I know that, as I’m writing this, every other blogger in Korea, and even those not in Korea, are adding in their two cents on the topic, but since this blog has evolved into one with a lot of k-pop, I feel justified in piping in as well.
So, as I’m sure most K-Pop fans have seen, SNSD, better known as Girls Generation in the English speaking world, made their North American network television debut on David Letterman on January 31st with their performance of “The Boys”. On February 1st, they performed on “Live! With Kelly”. With these two performances, Girls Generation will be reaching a whole new audience of people who have never heard of K-Pop before.
Not that Girls Generation are the first group to cross the Pacific to try chase their own version of the American Dream. BoA has made a few ripples in North America, as have a few other Japanese artists. The Wonder Girls toured with the Jonas Brothers before having their own tour around North America with 2PM and 2AM, and will be appearing on the Nickelodeon channel with their own made for TV movie in English this week as well. If you look at it with the right eyes, it looks like k-pop is planning their own stealth invasion of North America.
But how realistic is this dream? What are the chances of either of these groups, or groups following, making any headway in the massive North American music industry? Personally, I’m a bit of a cynic. North Americans first need to accept an Asian-American artist before they even start looking at listening to Asians from overseas. There have been small moments, little glimmers of hope. Charice, from the Philippines, got the nod of approval from Oprah, which normally gets someone their own talk show at the very least. Things were looking good for her too, performing for the president and getting a guest role on Glee… But did you hear her on the radio? Or see her music video performed anywhere? Not really, no. So she returned back to Asia to do another massive tour there.
Same thing with Rain. With the power of fan girls, Rain was propelled to the #1 spot on the Time 100 Most Influential People online poll in 2006, bumping Stephen Colbert down by 100,000 votes. In doing that, Rain ended up getting the “Colbert Bump” for three years, which should have brought him in loads of fans. It did bring Rain a lot of attention, and he eventually was in two movies, “Speed Racer” and “Ninja Assassin”, and he even won an award at the MTV Movie Awards in 2010 for the Biggest Badass Award. But Rain didn’t even release a single in North America, and went back to Korea.
Lets be completely honest though. There are not a lot of Asians getting radio play in North America. And there’s a really good reason as to why a lot of these Korean idols are actually Americans and Canadians returning to Korea for the chance of stardom. Jessica, Sunny and Tiffany from SNSD, Amber and Krystal from f(x), G.Na, Kevin and Eli from U-Kiss, Nicole from K-ara, Jay Park, Brian Joo, Danny Ahn… All these artists are Korean-Americans/Canadians, people who hold American/Canadian passports but went to Korean because their chance of fame was much higher there. There may be thousands of fans, enough to fill arenas in major cities, and sell a few CDs in North America.The question stands though, what is considered “success” in North America to these Korean idol groups? Do they want to rank on the Billboard charts? Because both Girls Generation and the Wonder Girls have done that. Do they want big concert tours? Because the Wonder Girls have done that. And SMTown had a sell out show last year. But the Wonder Girls’ attempts at America are still considered a flop.
If you really do want to see these Korean groups make it big in North America, here’s my advice: Call your radio station and request their singles. That’s the best way you can help their fan base grow, and get their rankings up.
What do you think is the big difference between success and a flop in the US? Do you think any of these Korean groups have a chance to really make waves in the North American market? I’d love to hear what others think.
I think you’ve got a great point there. I have not ever heard any kpop song on the radio be it in Korean or English in a city like Toronto. I am not even sure if there are any Korean radio station here (are there?).
The fans who appreciate them will watch the movies, attend concerts and buy their CDs. Though, it is really hard to become mainstream unless you’re constantly on the radio and the television.
On a side note, this is exactly why I am afraid of U-Kiss debuting in the U.S. I hope the fans are dedicated enough to bring massive recognition to them and other kpop starts but it seems extremely impossible for that to happen.
It’s not the Korean radio stations they want the attention on. If SNSD want The Boys to make it big, they need the Sones to call in and request the song on the big stations. For example, in Toronto people should be contacting Virgin 99.9 (http://toronto.virginradio.ca/request.aspx) or Kiss 92.5 (http://www.kiss925.com/submit-new-music/) Honestly, I really like “The Boys”, and I think if people really made the effort to request it on the big stations, people might start to notice. As my sister noted, “They’re like the Asian PCD” and the Pussycat Dolls were really popular.
I think U-Kiss put their ideas of debuting in the US on hold. They’re doing really well in Japan, and I think they’ll put more focus there. What people tend to forget is that, even if we don’t listen to it, radio play is the driving factor behind numbers and rankings. The fans can do their part by requesting the song, and that goes for both the states and Korea. It’s just harder to do in Korea because… it needs to be in Korean.
Sorry for not being clear, my point isn’t that they need to have their songs played soley on Korean radio stations but let alone having them anywhere, there isn’t even a Korean radio station available in general.
U-Kiss might be popular in Japan but they do have to come to US eventually since I’m sure AJ would like to continue his studies. Though, he might opt out of the group if necessary.
And that’s why I’m suggesting people just request the songs on their local stations. Getting k-pop groups airtime in North America is a good thing.
When AJ goes to school, he will be taking a break from U-Kiss. They’re not going to follow him to the US, that would be career suicide.
And please click reply to the comment you’re replying to, so comments can thread one another.
You got a point here.
It reminds me of France, where Korea is pretty sure K-Pop is big there. Well, if big is 20,000 people over 60 million… They even had to cancel a Music Bank date because of 1/too big venue – 2/bands with a not so strong fanbase in France (that goes for U-Kiss for example =S) – 3/wrong dates and expensive shows (fans are teenagers after all). SNSD are to debut in France too… and we saw Teen Top on a popular TV show not so long ago… But that’s it.
No one knows who they are, and there is no K-Pop on radio/TV. It is just seen as a “new but smaller Bieber phenomenon” in the end. XD
It depends on if that 20,000 means hard core fans or just regular fans. Like, thinking of the bands that are huge now, the reason they’re huge is because there was probably a very dedicated fan base who encouraged their music to be played, until more heard it. I think that, if it were nurtured right, these groups COULD do well. I just don’t think any of them are going about it right.
I didn’t realize they cancelled the show on the 9th. Music Bank really didn’t think that one through, ANYONE could have pointed out a weekday would be a bad idea. I don’t know how they thought that France could support two MASSIVE concerts. But it isn’t because the groups aren’t the most popular in k-pop, because there are some HUGE names going there. SNSD, Beast, 2PM, Shinee…. I can think of only one or two groups to add to that list that would maybe outshine them. And YG don’t often do events like that, so Big Bang nor 2ne1 would go. If they had timed it better, they could have sold out those shows, because it’s easy for people to travel around Europe. Easier than North America, at least. But the timing is horrible.
That’s the big issue, and the thing that really seems to decide a success/flop. Radio air time. And they’re not going to get that unless the fans make a really aggressive effort to request their songs on major stations. I know the ones in Canada that I’d be targeting, but I’m not into either of the groups promoting, so I can’t really help their fandoms.
20,000 is like for all K-POP. Girls tend to like more than one band, and they are not pretty faithful (some of them just left J-Pop to get into K-Pop and once something will be there, they’ll leave K-Pop xD). I think only Cassiopeas and Elfs are powerful enough in Europe. They are hardcore in one way… but don’t buy CDs nor stuffs, and change their minds quite easily…
Huge names in Korea. True. But in Europe… Well, we don’t really SNSD in France. SHINee is really popular but most of the fans are under 18 and can’t afford the show. BEAST is pretty the same though they’re not that big.
2PM is really popular too… but not enough to fill the venue (it’s one of our biggest venues after all o_o). Those who can afford the show are Cassies or ELFs because they are older : the names are not big enough to fill the venue, unfortunately. That’s a pity because they make bands believe they’re big in Europe but they’re not : no one recognizes them in the street and no one knows their names. Plus I am sure they were looking forward to the shows, and one is cancelled… =S
Fandoms are not really organized in France (but Cassies again… but Cassies are scary anyway xD). I am not sure it’s going to work on a long term… =S
*we don’t really like SNSD
Sorry xD
By hardcore vs regular I meant, like, they like it, or they go to concerts, buy CDs, do what they can to help their artists, or are they like average fans for normal artists from their own home, where they just listen to the music and don’t care either. Like, apparently Daniel Radcliffe has the new SNSD CD, but I doubt he’d off getting tickets to concerts. Being able to get those kinds of fans is pretty critical because that’s what mainstream is. Being a fan and listening to the song without being all “MUST OWN ALL THE THINGS” about the group.
I think the performers do know that, by “popular” that only means they can consider doing a show in Europe. They’re not expecting to be mobbed, but just being able to do a concert is pretty decent.
Most k-pop fandoms aren’t very organized outside of Korea. It requires having someone either in Korea or people who are fluent in Korean to get organized with the main fan club. France is quite organized compared to other countries though, because they’ve been able to do k-pop tours here and get into tapings and stuff. Compared to other countries, the French k-pop fans have their act together. I’m a little envious.
I pretty much agree with everything you said, it does depend on what they think “success” in North America really is. And I think there’s a chance the Wonder Girls will do well, because they’re targeting a younger market. They have a film out on Teen Nick tonight, and toured with the Jonas Brothers, JYP going for the pre-teen market is smart. As far as I can see, teenagers liking them is pretty much a no. SNSD though, I can see them getting more fans, but I can’t see them concentrating on learning English as much as the wonder girls did.
Maybe Europe would be a better chance. We’re more used to girl and boy bands than the US seems (from an outsider, of course), and as far as I can tell, Europeans are pretty damn weird. We like odd things.
By the way, living in Korea, what’s the general age for a kpop follower? I’ve heard it being compared to Justin Bieber, with the younger age group, and some teenage fans. But I only hear from international fans.
That’s one thing that I was thinking: boy and girl groups almost never get their start in the US to begin with. BSB used Canada and Europe to get their Billboard rankings, THEN they went to the US. And they’re American!
As for the age of k-pop fans, it ranges. There are young middle school fans, but the bigger a group is, the more “noona fans” they’ll get. They’re the secret target. Middle school and high school are hyper supportive, but they can do very little financially. The older fans (people in their 20-30s) can do a lot more to help the groups, like running fan sites, arranging group purchases, or going to tons of events. At U-Kiss events, I’m hardly the oldest, and I’m 26.