So now you’ve had a year to get “Gangnam Style” out of your head, and meanwhile Korean pop music has moved on. Have no fear: here’s a guide to finding the music you didn’t know you wanted, assuming you are not already a K-pop expert.
There are plenty of interesting male groups working, but so far mainstream K-pop has yet to see the equivalent of Ad Rock’s “This disrespect to women has got to be through.” (Or even LL Cool J’s “I love it when a woman ain’t scared to do her thing,” come to think of it.) So let’s start by supporting the women. Read on to see which female group might suit you best, or skip right to the playlist.
You’re Just Getting Started: Girls’ Generation
If you are intrigued by the phrase “shiny-haired juggernaut of adorability,” then your starting point is Girls’ Generation (pictured). Armed with formidable earworms (see also “Gee” and “Mr. Taxi”) they dominate the commercial landscape on the women’s side, winning YouTube’s Video of the Year competition and racking up endorsement deals. (The perfume and nail polish in the “I Got a Boy” video? Product placements.)
A disadvantage of taking to Girls’ Generation is the reductive images of sexy-cute-wide-eyed-and-willing girls explicitly created for men in their 30s and 40s coveting sexy-cute-wide-eyed-and-willing. (That last link via The Grand Narrative, a very useful resource for those interested in messages about gender in Korean popular culture.) The advantage: you can rest assured that the nine performers are well compensated. According to The New Yorker, their seven-year contracts net them $1 million a year. (Whether they are fairly compensated is another story. Girls’ Generation was responsible for $21m in revenue for its parent company, SM Entertainment, in 2011 alone.)
You Find the Above Off-Putting: G.I.
Somewhere on the spectrum of representations of women far from Girls’ Generation, there is new group Global Icon, or G.I. The difference isn’t merely aesthetic: it’s near impossible to imagine Girls’ Generation gaining attention by covering a male hip-hop group (as G.I. did with Block B’s “Nilili Mambo”) or titling a follow-up “Booshit.”
What’s not to like? Their chances. The K-pop machine has been churning out more and more groups, and each in turn has worse and worse odds of gaining enough popularity to ensure long-term survival. (In K-pop fandom, less-established groups are known as nugus, from the Korean word nugu, “who?”) G.I.’s management being relatively small, with a promotional budget to match, doesn’t help. G.I. is a group worth following; just be prepared for a shorter ride than we’d like.
You’re Looking for Something In Between the Two: f(x)
f(x) is managed by the same behemoth as Girls’ Generation, only aimed at a totally different market. f(x) was the group that went to SXSW earlier this year, and joked around with Anna Kendrick, and made an artsy intro video for their critically beloved album Pink Tape, featuring the maximalist gem “Rum Pum Pum Pum.” f(x) also has rapper Amber, who, prior to the arrival of G.I. and fellow nugus GLAM and Crayon Pop, was seemingly the only female performer wearing something besides hot pants and high heels. In short, f(x) is a very good way to impress your non-K-pop-familiar rivals without having to wander too far from the mainstream.
Your Feminism Is, At the Moment, More Bullshit than Intersectional: 2NE1
At first glance, 2NE1 looks nifty. (Quite. Put “I Love You” on mute; you’ll still be impressed.) The quartet puts on world tours, hits various global fashion weeks, and parties with M.I.A., all while turning out such interesting pieces as “Ugly,” seemingly a perverse reconstruction of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” and the above “I Am The Best.” The Spice Girls might well be proud.
There’s a catch, however. Mainstream K-pop has a rather pervasive and ongoing problem of borrowing liberally from other cultures’ music without context. Thus you get “The Baddest Female,” the solo debut by 2NE1 member CL, which shoots for “gangsta” and ends up at “inappropriate with a side of racist.” 2NE1’s next video included vague Orientalism and bindi decorations. This is not quite as bad as groups that have had to wear feathers for an “Indian” concept—or, for that matter, Selena Gomez’s bindi or Katy Perry’s geisha nonsense—but it does make liking 2NE1 harder than it should be.
You’re Tough As Heck: Ladies’ Code
Next to G.I., Ladies’ Code is my favorite new group of 2013, largely on the strength of “Bad Girl,” complete with witty video and the voice of Sojung, the bleached-blond piano player. Sojung got recruited to be an idol on the strength of her performance on the Korean version of The Voice in 2012, and…
…what’s that, you say? She looked different then? Yes, yes, she did. She has since admitted , rather bravely, to essentially developing anorexia while preparing for her debut. Ladies’ Code’s management’s response was to tweet pictures of Sojung digging into a plate of fried chicken. The evidence that she is actually being taken care of is in shorter supply. So now, even rooting hard for Sojung and her bandmates, I can’t listen to “Pretty, Pretty” without wincing a bit.
You Are Sorely in Need of Some Asian-American (or American-Asian) Badassery: Ailee
Asian-American singers with international profiles are in rudely short supply: fortunately, there is Ailee, originally Amy Lee from New Jersey. She’s not the only woman in the groups featured here who didn’t grow up in Korea (see also Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany and Jessica, f(x)’s Amber and Krystal, and Ladies’ Code’s Ashley), but she stands out as a solo artist, not least for being able to carry “U&I,” which is basically ubiquitous K-pop producer Shinsadong Tiger lazily tapping out a “Crazy in Love” knockoff.
Ailee is also notable for her response to an ugly attempted setback earlier this year: a sleazy news-slash-gossip website leaked nude photos of her, taken years earlier, to a global audience. Ailee did exactly what she needed to: utter not a word of apology, let her agency threaten to sue all and sundry, and go on with the strong performances. In an industry where two stars being photographed on the street together can be labeled a “scandal,” the pressure was likely strong on her to assume some of the blame and lie low for a while. And she didn’t. May she do so only on her own terms.
You Say Up with Goofiness: Hyuna
Hyuna is a big deal. Hyuna is the woman who danced on the subway in “Gangnam Style,” only she normally has eyebrows. Hyuna is a goofy bunny. Hyuna is a favorite of mine. Hyuna is a tough case.
Hyuna is the rapper for the group 4Minute who simultaneously works a side solo career. Since “Bubble Pop” became a smash in 2011, it’s been a whole lot of Hyuna front and center, Hyuna getting groped by backup dancers, Hyuna wearing skimpy clothing and bending over for the camera’s benefit. Her lyrics are more assertive than those of Girls’ Generation, and her style relies less on reassuring the viewer of her innocence.
As with a lot of female performers who emphasize their sexuality in a conventional way, the question is how much agency she has in all this. Either she’s having fun—see the sheer ridiculousness of “Ice Cream”—and enjoying being able to distinguish herself, or this is another case of managerial manipulation. Let’s go with the former, and enjoy Hyuna’s taunting sing-song in 4Minute’s “Volume Up.”
You Want Reclaimed Sexuality and Goofiness and Agency and Killer Songs: Brown Eyed Girls
Brown Eyed Girls have two distinct advantages over many of the groups featured here: they were older when they started making music, and they do a lot of in-house writing and conceptualizing. This may explain how they manage to produce more thought-provoking videos, including the mini-movie of “Cleansing Cream,” the gender-bent V for Vendetta remake that is “Sixth Sense,” or my favorite, “Kill Bill,” in which they rewrite the Tarantino film by removing all male action, and clearly have a roaring good time while doing so. The only major downside I see to loving Brown Eyed Girls is the periodic desire to lament the injustice that they are not multi-national superstars with tours to match.
You Are Unimpressed by All of the Above: Yoon Mi Rae
“Okay,” you say, “this is all well and good, but my feminism is intersectional, and I am bored by the questions of ownership and control hovering over all this, and I really would prefer someone working independently, with a dollop of social awareness, offering the catchy tunes under her own power.”
Your best bet, to my knowledge, is Yoon Mi Rae, probably the most famous woman so far to emerge from Korea’s home hip-hop scene. Her father is African-American, and she discusses the racism she faced, both growing up in the United States and later in Korea, in “Black Happiness” (complete with loving cameo from her dad). She is also capable of turning out a hit ballad, “Touch Love,” or teaming up with her husband, fellow rapper Tiger JK, and their friend Bizzy to produce the likes of the steampunk-influenced epic “Sweet Dream.”
Sure, it’s a ways from that back to, “I got a boy, handsome boy!” Fortunately there’s room under the big Korean pop umbrella for all of it.
Tags: feminism, girl power, jessica doyle, k-pop, music, nicole is so into this post
I seem to like Brown Eyed Girls. Thanks for introducing me. Also, YOON MI RAY. Yes. I didn’t know I wanted ehr music in my life until it was there.
I prefer the boy/girl hybrid bands like s#arp and cool though they always tend to break up b/c of drama or something. Actually, kpop from the 90s/early 2000’s. Not quite as cookie-cutter/you can actually tell the bands apart, it’s nice! *goes on youtube and looks up old kpop music
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WONDER GIRLS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fy4cqWMhyI
I’ll be honest: I only got into K-pop at this level of ridiculousness about a year ago, so I know Wonder Girls as “that group whose entry into the US did not go well and JYP hasn’t known what to do with them since.” You did hear “24 Hours,” though, right?
TELL ME TELL ME T-T-T-T-T TELL ME
that song was my intro to K-Pop: I found out about it because I just had to ask why every single one of the teen Korean girls I was teaching at the time was suddenly practising the same dance routine repeating the same two words again and again…and once I had the answer I never looked back!
Thanks for the playlist, OP 🙂
My work here is done.
I thought I knew a thing or two about kpop, but Global Icon, Ladies Code, Brown Eyed Girls, & Yoon Mi Rae (aside from “Touch Love”) are new to me! Will have to listen when I get home from work.
I also love the Miss A song “I Don’t Need a Man,” for obvious reasons.
Yes yes yes, I was just coming down here to plug Miss A!!!
I love love love love love Yoon Mi Rae/Tasha. She’s so amazing. Also her husband is in Drunken Tiger and they are pretty good!
Also can we talk about how in basically every youtube comment thread all the teen girls watching f(x) are writing their own mini femslash friday’s about Amber?
This is all excellent. AMBER 4-EVA
Also can we talk about this T-ara video (which is basically a short film) (if you like your sappy girl group ballads accompanied by postapocalyptic queer-ish motorcycle gangs AND adorable little bunny rabbits, and who doesn’t): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brnCe8lL7l4
I have a lot of feelings about this.
I have no familiarity with KPop but I think I am in love with Amber right now.
I <3 T-ara!
While we’re thinking about Asian pop music, did you know that there was at one point a butch Taiwanese girl group, Misster, whose whole schtick was their “tomboy”-ness (which was of course a marketing gimmick dreamed up by the label)?
http://www.jpopasia.com/group/misster/
A lot to make your head spin, sociologically
(and also some catchy tunes)
Can we claim half of G-Dragon since he is so fashionably androgynous? (Not androgynous because its fashionable, but androgynous AND fashionable.)
If I get to make a series out of this (which I think is now conditional on my finding at least a few synonyms for the word “problematic”), then G-Dragon and Big Bang are certainly on the list of potential topics. But GD wouldn’t be my first choice to start a long ramble on guys, androgynous looks, the marketing appeal of men in drag, and the dangers of simultaneously selling with and not accepting a not-conventionally-masculine man.
I was a teacher in Korea and one of my male students (also called Dragon!) was all about getting perms and having nail polish. I was a little shocked, but no one else seemed to care. His classmates thought he looked great. Conversely, all the TV shows and movies are about ‘being a man’. Like you said, its a concept more than a lifestyle.
I think everyone should work on finding at least a few synonyms for “problematic.” 🙂
I love him! Except when he sings ballads. I cannot get on board with his ballads.
G DRAGON + TOP FOREVER
GD is a gorgeous androgynous robot.
goddamn it, I meant TOP. I ALWAYS DO THAT.
But what about all of the blackface? There are just so many pictures of him in blackface! And like, blackface is always horrible but he just keeps doing it, and then issuing a weak fauxpology and then doing it again? I think the most recent one was ‘trayvon martin inspired’ which just makes me want to vom.
That is a very, very large can of very, very ugly worms. Suffice to say GD is one of the most prominent offenders but far from unique.
(That specific instance you’re talking about — his spokespeople were quick to say that the all-black makeup plus the hoodie was *not* a Trayvon Martin reference, but it was pretty specutacularly ill-timed, to say the least.
Ah ok, I only heard the follow ups from some of his other blackface incidents. I remember reading something that showed a list (with photos) of all the other k-pop starts that had pictures taken of them in blackface or who had performed in blackface and GD was definitely not the only one, he’s just the one I hear about most.
I found the last one touching and the most unique, but my favorite in terms of catchiness is GI (and then there’s the fact that the video isn’t more sex-kitten stuff). I couldn’t get through the Girls’ Generation video because just tooooo much is going on. Maybe if I’d started from the top.
Interesting post, thanks.
Girls’ Generation is exhausting.
FUCK YES. I discovered K-pop about two years ago and have been trying to convert my friends one by one (so far, I’ve succeeded with, um, three of them).
2NE1 5EVAH
I love the article but without T-ara, this list is invalid!
Love this rundown. But I feel like there should be a disclaimer: all of these acts (except for Tasha, who’s broken into pop without really being considered an idol) are company-run, and western listeners often don’t initially understand that none of these performers make the final call on their music or image. Some, like BEG, have enough standing that they can negotiate concepts and write their own stuff, but 99% of the time even a group presenting an ’empowered woman’ image is doing so because their company chose it for them.
I love Kpop, but I try to keep it in the back of my head that the answer to the question “how much agency do they really have in this?” (mentioned above in Hyuna’s case) is “none. The system is designed to get them to sign away as much of their agency as possible.”
My impression was that BEG has a little more autonomy than that? Considering how Miryo has written for practically everyone.
This is a fair point, and definitely one to keep in mind. One thing I don’t know is, especially with the sheer number of groups fighting for recognition in the last couple years, how the concept gets chosen and whether the performers’ abilities/personalities are factored in. (I’ve seen [some of] the Nine Muses documentary, but I’m not sure how well Star Empire represents the norm. Nine Muses seems to have all the ingredients, including good songs, and yet hasn’t really broken out yet despite SO MUCH hard work, and I want to lay some of that at the feet of their management being unimaginative as well as brutal.) I would like to think that the better companies recognize their performers’ strengths and plan accordingly, but I could be delulu, so to speak.
It’s really, really hard to gauge the amount of freedom idols have, because companies have an incentive to portray their idols as independent– as another form of branding (looking at you, YG). I definitely think BEG enjoys a much greater degree of freedom than any other girl group, but at the end of the day, their company has to sign off on what they do.
I do think companies recognize their performers’ strengths and plan accordingly, but that doesn’t equate better treatment. Using Block B as an example, their leader Zico was reasonably well-known as a rapper before being recruited by Stardom, and it wouldn’t be crazy to say the company built the group around him. This seems like it would put him in a much better position than other rookie idols, in addition to the fact that he wrote tons of material for them, however he and his group still ended up suing the company and ultimately leaving over the fact that they’d been worked like dogs and never paid.
I’m pretty confident that Nine Muses represents the norm in the industry for rookies; most of the reaction to the documentary I saw was shocked that they’d revealed so much, not shocked to find out these things happen. Compare it to the amazing interview Busker Busker’s Brad gave to Vice, and you start to see the patterns. (Then watch SM’s propaganda flick “I AM.” and try not to go “UHM HMMMM” every five minutes.) Chrome Ent’s CEO has said that he runs concepts by Crayon Pop to see if the girls like them because he believes “happy people work better” and I’m sure there are some good small companies that balance the fact that they have to ask so much more from their idols by giving those idols better treatment. But overall, the simple fact is that in the current, brutally competitive environment, an idol who doesn’t do what they’re told is easily replaced from the flood of trainees the idol boom has created.
Thank you so much for coming back! If you don’t mind my asking: how do you, personally, balance “loving Kpop” with knowing that the idols are performing under such working conditions? This is something I’ve struggled with for a while without coming up with any good answers. Withdrawing my interest in the genre, besides my not wanting to do it for purely selfish reasons, also withdraws support (or “support,” given how much stands between me and any given idol) from the very people I profess to worry about. I don’t know how to love Infinite and get mad at Woollim for never giving them a damn vacation, is another way to put it.
The solution I have groped towards has been to try and talk more openly about the problems with their working conditions, but there are obviously things I miss, and I’ll be the first to concede that I don’t really know much about how employees get treated in Korean enterprises as a whole.
No problem! I really do appreciate you making up this list, and (sorry for being creepy) I followed you from tumblr because I love your ‘Please Remember Princess’ recaps so it’s fun to talk to you!
I think every Kpop fan has had some tough sit-downs with themselves about why and how they love Kpop. For me, after it became clear that I was in deep I decided just to forgive myself and everybody else: I committed to taking it seriously but never taking it TOO seriously. (“Not taking Kpop too seriously” sounds really easy, but can sometimes be really, really hard.) I try to know as much as I can, I don’t let myself off the hook with trying to think critically about it, but I also try not to let myself be consumed with angst over issues of exploitation and agency involved everytime Hyuna frolics around in a bathing suit and bubbles. I take the good, do my best to understand the bad, and try to stay conscious of the fact that I may be a consumer, but I’m also a guest. “Having a lot to learn” is the best mode to be in. And then I just enjoy myself, because it’s pretty.
As solutions go, talking openly about the problems inherit in the system is a pretty good one. One thing I find really [morbidly] fascinating about Kpop is that the industry is shockingly willing to reveal itself — like the Nine Muses documentary. Getting to see how the Pop music sausage is made in another country can be incredibly enlightening because it forces you out of your accepted ways of thinking about things. The companies that hide in the shadows in America are front and center in Korea, happy to tell you how hard they work your favorite celebrities if it means you’ll love them even more. (Because damn I love Infinite, and that’s a whole other 3-page comment.)
NOOO G.I. I WANT YOU TO SUCCEED BECAUSE YOU HAVE LADY T.O.P. AND G-DRAGON WHHHYYYYY!!!
Also I spent a good listening to that 2NE1 song being like, “Wait, I’ve heard this somewhere” before I realized it was the Indian Step Up movie, A.B.C.D. (which is glorious, btw).
ALSO did those Ladies Code girls drug and then MURDER those male models!? #misandry
Oh, and Yoon Mi Rae made me CRY and I think I am in love with her now.
INDIAN STEP UP!!
What rock have I been living under!? I need this immediately.
Here is the trailer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZC67-NfOI
It is on Canadian Netflix, while none of the actual Step Up movies are.
also why are girl groups seemingly thriving in Korea but have declined in the UK and US? Can anyone explain, incorporating the patriarchy?
I’ve been out of kpop for a long time because not every kpop lady is Amber and I find that unacceptable.
HOW DID YOU KNOW G.I. WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS
Jessica Doyle, how did you know?! This is exactly what I have been wishing and hoping for but didn’t know where to start.
ETA: K-pop Pandora station created. Yessssssssssssssssss.
I really want to watch all of these right now – but I’m also concerned about someone walking by my cube.
Ahhh Yoon Mi Rae! Thank you for this guide and including relevant youtube videos.
Fun fact: the choreography from BEG’s Abracadabra is what inspired “Gentleman” by PSY.
Yes a K-pop post! And Brown Eyed Girls is on there!
Here are some other female soloist not on this post who I love:
* Younha did a surprisingly good cover of Viva La Vida (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAqDNGd3AiE) and her recent Just Listen mini-album and Supersonic album were both great
* IU debuted with Mia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZukHxqOA0o) when she was 15, and though she became famous for her her cutesy songs she has good jazzy/indie style songs on her albums. And she did a collab with BEG!
Lena Park and Lim Kim are great too.
For general K-pop, VICE did a “Top 20 of 2013” style post.
Bonus: also find your K-Pop by researching the soundtracks of your favourite K-dramas.
Ooh, ooh. Companion piece to help the as-yet-uninitiated discover the glorious world of K-drama, pretty please!
I have actually seen almost zero K-dramas (I watched two episodes of Shut Up Flower Boy Band and… had to stop. long story). I would highly recommend, for the interested, going over to Seoulbeats, which has regular K-drama coverage, and also see Shweta’s A Splash of Inspiration (http://splashofinspiration.wordpress.com/). Sh also writes for Seoulbeats and is part of the K-pop Writers Workshop.
Dear god, it is actually so unfortunate (or on purpose?) that this article falls into exactly what Asian Junkie digs into over here: http://www.asianjunkie.com/2014/01/pretending-tha… I’m all for people liking kpop, but it’s awkward coming from the viewpoint of white western feminism.
I’m not sure where you’re getting that? It reads to me more like she’s trying to acknowledge that we don’t know just who has agency and who doesn’t?
Hmmm. I did read that earlier today, and now I’m going to go back to it, because I’ve been trying hard to avoid #solidarityisforwhitewomen-style feminism. (Also, I’m glad you linked to Asian Junkie; I hadn’t really been following them before the allkpop meltdown sent everyone scattering for alternate English-language sources but have been reading them ever since.)
The argument, as I understand it, is that it’s ridiculous/concern trolling*/self-aggrandizing to judge one concept as superior to another because no group/performer within the K-pop industry has any autonomy, so the concept says absolutely nothing about the group. Basically there’s no way to compare apples to apples for they’re all rotten.
Two things. One, concepts do mean *something*, and we ought to be able to talk about preferring one concept to another — to make the usual comparison, Ga-In’s “Bloom” to Hyuna’s “Bubble Pop” — while still acknowledging that when we say “Ga-In” or “Hyuna” we are by necessity using shorthand for the conglomerations that produced the resultant songs, including management, songwriters, video directors, stylists, producers, choreographers, and the artists themselves. Now, it may be that the only “honest” way to look at a capitalist/oligopolist setup such as K-pop is to proceed top-down: this is SM Entertainment and these are their products, this is YG and here are their products, et cetera. That’s a fair critique. But I don’t think it’s unfair to have reasons to prefer “Bloom” to “Bubble Pop” (or vice versa) (or “Beatles” to “I Got a Boy,” although I just don’t find “IGAB” cohesive enough musically).
Second, I don’t agree with the “they’re all 100% doing what their companies tell them to” part of the argument. It’s too simplistic. You have a bunch of human beings making messy decisions within a system with imperfect information; there’s simply no way every idol product that makes it to market is treated the same way. I refuse to believe that CL, who comes from an independently wealthy family (as I understand it), received exactly the same treatment as one of the victims of Open World’s CEO. I fully agree that “Bloom” is just as much a calculated, market-driven product as “Bubble Pop,” but I still don’t believe that Ga-In didn’t get a say at the table when the decisions about “Bloom” were being made.
That’s why I was trying to be careful with Hyuna’s case in particular; I have multiple friends who say exactly the things that drive IAFTB crazy (“poor Hyuna, she doesn’t want the sexy concept!”). Does she? I have no idea. I’ve seen quotes attributed to her that seem to express discomfort with the sexy concept, but I can’t actually source them. Or maybe some days she’s really sick of the sexy concept and some days she’s having a lot of fun with it. I don’t know. So I don’t feel comfortable either taking the “poor Hyuna” or the “go Hyuna!” position.
This has been a worry of mine ever since I started thinking about K-pop — how do you express support for the groups you really like while distancing yourself from the problems of the industry? And I guess IAFTB’s answer is, “That’s not possible, so quit patting yourself on the back, because you’re just as ethically compromised as the rest of us.” Maybe I’m just being self-indulgent because I enjoy the music too much. But I’m not at a point where I can either give up the music/parasocial relationships/communities completely or willing to say I can’t do much and am willing to stop caring.
anyway. I ramble about this a lot. thank you for bringing this up.
* full disclosure: I have trouble with the term “concern trolling.” I’ve had it explained to me but still find it awfully slippery.
I can’t speak for Jessica, but in my own experience charges of ethnocentricism and “coming from the viewpoint of white western feminism” in my own writing are rarely backed up with actual examples, nor with an explanation of how a ‘Korean, eastern feminist’ critique would even be any different. So, frankly, they just come across as lazy ad hominem attacks based on race, and given Jessica’s clear attempts to aim for intersectionality and avoid #solidarityisforwhitewomen style feminism both here and on her own blog then that charge seems particularly undeserved in her case.
Again though, I don’t mean to project my own experiences on to others, and if you genuinely do think that this post suffers from a white, Western feminist perspective I’d be very happy to educated on which parts exactly, and how they could have been avoided. (It would help my own writing and understanding!).
Jessica’s reply about the Asian Junkie post came through while I was typing this, and is much more eloquent than anything I could have written, so I would just add that a big problem with it is that the author and especially many commenters there seem to equate *all* positive comparisons of Ga-in with Hyuna to slut-shaming the latter, which simply isn’t true. Also, that because we usually lack reliable information about their working relationships, then ironically I too take the *default* position that all girl-groups (and boy-bands) under Korean management companies lack consent and are therefore sometimes negatively sexually-objectified…but on the other hand, and again like Jessica said, there’s abundant evidence that certain groups and individuals do have autonomy and choice in what they do and say (and *don’t* do and say!) on stage. Sure, that evidence and image may just be a facade manufactured by their companies, like Asian Junkie says, but as the evidence piles up then it’s increasingly difficult to sustain that belief.
Much more on that last here: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2013/06/20/kpop-sexu… (Sorry for the self-promotion, but then it did take me a month to write!) 🙂
Update 1: I forgot to mention that given the number of management companies that change their group’s concept seemingly every season, that will drop one the instant it appears to be unprofitable, and their frequent experimentation until they find one that *does* pay off, then I find it difficult to believe that the CONSISTENT empowering concepts and image presented by BEG aren’t coming at least *partially* from the women themselves. Rather than just being something dreamed up by Nega Network ever since “Abracadabra”, as Asian Junkie claims.
Update 2: Another point to add is that, unfortunately, grrrl-power just doesn’t seem to sell as well as aegyo and “sexy” skin-exposure concepts, and accordingly out of the 15 most successful girl-groups of 2013 (see here: http://blog.naver.com/goodess001/130177937553 ) only 2NE1 can claim to consistently have had that image. BEG doesn’t even register in that list, so you do have to wonder why their supposedly all-powerful management company didn’t see the writing on the wall and drop their tough-girl act, like say, Girl’s Day did in 2011: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2013/12/30/girls-day…
Okay! I actually had more to say about all this, but in an effort to not be the person who hijacks the comment thread *for my own piece*, I have moved it to my Tumblr: http://brainsister.tumblr.com/post/73626175463/fu…
Pauline, I quote you there; feel free to send me an ask or otherwise message me if you have somewhere you’d like me to link.
I love this to death, Jessica! Great overview, even though it couldn’t be exhaustive (understandably). I hope lots of readers take a chance on these artists (especially BEG and Yoon Mi Rae).
Some other ladies for your listening pleasure:
+ Lim Kim – Far and away my favorite kpop song of last year is Lim Kim’s Goodbye 20 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpZj1vDoV5s), which explores the angst of your early twenties better than any other song I’ve heard and has a ridiculously fun hipster video. Most of her other music is coffee shop indie pop, like Rain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlMXZvY-_cM).
+ Lee Hyori – Beautiful trailblazer with a great voice who works damn hard at proving what a woman can accomplish. Last year came out with the one-two girl power punch of Miss Korea (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Huu3H5ei_-8) and Bad Girls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLyfHxNDeVM). About the former, she said: “In an industry where women are judged so harshly on their appearance, I feel like I wanted to comfort them. Instead of telling people not to do something, because it only makes them want do it more, I wanted to tell them they were already beautiful. That’s why I wrote the song and I feel happiest when women tell me they felt comforted a bit.”
+ BoA – Reigning queen of kpop and an Asian sensation. Check out Atlantis Princess (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skbnuIhVQUA) for a classic and Eat You Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baJpkNC_ilY) for some unapologetic female desire.
+ miss A – Two Chinese ladies, two Korean ones, lots of great singing and dancing and lyrics that probably come closest to something like a feminist rhetoric: Bad Girl Good Girl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TeeJvcBdLA) rejects the Madonna/whore dichotomy (and tells boys to shut up) and I Don’t Need a Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkSOOiMDGiY) is about being a woman who can take care of herself.
+ Crayon Pop – Their Bar Bar Bar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMqL1iWfku4) was the viral hit of the year as far as Korea is concerned, and they take the idea of a cute girly group and turn it on its head. Their company had so little money to promote them that they used to do their own makeup and do performances on subway platforms and in the street to drum up support. Bing Bing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMg-aNLs29U) is a favorite of mine.
+ 9 Muses – If you love the idea of 9 gorgeous ladies with killer dance moves but SNSD (Girl’s Generation) is too cutesy and exhausting for you, 9 Muses has what you’re looking for. The videos for songs like Wild (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwN_Axs7pL4) play to the male gaze while being hella catchy, but they also know how to have fun, as in Gun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7pXRdkdJxI).
+ IU – Incredibly talented young singer-songwriter and the kind of young woman who gets called Korea’s Sweetheart. Her Lost Child (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZukHxqOA0o) is one of my favorite kpop debuts ever, and check out Only I Didn’t Know (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpuWJr821rY) for a sad and dark number.
I <3 BoA! Oh, the dancing. 😀
I’VE BEEN WAITING IN A CAVE FOR A THOUSAND YEARS FOR THIS POST
‘BUBBLE POP’ IS MY NATIONAL ANTHEM
I’ve watched the G.I. video maybe 10 times in the past hour. I CAN’T STOP. IT’S SO GOOD.
I can't speak for Jessica, but in my own experience charges of ethnocentricism and "coming from the viewpoint of white western feminism" in my own writing are rarely backed up with actual examples, nor with an explanation of how a 'Korean, eastern feminist' critique would even be any different. So, frankly, they just come across as lazy ad hominem attacks based on race, and given Jessica's clear attempts to aim for intersectionality and avoid #solidarityisforwhitewomen style feminism both here and on her own blog then that charge seems particularly undeserved in her case.
Again though, I don't mean to project my own experiences on to others, and if you genuinely do think that this post suffers from a white, Western feminist perspective I'd be very happy to educated on which parts exactly, and how they could have been avoided. (It would help my own writing and understanding!).
Jessica's reply about the Asian Junkie post came through while I was typing this, and is much more eloquent than anything I could have written, so I would just add that a big problem with it is that the author and especially many commenters there seem to equate *all* positive comparisons of Ga-in with Hyuna to slut-shaming the latter, which simply isn't true. Also, that because we usually lack reliable information about their working relationships, then ironically I too take the *default* position that all girl-groups (and boy-bands) under Korean management companies lack consent and are therefore sometimes negatively sexually-objectified…but on the other hand, and again like Jessica said, there's abundant evidence that certain groups and individuals do have autonomy and choice in what they do and say (and *don't* do and say!) on stage. Sure, that evidence and image may just be a facade manufactured by their companies, like Asian Junkie says, but as the evidence piles up then it's increasingly difficult to sustain that belief.
Much more on that last here: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2013/06/20/kpop-sexu… (Sorry for the self-promotion, but then it did take me a month to write!) 🙂
Update 1: I forgot to mention that given the number of management companies that change their group's concept seemingly every season, that will drop one the instant it appears to be unprofitable, and their frequent experimentation until they find one that *does* pay off, then I find it difficult to believe that the CONSISTENT empowering concepts and image presented by BEG aren't coming at least *partially* from the women themselves. Rather than just being something dreamed up by Nega Network ever since "Abracadabra", as Asian Junkie claims.
Update 2: Another point to add is that, unfortunately, grrrl-power just doesn't seem to sell as well as aegyo and "sexy" skin-exposure concepts, and accordingly out of the 15 most successful girl-groups of 2013 (see here: http://blog.naver.com/goodess001/130177937553 ) only 2NE1 can claim to consistently have had that image. BEG doesn't even register in that list, so you do have to wonder why their supposedly all-powerful management company didn't see the writing on the wall and drop their tough-girl act, like say, Girl's Day did in 2011: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2013/12/30/girls-day…
Late as always, I just wanted to say thanks so much for this! I’m one of the only (half) Koreans in my Korean language class, and I’m also one of the few people there who isn’t learning the language because I listen to k-pop and watch k-dramas? And it makes me feel a little weird and isolated sometimes. And finding an entrance into an unfamiliar music genre can be daunting. This post is a really awesome intro for me, and I really appreciate that you address some of the things that can make a feminist go “enh” without shying away from them, or defending them, while still allowing for the art to have merit.
thank you! I’m glad you liked it.
your experience reminds me of how a good many of my (non-Asian) friends started learning Japanese because they got interested in anime/manga. I’m sorry your experience so far has been isolating — you shouldn’t be made to feel weird for wanting to learn another language, especially when you have a personal/familial connection to the language.
As a blackjack, it’s automatic 2ne1 for me. But I also like other groups like Miss A. I like suzy a lot. Fans always start wars against the other groups especially between 2ne1 and girl’s generation. Since GG’s Mr.Mr., I followed their music since I was spying them as 2ne1 was set to release an album as well. IMO, it’s a strong win for 2ne1 album-wise. They’ve hit the US billboard chart at no.61 – highest for any KPOP singer. BUT THEN, I also had the chance to get to know GG (girl’s generation) too. I think they’re talented and that they’re music is quite different with 2ne1. I think I like that as I get to hear different types of music from each of them. I am a blackjack and part of me is a SONE (GG fan). I love them and my favorite is the dancing queen HYOYEON!