Any Advice For People Who Want To Be K-Pop Fans?

Ooh, thanks for the link! I just wasted a whole day going through their backlog of posts. Well, I'll amend that statement: it was interesting, so I don't really think it was a waste of time—except for the few minutes I spent listening to "Facebook Official" since there was a post about it.

The indie features they had were great and a nice break; I can only take so much manufactured music before I stop being able to distinguish any of it.

On a random note, I like the fact that the "Mister" dance is referred to as "KARA's butt dance". Descriptive, if nothing else. Not sure if it's just that site or if it's a general fandom thing, though.

Edit: I continue my weird fascination with Youtube Statistics. "Troublemaker" is more popular in Kazakhstan (!) than in Russia, and much more in France than in Germany.

edited 18th Dec '11 12:05:30 PM by Tumbril

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Lol, I'm pretty sure the KARA's "butt dance" is a fandom-wide term by now.

Yeah, I love Seoulbeat's indie features, though some of the artists are actually quite popular in S.K—like Clazziquai or Boohwal. They just don't have as the same online fandom presence as idol acts.

Now that 2011 has almost come to a close, what were your favorite songs/albums of the year? I really liked IU's Last Fantasy album, mainly because I like pretty ballads and I'm a sucker for complex orchestral instrumentals. Also (surprisingly) liked the new Wonder Girl's album.

I don't really feel qualified to pick something, considering I've only managed to hear 1% of everything released this year...I do like IU, though. I actually started to kind of enjoy "Sorry Sorry" and "Gee" because of her covers of them! Her original songs are great too.

I was watching through Eat Your Kimchi's music reviews and I finally learned that "T-ara" is pronounced like "tiara", instead of just being a weird stylized spelling of "Tara".

Edit: And now it finally hits me why "Diadems" actually makes a lot of sense.

edited 29th Dec '11 3:11:39 PM by Tumbril

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Meh, I've only listened to a tiny bit of the stuff that came out in 2011 too...apparently about 60 new groups debuted or something? Yeah, didn't even bother keeping track with those. I meant out of the one's you've listened to.

Yeah, up until her Last Fantasy album I've enjoyed IU's covers of other ppl's songs more than her actual songs (and in Gee's case, more than the original song as well). Still think Mia is her best song so far though—and I still don't understand how she gained popularity with Boo and Marshmallow instead.

Woah, Marshmallow is IU's song? I had heard parts of it in various videos but I didn't recognize her voice, though maybe that was because I hadn't listened to many of her other songs at that point. It seems a little overly cutesy for her.

Anyway, it's actually rather hard to pick even out of the little I've heard, but maybe Beast's "Fiction"? For some reason I didn't really like it at first, but then it grew on me a lot. I like most of the rest of the album, too.

I saw a lot of news about EXO so I watched the trailers out of curiosity. I probably shouldn't be bothering with a new group when I have so many existing ones to explore—which I have for the most part—but the fans' reactions (mostly all the mockery of Kai's overexposure) are hilarious.

One thing I was thinking about the other day...some of the entertainment companies need to put more thought into their group names. One of the Seoulbeats articles mentioned AA/Double A, which is pretty unfortunate for them because all the Google results are going to bring up Alcoholics Anonymous, unless (until?) they become much more popular. Other names that probably aren't too great on this front are Boyfriend, Stellar, Co-Ed...

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Perfect! A K-pop thread. I was tinking of making one myself but didn't have the time... Any way now that we have one I have to ask one question that has been burning inside my heart for quite sometime now:

why is K-pop so popular? Is it because of the korean music industries cleaver marketing teqniques? I mean actual Koreans liking their music is fair enough but what's with the popularity growin Among the western world? Is it because of the whole Internet music sharing thing?

It's not like I have anything against K-pop, nor do I like it. It's just that i don't get what's the big deal about it! I mean it's kinda like the music industry here, what's the big hubbub?

So please while we're on a K-pop thread can some one just explain to me what exactly is the big appeal. I'm just trying to understand this whole situation.

Today is a sunny day!

Short answer? Catchy tunes, eye candy and marketing.

Honestly, I don't think Kpop is getting that popular in the West. It's still a small niche group, and though the main Kpop entertainment companies have been trying to break into the US market for a long time, I don't really see it happening anytime soon. Currently, manufactured girl groups and boy bands aren't popular in the mainstream US market except among tweens, and those ppl usually don't listen to music in languages that they don't understand.

Okay you got me there, but still I am hearing a lot more of Korean bands than any other bands from other countries. Hmmm... Maybe it's just cause of where I live. Anyway aren't there manufactures pop idols in the US anyway to keep Everyone busy?

Today is a sunny day!

The manufactured pop idols here, though, are mostly intended for a younger demographic (seems like it's mostly preteens with a small Peripheral Demographic, whereas K-pop is aimed at people who are a little or maybe a lot older than that—though if the people who claim they're only 12 but are totally in love with their oppas aren't trolls, maybe I'm just completely wrong.)

Your question about why it's K-pop getting popular and not music from other countries is pretty interesting, but I don't know that I have a good answer to that. The one possibility I came up with is that many other countries have larger existing markets compared to South Korea? All English speaking countries pretty much automatically have access to each other; plus, many students in countries that don't speak English are forced to learn it in school anyway. Same thing with Chinese and Spanish, which also have markets that include several countries. This means that they have less of a need to go abroad to find more profits.

But like whimsyful said, it's not actually that big, if you look outside of the Internet. Another idea I had...popularity is an exponential type of thing; it's possible K-pop just reached the Internet-fandom size "critical mass" first, while other languages' pop music haven't quite yet.

And, out of curiosity, what country do you live in? I think you're right in saying that your location probably influences what you're hearing about.

edited 14th Jan '12 5:00:33 PM by Tumbril

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oh I'm from Calgary, Alberta Canada. around here a lot of people i know are obsessed with k-pop or just korean entertainment in general, like movies and tv shows and even celebrities. And although the people who like this stuff are mostly asian some of my white friends are obsessing over it as well. also people who don't know a lot about k-pop still knows its existence. I'm beginning to think that this amount of recognition for korean entertainment, however a tad small, might be because of the fact that there are a lot of koreans in Calgary or that they are growing in population.

its weird but some of my friends are-how should i say this-"love" koreans. you know as in how some anime fans are so over-the-top obsessed with Japan that they are called weaboos or something like that (please correct me if I'm wrong). well its like that here accept with koreans... yeah, like i just said i don't get what so good about all this. i mean i get what the guy or girl above you said about image and marketing teqniques yet still......

edited 14th Jan '12 7:51:12 PM by starfudger122

Today is a sunny day!

The term I've seen for those kinds of people is usually "Koreaboo" (a portmanteau of weeaboo and Korea, I guess.)

Canada does have a fair number of Asian immigrants so that might be a part of it. Of course, many western fans aren't Asians, so I don't want to make it sound like it's the only reason.

I was thinking again...another reason, which overlaps with the marketing reason, is the constant flow of information. It's pretty different from every other music industry I can think of, or the U.S. at least. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are hugely popular, but we don't know what they're doing day by day. It's almost the complete opposite for idol groups, if they aren't on hiatus or preparing for a comeback performance.

For example, I've been reading a few SHI Nee Tumblrs; looking at the couple of weeks surrounding New Year's Day there was some sort of "update" on the group pretty much every day:

• Airport, rehearsal, and other candid photos
• Photos from any public events they attend (like premieres, award shows)
• Concert announcements, or announcements about a member appearing on ___ variety show or having a role in a new drama, etc.
• Written accounts, videos, and photos of performances a few hours after they take place, with HQ releases later
• Clips from radio or variety shows
• Reposts or translations of the official blogs, me2day, or UFO (similar to Twitter and Formspring, respectively—though lots of idols actually use Twitter) updates
• Various news reports on them (TV, magazine, newspaper, etc.), from both Korean and non-Korean news sources
• Screenshots of whenever they're trending on search sites/Twitter or ranking in the charts for sales/etc.
• Scans of official photo books or fashion magazines if they're featured that week
• Uploads of their spots on music shows
• If you were interested in fan-works, then there would also be gifs, photoshopped images, fanart, fanfics, and so forth to keep up with.

Obviously this is a bit more saturated than usual because it was the end of the year, which meant they were doing a lot of special occasion performances, but it's still indicative.

The point is: because they're idols, not just singers, there's always something more to check on. People lose interest if things are quiet, but that's never the case with K-pop. The way the groups are managed, there is always something happening; no matter what there'll be something new to check every day, especially if you're a fan of more than one group, so it gets addictive. It's very much like how some people get obsessed with updating their Twitters or checking their Facebooks constantly.

Oh man, this post got kind of long. I think about this stuff too much, sometimes. XD

Edit to fix up some weird wording/mistakes that were bothering me.

edited 15th Jan '12 10:23:35 PM by Tumbril

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Sweet, a Kpop discussion :D

starfudger122, it really is because we live in Canada :P I live in Toronto (yes, I'm aware that the rest of Canada hates us :P), and in general, Canada is extremely multicultural, which is highly likely how your friends ended up becoming Kpop fans (through chains of friends that eventually lead to Asians).

And to Turmbril, at least it's organized :P Long posts without organization...ugh >_> I'm actually glad you wrote it out. I've been trying to analyze it for a while now, but since I'm RELATIVELY new to K-Pop, I haven't had enough experience to do a good analysis yet :P You're right on the eye candy; K-Pop is so visual based... One of my male friends got into it, even/especially BOY Kpop bands from the dances :P (and yes, he's straight :P). I think a part of it too, is the many game/reality shows that K-Pop stars participate in; they make fans feel "closer" to the stars.

Here's some more KPOP links:

• 2NE1: I Am The Best
• Girl's Generation/SNSD: Run Devil Run The Boys (there's an English version too) Oh!
• Super Junior: BONAMANA
• U-KISS: Neverland Man Man Ha Ni

edited 15th Jan '12 6:53:04 PM by soundlessMion

Trust me, there's no way you're newer to K-pop than me. I've only earnestly been following K-pop for 2 months and some, unless you want to count times I heard it mentioned online/by classmates or that one time I inadvertently listened to Gee and then hated it because I found it annoying (which it still is, though I don't hate it as much now.)

Concerning the game/reality/variety show circuit all idols apparently must go through...it's ironic that part of their job as idols (a term that first meant "a representation of anything that is revered, or believed to convey spiritual power"[1]) and stars (which are millions of light-years away from our planet) is to make us believe we can be and are very close to them, even though they're so far away from us (metaphorically—though I guess taking that phrase literally works too since we're overseas).

Recent songs...hmm, Seoulbeats linked to this one, which IU sung on:

IU plus acoustic guitar has yet to fail me.

And the weird tidbit of information today? On Youtube, TV Tropes apparently shows up as the "As Seen On" for "Ring Ding Dong". Sometimes, the Youtube algorithm for figuring out what website gets chosen for "As Seen On" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems unlikely that we're sending more links than any popular K-pop site would...so it must not be referral based. I dunno.

Edit: New Clazziquai album! I've only listened to a tiny bit of his work but aaahh, this is so awesome. [2]

edited 17th Jan '12 10:54:16 PM by Tumbril

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Ooo new Clazziquai album? Gotta hear that. On another note, we should start adding pages for Clazziquai and other indie groups.

Yeah, I really wish IU would do more acoustic covers like she used to. And after hearing her duets with Yonghwa and Sung Si Kyung, I really want her to do a duet with Kyuhyun from Super Junior.

RE: weird group names. When I heard AA I think of batteries...but there have been far worse names in Kpop. There was a girl group called HAM, for example, and a boy group called SHU-I (pronounced "shoe"?), and recently C-REAL (which always makes me think cereal).

That sounds like a good idea.

Also, I started a page for 2NE1 awhile ago and it seems to be growing. However, I can't add "2NE1" in the page's URL or title...anyone have any possible solutions?

edited 19th Jan '12 1:43:06 PM by CompassionateSadist

I think Creating New Redirects and How To Move A Page might be useful? Following the pattern of other titles like Twenty Eight Days Later that have numbers in them, I think the page should be moved to TwoNEOne; then we can put To Anyone as a redirect to TwoNEOne. Then on the new page, we can use the customize titles tool to have TwoNEOne display as 2NE1?

edited 19th Jan '12 2:42:51 PM by Tumbril

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Well, that's done. ^_^ Thank you. I'm quite clueless when it comes to that sort of thing.

edited 19th Jan '12 3:11:03 PM by CompassionateSadist

I started getting into my first boy group last June-ish, and didn't really expand from them until about last September :P Like you, there were those few times I heard Gee from others :P It annoyed me so much at the time lol.

I listened to the promo song by EXO-K/M, and I'm surprised by the comments...Lots of people are complaining about how one member, Lu Han, is in the Mandarin subgroup and not the Korean subgroup. Are they implying they can no longer be his fans just because he's singing in the "wrong" language? I feel like, as people who I assume are not Korean but still listen primarily to Korean music, they should be more open to enjoying music in languages other than the ones they're used to.

On top of that, I get the impression that they're not fans of Lu Han for his voice anyway, considering that a) half of being an idol is being attractive/pretty and b) prior to this song all we saw about him were 1 very brief New Year's event sighting, a whole bunch of promo photos, and 1 LQ cover of a random song—yeah, I'm not betting on the cover song being it.

On the other hand, I might just be biased since I speak Chinese. Eh.

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Yeah...I'm not sure what's going on with the whole EXO-K/M thing. Two different groups singing the same songs (even if they're in different languages)? Is SM trying to start massive fanwars? (That might actually be a good marketing strategy, now that I think about it)

Edit: Listened to their promo song. Pretty nice vocals, whoever they were. I do wish it didn't sound so much like Before You Go and Hot Times though. And the pronunciation in the Chinese version leaves a lot to be desired.

Any publicity is good publicity, right? So many fanwars are included? lol Yeah, I agree; if you're not Korean, and you're listening to K-pop in the first place, you should be more open to different language songs >_> That's really stupid.

We have already established that K-Pop groups are really mostly about visuals :)

edited 31st Jan '12 7:54:52 PM by soundlessMion

Now that you mention it, it probably is good marketing strategy: first make the fans buy both Mandarin and Korean songs, then repackage both and have them buy both versions—again. 4 times the revenue! And fanwars, too, but it seems like fans don't really need help on that front.

Agreed about the pronunciation in the Mandarin version, though. Lu Han's sounds okay to me, but the other guy is...shaky. Then again, I'm not that great at Mandarin, so I'm also not the best judge of this...

Going off on a boring language tangent regarding accents/pronunciation, the part that stands out most to me most is close to the end in the line with "個朋友"; instead of splitting it ge/peng/you it ends up sounding more like geup/ung/yo. ...yeah, this is the sort of thing that I find interesting.

On a more interesting note: Miryo's new album! I thought the music video was hilarious:

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Lol re: the Dirty MV. Totally not what I was expecting, but it was pretty funny.

RE: Exo-M I'm fluent in Mandarin, and I could barely understand the Chinese version. I think their pronunciation is actually worse than Super Junior M's, which makes no sense since they're supposed to be tailored for the Chinese market. Then again, this is only a teaser song, so hopefully the other members we haven't seen yet are better.

On a different note, two other new debut's that caught my interest: SPICA, a new girl group with very good vocals. And Ailee, a soloist who also has a really nice voice; here's her new MV and her cover of Beyonce's Halo.

Ah, that makes me feel a little better about not understanding some lines until reading (or struggling to, really) the subtitles. I listened to some SJM songs for comparison's sake and I had a harder time with theirs than with EXO's—but, on the other hand, I've listened to "What Is Love" more so that probably accounts for it.

SPICA's quite impressive! I watched a couple live performances that were equally good, especially compared to other new groups.

Lately I've been listening to miss A's new songs...

I like "Touch", but I think "No Mercy" is my favorite.

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Yeah, No Mercy is my favorite from their mini too. Touch is too static as a song for me, and I don't like their choreography for Touch. Combined with their bandages costume, it just makes me think of robot zombies. Or robot mummies.