Daily Life of an Idol

Kim Hyuna traveling to her next performance

The life of a Kpop star is not an easy one by any means. Many idols are underweight, lack sleep, or just plain exhausted. Occasionally you can hear the effects of this in their performances. For example you can sometimes tell when a group member is just plain tired on stage. Sometimes they lose their voices on stage after singing so much.

When idols aren't traveling (which arguably takes up the majority of their time, you can't tour 10 countries in a day), they're usually recording more material, recording commercials, acting in dramas, or doing photoshoots. When any of this other stuff isn't going on, they're practicing dance routines in front of a mirror and nailing their vocal parts. There's hardly time for relationships, sleep, or even eating.

So what do these idols do when they rarely have free time? They become just like any of us, actually. They like to watch movies, go out to eat, use the internet, and more. This is all even harder to do because they're constantly followed by paparazzi (such as the picture above) and screaming fans. Minzy of 2NE1 has a Gundam collection that she builds in her free time.

Aigoo~!! It's AEYGYO~~~~~ ^_^

Sunny of Girl's Generation is known as The Aegyo Queen~

\*^_^)/~~

Aegyo.

I'll admit it. I'm a huge sucker for Aegyo. But what exactly is this phenomenon I'm talking about?

Before we get into more details we should get to know the history. The word aegyo originates from the Chinese words "ae" or "ai" meaning "love" and "gyo" meaning "beautiful." 

With this in mind, aegyo is a phenomenon noted in Kpop and Korean culture (all cultures have it~!) most commonly seen (up to a point where it's often parodied now) in young girls putting on cutsey faces or acting childlike and innocent so that their boyfriends or parents would usually purchase them something they want. 

Many kpop stars do it in dramas and especially in music videos (sunny's aegyo is the most notorious).

Along with aeygyo often comes the endearing Korean word "oppa." This is usually meant for an older brother, but a girl may sometimes call an older boy this whom she is affectionate to. In many Kpop songs you can hear the word "oppa" and they're usually talking about a guy they like very much.

:3

So You Think You Can Kpop

Auditions are held often to find the newest talent in Kpop

"How do I become a Kpop star?"

This question passes through many young girls' minds before entering the industry. The truth is that the life of an idol isn't for everyone and is much like becoming famous anywhere else. It's about perseverance, looks, talents, and often about who you know. 

SM and YG, two of the biggest publishers in Kpop, often hold auditions for talent in New York and Los Angeles here in America. Before attempting this yourself consider the following:

1. Do I have the looks?

As sad as it sounds, looks are one of the most important things in Kpop. As long as you have a pretty face it doesn't matter that you aren't the best singer (as seen in Hyuna! disclaimer: Hyuna is actually one of my favourite idols, but she can't sing!)

2. Do I have talent?

If you can sing and dance then you have this covered. In Kpop groups, usually you're either known for your voice or your moves. Be prepared for grueling routines and rigorous training.

3. Can I speak another language?

Speaking Korean is a must in the Korean pop industry. English is a huge plus as well as Chinese or Japanese. (often groups will release their songs in other langauges)

If you can confidently answer these things (and I mean with a ROARING "YES!!!!!" attitude and personality are a huge factor in show businuess) then go ahead and make your way to New York or Los Angeles next time auditions are held!

Reviewing Kpop

Eat Your Kimchi!! with Simon and Martina~

My all time favourite source for Kpop news and just about anything related to Korean culture has been a Youtube channel and blog run by two Americans living in Korea who teach English. Meet Simon and Martina. Their unique-ness is that they're Americans who offer viewpoints and opinions on Korean culture from an outside perspective. Their Youtube channel features weekly video segments from reviewing the latest Kpop released (based on poll voting from the viewers) to just talking about their lives and Korean culture points in general.

They recently decided to open a studio in Korea and started an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to help get started. I donated 40$ over Paypal. In the end they reached over two times as much as they needed~!

Simon & Martina's Youtube Channel

Their Blog

Fandoms

K-pop fans in London await the arrival of their idols.

Kpop fans are not a force to be taken lightly. For every idol group up on the stage dancing to choreographed steps and singing (or not) with angelic voices, there are going to be hundreds, thousands, or millions of fans screaming their heads off and waving around signs to support their favourite band and for the chance to be acknowledged (looked at) by their favourite idol.

One unique thing about Kpop is that not only are there fans, but there is a phenomenon the internet has spawned called antis. Antis are people who love a group so much that they devote their time to spending hours a day putting down other groups that could be seen as competition for their favourite group. They make anti-blogs, anti-facebook pages, they scour the internet for content they can use against the other groups, and fill every comment space of other groups with negative remarks.

Just with antis come the group's defense fans. They spend just as much of their own time defending the groups the antis are fighting so hard against. They often give themselves names to unite under a single cause. Fans of Girl's Generation are known as Soshis. Fans of the wildly popular 2NE1are known as Blackjacks. And so on.

You can find countless facebook pages dedicated to attack and defending just about any group out there.

Getting your hands on K-pop in the US

Promotional poster for Girl's Generation sub-group TaeTiSeo (TTS) in a local record/music store

K-pop definitely isn't the easiest form of popular music to find here in America. Sometimes you'll get lucky and have a store with enough pre-orders/orders to warrant selling copies in the store such as the one my friend found pictured above. They were selling the poster and it was displayed in the store as well. This is pretty rare as it's hard to find anywhere that will sell K-pop on shelves in America. If you don't mind not having physical copies of the music, the albums are usually almost always offered on iTunes.

Basically, the internet is your best friend when you need to purchase Korean music.

The way I get most of my K-pop is eBay or Amazon or another internet source. I've purchased a couple albums online, and these were shipped straight from Korea. I've posted some pictures of the albums I've ordered below.

"Twinkle" - TaeTiSeo's latest album release
Ordered from eBay

"The Boys" - Girl's Generation
Specialty ordered online for in-store pickup at Earshot Records

Values & Kpop II - revenge of the values

Miss A gets it right.

In my last post I mentioned how Kpop and most of the entertainment industry- aided with the help and spread by internet- are spreading values such as materialism. I was watching a Kpop reviewer who teachers English in Korea. She offered her class a poll that gave them a choice of a rich, tall man that treated them badly or a shorter average-waged man who treated them like gold. To my surprise, over 80% of the girls opted for the rich man saying other women envying them and the fact they could buy anything they want would bring them happiness.

The rising popular group Miss A is launching a campaign for the first time to tell young girls not to rely on men for everything and that money isn't everything in this world. This is rarely seen in K-pop and I feel is a good step in the right direction. 

Values & Kpop~

Kpop offers not only catchy beats and crazed fans, but values such as materialism.

Money. Bling. "Swag." Fast cars. Beautiful women. Rich men. All of these things are promised to bring you happiness in some way or another when you search and dig deep enough into Kpop. Often times you don't even have to dig- songs practically shout this at you. I understand these messages are rampant throughout all cultures and countries, but when mixed with a traditionally and modernly Confucianistic society such as Korea, then morals and values clash and some things must change. 

With the assistance of the internet, you can see the idols flaunting around in their mansions depicted in music videos. They wear the latest fashions. They have so many friends. They seem so happy!

There are blogs around the world (http://www.kpopsicle.com/ comes to mind~) that follow these details, the clothes, the hair, the makeup, and are specifically dedicated to finding, linking to, and selling these things so you too can have these things and be happy as well! Right?

Kpop and more!

PC Bangs are a popular location for young Koreans to enjoy PC games and access the internet.

The effect the internet has not only has touched the popular music market in Korea, but also connects the video gaming industry and other aspects of entertainment. In Seoul, PC Bangs are about as common as Starbucks here in America, and offer a lot more fun. For example, a young Korean might go here and pay some money to play one of the most popular PC games in Korea- "Starcraft."

When I used to watch Koreans play Starcraft competitively through internet streams, I would usually hear Kpop playing in the background. The song I remember hearing the most is Hyuna's wildly popular "Bubble Pop." Watching these live streams not only exposed me to Korea's gaming culture, but to the entertainment industry and more. Kpop concerts are also often held at the most major gaming tournaments.

For me, Kpop and Starcraft go together like peanut butter and jelly. Like icing and cake. Like young idols bouncing around on stage and space marines fighting for their lives against a bloodthirsty race of aliens. Yep.

Video #1

This is the first video I made of hopefully many that will discuss an internet user's views and opinions of Kpop, Korean culture, the internet, and how they all go together.

Gangnam Style (강남스타일) and You

Oppan Gangnam Style!
Gangnam Style is a parody on the party-going lifestyle in the Gangnam district of Seoul, Korea.

If you've been on the internet or followed popular news for just about any amount of time recently, cances are you've heard Psy's smash hit "Gangnam Style" whether you wanted to or not. As I check now, the video has a grand total of 655,761,176 views. The Gangnam Style music video reached #1 on Youtube, shortly followed by #1 on many music charts such as iTunes. Before long, America's and other top artists around the world were Tweeting and posting their adoration of the phenomenon.

"How is all this possible?" you're most likely asking yourself.

"The internet!" I'm most likely answering with.

I felt Gangnam Style was most fitting for an introductory first blog post here. Most of you are familiar with this song and dance, as are your friends. The vast decentralized computer network connecting us all that we know as the "Internet" allowed for the massive phenomenon that is Gangnam Style. Before Gangnam Style was "mainstream" so to say, I first found it through a k-pop review site, and showed it to my friends. This activity spread, and soon Psy was on the radios and TV here in America. Amazing.

TEST POST

~testing