Category: Commentary/Curation

K-pop fans hail from all over the world, and they participate in fan activities. Here, Clouds, or fans of Rain, from Mexico and Peru welcome him back from the military. Rain has not released any new material; this is a common fan goodwill gesture–it is just to show appreciation for Rain.

As the story brings out, there is a long history of ELFs (fans of Super Junior) making their voices heard when it comes to who is in and out of the group. But I wonder about the evidence that supportions the claim about who supports which side:  "Those supporting the main petition seem to be primarily from South Korea and China while those against it, as you could expect, were from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Western fans." One would have to do some research to support that claim with some evidence.

It’s hard to know (again, without doing some digging) how much of the ELF fandom the "only13" view represents. Several ELF fansites, like SGSJELFs, to name a couple) state that they support all the members regardless of subgroup affiliation. 

But even more importantly, the failure to contextualize the "only13" movement feeds into the misconception that fandoms operate on groupthink.  There’s always another side.  We might want to consider how other groups, and fandoms, navigate subgroups and solo careers.

This fan project spans nations, bringing together fans from Japan and the Middle East. Projects like this show how K-pop fandoms are not only transnational, but also tenacious. SS501 is on hiatus (note: they are NOT disbanded), and while their last album was released in 2010, fans still show their support. 

This story puts a lot on Olivia, the ostensibly white member of new female K-pop group, Gloss.  There is a quite a lot of elision, and while it raises some issues, it raises more questions. Whiteness, like other socially constructed identities, is not monlithic and subject to historical, national  and cultural context. Similarly, the term "foreign" depends on your position: does foreign mean all people outside of Korea, or all people outside of East Asia?

The piece also assumes what fans, white, black, Latino, Asian American, want by painting them with broad strokes. Instead of assuming what white fans or black fans think about one white member of a K-pop group, it would add to the conversation to actually ask them how they view whiteness or their own place in their various fandoms.

This article gives some numbers to support Psy’s overseas success, but still overlooks the small but active K-pop fandom in other countries, who will in the long run be more responsible for the staying power of K-pop.

While this was the briefest of statements, it will be interesting to see how Rain engages with a more global mode of K-pop up on his discharge from the military. Rain, like Seo Taiji and Kangta, reflects a kind of K-pop artist who goes beyond making music to managing the business side of music.

Sabrina recycles the old "high culture v. low culture" debate, failing to add anythin to it by considering the other important factors that complicate the issue. In Highbrow Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America, Lawrence Levine points out that such designations are not neutral, but often the results of ideological factors that shift over time. Shakespeare was not revered in his day, but he is now. Those who have power and influence often made these designations, and cultural production by people of color, women, and other nationalities often get excluded. So what does it mean for this Canadian photographer who has spend 8 years in Korea to declare its popular music "not music"?

Let’s not forget that Plato was suspicous of creative types…Poets do not fare well in his Republic. Invoking Plato’s moral law seems an odd choice to use to exclude K-pop as music. Anyone who listens to K-pop knows that there are numerous groups, artists, producers and songwriters who regularly and consistently engage established musical traditions whose existence as music few question: is R&B not music?  The author also has a narrow view of music. You may like music that has a message, but music does not have a message to be music.

The author initial adversarial position ("I have made no effort over the years to hide my distain for the ubiquitous music called KPOP, the rhythmic sounds so common in South Korea") undermines what follows. The article  functions either to enrage the reader or to play up controversy. The author doesn’t address a particular group or sound and makes no effort to understand the variety of groups in K-pop; rather she focuses on one particular mode of K-pop, and not very effectively because of the generalizations. Which "silly dancing girls and boys" form the target of her critique?  Because of the lack of detail or substantive argument, it comes off as another superficial piece on K-pop. 

This article reveals more about Yang Hyun Suk’s perspective on artists in his own company than insights that apply to K-pop as a whole.  The prominence of merchandise and endorsements as well as commerical collaoborations are things that many K-pop and even K-drama stars benefit from.  

K-pop artists are often criticized for being fake and having no talent, but incidents like this show that they are often multitalented, executing choreography while maintaining the quality of their voices.

This article highlights one of the central elements of contemporary K-pop: choreography. From solo performers to group dances, it showcases the differences in choreography.

This article is great for the rundown of tours and comebacks of major K-pop acts for 2013. However, it is a bit misleading to suggest that these events are evidence that these acts are trying to emulate Psy or "become the next Psy." Comebacks and tours are a standard in K-pop. In holding a concert in California, Psy follows in the footsteps of Rain, JYJ, BigBang and 2NE1 i holding major concerts in the United States.