Me too

Hi Suza. Just reading some of your posts and figured I'd say hi. I recently discovered the beauty that is kpop (I know, Im slow) and immediately felt the need to do some academic work on this. Well, as soon as my phd is done that is. Since you have clearly been around this community for a while I was wondering if you had some literature tips? Or cool people to follow- besides you ?:)

Well hello there :)

First of all, I hope you don’t mind this going public. I figured it’s easier to give links if it is.

Second of all, you are not slow! As it is, there are still more people who haven’t discovered K-pop compared to us who have :D

And third: thank you for saying I’m cool ;_;

Now, the answer:

Studies of Hallyu and Korean popular culture, are definitely becoming more and more common (I’m sure it’s has been common in Korea for a long time), but it’s still rather rare to find research on only K-pop (the older studies tend to focus on movies and dramas).

My own (humble) research focused on fans and the act of being a fan (as an individual rather than a collective), leading me into media studies, sociology, and psychology.

I haven’t really found many people who analyze and comment on K-pop and fans (if that’s what you meant?), and that I would want to see on my dash (I want to be fed pictures that make me happy~), but one of the people I do find cool is angrykpopfan, who has even been kind enough to make a list of some academic sources for K-pop/Hallyu studies :)

Another person I follow is fanbrake (who just went on a long hiatus), who generally is level-headed and open-minded (qualities you will come to cherish more the longer you spend time among K-pop fans), and has written insightful things about fan behaviour.

I recently found this list of literature and articles. I haven’t really checked it out yet, but I’m sure there are some interesting pieces there as well you could consider.

There is a site called Kpop Kollective run by academics, who also happen to be devout K-pop fans. They make surveys and write articles about K-pop and fans, and they also have a list of books that might interest you.

Since you are new to things K-pop, and want to take it a bit deeper than “omg oppa’s hair!”, let me give you some friendly tips meant to save your sanity and keep you enjoying K-pop for a long time.

1. There is always some kind of drama going on among fans. Stay out of it as much as possible.

2. Don’t let anyone form your opinions about anyone/anything.

Yeap, that’s about it :)

I hope you can find something useful among the links I gave, and thank you for dropping by! :)

(Okay, I don’t know why the pictures are like that, but I don’t have the time to fix it now. Sorry.)

I have been asked if I had a link or a scan of the newspaper with information about the coming f(x) song, so here it is. For all you non-Swedish speakers, here is a (crude) translation made by yours truly:

They Want to Write the Next “Gangnam Style”

K-pop is bigger than ever. What you might not know is that Swedish songwriters have contributed to the success. Camp Fantasia, a songwriting camp where the next Korean megahit is created, is currently held in Solna.

In a house in Bergshamra, Solna, songwriters from Sweden, Norway, Europe and Australia are gathered. It’s the second day out of four at Camp Fantasia, and representatives from the Korean record company SM Entertainment have just finished a presentation of today’s mission - to write songs for Korean girl groups.

- Think outside the box, says Chris Lee, general manager for productions at SM Entertainment [T/N: not too sure about this title and translation; he has a different title everytime I see him lol producing director is one, vice-chairman is another…].

It’s the third time Pelle Lidell, A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group and known as a member of the jury in ‘Idol’ 2011, gathers his K-pop specialists for creating hit songs for the Korean record company.

- They pick us because we have signed successful songwriters, but above that, because we are the best at listening to what they want, and delivering it, says Pelle Lidell.

The camp has generated many hit songs by Swedish songwriters, among others, “Hurricane Venus” by BoA, “I Got a Boy” by Girls’ Generation, and “Y3K” by TVXQ/Tohoshinki.

And the success means big money.

- One hit song can give millions [T/N: SEK]) in the long term, says Pelle Lidell.

Chris Lee has big expectations for the camp.

- The songwriters here have the potential to write a new “Gangnam Style”. We believe and hope for it, he says.

(Translation of picture text: Ylva Dimberg is working on a melody together with French Will Simms and British Neil Athale. At Camp Fantasia last year, she participated in writing the upcoming single for girl group F(x) “Cookie Jar”.)

I’m out of the loop when it comes to f(x) these days, so I don’t know if this is old news… But apparently their next single is called “Cookie Jar”? At least that’s what the songwriter says in today’s Swedish Metro newspaper.

(Source: cguixian, via hojaverde)

News of EXO’s comeback and a new Shinhwa album…

Excellent birthday presents from the world of K-pop~

Unpopular EXO Opinion

harshkpoptruths:

Did anyone else laugh at the first set of school pictures and the album title? And I mean laugh in the not good way. Alexa did too.

I’m sorry, but I can’t take that title seriously. I know EXO—> X.O but still…Not to mention most of their hair looks AWFUL (SM sucks with hair). I’m bitter about their hair.

It’s just that they’ve been gone for SO long that I don’t think a COMPLETE style change would be good, which judging by the album title XOXO(Hugs&Kisses) sounds like it is going to be something like BAP did with Stop It and Crash.

Don’t get me wrong, I like those songs and albums a lot, but BAP had already put out more mini-albums along the same style as their debut “Warrior”.

Mama was in amazing album! I love Mama, History, Machine and especially Angel. I think that style fits EXO so well with the range of voices they have and I can only hope that it stays somewhat along the same lines with this comeback.

I know no one expected BAP to do something cutesy, but they’re more established than EXO and could take that risk. Maybe this will pay off for EXO.

Who knows.

I know I’m in the minority and that most everyone is going to like whatever EXO puts out and does no matter what (some fans do blindly follow), but I’m just trying to think through this so we’ll just see I guess. At this point I can’t take them seriously.

Please respect my opinion and I’ll respect yours. Any hateful comments and messages will be ignored.

~Caitlin
(I’m just going to sit in my VIXX corner and wait for Hyde)

I definitely laughed, but only in the good way. The concept of a school year book, with the title “First Class”, is pure genious in every way. Not to mention the ‘proper’ kids on one side, and the ‘naughty’ kids on the other. And if it’s true they will promote together as 12, it’s even more genious, since they will really be like a (small) school class on stage.

On a more serious note: if they have a complete style change - and I repeat, if - we need to ask ourselves why.

If I remember correctly, Kris did hint about them keeping their first concept, even asking fans what they thought about that. Maybe that was in the talks, or maybe he was just trolling. Who knows?

In any case, it’s no secret (international) fans have never taken EXO seriously (Bacon? Bitchface? Thehun? Actually, I don’t think I have ever seen a more abusive fandom, but that’s an unpopular opinion for real), so the cool concept didn’t really work out (at least not if they wanted fans to think they were cool guys). So why wouldn’t they try a different concept? Maybe a fun, silly concept, since that’s how fans want them to be?

On the other hand, a group having a ‘dark’ concept only to change it to a ‘cute’ one is far from rare. Idol groups rarely stick to one concept for a long period of time. And even if the concepts change, the style of music is generally more constant (you need to listen to the full album, not only the title tracks). As you said, if the music style fits the members’ voices, and if it’s the only style that fits, no sane producer would go change that.

Now, I’m not trying to ‘convince’ you about anything, since I do respect your opinion. But I know you and Alexa are fairly new to K-pop, so I’m just saying this kind of back-and-forth between concepts is more or less a given. Sometimes a group hits the jackpot with a certain style or concept (Secret with Shy Boy, SNSD with Gee, Wonder Girls with Nobody, Super Junior with Sorry Sorry, and in a sense, BAP with Warrior too), and the company can decide to ride the wave or go for something else.

But yeah. You won’t like every change equally much. That’s just how it is.

As for me - one of those fans you probably would say “blindly follows” - one of the reasons I like idol groups actually is the constant change of concepts. It’s art.

(via soonkyuism)

(Source: hojaverde)

(Source: bogoshipeo)

(Source: osen.mt.co.kr)