Girls’ Generation, “The Boys” live on Letterman
So here they are — South Korean superstars Girls’ Generation. Whenever I leave my apartment or office this is what I hear pumping from cell phone stores, restaurants, beauty salons, and coffee shops. I honestly don’t even notice it any more. Sonic wallpaper.
And it’s not particularly offensive, just incredibly dull and uninspired.
The Atlantic has a thoughtful piece up on K-pop in general, and the desperate attempts for a South Korean act to break it big in the U.S. The secret? Marketing to tweens instead of teens.
Not a bad idea, but also one that won’t work. All pop music is formulaic to some extent, but K-pop is never going to succeed in the States because the puppet-master’s strings are just too obvious. The packaging is too visible. Management’s fingerprints are just too flagrant.
Frankly, in a genre where silliness can actually be a strength (cf. Katie Perry shooting things out of her boobies) K-pop comes across as way too serious. No doubt it’s hard to get those highly syncopated dance moves down but at the end of the day what we’re seeing in the Letterman clip is mere choreography, not a stirring pop performance. It’s perfectly cheerful, but absolutely humorless at the same time. Robotic, even.
Also, Koreans seem to like their girl- and boy-bands big, which amuses me to no end. (You guys realize you have to split the checks depending on how many members you have, right?)
And yes, I do have a big bottle of Haterade on my desk in front of me, and some of it is dribbling down my chin. Duly noted, thank you.
Bravo!
There is so much more that could be said on this. But I like how you kept your argument controlled and logical. I would still be writing and cursing at the screen.
It’s a shame that so many bloggers in Korea are all singing and dancing to the K-pop tune, or at least creating the impression that this genre of music does not induce them to vomit.
While I am not one to say that anyone deserves to do badly purely because I don’t like them (except in sport of course), K-pop needs to be brought down to earth before I start smashing televisions etc.
Not a bad idea, but also one that won’t work. All pop music is formulaic to some extent, but K-pop is never going to succeed in the States because the puppet-master’s strings are just too obvious. The packaging is too visible. Management’s fingerprints are just too flagrant.
Yeah, look at how poorly Nsync, NKOTB, the Backstreet Boys, and the Spice Girls did. =P Shit, even look at the fucking *Monkees*.
For anyone passingly familiar with the industry (who hasn’t drunk the K-pop kool-aid), yeah, it’s damn transparent. But people don’t make their music choices based entirely on authenticity. They also make them based on *whether or not they like the music.* Especially the aforementioned tween market. You think they give two shits about management? No, they just want ear candy.
I still think Girls Generation is going to face an uphill battle, they’re just too…culturally tone deaf a choice, I suppose. We don’t have giant ensemble dance troupes as the bulk of our pop stars, and that hasn’t really been a “cultural image” since…I guess the 90s? Maybe if they start playing instruments (ie, seeming like a “real” band) instead of focusing on executing highly complex choreography, but otherwise, I’m not seeing it. Best shot? Backup dancers in a Lady Gaga video.
I guess I’m being both an old 30-something fart _and_ completely rockist in my dismissal of them, but the whole boy-girl band thing is dead in and of itself for starters.
And off the top of my head, the sexual norms might be too far apart as well. Beyonce and Gaga and Shakira are definitely independent ladies (that’s pretty much all they sing about), but also sex symbols. And I don’t mean cutesie-pie stuff, but, well, for lack of a better word, they unabashedly flaunt their assets to the fullest. That kind of raw sex appeal just doesn’t fly in SK, although it’s changing.
And off the top of my head, the sexual norms might be too far apart as well.
Again, once you shift it to tweens and preteens, it’s a non-issue. Case in point: the entire Team Disney Pop Group Phenomenon. Sure, GG is older than, say, Miley Cyrus, but last I checked, Miley Cyrus wasn’t popular because of her sex appeal (wasn’t there some scandal about “racy” photos of her a while back? can’t recall).
the whole boy-girl band thing is dead in and of itself for starters.
This, though, I can sort of agree on. Tastes change and what was once passe might again become popular, but there’s no way of knowing. It’s definitely not happening *right now* and it might happen until Girls Generation is no longer relevant.