ANTM and Kpop collaboration?

News of America's Next Top Model (ANTM) and K-pop seems to have hit the news waves, in particular because ANTM was shooting in South Korea for Seoul Fashion Week. ANTM, from what I gather, has decreased in viewer ratings in the U.S. and seem to be capitalizing on the Kpop craze.  There are pictures of Miss Jay (one of the judges and the catwalk instructor, for those who don't know) tweeted a picture with BTOB (who appeared as judges on the show). Also, models (often used in ANTM for concepts), famous people, and also a performance by 2NE1.

Fashion, Kpop, and ANTM. Who knew?

Lady Gaga and... Crayon Pop

In case you hadn't heard already, Lady Gaga recently announced the opening act for her upcoming tour: K-pop group Crayon Pop. Do you know them? Perhaps not, but they wear helmets and jump up and down, if that helps you at all. T-ara also started their career with a signature paws for their first song, and Crayon Pop now looks to headline one of the biggest music acts. Lady Gaga recently announced it on twitter, as did Billboard, so we know it to be true, and I wonder if this will mean anything for Crayon Pop's international career. 

And the other question, at least I asked immediately, was why? Why Crayon Pop and not another group? They are relatively new, so they don't exactly bring anything to the table for Lady Gaga's tour.

Of course, there is also the comparison between the Wonder Girls / Jonas Brothers and Crayon Pop / Lady Gaga. Of course, Wonder Girls were significantly more established than Crayon Pop in Korea, whereas Lady Gaga is significantly more popular as a pop artist than Jonas Brothers in the U.S. And of course, she has connections to a non-tween fan group that will certainly cement Crayon Pop more. So we'll see what happens with this latest development.

Relationships: the catch 22

So a culmination of a multiple of things I've seen recently made me want to watch this post.

I'm watching K-pop star (more on my favorite people later) but one of the things Park Jin-Young (head of JYP Entertainment) said to one of the youngest auditionees the past two rounds was that because she was young and didn't have as many experiences (particularly relationship-wise) her singing wasn't emotional.

Despite the fact that I would counter that by saying you can use other experiences in your life, not only from romantic relationships to portray emotion in songs even about heartache, that's actually not the point of this post.

So where am I getting to?

New Kpop Group... Jackie Chan style?

Apologies for the lack of posting these past couple of days but let's get right to it.

I flagged this news piece so I could write on it. Jackie Chan is creating a male Kpop group called JJCC (I read somewhere it was for Jackie Jackie Chan Chan... but I can't seem to find that report anymore. It's looking like they will go by "Double JC"). 

Anyway, in their 20s, 4 of the members are Korean and 1 is Australian-Chinese. 

So why did I feel the need to flag this news report? 

Kpop to Socal (Southern California) & YG

Every year, there is a Kpop festival at the Hollywood Bowl. This year, or actually I believe most years, it's held in May. This year, KBS has agreed to sponsor a free festival in the LA area, with a good K-pop lineup. I'm actually curious as to why they agreed to this, considering there is the Hollywood Bowl concert each year, and its a pretty hefty price tag to bring everyone to the U.S. for one concert. But that actually isn't the main story in this post.

Why SoCal (for those who don't know... SoCal = Southern California)?
Well, in terms of Korean diaspora, Southern California has the largest Korean Diaspora population in the U.S. The greater Los Angeles area is the #1 metropolitan area with the highest Korean American population (see the 2010 Census, or.. wikipedia)

Several K-pop stars hail from the LA area as well, including Tiffany (SNSD), Nicole (Kara), Nichkhun (2pm) and more. In part, because well... because there are k-pop concerts and also places to audition. Particularly with the rise of survival audition TV shows, one of the locations guaranteed to go appears to be LA (and also NY seems to be another popular spot) for K-pop Star, Superstar K, Birth of a Great Star, ect. In addition to concerts (Kim Bum Soo, 2ne1, Big Bang, SM).

So why am I bringing this up?

Athletes and National Identity

I wanted to share a blog post I wrote for another blog, the Journal for International Policy Solutions

read it here: http://internationalpolicysolutions.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-korean-peninsula-athletes-and.html if you are interested in the topic of athletes and national identity (focusing on Viktor Ahn, Korean-turned-Russian speed skater)

KDramas at its finest

Now when I said my last post would be short, I was lying... this one will be.

Just wanted to feature this link from buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jul13hong/21-vital-elements-of-a-fun-super-addicting-korean-drama

because I think it's hilarious (and commonly found themes in Korean dramas). And yet, why are Korean dramas so addicting at the same time?

Contract expirations & group member changes

I'm traveling, so this post is likely to be short, but I just wanted to point out an interesting phenomenon in Kpop, which has actually also happened in American pop culture as well: group member changes (교체). I thought I had posted on this before, but regardless...

Most recently, it was announced that one of Kara's original members Nicole would be leaving the group after her contract expiration.  Also, Jewelry's Eunjung's contract also expired recently so we will see if she will also leave the group. Davichi's contract expired, and it isn't clear what exactly is in their future (although it looks as if they are going to release an album with Core Contents Media despite the contract expiration). Long time soul/ballad singer Gummy moved companies after her contract expired. Finally, after Wonder Girls unofficially didn't-break-up-but-stopped-promotional-activities-due-to-leader-Sunye-got-married-and-had-a-baby (also known as indefinite "hiatus") Sohee left JYP and expressed a desire to start an acting career. Of course, before Sohee, Sunmi left the Wonder Girls and is now a solo singer.

I am sure there are more that I missed, but notice a trend in these group changes

눕지 마 (Don't lay down), 만지지 마 (Don't touch), 열지 마 (Don't open): Sexy concept part 2

Just thought I would post a brief snippet about this video (posted below).

As I discussed in a previous post, there appears to be increasing restrictions on sexy concepts. The video calls this "걸그룹 3대 금기 몸짓" essentially 3 types of gestures girls groups are not permitted to do, which is listed in the title of this blog post.

1. Don't lay down
2. Don't touch
3. Don't open

Indie Music Exposure or Mainstream Meddling?

Initially when I started this blog post yesterday, I thought perhaps the word "meddling" is too strong, but it seems perhaps appropriate to shed light on people's concerns on this issue.

Summary: SM entertainment is investing in indie label Baljunso in hopes of spreading indie music. Most likely you have come across this blog because you were searching for something on Hallyu, Kpop, or Kdramas - although there is a strong prevalent indie scene in Korea (as the word might suggest) it is more underground. It doesn't cater to the constant variety TV shows, music programs, ect. and that's fine - it's also for another audience. But unfortunately this also leads to a lack of advertisements (CF's in Korea), where the main revenue stream is for the entertainment industry, and a lack of (opportunity for) greater exposure.

Wehmoh (Physical appearance) culture

A couple notes:

1. Korean celebrities (both female and male) reveal their weight in their profiles. Whether they reveal their true weight or not, it is very common to see (and for people to talk about) how many kilograms they weigh. 

2. Kpop Girl groups often reveal their diet plans, ect, on what they eat. A recent example: 

3. Physical appearance is considered a reflection of how you take care of yourself for your fans. 

4. Variety programs also often talk about weight. Including some programs that do competitions involving carrying female guests (think current shows like Running Man or older shows like XMan) Is this cultural insensitivity or just openness about these kind of topics? 

How does this compare to other cultures? 

Freedom of Expression or Necessary Censorship

Censorship, in particular with provocative sexy concepts seem to be increasing in South Korea. Is this a freedom of expression limitation or a necessary censorship? As the provocative concepts for Korean popular music seems to increase, perhaps it's time to have some limitations on the outfits appropriate for stage. The three major television networks (who also host the weekly music program shows) have all agreed to increased restrictions. I am curious to see what kind of restrictions are in order, and if it will affect the music videos as well (although music videos aren't shown on the music programs, provocative music videos are also on the rise. Will music videos become more provocative to counter the on-stage choreography restrictions?)

A couple things to think about:

Women in the Sochi Olympics

Post by 리플레이.

Today I am going to deviate from the world of K-pop and talk about the Olympics. If you watched Yuna Kim's performance this morning, it reminded you of 4 years ago as it did for me. 4 years ago, I was in my apartment holding my breath as I watched with my brother. This time around, I was watching with a mix of Korean, Japanese, and American friends. 

There are a lot of things you can write about this recent Olympics, but I'm going to just going to relay a couple of thoughts: 

English in Korean songs

I've been meaning to post this, but as you might already be aware, many Korean pop songs use English in their songs. Whether it be song titles, portions of the chorus.

I noticed in 2NE1's single 그리워해요 (Missing you) a lack of English words, which I actually appreciated. Not that there is anything wrong with using English words, but I found it to be refreshing not to have an English title. There are still some English words in this song, but wanted to mention this topic for food for thought. What makes the significance of English words in a K-pop song? Is it to relate to the world fans? Is it to add a 'cool or hip' factor to the songs? I remember also this was an interesting phenom with Korean dramas, in particular with the titles of the dramas. In the past, many of the K-dramas were Konglish or just straight English (i.e. Full House, My Girl, ect) but some criticized this because it wasn't "Korean". In particular, as K-dramas and K-pop got increasingly popular in the world, that the English names weren't representing and spreading Korean culture by using the Korean language.

The music video for 2NE1 is below: