BTS Billboard Takeover

I know this is basically a week overdue that’s partially why I debated on if  I should continue and finish it as I originally planned. Now, this is kind of old news, but this is history we’re talking about. (Plus, my excuse for why this post is late is that I’ve been watching my thirteen-months-old nephew for basically the entire month of May while his parents were out of the country. Single mothers out there I commend you because it was a struggle and you all truly impress me) Regardless of excuses, we have to discuss history.

Sunday, 21 of May, the month-long social media whirlwind surrounding the Billboard Music Awards: Top Social Artist came to a conclusion.  A.R.M.Ys (members of BTS’ fandom) and other fans of the Kpop community worked together to secure BTS’ victory with a record-breaking total of over 300 million votes. This was not only record-breaking for Kpop, considering that BTS was the first artist in the Kpop genre to be nominated and also to win this specific BBMA (if any), but also record-breaking for the BBMAs in general.

The Voting

Now,  I have been heavily invested in voting for BTS as well as monitoring the voting situation myself and I can promise that just when I thought it was getting boring, something would happen to spark up interest again. There is never a dull moment in the world of Kpop especially, as an American stanning Kpop (people just think you’re crazy. Granted… it can seem that way, but I prefer to say that Kpop fans are just extremely dedicated.) Thanks to the dedication of ARMYs and other Kpop fandoms, who wanted to see the recognition of Kpop, BTS was invited to attend the BBMAs and then ultimately took the award home with them back to South Korea.

The Determination

It was through the determination of fans that BTS was invited to the BBMAs. I would consider myself to be an ARMY (I have other groups I really like too. I may make a post about that later), but even I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer force of presence that ARMYs and a few non-ARMYs (I know there were other Kpop fandoms who pitched in to help see Kpop succeed. I’ve been on those aminos.) had across Twitter. I was also very impressed and proud to see what unity among the fandoms could do. Such as, break servers and leave a clear gap between first and second place. Three-hundred million votes are completely insane to even comprehend. Every person who voted could vote up to two-hundred times (100 on Twitter and an addition 100 on the BBMAs’ website) 300,000,000/200 is still 1,500,000. If we divide that number by the twenty-one days that BBMA voting was open, 1,500,000/21 we end up with 74,428.571 that means at least seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty-nine people voted every day. Bear in mind not everyone is going to do the max amount of voting every single day (I know there were days I forgot because after dealing with my nephew all day I just wanted to go to bed most nights) so there were probably a lot more people who voted for BTS during the BBMAs. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what does.

Leaving a Mark

BTS arrived in Las Vegas for the BBMAs on May 19, and just as anyone who has fallen into the black hole that is Kpop and its fandoms know, they left their mark on the people they met. Laura Marano (also known as Aly from the Disney Channel show Austin and Aly) learned some of the boys’ choreography (where she was dubbed the eighth member of BTS) and later interviewed them on the magenta carpet. In a short youtube video, Marano shares her experience (which may have involved her accidentally hitting one of them) and her overall opinion of the members. Kim Seok Jin reminded all of us why he is the visual of the group as he traded in the title ‘car door guy’ for ‘the third one from the left’; in fact, it drew so much attention that ‘the third one from the left was even brought up during interviews that BTS had following the BBMAs. “The third one from the left took over Twitter (and you better believe some ARMYs had fun with that). And of course, BTS met a lot of other artists, but it really seemed like The Chain Smokers and Halsey got to be real close with BTS during the short time span. Halsey even bought them churros and BTS gave her some authentic Korean snacks. The Chainsmokers may have formed the closest bond with the boys (though this is just speculation) the group took some very cute, goofy pictures,  the Chain smokers both followed BTS and tweeted hints about a possible collab (maybe as early as this summer), they tweeted their congratulations to BTS on winning Top Social Artist, and even the Billboards official Twitter noted how BTS seemed to form a friendship with both the Chain smokers and Halsey.

However, BTS’ phot-up with America (and some worldwide) artists and personalities didn’t stop with Halsey and the Chainsmokers. Camila Cabello, Steve Aoki, internet personality Logan Paul,  radio presenters Liam McEwan, Dean McCarthy,  actor/producer Aj Gibson, host/producer Cassie DiLaura, and the Dick Clark Parent Company  President Mike Mahan can all be added alongside Laura Marano, Halsey, and the Chainsmokers as people BTS spent time rubbing elbows with at the BBMAs.

Camila Cabello

Steve Aoki

Logan paul

Liam McEwan

Dean McCarthy

AJ Gibson

Cassie Dilaura

Mike Mahan

Laura Marano

Halsey

The Chainsmokers

Tension

Considering the fact that BTS beat out names like Justin Bieber (who has won top social artist every year since 2011), Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and Shawn Mendez, there were a lot of spectators who weren’t too pleased with the results. Many people upset that their favorite artists had been beaten by ‘newbie, no-name foreigners’ and some were upset that the Kpop fandom had taken over Twitter on Sunday. Since I’m home from university for the summer, my mother the unfortunate soul who got to overhear my opinion on the subject. I find it funny that to these people who are complaining thought that just because this was their first time ever hearing about BTS thought that they were brand new to the music scene. I believe my exact words in my fit of rage was, “some people get so offended about a situation without educating themselves on any details.” Firstly, BTS officially debut June 13, 2013, and because this is Kpop that the members we in training prior to that from a period between one and three years. that also means that they have had a music career longer than Halsey (2014), Charlie Puth (2015), Sam Hunt (2014), and Fifth Harmony (2015), and they officially debuted around the same time as Travis Scott (2013) and Lorde (2013). Next month BTS celebrates it’s four-year anniversary since it’s debut so I wouldn’t say that they are no-name newbies who came out of nowhere unless you want to say that about all these other artists. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how upset these other people were about their favorite artist winning or not, what actually matters is that BTS won Top Social Artist ‘fair and square’. And, the fact that some of these people feel the need to call out racial slurs or just be plain petty about the situation is uncalled for and pitiful. Am I happy BTS won, yes. Would I have been sad if they had lost, yes; however, I would not have started criticizing whoever won and I would have been just as happy if another Kpop group had been nominated and won the BBMA. I also would have thought that is was just as uncalled for if ARMY started criticizing the fact that Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendez are both Canadian, that Selena Gomez’s father is Mexican, and that Arian Grande is part Italian… the BBMAs is a worldwide award show so every artist in every genre has a chance to be nominated and win.

*My favorite video of someone responding to people’s comments about BTS’s win*

May 29, 2017May 14, 2018 by worldkpopculture Categories: Blog post, Kpop, UncategorizedTags: #BBMAS, #BTSBBMAS, Army, Big Names, Billboad, BTS, Change, culture, entertainment, fans, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/rub-shoulders-with, http://hollywoodlife.com/celeb/travis-scott/, http://kprofiles.com/bts-bangtan-boys-members-profile/, http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/lorde/profile.html, http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sam-hunt-mn0002674420/discography/all, http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/7801372/bts-top-social-artist-win-kpop-2017-billboard-music-awards, http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/7809389/bts-billboard-music-awards-interview, http://www.billboard.com/artist/5665538/fifth-harmony/biography, http://www.celebuzz.com/2016-03-28/9-facts-about-halsey/, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/parent-company, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1411125/bio, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3812858/bio, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6658398/bio, http://www.koreaboo.com/buzz/heres-bts-hung-magenta-carpet-billboard-music-awards/, http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fair-and-square.html, https://savannahcerruto.wordpress.com/, https://www.axs.com/charlie-puth-is-a-giant-killer-with-his-first-hit-49399, https://www.biography.com/people/justin-bieber-522504, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkd-o7BEF7E, I actually did math, landslide victory, Languages, Las Vegas, made history, Magenta carpet, Music, Record breaking, respect, shock, social media, top social artist, tweets, twitter 1 Comment

A Rasputin in South Korea’s Blue House

South Korea has been plunged into a political scandal that has engulfed the presidency of Park Geun-hye and led millions of protesters to take to the streets in the one of the largest demonstration since the Great Workers’ Struggle in 1987.

The drama surrounds Choi Soon-sil, Park’s friend, and informal adviser. Though she never held an official position, Choi was given access to secret government documents and allowed to intervene in state affairs. Following the accusations, Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant on charges of abuse of power and attempted fraud. Choi has also been accused by local media and opposition parties of abusing her relationship with the president to force companies to pay $8billion won ($70 million US dollars)to foundations Choi runs.

A family of Rasputin’s

“The family has had an extraordinary influence over Park Geun-hye for essentially her entire adult life. It’s much more than simply, ‘oh she knows this person,’ it’s deeply intertwined, almost like they’re Rasputin and Park Geun-hye is just a puppet,”David Kang, a Korea expert at the University of Southern California, told CNN.

Park’s controversial relationship with Choi and her family started following the death of Park’s mother at the hands of a North Korean assassin in 1974 while Park’s father was president. Then Choi’s father, Mr. Choi,  “approached Ms. Park by telling her that her mother had appeared in his dreams, asking him to help her.”

After Park’s father was assassinated in 1979 by the then director of the Korean CIA, his killer cited that one of the reasons he killed Mr. Park was what he called, “the president’s failure to stop Mr. Choi’s corrupt activities and keep him away from his daughter.”  Even members of Park’s family expressed concern. Her younger sister Guen-ryong and brother Ji-man filed a petition in 1990 to then-president Roh Tae-woo expressing concerns that Choi was manipulating Park.

Calling for resignation or impeachment

Professor of political science at Duksung Women’s University, Cho Jin-man said, “President Park is apparently seeking ways to remain in office as long as possible. However, at this point, there is no choice but to step down. Unless she heeds public sentiment, it will be inevitable that she will face a confrontation with the people. But she will not be able to win them over.”

(video: ALJAZEERA, anti-Park protests)

With Park refusing to resign, the Assembly, including members of her own party, are beginning to call for her impeachment. Rep. Park Jie-won hinted at impeaching the head of state saying, “The three opposition parties will hold a leaders’ meeting to discuss ways to oust President Park.”  Park Wan-joo, the DPK’s deputy floor leader, also said, “Unless she announces her resignation, there are only two options — impeachment or a campaign to force her out.”

It might be too late for Sorry

In a televised apology, Park said Choi looked at “some documents” for a certain period of time after Park took office, but didn’t specify what they were. “I am shocked and my heart is breaking for causing public concern,” Park said.

 However, this didn’t seem to stop her approval rating from dropping to meager 5% and
a non-existent nil% (zero) among younger demographic. On November 12th, around 1million people rallied for hours in the countries capital, Seoul, to demand Park’s resignation. The people filled the Gwang Hwa Mun Square with lit up candles in a peaceful protest chanting for  Park’s resignation.

November 18, 2016September 12, 2017 by worldkpopculture Categories: Blog post, polictics, South Korea, UncategorizedTags: ." It might be too late for Sorry, 5% approval, A family of Rasputin's, A Rasputin in South Korea's Blue House, abusing power, accusations, ALJAZEERA, assasination, attempted fraud, Blue House, Calling for resignation or impeachment, Change, Choi Soon-sil, CNN, Cult, culture, dropping approval rating, foreign, Great Worker's struggle, http://cyberspaceandtime.com/, impending impeachment, informal adviser, intervene in state affairs, It's much more than simply, 'oh she knows this person,' it's deeply intertwined, almost like they're Rasputin and Park Geun-hye is just a puppet,, libcom.org, mass protests, Music, Park Geun-hye, peaceful protests, politics, president, public outcry, public outrage, puppets, Rasputin, scandal, secret government documents, South Korea, www.koreatimes.co.kr, www.nytimes.com Leave a comment

Maybe not Organic but Definitely Real: Part 2

Link to Maybe Not Organic but Definitely Real: Part 1

 Maybe Not Organic but Definitely Real: Part 1, covered the three ways that people join a company and become a trainee. Already the task of becoming a Kpop or a South Korean entertainer in general (because of dancers, singers, actors, models, they all have to go through auditions, signing to companies and training) is off to a daunting and difficult start. One thing that may not have been made clear is that a contract must be signed with a company before a person can even be considered a trainee, let alone an idol, then the trainee enters the training period.

Training Period

To most people, the word training or trainee would ” a process by which a someone is taught skills that are needed for an art, profession or job,” or a preparation period, in trainee world, it’s a little different. Trainees practice and learn skills to be entertainers, but (and you’ll get tired of this phrase) there is a lot more to it. For the sake of saving time let’s look specifically at a Kpop idol’s training.

Long Training Period.

Some may wonder why Kpop idol hopefuls even need to go through a trainee period the answer is simple, companies will not let any trainee debut until they feel a trainee has either proven themselves in training or in the rare circumstance that the ideal group the company wanted the trainee to be a member of has already debut (for example Super Junior’s Kyuhyun). An “average” training period for trainees is between 2 to 4 years, but it can be several more years or as short as a few months. Jo Kwon, who’s a member of the JYP group 2AM, was a trainee for 7 years before he was able to debut; however, Kyuhyun, a member of the SM group Super Junior, only trained for 3 months before debuting in the group. G.Soul, from JYP entertainment, was a trainee for 15 years and is now known as the Kpop idol with the longest training period before debuting. There is no such word as average when it comes to these companies.

The Schedule.

Trainees will take singing, dancing and acting lessons along with some language classes (most idols will learn either Japanese, Chinese, English, or Thai). The trainee life can be hard

because of the tight schedules depending on the age. Some trainees are students, so they’ll start training right after school; this means it the trainees may have their classes in school and then have singing and dancing classes. The training hours for trainees who are students “typically” start from whenever school classes are finished, to 10 pm. Other trainees may have a different schedule depending on the company they’re in. Some companies have trainees practice both before and after school, so wake up at 5 am, have a lesson, go to school, do  some dedicated homework, have a company lesson, and be sure to finish the school homework from earlier plus the company homework these trainees are given and practice again sometimes until 1 a.m. in the morning. Most classes will last and an average of three hours, dance practices will last roughly five hours (not including the time spent practicing individually) and the company homework trainees are given, failure to not complete company homework or perform well in evaluations can lead to termination from the company.

Some companies have trainees practice both before and after school, so wake up at 5 am, have a lesson, go to school, do  some dedicated homework, have a company lesson, and be sure to finish the school homework from earlier plus the company homework these trainees are given and practice again sometimes until 1 a.m. in the morning. Most classes will last and an average of three hours, dance practices will last roughly five hours (not including the time spent practicing individually) and the company homework trainees are given. A trainees’ failure to complete company homework or perform well in evaluations can lead to termination from the company.

Weight.

Aside from scheduling, trainees must also maintain certain weight requirements. Some will have to lose weight while others will have to work to maintain weight despite the intense work out that dance practice can be. On the darker side of Kpop, this means that they may not be able to eat certain foods (depending on which company they are in since each company may do things differently). It’s not like trainees and idols are left responsible for monitoring their weight themselves, some if not most companies usually check each trainee’s weight day-to-day to see if they’ve lost or kept their weight.

Distance from family.

Think back to foreign Kpop idols, even the ones from countries as close as Thailand and China. Not only throughout the training period but also throughout any part when an idol is promoting new content, it is almost impossible to contact their family. Trainees will find themselves lucky being able to sneak in an email, quick phone or maybe a Skype section but that one is unlikely. It is more often the case of the family needs to visit the trainee/idol (if they have time off their schedule); however, if a family member isn’t in well enough health to travel, it can be years before a trainee or idol sees their family. When these families finally meet again it can be heartbreaking yet heartwarming.

What is it all for?

The question is what is all of this for, who is gaining anything from this other than the companies? These trainees have demanding schedules, lesson/practices, most of the time they are separated from their families for extended periods of time, homework, dieting and weight restrictions. All of this for a matter of months to 15 years with no promise of even getting to debut. Any given moment a trainee or even an Idol could be told by their company “sorry you’re not marketable, you’re not learning, you’re not what we want anymore,” just like that no debut, just like that everything was for nothing and just like that no one will know that they even existed. They are monitored by their companies 24 hours a day to ensure that they’re not tarnishing the reputation of the company and staying marketable. So, why do these hopefuls put themselves through all this? Because they want to be singers.

Kpop video views in 2011

Global Spread of Korean Pop Culture 2013

The Kpop industry is formed differently than any other music industry, and to those of us that aren’t from South Korea or that haven’t delved deeper into the world of Korean entertainment, it seems strange and artificial. That thought isn’t wrong. members of a group/band will not have known one another before becoming trainees, the companies will already have an idea of what they want to do with each trainee, but just because South Korean singers don’t just show up overnight does not mean it’s not 100% real. It is really these trainees who become idols. And it is those idols who are dancing, it is really these idols who are singing and performing; it seems unreal because that is what Kpop formulated to be, as close to perfection deemed achievable. Kpop is designed to be successful companies like The Big Three made it that way.

 

 

October 29, 2016June 3, 2018 by worldkpopculture Categories: Blog post, Kpop, South Korea, The Big Five, UncategorizedTags: Change, classes, companies, company monitoring, contracts, culture, cutural diversity, dancing, debut, dieting, distance from family, entertainment, foreign idols, G.Soul, growing views, Hardwork, homework, idols, Jo Kwon, JYP, Korea, Kpop, Kyuhyun, language classes, Languages, Link to Maybe Not Organic but Definitely Real: Part 1, made for success, Maybe not Organic but Definitely Real: Part 2, Music, music industry, perfection, schedules, singing, skills, SM, subtitles and translations, the big three, trainees, training, training period, video links, weight management, weightloss, YG 1 Comment

Paving The Way

Music Timeline

Today we have singers like Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Ed Sheeran who come from different countries; however, they mostly sing in English maybe occasionally they’ll throw in a little Spanish or french, but the majority of their lyrics are in English, just like they have been almost since music started in America. For a long time, the American entertainment was very centralized. The American film industry, the American television industry, and the American music industry; that’s all there was to America. It was as though America itself was isolated from the cultural influences of other countries entertainment even though we call it “The Great Melting Pot” it didn’t meld with anything that other countries had to offer, if anything, it was more like the Great Salad Bowel.

Then the music changed how culturally diverse the American music scene was with the addition of  Tejas music in the 1940’s. Tejas music heavily introduced the Spanish language to Americans. It turned into a Tex-Mex explosion when artists like Selena came onto the music scene in the 1980’s. Selena won awards for her songs while they were still in Spanish imagine the successes she could have gained if she had been able to fully finish her album that marked her transition to the English market. As a girl she came from a town with a heavy Latino influence, I can tell you that where I come from people know the name, Selena. Also, if you are curious, I have seen the Selena movie along with everyone else that has ever taken a Spanish class in Texas, and I will tell you….. it was amazing (of course I might be biased because some friends and I did run into her brother at her memorial statue while on a school trip). I laughed, I cried, I saw why Selena made an impact on not just the music industry but the entertainment industry. Selena and the Tex-Mex wave paved a path for other countries and cultures to follow.

Some people may wonder what about the influence of the African-American community with Motown, the return to the mother country with The British Invasion, and the Swedish influence of ABBA.

Motown

 My answer is yes, each of had their own cultural touch on American society. However, they were still performed in the English language. That isn’t a lot of culture shock; the music was still something familiar. If any of them provided for anything truly shocking to the American public it had to be Motown considering it was emerging at a time when racial inequality was still a huge issue. This isn’t to say that any of the musicians at this time lacked talent; in fact, the span from Motown to ABBA

ABBA

probably marks some of the greatest musicians in history, but in regards to exposing America to culture the content (what they put out) was safe, that was familiar, that was something that English-speaking American’s could understand, and even today it’s something a lot of us American’s prefer, the ability to understand the words being spoken to us. Personally, I think knowing the meaning behind the lyrics is more important, but that’s just one person’s personal opinion. To me when a song is written well and performed by singers who understand and the song, language stops being a barrier and you can feel the emotion through the singer’s voice. It stops just being about the talent, and instead, it starts to be about forming a connect.

British Invasion

September 15, 2016February 14, 2017 by worldkpopculture Categories: Blog post, UncategorizedTags: ABBA, British Invasion, Change, culture, cutural diversity, entertainment, intergrating, Korea, Kpop, melting pot, Motown, Music, Selena, Tejas Leave a comment