discussion Forums

[brickabrack]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13760064

JPop was different (because it was new) when introduced to EU and U.S.
KPop couldn't ever make it, in my opinion.
Too much of the saem.

What do you think?

[highstreet]

Kpop/Jpop could make it if they found artists that could speak english fluently.

Male Kpop/Jpop groups won't make it any time soon though.

[edwardcatflap]

I assume when you talk about 'making it' you're talking about 'making it' in the USA as usual. There are other markets K Pop is, and could be even more successful, in. personally I can't stand any of it but I don't begrudge Korea their apparant success in this field.

[Stout]

The Korean gov't/entertainment agencies are obviously greasing palms in high places to 'make it' work in a sorta greasy/hamfisted classically elite Korean manner. What they don't understand is you never get true credibility doing things in this manner in the area of culture. Then again pop culture in general has become so facile and denatured, it could fly simply because it is so manufactured, cute, and 'exotic' to western Europeans; I'm guessing the jingoistic tendancies in the states would continue to keep it at bay for the foreseeable future outside of places like LA, where there are big Korea towns.

[DorkothyParker]

I know of many Americans online who are HUGE fans of Kpop and Korean culture. I think because they have this eccentricity and maybe Jpop and Japanese culture has become a little "mainstream" for them.

These are not Korean Americans, these are mostly white teenage and maybe early 20s dudes and chicks. Seriously.
I think Kpop will never be at the same place as American-grown pop, but it has an audience, for sure.

PS. I swear I'm not trolling teenie bop forums. There just happen to be teens on the geek and beauty message boards I respectively frequent.

[Stout]

[DorkothyParker]

Actually, I was thinking whatever the equivalent of a weeaboo would be but with Korean culture.

[furtakk]

Depends on what market you're talking about.

It has already made it in Asia. Next time you go to HK/Japan/Singapore/Malaysia/Philippines/etc, don't be weirded out if you hear some kpop at the local bar. I swear, when I was in Hong Kong over the Lunar New Year, that was all I heard around the random bars in Kowloon (not so much in Lan Kwai Fong). Same in Tokyo.

As for EU/N.A., it will never be mainstream or really make a dent for that matter. There may be one or two artists who gain some appeal. But, they will HAVE to sing in English. Even with the recent media about the concerts in the EU, it's still a really niche market. And unless they switch up the formula (i.e. not boy/girl bands) I can't see it happening. I think people over that a long, long time ago in N.A./EU.

Still with that said. I think as a brand, Kpop is more recognizable than Jpop at this point (thanks to youtube/the internet). Even before I came to Korea, I had some friends who had seen a random Kpop video for whatever reason, be it linked from facebook/twitter/reddit/digg or forwarded in an email or something.

[Stout]

Yeah nowadays they're weeaboos, back then they were new wave UK-obsessed youth.

[Koreadays]

might get some attention, but will never become mainstream like
Hip hop or latin music.

what might work is basically take the concept from here, boy bands with high intensity dance moves , good looks, clothes and catchy tunes and franchise it around the world with local kids...
same for girl bands, sexy girls, long legs, wearing sexy clothes with catchy pop tunes ..
can't use Koreans.. but a Korean company like SM could open a company in france or England are do what they do there with locals..

I mean NKOTB, Boy zone, insyc, backstreet boys, east 17, etc etc
made money, but you don't see many around anymore.
how many do you see here hahahahahahahaha

[Oreovictim]

I can't stand pop music. Kudos to the songwriters, choreographers, session musicians, sure. But the actual performers don't seem that special to me. And the boy band thing has been done to death. What's the formula? Okay, we need the "bad boy", the "sensitive one", the "shy one", the ______ one, etc.

I know some foreigner women here who love K-pop. They talk about how hot so-and-so is. Big deal. Hey, I think that Hitomi Tanaka* is pretty hot, but it doesn't mean that I'd listen to her if she cut a J-pop record.

(* don't Google that name while you're at work.)

[Stout]

Well in the beginning there were The Supremes, uh, Wonder Girls, then came The Shirelles,...Morning Musume...Pink Lady...SPEED...MAX....oh, that's right, Girls Generation, ....

Korean 'boss'-types just don't grasp that there is a real level of cultural integrity which informs those countries which have a history of producing music, literature, architecture, painting, dance etc. of substance. Pop sensations come and go, never to be heard of again, especially when they are based on producing an ephermal thrill. Thank God there are instituions like the Louvre, British Museum, gorgeous religious events/festivals in India and Indonesia, the Duomo/Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Blue Mosque/Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Pantheon/Colliseum, the Parthenon, Kyoto temples, ...a truly great girl group song like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" ... I'd take a good Edgar Allen Poe story any time over whatever the Korean entertainment world could possibly come up with, hell I'd sooner go to the fermentation festival in Haebonchon and fork out 20,000 won...nah, better check that....

[Zyzyfer]

I've never heard the term weeaboo before. Fascinating! A derogatory term for those unholiest of geeks!

[Stout]

Yeah, thems almost as bad as fermentation festival geeks.

[RangerMcGreggor]

It might come as a niche market in areas with high Asian populations (Seattle for example) but that is about it. J-Rock/J-Pop never got mainstream despite numerous attempts and the rise of anime.