As we learned today, there is intentional expansion into different countries to expand the market. Kpop industry is a money-making market industry. So where does language play in all of this? Lee Soo Man (SM) is aiming to expand into China, then having a group to focus on the Chinese market is a strategy to tap that market. For example, Super Junior is a 13 member group that is broken into sub groups. Super Junior M (M is short for Mandarin) is a specifically focused on the Chinese market. SM intentionally put members with Mandarin-speaking (actual Chinese members) to make sure language was not a barrier. Even more, the group sings in Mandarin, and they release albums in Mandarin. In other words, this subgroup focuses solely on the Chinese market. Choi Siwon, one of the group members, has been in Chinese movies. Both Choi Siwon and Donghae were in Taiwanese drama Glamorous Challenge.
Here is a clip of their most recent MV.
Is this furthering the Hallyu wave? The majority of the idol stars in this group are Korean, yes. But is it furthering the Hallyu wave? The idol stars are appearing in Chinese movies, Taiwanese dramas, singing in Chinese, appealing to the Chinese audience intentionally. How much Koreanness is there? Interestingly, some of the members of this Super Junior subgroup are some of the popular group members in South Korea as well.
Even more, Chinese member Han Geng was the group leader... until he decided to leave SM entertainment because of "slave contracts". This was a marketing ploy of SM, as mentioned the group focused on Chin. I am interested to see how successful Super Junior M is without Han Geng there, though now it will be different because their Mandarin-speaking ability is, I assume, greatly improved (and they are also promoting Henry a lot more, who also speaks Mandarin). Below is a clip of them on a Chinese variety show, the main speaker for the group is Han Geng. Now, Han Geng is back in China trying to make it as a solo artist.
How do you see this marketing ploy also in the group f(x)? Interestingly, from what I can see, the group does a lot of CF commercials, even though they haven't come out with any new songs for a while. Although it is difficult to know their popularity (musically they are not as popular, but they are on CF commercials and advertisements consistently, more recently without Amber). Like Super Junior M (when they had a leader), Victoria is the leader of f(x). Victoria, like Han Geng is Chinese. (If you look at the post before, with the CF commercial of the backpack, that is Victoria.) Though they are still focusing on Korea, I assume that SM is going to take them into Chinese promotions again, seeing that they have two members who have Mandarin-speaking ability (the other being Amber).
(more after the page break)
Why am I comparing them? Though unlike Super Junior M, f(x) is not focusing purely on the Chinese market, they were not introduced in the Kpop scene as a Korean pop group. Instead, if you watch the youtube video below till the end, you can note that it says "Asia Pop Dance Group", not Korea. Again, where does Koreanness come into play? Though they did sing the "Lollipop" remake song, the majority of their songs have been in Korean thus far. I do not think that SM created this group to focus more on the Korean market, like fellow labelmates Girls Generation.
So can you say these Kpop groups are "Korean"? SM is not promoting f(x) as a Kpop group, even if they are a part of the Kpop scene. Super Junior M doesn't exist in Korea at all, far as I'm aware. Does this promote Korean culture or is it all a marketing ploy? I will talk about this in the Japanese learning language post as well, but where does learning languages become key? In Super Junior M's case, they need to sing in a completely different language, promote in another countr(ies), and with the importance of variety shows... in the case of Super Junior M, is language skills necessary? What about for f(x), who are promoting in Korea? Is it important for the 3 Korean members to eventually learn Chinese?
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