acchikocchi | the kpop edition

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Current Music: sorry sorry sorry sorry ad infinitum

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music

the kpop edition

1. So give me the lowdown on SM Entertainment as a corporation. How do they recruit/train/market/etc., especially in comparison to JE? Info on shady business practices and lawsuits and things of that sort also welcome. XD ...How does the Korean music industry and market compare to the Japanese in general, actually? There is no such thing as tldr in comments here.

2. Favorite Korean artists/songs/albums/music videos? I am woefully ignorant. Pop, not pop, what have you - hit me. (Assume I know basically no one except Park Ji-yoon, since that's... true. Oh, and BoA.)

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As for recruiting, I believe that SM just does yearly auditions or something. But I know that they - and a lot of other Korean agencies - have fairly recently started to do their talent hunts overseas for Asian artists abroad, everywhere from China to America, which is really cool. Like, in Super Junior they've got HanGeng from China; in Super Junior M they've got well, HanGeng, but also ZhouMi from China, and Henry from Canada; then f(x) has Victoria from China and Amber from America; a few of the SNSD girls were brought up in the States I believe; then in another company, 2PM's leader/former leader (lol, there's an epic scandal in itself!) was American-Korean, and another member is Thai, etc. So I guess it makes them easier to send them abroad for shows when so many of the acts are from abroad anyway.

It's not all roses for foreign-born in Korea though - until recently there was a law restricting how many TV shows a foreign artist could do, so I know both HanGeng and solo singer Zhang LiYin, despite both working under SM, could only sign up for a couple of TV stations, and had to keep going back to China to get fresh entertainment visas or something. HanGeng used to sneakily perform in a mask and hat to hide himself (until Heechul de-masked him one day, HA). Then there was the recent 2PM scandal - long story short, Leader says dumb-shit anti-Korean stuff in his Myspace just after arriving in Korea to train (so presumably going through massive culture shock) - four years later, comments are leaked, super-nationalistic Korea flips its lid over his comments and tells him to GTFO, pop-music meltdown follows. A few days later it was revealed that a few years after he made pro-Korea comments in the Myspace and everyone felt bad. >_>

My opinion on the Korea vs Japan music market is that Korean acts tend to be more slick and cookie-cutter than the Japanese ones. I guess because in Japan the major idol manufacturing machines are pretty much JE and to a lesser degree Hello Project. You don't really hear about any others. But Korea has SM, JYP and YG as the big three, then with smaller but also fairly aggressive agencies also fighting for a piece of the pie. So when a trend appears, everyone seems to follow it - eg, Korea has been inundated with girl groups this year, because they've been selling well, to the point that the market is well and truly saturated, but the idol factories keep pumping them out. And while I feel that Korean idols generally are better singers and dancers, they can all kind of seem like clones of one another too, so you have to sift through to find the gold, or at least your favourite group.

Also, sales seem to be significantly less, despite the idols being (IMO) worked harder, and having less of a claim to their own lives. I suspect this is because Koreans are WAY more technologically literate than their Japanese equivalents, and so music piracy is a bigger thing there. Also, digital-only singles and such seem to be used in Korea far more than Japan, so there is less moving of physical units. And maybe they're just not as good at 'collecting' as Japanese fans are - I don't really see Korea releasing like, 8 different editions of albums at the same time the way Japan does, with the fans picking up each edition all at once. Instead they seem to go in for 'repackaged albums' - a month or two after a release, they'll do repackage with a couple of extra songs, or different versions or something. But rather than buying again, I suspect Koreans tend to download instead.

But that doesn't make fans any less fervent though. Like I said earlier, you see the best and worst of people in K-Pop fandom. A lot of Korean artists seem to be great people, even accounting for fake TV personas (I often think of DBSK's Yunho, who was actually homeless for a while before succeeding, and is just so humble and sweet all the time; or SuJu's Kim Heechul, who is such an abrasive, eccentric character who spews whatever he's thinking all over his Cyworld consequences be damned, and is so damn loyal to his friends, its really charming lol). Then the fans themselves can be crazy and scary - this sums that up nicely - but then they can also be really sweet and lovely - like, there was an oil spill a few years ago in Korea, and the fans of DBSK's Changmin, as a birthday present to him, went and cleaned the beach of oil, rather than give gifts (Korean fanclubs generally spend quite a bit of cash on luxurious gifts, but lately a lot more seem to be turning their efforts to charity on behalf of their favourite artists instead, which is lovely). Then there are the antifans of course, who are the lowest of the low and delight in doing the most awful of things - like poisoning Yunho's drink, or starting petitions asking for Jae (leader of 2PM) to kill himself, and that sort of thing. -_-' So it's a real mixed-bag of extremes in K-Pop fandom.

Pimp time! Hopefully I can promote a few different genres.

- Super Junior. Totally my bias. I love them so much. They are so dumb and charming and it's worth the effort to learn who all 15 of them are. Unfortunately their fans are in fact bonkers (to the point that they actually own shares in SM Ent, it's a long story why lol). But SuJu themselves are wonderful! For viewing, if you're keen on TV shows, the aforementioned Full House with the exchange students is lol-tastic. Then Exploring the Human Body is a great series where every week they had to well, explore the human body (the 'breathing underwater' episode is comedy gold). Then the Super Junior movie, 'Attack on the Pinup Boys' is HILARIOUS, and actually quite good. As for music - Miracle, the song that started it all; Happiness CUTEST ENDING EVER, especially if you've ever seen that 'free hugs' video; Don't Don because they are FIERCE; It's You; I guess you've already seen Sorry Sorry judging by your 'current music', lol; and SuJu M's Super Girl because it's by the same composer as Sorry Sorry and is ridiculously catchy. And the MV is cutely hilarious.

- DBSK. Sweet and lovely and hard-working, but best of all, they can really sing. It's hard to know where to start with DBSK because they've just got so much music out there. Mirotic; Balloons (this is so retarded and hilarious, if you don't smile you possibly have no soul XD); Stand By U (their voices, so pretty *_*); Colours ~Melody and Harmony~ (this is currently the number 1 single in Japan - ok, it's only 2/5 the band, but Jaejoong and Yoochun are the world's best girlfriends. They have matching tattoos. OVER THEIR HEARTS. And on their backs. :D)

- SHINee. IDGAF that they are babies still, think of them as an investment plan. They're like tiny adorable puppies at the moment, its impossible not to love them, but you can already see that by the time they're fully baked, they are going to be HOT. Also, they sing and dance REALLY FREAKING WELL. Also, I love their leader, Onew so much. He has a beautiful smile and trips over things all the time. He's also famous for making un-funny jokes, to the point that the rest of his band has called his particular brand of fail 'The Onew Condition' and they have a SONG about it, a;sdf lol-ingforever. Noona is so Pretty - translation, the pedo-song that started it all; Ah.Mi.Go; Juliette ie, how many plastic bugs can we stick on our faces; Please Don't Go (Onew and Jonghyun duet).

- Big Bang. IDEK how to describe these guys, lol. They're 'style icons' or something, but just basically kind of amazing and lol-tastic, especially G-Dragon who is SUCH a little queen. Haru Haru (boys wearing copious amounts of eyeliner + homoerotic violence, lol); Gara Gara Go (this song had mixed reactions, but I really dug it, so); Lies; Lollipop with 2NE1 which leads me nicely too...

- 2NE1. These girls are FIERCE, and my favourite of the girl groups. Fire consumed my brain for like, three weeks, and I Don't Care is cool too.

- SNSD (Girl's Generation). I'm only recently coming to like these girls, but Gee is pretty much the most addictive song in the world (bonus! lol-tastic cover of it by various boybanders)

- Trax. The most underrated Korean band ever, and my first Korean band. They had a teeny bit of a visual kei thing going on for a while and were also a rock band, which didn't do well in Korea, so they took their show on the road to Japan, where it didn't do well because Japan had plenty of their own rock acts. D: They've been on hiatus for a while, which breaks me a little, because lead singer Jay has a BEAUTIFUL voice, and guitarist Jungmo is this freak of nature genius musician who can play like, everything. Blaze Away; Liez; Tears (X Japan cover)

- Epik High. I don't ALWAYS get their music, because I'm not so into hip hop, but I have a LOT of respect for them as artists. They dropped their label to start their own because they felt the label was charging fans too much for CDs; their lyrics are always pretty deep. Also Tablo, the leader, is pretty much awesome incarnate ha. Fan (my favourite version of this song *_*); One; Wannabe (this MV cracks me up SO BAD)

Oh shit, lol, this comment is getting ridiculously long, so I think I'll leave off there. ^^; That should be enough spam to work through for now!

>_> sorry for the spam. I was typing this in notepad and didn't realise how crazy-long it had become.

PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE. THIS IS WONDERFUL. I meant it 100% when I said no such thing as teal deers here. XD Wow, it's going to take me a bit to digest everything but I may jump on you again with questions! eeee, this is so great! *revels*

SuJu's Kim Heechul, who is such an abrasive, eccentric character who spews whatever he's thinking all over his Cyworld consequences be damned, and is so damn loyal to his friends, its really charming lol

I, uh. May have a bias a mile wide in this direction already. Actually, why bother beating around the bush, I ADORE HEECHUL SO MUCH HE IS MY FAVORITE FOREVER AND EVER. ♥_♥ I did not actually come out and say this in the post but this was totally prompted by how, after two and a half years of knowing them and having basic exposure to them, in the space of like a day I fell madly in love with Super Junior and have been rolling gleefully in the shiny glow of a New Fandom all week. Half week. Whatever. Everything they say about the zeal of the recently converted is true. ♥ x infinity

...where was I? Got distracted there. Oh, oh, I didn't realize Trax was a rock band THAT COVERED X JAPAN, that is awesome. They go up to the top of the list. :D :D :D

Seriously, thank you again for everything, this is so fabulous!!

Hit me up with questions whenever you want, hopefully I'll know the answers! But I'm pretty keen to drag more people into this fandom. :D :D :D

Also. Also. HEECHUL BIAS, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, I LOVE YOU FOR LOVING HIM. Heechul is pretty much amazing ALL THE TIME. And ahahaha, I don't know how you resisted the shiny gay that is SuJu for so long, but I'm dying to know what made you fall in love with them in a DAY. XD

Oh, oh, I didn't realize Trax was a rock band THAT COVERED X JAPAN, that is awesome

YOU'VE MADE ME HAPPIER THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW BY SAYING THAT. Actually, Yoshiki from X Japan actually used to produce Trax - I hear he used to be completely in love with Rose (Min Woo) the drummer. XD; They were all total X Japan fanboys beforehand too. It's just a pity they didn't do better in Japan. D:

OH OH OH. But. Also! :D Jay, the lead singer and Heechul have some hard-core BFFery going on! I didn't realise until after I was into both bands, but Heechul was like, Trax's biggest fanboy, and he and Jay used to live together in dorms (along with HanGeng and...Kibum, I believe). Jay actually once said that Heechul "was like his girlfriend" BRB LOL-ING FOREVER.

Last year Jay and Jungmo from Trax did a show together with Heechul and Kangin from SuJu called Band of Brothers which I haven't watched all the way through yet, but was pretty decent. And now Jungmo is working with Sungmin on Oppa Band. So the Suju/Trax collaborations are wonderful and plentiful. :D

>_> I REALLY LOVE TRAX, OK. XD

THE FEELING IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT MUTUAL. ♥ ahahaha this is, like, the carbon copy of a comment exchange I had with

ununoriginal a couple days ago ahahahahaha it must be something about his fans - "YOU RECOGNIZE HIS AMAZINGNESS TOO, YOU MUST BE WONDERFUL."

re: Trax: skjdl;adjk;ls really?? omg! That basically just multipled by enthusiasm to hear them by a factor of ten. :D Oh Yoshiki, ahaha, I believe it. Aw man, that really is a shame! D:

Clearly this Jay person has excellent taste. :D (see first paragraph. XD) You do a very good job of spiking my interest in this group overall, I am downloading a sampler of their music right now!

Ha, I'll try and reply to these all at once!

If you ever want any music by Trax, I've got their whole discography and I'm not afraid to share it. XD My love for them is as deep as the ocean.

As for the L in Leeteuk...I don't know for sure, I just have theories lol. It's a stage name anyway (real name is Jungsu, way to make things hard for us haha). It sounds (to me anyway) that it's pronounced 'Eeteuk' but I tend to see it written as Leeteuk on promotional stuff, so I think it's the official romanisation of it, and that's what I go with. I tend to shake it up a bit anyway, depending on what trend fandom is running with at the time (Leeteuk vs Eeteuk, Shiwon vs Siwon, Hankyung vs Hangeng, etc.)

Korean tends to be a bit crazy like that anyway with it's romanisations - I took a Korean history class last year, and we were learning about past presidents of the country and discovered that 'Roh Tae Woo' could also be written as 'Noh Tae Woo', and 'Rhee Syngman' could be 'Yi Seungman' and I was just like, "...s;lkjsdf;j, WHAT IS THIS SHIT."

Do occasionally hear things about new subgroups and expansion wank and kissing attacks. XD

ROFL, think I know who that last one refers to. XD

Also, it saddens me that you were bitterly opposed to K-Pop fandom so long, but I love that you've seen the error of your ways now. YOU SHOULD REALLY FINISH FULL HOUSE, ASAP.

Oh, oh, I do have a question! A simple one, but. XD Okay, so, I get that Hankyung is the hangul-ization of Hangeng, but - Eeteuk/Leeteuk: where does the L come from? Should I be using it? *g*

Oh, and I forgot to explain how I actually resisted them for so long. XD I am going to put this down for posterity so I can come back and look at this and laugh at myself later.

September 2006 - February 2007: Am bitterly opposed to kpop on principle. XD;

March 2007:
Visit

corimari, am made to watch the U PV.
Me: ................................who - who is the one with the ponytail. *_* (internally, gibbering: he looks like a manga character! one that would be my favorite!)
Cori: So there's this show called Full House I think you should watch.
Me: HE'S SUCH A BRAT, I LOVE HIM. omg this whole show is hilarious. But I'm still not a fan.
Cori: Uh-huh.

March - August 2007:
Drop out of fandom just as I have been weakened and therefore delay my kpop doom by a whole two years. XD

August 2007 - September 2009:
Come back to fandom bursting with love for JE (as Jin had come back somewhere during that period), in complete tunnel vision. Retain fondness for Heechul and the five Suju songs I downloaded before I left but never finish watching Full House (more fool me! XD) and memories become v. hazy. Become once again bitterly opposed to joining kpop fandom on principle. MY MISTAKE. Do occasionally hear things about new subgroups and expansion wank and kissing attacks. XD

A week or so ago:
Flister posts this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tP1Mk7-kc), I have nothing to do and click. "skdja;sd that's right, I remember how fond I was of him, ahaha. omg what a special snowflake. ♥"

Wednesday - Thursday:
Flister #2 posts this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aqzxpD_KpA). Casually click on it before class. Watch. Watch again. Drool over Siwon. Leave faux-casual comments asking just who is who again? Watch the PV. Watch the PV again. Add Sorry Sorry to my ipod. Drag myself to class. Come home. Spaz at anyone who will listen to me. Comment thread becomes more demanding. Pounce on Wikipedia. Pounce on Youtube. Watch Sorry Sorry, uh, some more. Click from clip to clip to clip. Watch Intimate Note. DIE OF GLEE. Admit that I am well and truly done for.

...And here we are now. Joy. Joy and rapture, I'm telling you. Shiny new fandom ALL FOR ME.

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the kpop edition

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