K-Pop and J-Pop on the International Stage

For the holidays I got an iTunes gift card.  I don't listen to American music much anymore so I had no idea what I wanted to buy (except for Florence + The Machine).  There was of plenty of options for K-Pop, but my usual go to artists were missing, completely.  I've purchased tons of music from Hamasaki Ayumi the past couple of years, but everything was gone.  The J-Pop available was scarce with few artists that I was interested like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, SCANDAL, and Brand-New Idol Society (BiS).  AKB48 only has one of their albums and has not continued adding releases.  The one group who does a decent job is Hello Project.  Manufactured music from Korea, however, is doing quite well.  Popular releases from units like 2NE1, Super Junior, and Kara have songs selling for $1.29.

Now hold your horses K-Pop fans who preach about how awesome it is and how it is taking over the world.  Sit your butt down.  Japanese artists don't expand to the Korean market (like how K-pop artists go to Japan) because they have the second largest music industry in the world.  They are not going to go to a smaller market, therefore the only place they are going to go for is the United States.  And we've all seen how well that goes over, for K-Pop artists too.  Artists like Koda Kumi are comfortable with being successful at home.  Korean culture will be a sub-culture in the United States, just like how J-Pop is.  There will be some attempt to cash in on the boom.  I don't want to be a wet blanket.  I would just like to remind fans who are excited for the Wonder Girls TV show what happened to Puffy's program: it got pulled off the air eventually.  Another major factor is that they are manufactured.  The United States' and the UK's consumers tend to have a negative perception of artists that don't have power in the creative process.  Even girl groups like Danity Kane wrote some of their own music.

I expect all of you to react to the reaction with an open mind.  Many K-Pop fans had that same reaction when they first saw it.  My perception of K-Pop wasn't too favorable either.  They are children!  They are asked to react to a little glimpse of the whole picture.  It is suppose to be off-the-cuff and a bit outrageous because that is entertaining.  Notice the majority of them are interested in listening to more of the genre.  This video is to illustrate the major issues K-Pop faces when expanding to the United States.    

What I'm curious about is the promotion of K-Pop groups in Japan.  A fair amount of songs by Korean groups are Japanese versions and not originals.  Those releases match their Korean image.  [The following statement has nothing to do with the male groups.]  However, to reach significant success they may dispose of their typical persona for a Japanese one.  This is evident if we compare Kara to SNSD.  I never realized how 'competitive' they are with each other until I did a Google search about their comparative activities in Japan.  The results were mixed.  Some sites claimed SNSD was beating Kara and are relevant in Japan.  Other data suggested the Kara had a stronger foothold.  Then there were others that suggested that the results didn't match up to the hype.  One thing is clear is that the strategy between the two is different.  SNSD basically re-released songs that were successful.  Kara, in my opinion, actually went all out.  Their musical style, with the exception of a couple singles, turned to a more care-free, innocent spirit that is common in Japanese idol music.  Kara is the reason why I resent people who said as part of the hype of the Hallyu wave that K-Pop was more popular with women because they presented a less doll-like persona.  First of all, those people were clearly not familiar with female Japanese artists (Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, SCANDAL, members of AKB).  Second, there were female K-Pop artists went all doll-like, cutesy, AEGYO as soon as they hit Japanese shores.  Others followed through not too long after debut.  These girl groups were doing it in Korea too!  Personally I found that Kara was more present in the industry than SNSD, not by a ton but I felt like there was a difference.

SNSD in Korea

SNSD in Japan

KARA in Korea

KARA in Japan

Was there a Hallyu wave this year?  Yes, and I don't think it is necessarily over.  However, Korean groups in Japan were not the top dog in any way.  AKB48 owned this year, they were head to head with Arashi in 2010.  The other big hitter in the music industry of Japan was the song Maru Maru Mori Mori.  They entered a market where idol groups are doing quite well.  We could chalk up a portion of their success to an idol boom.  JE debuted two new idol groups that made the top spot, and Hey!Say!Jump had a really good year.  There were idol groups that made the top spot which I never expected to do so, like Passpo.  The industries aren't that much different style-wise.  There are some general differences, but I feel like people play them up to be much bigger than they truly are.