Vapid Girl Bands Dominate Another Year in Korea

Han Hyu-woo of the Chosun Ilbo wrote an editorial last week expressing his dismay with the state of the Korean popular music scene.  Corporate manufactured girl groups dominate the sales charts and the popularity surveys and he wants to know if this is the best Korea can do for music.

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Girls' Generation are the most popular singers in Korea, a recent poll by Gallup Korea of 3,401 people shows. The all-girl dancing band topped the list last year as well, and in 2007 and 2008, the Wonder Girls were the most popular. It has been some time since girl bands became synonymous with Korean pop music. Seven out of the top 10 most popular singers in Korea were manufactured bands like Girls' Generation, according to the survey. The remaining three were Jang Yoon-jung, Tae Jin-ah and Song Dae-kwan. 

There are no proper bands among the top 10, and other than Tae, who composes songs, no other singers are capable of writing their own music. And all of the top singers spend most of their time on reality TV shows rather than performing live on stage or making albums. 

Last week, the Chosun Ilbo asked 28 music experts to choose the top album of 2010 and they pointed to "Graduation" by Broccoli, You Too, while naming Nah Youn-sun and Super Session as this year's best artists. This shows the gulf between music experts and the public in preferences for pop music. How did this happen? 

I have never heard of any of those groups either... but where was I supposed to?  I don't hear their music on the street and my kids don't bug me to watch their music videos.

Over the last 20 years, Korea's GDP almost tripled, and Koreans have grown to enjoy more affluent lifestyles. More and more people drive expensive cars, travel abroad on holiday and get married in expensive hotels. Elementary schoolkids carry smartphones, and adults drink premium whiskey. But still their sole channel for finding out about music is television. Koreans rarely buy albums or go to live music performances. They think that celebrities who appear on talks shows and perform a tune or two are singers. And yet they complain that there are no good songs these days. 

The medium of TV is not a good conduit for the intricate characteristics of music. Because it needs to find a common denominator for a random majority, TV tends to prefer only good-looking or funny people. There is not much interest in good musicians. A talented Korean percussion artist made his TV debut on a show featuring people with interesting party tricks or skills rather than on a music program. That shows just how unsuited TV is for talented musical artists. 

Korean pop music can be classified into two categories: manufactured bands who spend all of their time and energy on TV programs and indie bands who have no interest in appearing on television. Musicians who do not fall into those two categories either become radio DJs or music teachers. But none of them make proper music, because nobody is willing to listen to good musicians these days. 

The popularity of Girls' Generation may be a passing fad, but the fact that young manufactured bands are sweeping the popularity stakes is a sign that popular Korean culture is becoming shallower by the minute. We need to do something about that before it's too late.

KPOP is not really "music."  It is entertainment.  It is eye candy.  The songs are meaningless to listeners without the visuals of how the entertainers are dressed and how they dance and look.  Music has become visual.  Of course these groups are going to put all their time and energy in to appearing on television.  People do not remember them if they heard their song.  They remember them from seeing them on television.  Also, women dominate for the simple fact that they are attractive.  Men like staring at them and women want to be them.  It is harder for attractive men to reach that same balance because guys do not strive to emulate pop stars to the same degree that women do.

The biggest thing that bothers me about KPOP though is that these songs only have a shelf life of about four months.  There were tons of fun KPOP songs that I still like from when I first arrived in Korea two years ago, but if I reference them by saying "Sorry, Sorry" "One More Time" "Gee Gee" or "Ring Ding Ding", my kids look at me like they have no idea what I am talking about.  Not only do Koreans only response to visual performances of songs, once those performances stop, they stop liking the songs too.

I am of the belief that if a song is good and you like it today, then it should be good and you should like it ten years from now.  KPOP does not work that way.  Few Koreans seem to have a problem with that either.

But they are so pretty to look at... even if they can't sing...