Lee Jung Hyun - Summer Dance
to
T-ARA - Sexy Dance
and
Girls Generation - The Boys
In a span of ten years K-Pop has managed to go from this cute, cheesy, innocent dance, attire and lyrics to a highly sexualized appearance and in some cases even lyrics. So why is it interesting? Why should we care? Same thing happened in the United States. Brittany Spears innocent to Brittany Spears the sex symbol.The reason for my curiosity stems from the Korean culture. In the image of 2013 America sexy dancing, lyrics, and clothing are not only accepted but highly endorsed. When a female walks down the hall in a mini-skirt and lacy shirt no one pays her any special attention - in fact, there are probably more girls walking near her dressed similarly. We've all heard it before: sex sells. However, in the Korean culture modesty is still the raging fashion in the populace. [Disclaimer: these statements are referring to the majority of the population. There are of course individual exceptions.]
Speaking from experience, the Korean culture frowns upon this idea over sexualizing oneself. To be phrased more accurately, Korean society values and promotes innocence. Korean society upholds the idea of innocence to the extent that the singer/actress IU is commonly known as the "Nation's Little Sister." We not only see this in Korean culture, but also in other East Asian cultures like the Japanese.
AKB48 Apology - in this CNN article the author narrates the story of Minami Minegishi's public apology. In the video apology Ms. Minegishi apologizes to her fans for not upholding the image of innocence that AKB48 portrays. The scrutiny that this teen pop idol is receiving is over the incident where she is seen leaving a man's apartment in the morning.
So, in this highly moderate society how is this overtly sexual image prevailing, in fact, flourishing? Well, I wanted to start at the beginning. Thinking back to my high school years I remembered some afternoon conversations with friends involving newspaper headlines about the inappropriate attire and dance moves of Lee Hyori. This of course led me to YouTube!
One of the first songs to skyrocket Lee Hyori's career - 10 Minutes
The tight clothes, skin exposure, and gestures used to appeal to a more provocative nature all indicate the change from innocence to sex. However, relistening to the lyrics made me also realize that the story lines were also becoming more sexualized. In Hyori's 10 Minutes song, she is describing the 10 minutes that a girlfriend leaves her boyfriend (possibly to go to the bathroom) and how the boyfriend sees another girl and immediately wants her [judging her based on her looks].
Seeing Lee Hyori as my starting point I started with an initial read on Wikipedia about her - which revealed nothing of significance. This then led me to a general Google search on Hyori. This also led me to a dead end. Before beginning this project I had attributed the trend of sexualizing Korean music to Hyori, but my initial research is proving me otherwise. Being no closer to understanding the sexualization of K-Pop than when I started, I formulated my ideas into a key sentenced and Googled "Sexualization of K-Pop." This brought me tons of information. Much of this information were in the form of blogs. Many other bloggers have noticed this trend in Korean pop music, but none had any significant research on it.
These findings not only reinforced but also helped me to mold the direction of this project. I wasn't the only one to notice is trend of Korean pop music, so to some extent it was a relevant issue on the people's minds, but why was it so hard to find information on it? This project was never about IF K-Pop as leaning towards sex, but rather to gather more information about how. But while doing this research I kept wondering to myself why? Why care? Will knowing this information change the world? Will it improve any lives? Will it make any difference whether or not people know if K-Pop garner's towards sexual expression? Ultimately, no. Mostly, it'll just satisfy curiosity.
But maybe, just maybe there is some significance? Maybe a cultural one? As discussed in class the South Korean culture is struggling to recover, maintain, and promote it's cultural identity. After the Japanese Colonial Occupation, Korea lost a lot of it's culture trying to assimilate with the new regime. After the Colonial Occupation Korea not only had to restore, but rediscover it's cultural identity. For this reason alone musicologists and the people in general should care about who, when, and why the music of Korea went from sorrowful ballads about love and loss to scandalous depictions of lascivious topics.
When talking about the sexualization of K-Pop it is inevitable that the discussion of globalization of Eastern and Western culture would be discussed. With information readily available to us via the internet popular songs and music video is easily communicated from one place in the world to another in a matter of seconds. This being the case, what's popular in America i.e. Briteny Spears can instantly reach the eyes and ears of students students in Korea. Likewise, media from Korea can be ported over to the American audience just as easily i.e. Psy's Gangnam Style. With this constant exchange of culture and the desire of Korean's to spread their culture, the societal culture's would have to change in order to meet the needs and wants of the mass audience.
With competitors like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, just to name a couple, Korean pop stars had to "step-up their game" in order to be viable to a wider audience than just Korea. With this notion came the term Hallyu. In essence, Hallyu is the spread of Korean culture (language, entertainment, cuisine, etc.) to all parts of the world. From this idea of Hallyu came about Hallyu stars such as Bi (Rain); who topped in Time Magazine's website poll for "most influential person" for three years (http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066482,00.html). Korea has slowly made it's presence within the United States with this Hallyu wave. Focusing on the musical aspect, Korean pop stars have also made it to mainstream American media. Let's take the Wonder Girls for instance. When displayed in American culture they are sexualized - exoticized.
Wonder Girls ft. Akon - Like Money
The sexually suggestive ideas displayed in this music video are not on the level of Britney Spears "Slave 4 U," but how come what is popular is this skimpy outfits, short dresses, skin-tight unitards and lyrics featuring lines like "I'm trying to show you how to touch me?" Why is it that young, mature and sexy women are receiving the attention - garnering more K-Pop artists to follow pursuit in order to obtain that level of fame.
All of my examples have been of female artists so far, but we see this with male groups as well (it's just easier to see and describe female groups, but also because the Hallyu stars who have made a splash with American audience tend to be female. For instance Wonder Girls toured with the Jonas Brothers). An example of sexualization of male K-Pop stars would be:
All of my examples have been of female artists so far, but we see this with male groups as well (it's just easier to see and describe female groups, but also because the Hallyu stars who have made a splash with American audience tend to be female. For instance Wonder Girls toured with the Jonas Brothers). An example of sexualization of male K-Pop stars would be:
BigBang - Fantastic Baby currently as 70,000,000+ views
Not only are there clips of half-naked men dancing around, but the lyrics explicitly say "Mama just let me be lover" - having it's own suggestive connotations.
Leaving the examples from media, I was able to find one really good source for Korean media as a whole. Catching the K-Pop Wave. This article, by Sarah Leung, details the rise of Korean media locally and globally. The authors goes into a lot more detail about Korean Media for this project, but there is a section of importance. In pages 28-30, Ms. Leung details the arduous process of "making over" and "creating" a K-Pop idol - where physical appearance is of utmost importance. The author goes on to detail how in 1997 the Korean entertainment company, KBS, made an announcement that included "... no exposing of navals," which is clearly not the case now. This rule has been able to be circumvented with the excuse that music videos and stage performances are "acts," a "character" and not "real life." This portion of the article just goes to further emphasis how important a "clean" and "modest" demure is to Korean society. I strongly encourage everyone to read this full article. It gives great insight into Korean media outside of just image.
Another interesting point Ms. Leung brought up was that the sexualization of K-Pop is not only through suggestive lyrics and dance, but it also employs on all male/female sexual fantasies. To clarify, K-Pop artists are displayed both as cute (i.e. school girl/boy uniforms) and as sexy. To illustrate:
Another interesting point Ms. Leung brought up was that the sexualization of K-Pop is not only through suggestive lyrics and dance, but it also employs on all male/female sexual fantasies. To clarify, K-Pop artists are displayed both as cute (i.e. school girl/boy uniforms) and as sexy. To illustrate:
SHINee - Cute
SHINee - Sexy
T-ARA - Cute
T-ARA - Sexy
Not only does the Korean entertainment industry exploit the "hot" sexual aspect, but also the "cute" sexual nature of their entertainers.
One interesting source that Ms. Leung kept mentioning was a book by Keith Howard Korean Pop Music. When trying to reserve this book online through the U.C.Davis library, I found that someone already had checked it out and was not due to return until 2014! Upon calling the library I found that I could set a recall notice and the current renter would have to return the book by a certain date. Hearing that, I set a recall and the book was ready to be picked up the following week. When going to the library to pick up the book I perused the East Asian music section and was able to pick up a couple of books while just looking around. One book I found, Structure, Audience and Soft Power in East Asian Pop Culture by Chua Beng Huat reinforces my earlier idea that we need to be more concerned about how K-Pop is represented because (as the book tells us) there is a vast globalization of pop culture not only globally but especially within the East Asian community.
However, not all the books that I found during my search were informative. Although the summary and title may make a book appear as if it would be useful, sometimes you just get a miss - all a part of the research process.
I ascertained another good resource from Ms. Leung's paper. "Exploding Ballads: The Transformation of Korean Pop Music" by Keith Howard is a chapter within the book Global Goes Local Popular Culture in Asia edited by Timothy J. Craig and Richard King. These 13 pages were extremely useful in identifying the "transformation of Korean Pop music." Mr. Howard details how the soft ballads (trot and ppongtchack - as referenced in class) of the '80's began to fade with the integration of other musical genre's such as rap. This was an important resource for my project because it helped me go back to my initial question: how did the sexualization of K-Pop begin? Whether there is a definite answer or not, this book showed how we went from a Cho Young Pil's trot music to the end product of SHINee, SNSD, DBSK, 2 P.M., etc.
Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave edited by Keith Howard is a detailed exspansion of Keith Howards article in Global Goes Local. Rather than a brief 13 page summary of the transformation of Korean pop music, Keith Howard weaves articles, from multiple authors, starting from the Japanese Occupation (taejung kayo style of music) up to the late 1990's, early 2000's. He then integrates the globalization of and spread of the hallyu wave throughout East Asia.
One interesting source that Ms. Leung kept mentioning was a book by Keith Howard Korean Pop Music. When trying to reserve this book online through the U.C.Davis library, I found that someone already had checked it out and was not due to return until 2014! Upon calling the library I found that I could set a recall notice and the current renter would have to return the book by a certain date. Hearing that, I set a recall and the book was ready to be picked up the following week. When going to the library to pick up the book I perused the East Asian music section and was able to pick up a couple of books while just looking around. One book I found, Structure, Audience and Soft Power in East Asian Pop Culture by Chua Beng Huat reinforces my earlier idea that we need to be more concerned about how K-Pop is represented because (as the book tells us) there is a vast globalization of pop culture not only globally but especially within the East Asian community.
However, not all the books that I found during my search were informative. Although the summary and title may make a book appear as if it would be useful, sometimes you just get a miss - all a part of the research process.
I ascertained another good resource from Ms. Leung's paper. "Exploding Ballads: The Transformation of Korean Pop Music" by Keith Howard is a chapter within the book Global Goes Local Popular Culture in Asia edited by Timothy J. Craig and Richard King. These 13 pages were extremely useful in identifying the "transformation of Korean Pop music." Mr. Howard details how the soft ballads (trot and ppongtchack - as referenced in class) of the '80's began to fade with the integration of other musical genre's such as rap. This was an important resource for my project because it helped me go back to my initial question: how did the sexualization of K-Pop begin? Whether there is a definite answer or not, this book showed how we went from a Cho Young Pil's trot music to the end product of SHINee, SNSD, DBSK, 2 P.M., etc.
Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave edited by Keith Howard is a detailed exspansion of Keith Howards article in Global Goes Local. Rather than a brief 13 page summary of the transformation of Korean pop music, Keith Howard weaves articles, from multiple authors, starting from the Japanese Occupation (taejung kayo style of music) up to the late 1990's, early 2000's. He then integrates the globalization of and spread of the hallyu wave throughout East Asia.
What started out as a search into when and how K-Pop became so sexual opened doors to bigger and more meaningful questions and answers. Firstly, money - it is what makes the world go round after all. Music and entertainment is mainly about how much revenue can be drawn in and it is no different in the Korean Pop industry. In order to increase revenue, one has to increase it's audience. In order to accomplish this simple task, the source of entertainment has to appease the larger audience. To expand beyond the Korean audience and globalize (as well as increase revenue) the Korean pop music industry has to create hallyu stars. This is where we run into the controversy. Yes we want an increase interest of the global recognition of South Korea, but at what cost?
The sexualization of Korean pop music is a trend that is happening - there is no doubt about that. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? From this research, I can only answer: depends. Depending on the perspective you are looking at this from it could be a good thing and a bad thing. It goes against what Koreans have deemed as "socially acceptable." Economically however, this could and does mean an increase in South Korea's economy. With a larger and broader audience the South Korean economy can only flourish. However, is this how South Korea wants the global community to view them as - reaffirming orientalism and exoticizing themselves in a sexual manner? Only South Korea can answer that. With the internet, YouTube, and instant media access all over the world, it's hard to keep sex out of popularity.
Zooming back in from the macroscopic implications of the sexual nature of K-Pop, we also have to give credit in the cultural identity department. After the Japanese Occupation, the main for of popular music was trot - which we see extremely high influences of Japanese enka. From my research I have concluded that this is just a way for the South Korean culture to express their own unique voice - to create a cultural identity. Ultimately, I feel that South Korea is reinventing their cultural identity and this [sexual music] is a part of it. They have transformed what they once knew with influences from other parts of the world to create something new and different; and to be honest, it's working. Whereas "old-school" American music like Michael Jackson has penetrated South Korea, "old-school" South Korean stars like Choi Yong Pil has not. But looking at today's music - this hyper exploitation of race and sex - Korean music is finally making it onto American airwaves; prime example: Psy - Gangnam style, which I have heard on several popular radio stations such as 107.9 The End (Northern California radio station), 102.7 KiiS FM (Southern California radio station), and many more.
The quick and dirty: is there sexualization in K-Pop? Yes. Is it beneficial: it has it's flaws, but overall I believe it is beneficial for the Korean culture as a whole including, but not exclusive to, it's economic gains and cultural reidentification.
Zooming back in from the macroscopic implications of the sexual nature of K-Pop, we also have to give credit in the cultural identity department. After the Japanese Occupation, the main for of popular music was trot - which we see extremely high influences of Japanese enka. From my research I have concluded that this is just a way for the South Korean culture to express their own unique voice - to create a cultural identity. Ultimately, I feel that South Korea is reinventing their cultural identity and this [sexual music] is a part of it. They have transformed what they once knew with influences from other parts of the world to create something new and different; and to be honest, it's working. Whereas "old-school" American music like Michael Jackson has penetrated South Korea, "old-school" South Korean stars like Choi Yong Pil has not. But looking at today's music - this hyper exploitation of race and sex - Korean music is finally making it onto American airwaves; prime example: Psy - Gangnam style, which I have heard on several popular radio stations such as 107.9 The End (Northern California radio station), 102.7 KiiS FM (Southern California radio station), and many more.
The quick and dirty: is there sexualization in K-Pop? Yes. Is it beneficial: it has it's flaws, but overall I believe it is beneficial for the Korean culture as a whole including, but not exclusive to, it's economic gains and cultural reidentification.
List of references:
- Craig, T., & King, R. (2002). Global goes local: popular culture in Asia. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
- Girls' Generation 소녀시대_THE BOYS_Music Video (KOR ver.) 4-3-14 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pA_Tou-DPI#t=108.
- Huat, Chua Beng (2012). Structure, Audience and Soft Power in East Asian Pop Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Long University Press, 2012.
- Howard, Keith, ed. Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental, 2006.
- King, Richard, “Exploding Ballads: The Transformation of Korean Pop Music. “Global goes local popular culture in Asia. Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press, 2002. 80-93.
- Lee Hyori – 10 Minutes [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p5vQNAB_9p4.
- Lee Jung Hyun - Summer Dance [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=uyUAeug8j4U.
- Leung, Sarah (2012). Catching the K-Pop Wave: Globality in the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of South Korean Popular Music. Senior Capstone Projects. Paper 149.
- Rain - The 2011 TIME 100 - TIME. Retrieved 2 June 2013. < http://www.time.com/time/ specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066482,00.html>.
- SHINee Cute[Picture file]. Retrieved from http://i45.tinypic.com/33cn2te.jpg.
- SHINee Sexy [Picture file]. Retrieved from http://yosephinalina.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/d.jpg.
- T-ARA(티아라) _ Sexy Love (Dance Ver. MV) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ShVRP09NCO4.
- T-ARA pictures – T-ARA. Retrieved 2 June 2013. < http://www.last.fm/music/T-ARA>.
- Wonder Girls - Like Money ft. Akon [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_embedded&v=quE6Cq4Q2bs.
- BIGBANG - FANTASTIC BABY M/V [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com /watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AAbokV76tkU.
