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ODIE'S TINFOIL HAT TIME:
IS BIG HIT OUT TO "DESTROY" THE KOREAN IDOL INDUSTRY AS WE KNOW IT?
(BY THREAD POLL)
IS BIG HIT OUT TO "DESTROY" THE KOREAN IDOL INDUSTRY AS WE KNOW IT?
(BY THREAD POLL)
Disclaimer:
Take these "tinfoil hat time" threads with a grain of salt. They are WAY more conspiracy theory than fact. I'm just looking at certain ideas and asking a few creative questions. In other words,
I'm not claiming ANYTHING with any seriousness.
Thanks!
Take these "tinfoil hat time" threads with a grain of salt. They are WAY more conspiracy theory than fact. I'm just looking at certain ideas and asking a few creative questions. In other words,
I'm not claiming ANYTHING with any seriousness.
Thanks!
PART I - A SUCCESSFUL SUBVERSION
Despite what some people think, the Hallyu Wave didn't start w/ 2nd Gen idols. Even the 1st Gen likely owes its reach to a Korean TV show called "What Love Is All About?" The series was a massive hit in China back in 1997.
One could say the popularity of "What Love Is All About?" abroad represented the first real hint that exporting music could also be highly profitable.
This type of calculating outlook is what birthed K-pop in the first place. Although Seo Taiji was credited as the godfather of the genre, it was a cynical gaze that fell on his music, message, and how best to make it profitable.
Even with how respected Seo Taiji is today as an artist, there's no getting around the fact that his music was outright banned at one point in S. Korea
^^^^^
From: noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/…
From: noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/…
While putting together my three-part serious on the reality of a flooded Korean idol market, I learned that SM Entertainment (previously SM Studio) might have been ground zero for what basically amounted to subversion of the youth for profit.
This nugget of information remained in my head for some time and made that much more sense when, while putting together a completely different thread,
I read about SM's strategy prior to introducing H.O.T. They obviously wanted a group that appealed to teens.
I read about SM's strategy prior to introducing H.O.T. They obviously wanted a group that appealed to teens.
But not just teens: teenage GIRLS.
As with the American pop market aimed at tweens and teenage girls, they're often thought of as an easy demographic to target short-term. But in order to make sure they were going to get it right, Lee Soo Man of SM conducted a survey.
As with the American pop market aimed at tweens and teenage girls, they're often thought of as an easy demographic to target short-term. But in order to make sure they were going to get it right, Lee Soo Man of SM conducted a survey.
The music and style of 90s Gen 1 groups are a far cry from what we have today, and not just in terms of looks or style. Many Gen 1 fans lament that Gen 2 ruined K-pop.
It's not a claim that I understood until I learned more about the music of the era, lyrically speaking.
It's not a claim that I understood until I learned more about the music of the era, lyrically speaking.
I believe that it was during Gen 2 that the industry flipped the script, drifting away from mimicking music that spoke to real concerns that teens of the time had. Instead, wanting their audience to focus on frivilous superficiality.
In essence, they dumbed things WAY down.
In essence, they dumbed things WAY down.
But it's unfair to pretend everything was hunky-dory during Gen 1. It was only as groups faded away that their fans got a glimpse at the dark side of the industry.
It's a dark side that would become known internationally with the breakup of 2nd Gen group TVXQ. It was at this time the "slave contract" issue came to the attention of people who'd previously known nothing of the Korean idol industry.
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
By the time SM's popular quintet fractured for good, issues such as body issues and rampant racism were also held up for the international music market to see. The happy, cutesy image the idol industry had worked hard to project to the world was shattered for good.
But by this time, it really didn't matter. K-pop was so far removed from its 90s Trojan Horse counterpart that there was no longer any need to package it as music for the "woke" teen. Meaningful lyrics gave way to dated visuals with nonsensical and often repetitive lyrics.
Where Seo Taiji and the Boys had broken through with music that challenged the establishment, the establishment was funneling billions of dollars into an industry where visuals and lip syncing was the norm and *nobody* was speaking out about much of *anything.*
By the time Big Hit debuted BTS, K-pop had tried and failed to break into the West. Much of the world refused to take the genre seriously thanks in large part to its idols lacking a lot of creative control and the music lacking noticeable depth.
This isn't merely a foreign observation; Many Koreans above a certain age do not listen to idol music. BTS themselves suffered a great deal of stigma in Korea because of pre-existing prejudices towards idol music. It was only after older Koreans realized that they WEREN'T-
K-pop idols that they and their music began really explode in popularity. BTS' international fame was certainly a big help.
When you think of the pathological hatred that some people have towards Big Hit and BTS, maybe, subconsciously, they're reacting to a *real* threat.
"The Big 3" and other K-pop companies took part in subverting music aimed at Korean teens over the course of a couple of decades. Now it might be that Big Hit is in a position to subvert the subverters...and end K-pop as we know it.
