[article] K-pop: Born in Korea, headed for the USA.
— Cloud cover by: Stephe, Managing Editor ^@@^
Justin McCurry ended his write-up with these words:
“As Rain begins his 21 months of national service, he can be reasonably assured that the K-pop wave will still be in motion by the time he returns to the stage.” Agreed!
N-i-c-e KPop article.
°
Global Post 10/22/2011 — by Justin McCurry
K-pop: Born in Korea, headed for the USA
With a six-hour concert at Madison Square Garden this weekend, K-Pop preps for its American debut.
TOKYO, Japan — When Rain, South Korea’s most successful pop star, reported for national service duty at an army base near Seoul earlier this month, the hundreds of fans who bid him farewell included a big contingent of Chinese and Japanese women.
Rain is not alone in enjoying the adulation of admirers from beyond his own country’s borders.
In the space of a decade, South Korean pop has risen from relative obscurity to sweep the entire Asian continent, and is now casting its eye on the potentially lucrative U.S. and European markets.
From Beijing to Bangkok, “K-pop” artists are riding a wave of interest in Korean music, TV dramas, films and games that are expected to be worth $3.8 billion this year, up 14 percent from last year, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency…
» You can read this article in its entirety on the Global Post news site HERE.
(Fan made credit and edit: lany68 @YT)
Cloud USA 
I agree with you both Mari and Bi, I would love to see U.S get more involve with more K-Pop music, its something different cause it has nice beat, you sing and dance to the music even though you might not understand most of the words they are saying but it just would be great to try something new or hear. I love to hear and learn new things and languages from around the world ( thats just me). So yes this would be interesting see, lets just hope for the best. 🙂
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The music kpop is reaching many places, is pretty and fun. Rain has opened a door that will be difficult to close. // Gee .. the name of the music this video is “To me you are” (” Na Ae Gae Nuh Neun”) – Album VOL2-“AVOID THE SUN ” 🙂 Hugs!!
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I can’t wait to see kpop take over the US market!! I don’t know about everybody else but I’m a bit tired of hearing the same old beat with so many bad language that at the end you can’t understand what’s the song about!! If I’m not going to understand anyway, I rather go with kpop music with a refreshing beat and good lyrics when I look them up!! Also, kpop groups are good to look, girls are beautiful and boys are handsome, they do good dancing and the fashion they bring is awesome. Soo I think the US market is ripe for some asian flavor!! Then, when Rain comes back is gonna be a lot easier for him to step up the game.
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Hey Mari,
From what I’m seeing I do think K-Pop will gain in popularity I have absolutely no doubt about that, but taking over is a whole other ball game. The reason I said would they infuse more English, cause let’s face it….you know how Americans are. After a while the complaints about not being able to understand what their singing will come into play. Then the K-Pop artist(s) will be faced with a dilemma. Do I take away more of my language out of the song to appease an American audience? or Do I say screw it leave it as it is and if they like it, they like it, if they don’t, they don’t but risk eventually losing the popularity I gained?
I have 4 Ricky Martin albums (CDs). The one in English of course and I don’t know Spanish either, but I loved Ricky’s music. Hubbie was like, “but you don’t even know what he’s singing about.” I was like “that may be but I like the way the music makes me feel.” His sentiment is not unlike a lot of other people, even though he has very eclectic taste in music himself. But you know Mari, not everybody is like me or you or those who are into K-Pop now or music from another culture. I do think the U.S. market IS ready for a change, but I’m just wondering if it will last. The Latin wave that burst in with Ricky didn’t last long. Only Marc Anthony, JLo and Shakira are really the only ones in the U.S. Market happening right now. I do and I don’t count Santana simply because he’s been around for many, many years since before Ricky and JLo, Marc and Shakira. My dad had some Santana albums. I have a couple CDs myself. I don’t know, I just think it will be interesting to see how it will play out. (SMILES)
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Yes, maybe “take over” was a strong wording for what I was trying to said. What I meant was like the kpop is gonna come to the US and have a major presence. Of course not everybody is going to like kpop at once. I think kpop is gonna be accepted by young people first and then by their parents, etc. Let me say that as a parent, I like kpop songs better than say, some reggeton songs no matter if they are in spanish!! But I think that kpop should do an effort to make songs in english too, just as latin performers have being doing. I think kpop as an industry is aware of that cuz they are giving english, japanese and chinese clases to their groups.
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Mari,
Just my 2 cents.
All I know is my children and their friends are MUCH more global than people of my generation. It is nothing for them to search all over the Internet, all over the world to find fun things they are interested in–including music from everywhere. This is the information age, after all.
My sons were both reading manga and watching Japanese anime shows from the time they were very small. They listen to music from other countries as well. My oldest (the musician) learned conversational Japanese when he was 15. The only place he has to use it is the Internet, but it does come in handy sometimes and he is not afraid to try to speak it if the need arises.
All of the kids I know that they hang around with are the same way. This is becoming more and more a global-oriented world and all I can say is hallelujah. If we are ever to have peace in this world for real, then we all MUST care about each other and respect each others culture and lands just as much as we care about our own.
Terri :-}
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BiA,
I hear what you’re saying. It is a dilemma. One of the things I love about K-Pop is that the songs are NOT in English. The Korean language is beautiful to me, so I enjoy listening to it.
What I don’t understand is why Asians have had such a difficult time breaking into the American music industry in general? Even if they speak and sing in perfect English. So frustrating to me. Last night we watch BoA perform spectacularly. Most of the songs she sang were from her English album, and yet very few people have even heard of her over here, although she’s been working here in the States for a long, long time.
I mean I just don’t get it. She’s gorgeous, extremely talented and her songs are GREAT. WTH????????
One of the saddest things she said during the concert was that she never even imagined being able to perform at Madison Square Garden. She was obviously extremely moved at being on that stage. I just don’t understand it. WHY NOT? Why can’t our music industry here in the U.S. reward a diverse range of talented artists instead of much of the same old crap? Why? Sigh.
I know that the American music industry is just as corrupt as every other kind of business here in the U.S., but seriously. There has got to be something we fans can do about that. After all, we fans have a lot more power than we realize. Like the flashmobs in Paris and this SMTown Live World Tour concert proved…if we demand attention, we’ll get it. That right there is one of the reasons Cloud USA exists in the first place. Stephe and I realized that if Rain was going to make it here in the U.S., he was going to have to have a HUGE fan base located here who would have his back all the time.
We’ve made a good start…let’s keep it building, shall we?
Terri :-}
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@Terri,
I agree. Let’s get down to it. A lot of why ethnic artists and artists from other countries don’t make it here, as they probably could/should is because of (1) American media arrogance – the “nobody is better than Americans thing” so why should I pay attention. “If it doesn’t happen here, it’s not important” thing.
(2) Americans in power positions – The media and the Beauty Ideal. That ideal is still viewed as Caucasian (No offense to my Caucasian Cloud sisters). Yes, times are definitely a-changing, but still there is a long way to go. The ones at the top in the big money making positions still control what’s put out there.
Terri, I’m in your generation too, but like your sons. My folks, especially my Dad, exposed me to other things outside of what was typically African-American. He did and learned new things outside of JUST the African-American experience and engaged my young mind at an early age, so me listening to Rain and Ricky Martin was not unusual. Heck, he bought me the last Ricky DVD I have. It will have to be as you say, Americans being exposed to the music of other cultures more and more and that becoming the norm as opposed to something odd and fleeting. Oh, BTW another world music artist I love Cesaria Evora….LOVE her music. One of our grad student researchers turned me on to her music….he’s from Senegal.
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Terri, you are so right about one thing, that girl BoA is cold. I just watched her video (eat you up) that girl cut up on that one. She sings better then most young artists here. All I can say it’s got to be her management team. If this girl did that video live on let’s say Ellen. She would be instantly on the charts. I think we do have alot of talented artists and for me if the artist is not singing R&B or blues, I proably won’t even know they had a song out. That’s what I like. That’s the reason I like Rain. He has a R&B sound to his voice. I say that we as comsumers should at least have better access to this kind of music. Like it would be nice to have a k-pop radio station or at least be able to go into a record shop and have their music cd’s as a choice. For the artist it’s all about marketing. Brittany Spears, well she can’t sing that great to me but they marketed the hell out of her and she’s one of the biggest pop stars around. I personnally would never buy her music or pay to go to one of hers concerts. But that’s just me. I am old and set in my ways. (smile)
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Gee,
We all have our own personal tastes in music, art, whatever. Still, I’ll just bet there are plenty of Americans out there who WOULD buy her music. Just like they would buy Rain’s if it was available.
And I think it’s more than a problem with her management team. I think it a big problem with the American media. The problem is she isn’t even invited to be on our television shows. Nobody will let her. I’m sure that all of these stars would LOVE to be on television here in the U.S., but nobody even asks them to be.
At the press conference in NYC, almost every group there had an English-speaking member spokesperson. Some of the members were even from the U.S., but in order to have a career in entertainment, they literally had to go to Asia to become a star. It is mind-boggling to me.
And did any of you guys see any reports on Good Morning America or any other news station about the SMTown Live World Tour on television? Any coverage out there?
I was too busy to even look, but I doubt it. And if so, I’ll bet the coverage was sparse at best…most likely because no one over in the Korean entertainment companies knows who to “bribe” to get coverage. (And if any of you don’t think that happens, then you are really naive…)
Terri :-}
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Can anyone tell me the name of the song in the video? Good job on the video. Thanks
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Gee,
Since I’ve been on the road and am just catching up with comments, someone has probably already answered this question, but the music is “To Me You Are.”
Terri :-}
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It’ll be interesting to see if they continue to sing in Korean or infuse more English in their lyrics as they cross over more into Western markets. The powers that be ALWAYS recognize when there’s money to be made. That’s why it never made sense JiHoon’s musical obscurity in Western markets, but other K-Pop artists are just popping up everywhere. I’d like to see how far it will go. Interesting article.
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