Rain's performance in New York was much hyped. Almost all Korean newspapers
covered the story on their front pages with a photo of his performance, and TV
news programs included the concert story in the headlines.
Despite the fact that the New York Times reviewed that Rain's performance was a
replica of that of Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Rain's producer and
promoter Park Jin-young is carrying out his unwavering global project.
"Earlier Asian singers failed in the American market because there was no
special Asian color in their albums," Park said.
According to JYP Entertainment, Rain's new album, to be out in September or
October, is going to be produced by Park, with songs written by local
songwriters, aimed at 'localization' of artists.
The rule of bringing up Asian entertainers with Korean capital and management
skills and making them more familiar in the local country can be applied to
another 'conglomerate' agency, SM Entertainment, headed by star-making master
Lee Soo-man.
Dongbangshingi, also known as "Tong Vfang Xien Qi" outside Korea, was created
to fit into the Chinese market from the beginning. Names in Chinese letters are
combined to each member's Korean names, targeting the Chinese young audience.
SM Entertainment, which provided them with years of systematic training, aims
to promote them as a top pop group in the Asian music market.
SM Entertainment's "blue chip" boy band is Super Junior. The 12 member group
already includes a Chinese member, Han Kyoung, who was picked through a talent
search by SM Entertainment out of 3,000 young Chinese star-aspirants back in
2001.
Here in Korea, too, star-search programs will soon begin. In JYP Entertainment
CEO Park Jin-young's search for a second Rain, SBS TV program "Superstar
Survival" is scheduled to be on air in March. Twelve out of 4,000 local and
overseas living Koreans made it through the final selection last month. The
final survivor will receive special lessons from top singers and dancers to
become a global star and Rain's successor.
YG Entertainment, headed by a former member of the late-1990s boy group
Seotaiji and Boys, is preparing Se7ven to sweep the Northeast Asian countries
with his third album to be out on March 8 in Korea and Japan at the same time.
Se7en, who used to allure fans with a young boyish face, will come back after a
break of one and half a year, with a more muscular body and masculine black and
white outfits, according to YG Entertainment.
The hip hop and R&B boy is expected to spend his busy spring days with
comeback activities in Korea, promotions for his album in Japan and
preparations for his April solo concert in Tokyo.
Thanks to active performances in Japan last year, Se7en has been nominated for
the 20th Japanese Golden Disc Awards, which is to be held in Tokyo on March 9.
Another big phenomenon in the local pop scene is women singers' sex appeal.
With her dazzling choreography called "Winding a clockwork toy dance," Lee
Hyo-ri made a comeback earlier this month with her second album, "Dark Angel."
Lee's new song "Get Ya" and her powerful dance performance received mixed
reviews from music critics, some saying her unique sexiness in her stage manner
is unmatched to any other female pop singer and the others saying she stops
short of being a good singer.
No matter what, the "sexy singer" has become a pronoun of Lee hyo-ri for sure.
According to an online survey by a music portal website, Juke On
(www.jukeon.com), over 5,000 people voted for Lee Hyo-ri as the sexiest dance
singer among Korean female pop artists.
The sexy code in Korean female dance-pop singers can be also seen in other
female pop singers like Chae-yeon and Shim Eun-jin.
Although Korean pop is currently in a golden age in terms of receiving the
global media's spotlight, boosted by the Asian fad for Korean pop culture,
music lovers and critics point out that much of Korean pop music is an old
version of American pop.
"Korean pop artists should focus on their originality, instead of imitating
U.S. boy bands," a Briton commented on an English K-pop website,
www.kpopmusic.com.
Actually, Korean pop listeners find it very shocking when they realize that
many Korean pop songs are very similar to specific American songs.
On a plagiarism report website, www.kmra.net, thousands of entries are posted
saying that some Korean songs are cut and paste works from foreign pop.
One example is pop vocal trio SG Wannabe's song "24 hour." The order of music
flow - going from Gm to Cm to D to Gm - and rhythmic beats are quite similar to
a song called "Shackles" by Mary Mary.
Overcoming the downfall of album sales is K-pop's homework as well. According to album sales statistics collected by the Recording Industry Association of Korea, Korean pop records that have exceeded 200,000 copies have shrunk to three albums in 2005 from nine in 2004 and from 45 in 2000.
