Status: 01/16/2022 06:30 a.m
Flawless artists, catchy dances, loyal fans: K-Pop is celebrating worldwide success. Behind it is an industry worth billions, which is supported by the South Korean government and demands a lot from the musicians.
“The colorful, loud world, the dances and choreographies, the connection between fan and artist, all of that fascinates me about K-Pop,” says 21-year-old Melissa Ndugwa from Frankfurt. She founded and built the K-Pop community “K-Fusion Entertainment” in Frankfurt. “Our very first K-Pop meeting took place in 2017 in Frankfurt on Goetheplatz, back then we were 30 fans, today more than 150 K-Pop enthusiasts come,” she says proudly. It is now the largest K-Pop fan meeting in Germany.
Politics fuels the success of K-pop
K-Pop originated in the early 1990s. Groups like Seo Taiji and Boys blended rap and ballads, English and Korean lyrics, setting the trend for today’s K-pop bands. After the Asian crisis in 1997, the economy and the domestic music market were rock bottom. The government then pursued a globalization agenda with new economic and political framework conditions. The domestic culture industry was strongly promoted by subsidies. Funds also flowed into the IT sector. This made it possible to develop overseas markets and cooperate with international producers.
This benefits pop culture and K-pop today. The telecommunications industry, marketing agencies, entertainment companies, the fashion industry and cosmetics labels work closely together to market the export hit K-Pop. Bands like BTS bring in billions of dollars a year for the country, and many tourists also visit South Korea because of the K-pop hype.
Gangnam-style opened the floodgates
Since the 2010s, the K-pop hype has been gathering momentum. In 2012, a South Korean landed a random hit that went around the world. Artist Psy’s video, titled Gangnam Style, has been viewed more than a billion times on YouTube in less than half a year – and more than 4.3 billion times to date.
It was also the first time a Korean song had hit the Billboard charts in the United States. This began the opening of the US mainstream market to productions in other languages. There are now collaborations with the big stars of the American music scene such as Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran.
Psy launched K-pop around the world in 2012 with the YouTube hit Gangnam Style.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Pseudo-intimacy as part of success
Korean songs have long since arrived in mainstream pop. “K-Pop works beyond language with simple symbols that are universally understandable,” explains Michael Fuhr from the Music-Ethnological Research Center at the University of Hildesheim Foundation.
Today’s K-Pop is characterized by a new and special way of communicating with fans. “There are many ways to get close to the idols – that’s the name of the K-pop stars – through live streams, TV appearances and interviews,” explains K-pop fan Ndugwa. “Behind The Scenes” videos are uploaded in paid apps, fans can meet their idols for digital lunch or ask them questions about their private lives.
“The digital networking with the fans and the participative character are extremely important for the success of the K-Pop groups, a pseudo-intimacy is created,” says musicologist Fuhr. “There’s even special audio recordings of band members whispering to help their fans fall asleep, too,” says Ndugwa. The market is enormous.
An average of three albums a year
K-pop bands release an average of three albums a year. There are different versions of these with posters and photos for 30 to 50 euros. “If I bought all the releases from an album, I’d be around 300 euros a year just for the music without the merchandise. The fans who have the money spend it on K-pop,” explains Ndugwa.
Big talent agencies like SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment or Big Hit Entertainment are behind the K-Pop bands. “The K-Pop artists are trained to be all-round entertainers,” says Fuhr. The young people are cast at a young age, some of them are still children and come to so-called boot camps at the age of seven. There they are trained in singing and dancing for years, learn different languages and how to behave towards fans and the press.
“The young people are separated from family and friends, are not allowed to enter into romantic relationships and are constantly monitored and disciplined. The hierarchical system can inhibit personal development,” explains Fuhr. “K-Pop is considered a dream factory, it used to be hard to imagine sending your children into the entertainment industry,” he adds. Even without success on stage, the parents see the expensive training as useful for other professional fields.
artists under pressure
When the young artists are finally put together in bands, they can no longer afford to make any mistakes; they are not just representatives of the agencies, but of the whole country.
The restriction of personal rights and the agency’s restrictive contracts are increasingly being criticized, mainly by the Western fan base. The utopian ideals of beauty in particular are the subject of criticism.
Even if the members of the popular bands are adored by the fans, they are under constant pressure from the agencies that have often trained them for years.
Image: AFP
Criticism of the system behind the bands
The relationship between the fans and the industry is ambivalent: on the one hand, the bands are adored, on the other hand, the system behind them is criticized. “We see how difficult it is for the idols to live up to the high standards of beauty,” says Ndugwa. Fan communities like “K-Fusion Entertainment” fight to allow a realistic picture of the artists. With success: bands like BTS and Black Pink are granted more artistic freedom. This also means that they now write their own songs. Songs from other bands, on the other hand, mostly come from producers in America and Europe.
“The fan culture has developed its own dynamic,” says Fuhr. There are many minorities in the scene, the fans are cosmopolitan and convey a cultural openness.
K-Pop fan Ndugwa wants to organize many more meetings, she enjoys seeing that many different people come together through K-Pop. “The K-Pop Gatherings are also a haven for youth who aren’t making friends at school, we feel understood and closely connected through the music, dance and passion for South Korea.”