Entry 3: Rainism

After seeing a documentary in Arirang TV (a Korean broadcasting channel) about Rain, a Korean pop singer, I will write about him for my third blog.
He is somewhat different from other Asian singers who attempt to enter foreign market (i.e. The Wonder Girls, Utada Hikaru), in a sense that he is well known not only as a singer but also as an actor. His case gives a good example of Korean culture globalising throughout outside Korea.
From his interview with CNN in which he mentioned that he failed several times due to his appearance, he made an effort to become a star after releasing his first album, ‘Bad Guy’ (CNN, Rain TalkAsia Tanscript).
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/14/talkasia.rain.script/index.html

While enjoying the success in Korean music market, he also sought his career in acting, by starring several Korean dramas which also reaped a huge success, not only in Korea but also in Asian countries.
Since 2004, he has been spreading his popularity in foreign markets; with the first concert in Shibuya, Tokyo, he took a world tour not only in Asian countries but in Western countries (US, Canada). He is the first Asian singer who performed in US, but his case can be differentiated from The Wonder Girls, since he did not indeed enter into US music market (note that I have mentioned earlier that The Wonder Girls was placed 76th in Billboard, with their English song Nobody). However, his music style is distinct from other singers in Asia, which I think is the reason why he has become successful, as he mentioned in an interview before he held a concert in Sydney that his music is significantly influenced by African-American musicians (As can be seen from the ‘I Am’ documentary, his dance is outstanding) (Rainonus).

http://community.livejournal.com/rain_on_us/tag/news:%20interview

His dance has helped him to gain his popularity outside of Korea even if he performs in Korean which most of the audience cannot understand.
As a matter of fact, language barrier is the biggest problem in globalising Korean music into foreign market; since Korean cannot be understood elsewhere in the world. I’ve always had doubts that Korean singers would be hampered by the language barrier, but Rain’s popularity overwhelmed the language issue that the audience may not understand Korean. Music is easily traversable even if it’s sung in other languages, not because the music is good but because the singer is outstanding in musical capability, e.g. dance, performance. Also, it can be said that the Internet played a pivotal role in shaping the identity of 'Rain', as Internet users started to post information about his music, in such forms as translated song lyrics and biographies, thereby making it possible to diffuse the identity of a singer (Williams 176), in this case, the identity as a Korean singer Rain.
His endeavour to adventure venture into foreign markets is pivotal, since he can be said to be one of the first singers who illustrates the globalisation of Asian music. His success is attributed to his musical identity, as Arirang TV points out, ‘Unlike Unlike other singers who approached their fans up close with friendliness and compassion, Rain captivates them from a distant, arousing overwhelming art and apparition, this is how his stage charisma remains second to none… Unending sweat, passion, and dream have catapulted this once unknown little boy into a global icon’ (‘I Am’) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOLVYesIErc&feature=related

(Works Cited List)

Williams, Patrick J. "Authentic Identities: Straightedge Subculture, Music, and the Internet." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35.2 (2006): 173-200. SAGE. Web. 15 May 2010.

Entry 2: Utada Hikaru - Japanese Pop Sensation

In line with the first blog about the Wonder Girls, I will discuss another case of Asian pop singer trying to capture the audience in US. She is regarded as one of the first Asian artists who entered US market, and her musical identity as an Asian singer can be compared with that of the Wonder Girls, which I will discuss at the latter part.
She was born in NY and raised both in US and Japan, and her identity can be attributed to her family background and experiences in both countries. She debuted in Japanese music market with an album First Love, and it brought a huge success, selling more than 10 million.
A series of albums followed after First Love were successful, which gave her a nickname of ‘Pop Sensation’, ‘Britney Spears’, ‘Christina Aguilera’ in Japan.
Her music is influenced by her mother who was a famous traditional Japanese music (enka) singer, and she tries to globalise her unique musical styles with which enka musical characteristics are imbued.

After her success in Japanese music market, she attempted to enter the US market, releasing her first English album Exodus, after working with Timbaland. However, the response from the audience was rather disappointing due to the indifference of Asian singers in US market by that time. As Utada said in her interview with MTV, “I don't think it's the music that I'm concerned about. It's obviously that I look really different and there really aren't any completely Asian people [who are popular singers in the U.S.] right now.”

As opposed to the Wonder Girls’ marketing strategy – they are indeed quite well-prepared in terms of infiltrating into US market – which identifies themselves as cute Asian girls from Asia with Asian context, Utada Hikaru identifies her music less in an ‘Asian’ context but in a globalised musician in appealing to the audience in US. In other words, instead of trying to labelling her music as ‘Japanese’ music, which belongs to ethnic music, she tries to fit her music into Hollywood music context.
Her attempts in the transition of Japanese music into American music market can be seen as natural (considering that she is fluent in both English and Japanese) as well as her ordinariness, not being a ‘pop sensation’ in Japan. This can be seen in an interview with CNN, in which she says, “Actually, it's not that different for me... Well, I saw you earlier saying that 'Japanese Pop Sensation', but I'm really not pop sensation... person...” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fckMNcC8HdY
The issue of being a ‘Japanese Pop Sensation’ leads to a discussion of a comparison with American pop sensation, Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. Instead of comparing herself with American pop singers, she tries to build up her own identity and to promote her ‘Japan-ness’ to the audience in US. In an interview with Time magazine, she answers to a question which talks about her music style in comparison with Britney Spears’, that “…I'm not like a gorgeous bombshell or anything like that…It was just always my music at the front” (Time).
As can be seen from the excepts of the interviews, she identifies herself as being different from other American pop singers, as Utada Hikaru herself who has her own music style. In a question about the strategy to appeal to American audience, she points out that she wants to create her own music; by creating, writing, and arranging her music for herself. She also says that no matter where she plays, her music style would be the same, which implies that her attempts to American music market should be seen as something different from other ethnic music – for example, the Wonder Girls’ music can be considered as ethnic in a sense that their music style is kind of like a retro-pop from Korea, which contains a strong Korean context. That is, the Wonder Girls attempt to promote their musical identity by stereotyping their image as an Asian girl group, whereas Utada Hikaru tries to appeal to the audience by tearing down stereotypes of Asian singers. She tries to break down the stereotyping of Asian music and Asian singers. This is well represented in an article in Time: “The music industry is ruled by stereotypes: whites rock, blacks rap and croon soul, and few dare to cross the color line. There are hardly any Asian pop acts of prominence in the U.S. (no wonder some see Hikaru as mysterious). Hikaru is mounting a challenge to the status quo”.

(Works Cited List)

Maki, Okada, and Gerald Groemer. "Musical Characteristics of Enka." Popular Music 10.3 (1991): 283-303. JSTOR. Web. 12 May 2010.

Entry 1: We Want Nobody but You

The Wonder Girls are a girl group from South Korea, and I am writing about them after I read about the news that they became the first Asian singer who got into the top 100 in Billboard. What intrigues me is how they got into the US music market, while overcoming cultural and language barriers, since language plays an important part in music as the meaning of a song is transmitted through the language it adopts. In this blog, I will discuss how the Wonder Girls has become popular throughout the world. Its significance lies in that they attempted to go beyond the Korean music market and pursued their career, which can hardly be seen in other Asian singers whose music belongs to the world music subculture. I will explain the Wonder Girls in Korean music market first, and I will talk about their music career in overseas markets, including China, and US. Also, I will discuss the responses of the audience after they have entered the American music market, followed by a conclusion.

1. The Wonder Begins

The Wonder Girls showed up in Korean music market in 2007, after they were selected through auditions by a talent agency, JYP Entertainment (Korean talent agency). They became popular after they releases a series of successful singles; “Tell me”, and “So Hot”. Images played an important in their having become popular in Korea, and they have been changing their images constantly to appeal to the Korean audience. Also, the interaction with the audience was influential, as the dance of a song “tell me” had become popular. The audience actively reflected a craze of the dance of the song “tell me” by creating and posting videos of themselves dancing to the song on websites such as YouTube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWqv5_Q-ZT0&feature=related)


2. Beyond Korean music market

They were not indulged by the great achievement in Korean music market; they pursued something further, which reflects a trend of Korean music market aiming for a bigger success in China, Japan, and US. While achieving a great success in Korean music market, they also pursued their popularity in Chinese music market. As Sung points out, “[T]he sudden rise in popularity and the dissemination of Korean popular culture throughout Asia is new, unprecedented, and fascinating. This cultural flow in contemporary Asia is called the “Korean Wave”” (np), influences of Korean music culture, or “Korean Wave” is reflected on the popularisation of the Wonder Girls in China. In effect, they have been learning Chinese in order to enter into Chinese music market, which can be seen in an interview with Sina when the Wonder Girls said that not only they will perform in several other cities in China (they were scheduled to perform a concert in Shanghai), but also songs in Chinese will be included in their album.
(http://wondergirls.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/wonder-girls-interview-with-cool-magazine/)



3. We Want Nobody but You

After the release of the third album, they reaped a huge success in Korean, Chinese music market, and they attempted to pursue their career in American music market. They changed their image into ‘retro-sexiness’ which is different from their previous ‘cuteness’ image. “Design-wise, we have ideas to make changes”, as one of the Wonder Girls points out, they approached the US audience with a different image (http://sookyeong.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/wondergirls-for-sina-interview-in-china/). Their so-called ‘retro-sexy’ image played a significant role in appealing to US audience, as something quite unique to them. Also, tours with Jonas brothers provided them a good chance to be recognised. As a result, they got into the top 100 in Billboard in 2009. It was the first time for an Asian song to be in the top 100 Billboard. Interests from US audiences is reflected on blogs such as Perez Hilton (http://perezhilton.com/2008-09-22-how-the-koreans-do-it). The success of the Wonder Girls in the US can be attributed to their identity as an Asian, as Shin points out about cultural identities in Asian countries that “they retain a strong “Asian” identity, even as their musical vision is not confined to Asia” (117). As can be seen from the case of the Wonder Girls, Korean music identities have been trying to go beyond the Asian boundaries.


4. Reflections on the introduction of Asian music in billboard.

As the Wonder Girls achieved their first entry in billboard of Asian music which belongs to world-music subculture, it’s interesting to see the discussion board. Majority of people talk about their uniqueness as an Asian song, retro-style image as an Asian girl group. Some people who are old enough to know show great affection, by uttering such a thing as “Exposure to bands like this would have made me feel less along!” (Discussion board 27: http://perezhilton.com/2008-09-22-how-the-koreans-do-it). Also, some people relate the music to Japanese girls singing in the restanrant in Kill Bill (Discussion board 42). However, those who do not show negative opinions about the song also expressed their demeaning viewpoint of Koreans. In short, the song “Nobody”, which ranked #76 in Billboard, is deemed in relation to Korean cultural identity.


5. Concluding remarks

The appearance of Korean music in the world-music landscape in the early 2000s is the salient feature of world-music market. This is largely attributed to its cultural uniqueness which is somewhat different from that of Japanese music which has been popular in Asian countries, on the one hand, and the Korean government’s support of Korean popular music culture to propagate throughout other countries, on the other (Sung np). The Wonder Girls used their ethnic distinctiveness as a Korean in appealing to the international audience. The Wonder Girls show its possibility to accomplish a great success in the world-music market, not only in Asian countries but also in the United States.




(Works Cited List)


Shin, Hyunjoon. “Reconsidering Transnational Cultural Flows of Popular Music in East Asia:Transbordering Musicians in Japan and Korea Searching for “Asia”.” Korean Studies. 33 (2009): 101-23. Project Muse. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

Sung, Sang-yeon. “The High Tide of the Korean Wave III: Why do Asian Fans Prefer Korean Pop Culture?” The Korea Herald. 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2009.