Based on the question, our group will give some ideas about how Korean idols balance the nationalistic while still appealing to international audiences who do not care about nationalistic elements. As we know, Korean people are patriotic. They expect their country has stable development while still remember the Korean history. So we can see some Korean dramas, Korean movies, even Korean music, the Korean idols’ performance still keep Korean traditional, the old style. It is also to remind young people how Korea getting stronger. However, if Korean idols want to maintain Korean nationalistic and bring them to other countries, they need to change strategy. The reason is most international audiences especially young audiences; they are not interested in nationalistic. They desire popular.
To give a specific analysis, we would like to talk about Korean music. Some traditional music is melodic and memorable. Even though those classic music given Korean audiences strong emotionality, let them go though back. They do not catch international audiences’ attention. Most international audiences they do not know about Korean culture, and even they do not feel interested. If the music has much nationalistic components will let them feel boring and sleepy. And most young people like to aspire popular music, and the most famous idol in right now. So I think if the Korean idols want to balance this problem and expanse their music companies to international. They need to change their music’s style.
For example, nationalistic music is peaceful and we think is the main reason why international audience do not like it. It is so boring. To be an international audience, I would like to listen the Korean music is let me feel relax. Nationalistic music let me feel sleepy. So I think if Korean idols expect to let international audiences accept Korean culture positivity, they can make some hip-hop music. Back to today, hip-hop is the most popular music in the world even in Korean. For instance, there has a website called Medium and it tells about Korean hip-hop as: “As I see it, hip-hop is a culture, something larger than a genre of music. It encompasses many things, fragments of life at the time of its creation, into an art form which anyone of any race, ethnicity, skin color, or origin can enjoy.” (Medium 2017). Hip-pop music is an idol’s passion and it is a culture’s spirit as well. The hip-pop music itself is vive and noisy, it is a good way to let young people to freed their pressure. And it is also a good way the Korean idols let nationalistic elements in hip-pop, it likes to change another style to tell international audiences the Korean culture without boring. It is a good idea to attract international audiences listen Korean culture and an awesome strategy for Korean idols appeal their country’s nationalistic.
Citation:
. “A Look Into Korean Hip-Hop Culture – – Medium.” Medium. August 08, 2017.
Accessed September 26, 2018. https://medium.com/@93/a-look-into-korean-
hip-hop-culture-16850a441019.
I totally agree that not all the international audiences, especially for the younger generation, would like some Korean music which contain too much nationalistic elements. They think that the Korean cultures are not related to them, and I believe that this is the main reason why some music with strong patriotism cannot be widely spread overseas. Everybody knows that Korean people love their country, and the government wants to pass this thought to the youth and children through different approaches. However, if the Korean idols want to attract the international audiences while keeping these nationalistic ideas, they need to find some ways to solve this problem.
One way is how they present to the audience such as their clothing, hair style and make-up. Their costumes are colorful and trendy which can lead the fashion. Different idols show their personality according to how they dress in the performances and live stages. Their make-up and hair style with various color can definitely enhance visual effects to the audience. On the other hand, the popular Korean pop music has a pretty fast melody which can let people remember easily. Also, some lyrics will be kept repeating throughout the entire song and you will be brainwashed after listening to that song for couple times. Although some international audience do not know any Korean languages or do not even know what the song is about, they will be attracted by the rhyme of the song.
Nowadays, there is a good platform called YouTube, and the Korean agencies can upload their idols’ music videos or audio tracks to let everyone around the world to watch and listen. Some famous agencies like SM Entertainment will have auditions in Korea and overseas like China and Japan every year in order to find some potential trainees. If the international trainee can be successfully debuted, they will have a great influence towards the international audience. The overseas audience will fully support and be very proud of this idol because they are from their country. On the other side, I also agree that changing the music style can draw the international audience attention. It is because the young people are more interested in pop music instead of traditional music.
I found it interesting when you mentioned that international audiences have a strong desire for popular culture. Hence, in order for Korean idols to reach out to the global audience, it is important to be aligned with what’s trending within the mainstream culture. This illustrates that in order for a Korean idol to be successful, one must adapt to the Western society as well as to represent nationalism in order to create this perfect balance. In this case, Korean’s nationalistic views need to be further diluted in order to appeal to international audiences. This is done by modifying themselves to conform within the Western society pop and hip-hop culture as it creates a sense of familiarity to their overall general audience.
In order for a Korean idol to successfully execute this perfect balance, one must follow their nationalist elements. This can be done by focusing their music mainly on the Korean language through song lyrics. As well, they should be representatives of Korea by shaping themselves within Korean history, rituals, and traditions. With that being said, to attract global audiences, several others aspects are needed to be in consideration. These factors include appearance, catchy tunes, appealing choreography, and most importantly social media and technology, which enables us to share media around the world to increase exposure.
I believe that Koreans today are successfully showing a perfect balance between the need to be nationalistic and appealing towards the global audience. I am aware of this because BTS, “Idol,” started playing on my Spotify, “Today’s Top Hits,” playlist. However, that was the only Korean group on the American playlist. Therefore, What did BTS do in for them to be successful in entering the American music market?
It is also important to take account of Korean idols that belong in a different ethnic group or of mixed ethnicity. For example, Nichkhun from 2PM is Thai Chinese. Hence, many of these individuals are enforced to embody themselves within the Korean culture through Korea’s history, rituals, and traditions. In what ways are these Korean idols able to explicit Korean nationalism, their own ethnic identity, and appeal to an international audience? Will it entail these Korean idols to abandon their own ethnic identity in order to create this perfect balance?
I agree that not everyone will find the nationalistic elements of Korean music appealing. I find however, that these elements are not extrinsic to the music itself, but rather part and parcel of what has made Korean music as a whole so successful. Without any other prompts, most people nowadays will be able to discern Korean music from western music whether that be from listening to a song, or watching a music video.
In lecture last week, we learned of the high standards that modern Korean pop idols must adhere to, due to their high degree of influence. Mistakes such as not knowing a historic national figure can be devastating to a K-pop idols career. The standard set is relatively high when compared to Western celebrities, who are not really ever criticized over a similar mistake. This is important because it illustrates just how important K-pop idols are in Korean culture, and the significance behind their portrayal as ideal Koreans, both at home and abroad.
It is interesting to understand how traditional Korean music has progressed to the K-pop that we see today. By creating a genre of Korean music that has elements of western popular music, Korean artists have been able to proliferate their music and spread around the world, while retaining elements of their songs that keep them intrinsically Korean. Such exposure has allowed the Korean government a new medium on which to spread Korean nationalism, whether that be through the actual lyrics in songs, or by the placement of certain features in music videos. Because people around the world are so interested in K-pop, it has driven a demand for an international interest in Korean culture.
When compared to the radios or tvs of the past, new technology has also allowed for K-pop to be spread much more rapidly than it could have in the past. As a result, the music, and culture produced in Korea is now much more accessible, especially if you are looking for it. I suppose that remaining question is where does k-pop go from here?
Hi Ziye, thank you for posting in this discussion. I totally agree with your thoughts on Korean music industries finding the balance between nationalism and international popularity. Similar to what you said, I also felt that Korean idols were quite patriotic about their country and traditions. From the choice of clothing, the content of the lyrics, and instruments during the performance, they managed to portray their culture in an artistic form and protect core values that were dearest to their traditions. In a way, this sense of patriotism originated a long time ago during the Japanese colonialization. As the demand for Korean popular music continued to rise, the production line for record labels also increased as a result. During the reign of Park Chung-Hee, the pace of the music and lyric content were heavily monitored and sometimes censored. He wanted popular music to become much quicker and encouraged citizens to work hard. By producing albums and performing upbeat and inspiring music for the general public, it motivates higher work ethic and reminds everyone that the country is stronger than before. Although this genre of music effectively connected with a niche of listeners, Korean idols had to repackage themselves as a way to become well-known internationally.
In order to become a popular Korean idol on a global scale, artists must combine music genres that are pleasing to the public and the ideologies that resonate with every fan. In my mind, K-pop artists who were overtly nationalistic struggled from gaining popularity since they fail to connect with younger and non-Korean fans. Fans who are unfamiliar with the Korean culture could misinterpret what’s “Korean” and what isn’t; Therefore, media platforms should provide as many Korean products as possible to ensure fans are knowledgeable with K-pop artist and each genre available in K-pop.
Another way for Korean idols to be known internationally is to change their music style. From your post, the emergence of hip-pop definitely resonated with me as I love hip-hop music. Apart from using hip-pop as the main genre for K-pop, Korean artist could also utilize certain nationalistic components to gain more fame. The up-beating pace in K-pop music mixing with hip-hop could attract a different niche of the audience, it encourages listeners to be more active and learn about characteristics specific to the Korean culture. Having multi-lingual songs as a Korean idol enables the audience to have a connection with the music, it could encourage non-Koreans to acquire new Korean words and sing along to the entire song.
As a young adult myself, I totally agree that the passion of chasing popular things among younger generation is never going to fade, including popular music. I think the conflicts of maintaining traditional features while attracting international audience, is not just for Korean idols, but also may existing in the entertainment company. On the one hand, the company wants to build a patriotic image for the artist and for the image of company itself, which need maintaining Korean national style. However, on the other hand, international audience may not understand or interested in Korea traditional culture as you said, and traditional style of music is not what the younger generation is chasing for.
In order to maintain national features, Korean idols can introduce and advertise Korean culture through their music to gain international popularity while maintaining the traditional feature. For example, having lyrics about Korean historical features while using Westerner preferred video for this song, people would like to watch their music video without knowing too much knowledge about Korean history. Korean idols have gradually developed their Korean style of clothing, make up and stage style, they can maintain these unique features in their music video as well.
It is also important to have their music sources online, available for every international audience. We can use YouTube, music applications access to favorite Korean artist in Canada easily, but how to advertise their music to countries which do not have access to YouTube, like China, Korean artists may not want to lose this huge market in China. They have to find another way.
Generally speaking, Korean idols are becoming internationally and having audience with various culture background, their music is the key to representing Korea culture. Therefore, Korean idols maintaining national style is the key makes them unique and recognizable.