Gee Gee Gee Gee, Baby Baby Baby
Ok, recently, my friends have converted me over to the dark side, erm, I mean to a K-pop fan.
My friends in high school were kinda super scary fangirls (I'm looking at you Dora)for Korean pop idols and trainees, but they never could convince me to listen. I thought they were just in it for the pretty boys, which admittedly I did think were cute, but I figured they were just faces and not singers. I was a J-Pop fan at the time anyways (and I didn't know that BoA was actually Korean at that time either)
Now in college, my friend Shane pointed me to his Youtube account where he and a friend record k-pop dance videos, and I heard Run Devil Run by SNSD. Been hooked ever since!
And I spent the whole weekend listening/watching Korean variety, singing, and dancing shows online. When I get into something, I swear I turn into a crackhead about it. Boys, celebrity crushes, tv shows, you name it. The problem is, I can't tell if it's just impulsive obsessiveness or real passion sometimes. Though in this case, I really do like the music.
I find the whole entertainment system in Asia super fascinating, with the auditioning and the years of training school, and how they put together groups. These entertainment companies are like giant pop idol creating machines. I wonder, how much of their performances are really the artists and how much is it manufactured/what they're told to do? I mean, people think that record companies here in the US are only producing manufactured mechanical stars, but at least here there's room for the indie and self-produced here. And Asian companies have holds on more than music. They train their potentials in acting, modeling, hosting, DJ-ing, dancing. They literally have a hold on the ENTIRE entertainment industry there. And I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that these companies are pumping out what the masses want to hear; It's how they make the money and the public is pleased. And a lot of Asian culture is doing what the collective wants, not what the individual wants. I guess it just seems a bit restrictive artistically to an American like myself. That's probably why it intrigues me; the culture is just so different.
Whatever, enough with the musings! Dance party to Super Junior time! What do you guys think of Korean Pop? Asian pop in general?
My friends in high school were kinda super scary fangirls (I'm looking at you Dora)for Korean pop idols and trainees, but they never could convince me to listen. I thought they were just in it for the pretty boys, which admittedly I did think were cute, but I figured they were just faces and not singers. I was a J-Pop fan at the time anyways (and I didn't know that BoA was actually Korean at that time either)
Now in college, my friend Shane pointed me to his Youtube account where he and a friend record k-pop dance videos, and I heard Run Devil Run by SNSD. Been hooked ever since!
And I spent the whole weekend listening/watching Korean variety, singing, and dancing shows online. When I get into something, I swear I turn into a crackhead about it. Boys, celebrity crushes, tv shows, you name it. The problem is, I can't tell if it's just impulsive obsessiveness or real passion sometimes. Though in this case, I really do like the music.
I find the whole entertainment system in Asia super fascinating, with the auditioning and the years of training school, and how they put together groups. These entertainment companies are like giant pop idol creating machines. I wonder, how much of their performances are really the artists and how much is it manufactured/what they're told to do? I mean, people think that record companies here in the US are only producing manufactured mechanical stars, but at least here there's room for the indie and self-produced here. And Asian companies have holds on more than music. They train their potentials in acting, modeling, hosting, DJ-ing, dancing. They literally have a hold on the ENTIRE entertainment industry there. And I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that these companies are pumping out what the masses want to hear; It's how they make the money and the public is pleased. And a lot of Asian culture is doing what the collective wants, not what the individual wants. I guess it just seems a bit restrictive artistically to an American like myself. That's probably why it intrigues me; the culture is just so different.
Whatever, enough with the musings! Dance party to Super Junior time! What do you guys think of Korean Pop? Asian pop in general?