During my three years teaching stint in Malaysia I was
indeed surprised to discover that Korean pop cultures are so popular with
youths in Malaysia. . All around Kuching city (in Borneo, Sarawak), you can see
Korean culture had definitely make an influence on the youth and business with the opening of
numerous cosmetic shops selling Korean cosmetic, shop selling clothing imported
from Korea as well as the springing up of
Korean restaurants, which is a popular hangout place with youths. My
students, girl and boy would come to class dress up looking like their
favourite k-pop stars, especially their hairs style and clothing. All around the college and city youth are walking around looking like their idol. Indeed, Korean pop
culture is popular with the Malaysian main ethnic groups such as the Malay,
Chinese and Indian who is said to have different taste in music and television
and most prefer to be entertained in their own language (Park, 2012). It is therefore said that Korean pop songs,
music and soap operas is crossing the divide.
This is what got me interested to look into the rise of the popularity
of the Korean culture with Asian youth especially K-pop.
The spread of Korean popular culture in recent year had gain
immense popularity with Asian youth particularly in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong
and South-East Asia countries. It ranges
from Korean soap opera, movies, pop song and fashion that have crawl into the
life styles of the youngster (Shim, 2006). Hallyu or Hanryu is
referred to as the Korean wave or referred to as the
'Kim Chic' with everything ranging from
shoes styles, fashions, music, food and even to eyebrow-shaping are the rage
with youth across Asia where as before it was the Japanese and Hollywood that
influences the youth in Asia (Shim, 2006).
"Nobody" Wonder Girls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZv6SLuZYxM
The K-pop song "Nobody" (see above video) with its retro-
theme music, hairstyles, costume and retro-themed music by the Wonder Girls
released in October 2008 was a rage. Within hours the song ranks No. 1 on various
digital music sites (Choi, 2011). The song is recorded and released in four different
languages: Korean, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. In October 2009,
the Wonder Girls’ “Nobody” made it to the Billboard Hot 100 (Choi, 2011). However, "Nobody" was surpass by the
song 'Gee' by Girl Generations, (see video below) which was to reach 50 million view on YouTube
and is one of the most viewed K-pop video from September 2011 to September 2012
(Soshified, 2013).
'Gee' by Girls Generations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ
"Gee' was in its turn surpassed by "Gangnam
Style" by Psy which become the first YouTube video to reach one billion
views even surpassing Justin Bieber's
single 'Baby" (Grunger
2013).
'Gangun Style' PSY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
If you have watched the video, you would have observed that
the K-pop singers are usually young and pretty. Their music video is set in a
contemporary setting with a touch of themes that have a blend of tradition
values of family, friendship and romantic love (Seabrook, 2012). K-pop is also a blend of new and old and not just
a blend of traditional or western theme. The music is made up of 'lush
soundscapes made with the latest synths and urban beats', often sung with a
mixture of English and Korean (Seabrook 2012, p.90). The addition of English to the song make it more appealing with the music adapted to suit the Asian way of thinking. The girls are sexy and demure in their styles
and their lyric or video do not generally refer to sex, drinking, or clubbing which
is the great themes of Western hit-markers (Seabrook 2012, p.90). Although
K-pop may seemly to be all wholesome for the youth with its theme of family
values and all clean lyric, however, in my research I found a documentary by
SBS, Dateline broadcast on 19th March 2013 which showed the other side of the
influence of K-pop.
The K-pop effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjWqshVF5lA
So, although I may not be a fan of K-pop but I have to admit the song is rather catchy. I can unashamedly said that I found myself singing to the song 'Nobody"!
Reference:
‘Gee’ Music Video Hits 100 Million Views on YouTube".
Soshified. 1 April 2013.
Choi, Y.J. 2011, The Globalization of K-Pop: Is K-Pop Losing
its Korean-ness? Situations Vol. 5 (Winter 2011).
Gruger, W. (2013). PSY’s ‚Gangnam Style ‘Video Hits 1
Billion Views, Unprecedented Milestone. Billboard.
Park, J. ( 2012)Malaysian firms tap into K-Pop power,
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18589777
Seabrook, J. (2012). Factory Girls. New Yorker, 89.
Shim, D. (2006). Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular
culture in Asia. Media, Culture & Society, 28(1), 25-44.
The K-Pop Effect: A look at how the K-Pop music is scene is
literally changing the face of Korea's youth, fuelling an obsession with beauty
via cosmetic surgery, based on the looks of their celebrity idols. [online].
Dateline (SBS Melbourne); Time: 21:50; Broadcast Date: Tuesday, 19th March
2013;