#usfpop16

[sassysabtown-blog]

Introduction

Korean pop music has gained more popularity in the United States starting in the mid 2000s. People are consuming all forms of the culture: music, music videos, concerts, conventions, even group merchandise. But why the sudden interest in this foreign music style? What makes American teenagers, the main consumption group, love the Korean idol groups? Most consumption of K-Pop happens through YouTube and other social media platforms.    Idol groups are constantly putting content out into the world, from music videos, to guest staring on tv shows, promoting their songs live, and even producing behind the scene videos. There is an endless amount of hours for fans to fall in love. Not only do companies release content all the time, but they also create high quality content. Popular groups often release an album a year, and along with that comes a dance routine with every song. More money and effort is put into producing these groups compared to American musicians. In reaction videos on YouTube, Americans have often commented on the higher production value of the music videos as compared to American music videos. Because of the language barrier and the slight difference in values, most people don’t listen to music released outside of their country. People like what is familiar to them, and enjoy listening to music they can sing along to. But this breakout of K-Pop across the globe has changed the game. The Korean music industry looks at the challenges of international consumption, and has made changes to benefit their sales. Companies add English lyrics to their songs to better reach international fan groups. Having universal lyrics in their songs, everyone can relate to the K-Pop idols in a new way.

[perfectdinosaurtheorist-blog]

There is television. There are television shows. There are different types of televisions shows. There are situation comedies and dramas. There are different types of representation on television. Different types of representation can exist on television shows. There can be race, class, gender, and cultural representations on television shows. There is different races and ethnicities and cultures represented on television shows. There is White, African-American, Latino/Latina, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian-Asian-American and Pacific Islander representation on television shows. Some examples of representation on television shows are Black-ish and Empire and Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder and Fresh Off the Boat. The television shows can have majority African-American cast members or majority Asian-American cast members. The television shows also can have a diverse cast. The characters on the television shows can reinforce stereotypes about a particular group of people. The stereotypes can be positive or negative. African-American, Latino/Latina, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian-Asian-American and Pacific Islander is underrepresented on television shows. They can be represented not in lead roles on television shows.Diverse representations of different groups such as races, ethnicities, or cultural backgrounds are important because the groups should be represented proportional to their percentage in the United States population.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M56aff4c3017e3099e54f0bc3c0a34b4eo0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=291&h=165

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[sassysabtown-blog]

The Try Guys watch K-Pop for the First Time_K-Pop:Part 1

This video, produced by Buzzed, shows a male group called “The Try Guys” watching K-Pop music videos for the first time. The men are intrigued by the different K-Pop groups, and often comment how similar the music is to American music. 

[sassysabtown-blog]

In Catching the K-Pop Wave: Globality in the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of South Korean Popular Music, Sarah Leung explores the growth of the K-Pop phenomenon in the US and other countries. This article explains the production of Korean culture, but specifically looks at how K-Pop groups are created, produced, and managed. Leung wants to discover “the ways in which a small niche of cultural production has managed to gain such a widespread popularity and global appeal”(4). She conducts quantitative research to determine what countries were streaming K-Pop music videos on YouTube. Her research demonstrates music videos are more popular in countries such as the United States, Japan, Peru, Chili compared to countries like India, Russia, Algeria, and Egypt. Finding these demographics were easier than comparing sales statistics because most people have access to YouTube. If Leung were to look at music sales, she would have to take into consideration the accessibility to the albums internationally, and the amount of illegal downloads that occur. Leung finds that most K-Pop groups have a large international popularity due to their ability to relate to fans in other countries. This connection is achieved because most groups have a few members from countries other than Korea, and members are also able to speak multiple languages. When looking for members to create a group, companies often have specific qualifications. Besides having good looks and the ability to sing and dance, companies also look  for members from countries other than Korea. This automatically gives the group a connection to that specific country. These groups are also able to relate and connect with fans based on their music and performance. The article goes into depth about how “the industry actively seeks to make K-Pop stylistically acceptable to global audiences through that reinforcement of ‘strangeness’ with a certain amount of familiarity”(44). The “familiarity” mentioned is often created through dance performances, videos with universal themes, and even having English lyrics mixed into songs. This article demonstrates the production of famous K-Pop idol groups. Using quantitative research methods as well as other published articles, Sarah Leung was able to come to the conclusion that the industry has learned to take advantage of the growth of technology and mass media to promote K-Pop groups internationally. Creating songs and videos with universal themes, and recognizable English lyrics, is crucial to connecting with fans on a global scale.

[slowlyglitteryangel-blog]

Interest post While doing my research I stumbled upon some examples of when celebrities go too far in their celebrity obsessions. Everything getting plastic surgery to breaking into a celebrity’s house it has been done. #usfpop16

http://diply.com/different-solutions/obsessed-fans-celebrity/123075/3

[slowlyglitteryangel-blog]

Position Statement

During my research I found how deep a celebrity obsession can go and all the different aspects of it. When an individual obsesses over a celebrity they have found someone who they like. One of the articles that I read explained that when we obsess over a celebrity it represents different ways of how we can be and our personal taste has an effect on which we like. I think that often we obsess over these celebrities because we seem something in them we want for ourselves but don’t feel we can achieve. I think the reason for this is that we see them and their lives and we want that. Another thing I learned through the research was that having a celebrity obsession is considered a syndrome. Whenever I have celebrity obsession I have always thought that those people were just “obsessing” over someone. Through my research I have learned though that it is more than that. They are sometimes using their celebrity obsession to deal with something they are going through and to distract themselves. I think popular culture in general does a good job of distracting us in our daily lives.  Celebrities have a life that others want to live. People want to live this life because celebrities have money, nice cars and nice houses. For me the people who are obsessed with celebrities are distracting themselves from their real lives and reality. This may sound very judgemental but I believing in dealing with problems or seeking help. #usfpop16

[slowlyglitteryangel-blog]

Youtube link Discusses how and why we are obsessed with celebrities. Discusses that we like to be entertained which the entertainment industry provides. Also because we all would like to be famous. #popaudiovideo #usfpop16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkGDMWNcVE0