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.