Teenage Dream: the Rise of Kpop Idol Industry
A walkthrough of Kpop Idols
What is an idol?
An idol is a charismatic young entertainer who sings, dances, appears on reality shows and social media.
And what is an Kpop idol?
As I Kpop fan and a data scientist, I have been trying to give a considerate answer by doing data analytics on Kpop idol industry. I studied two different subjects overlapped together — Kpop and Idol. Kpop is a music genre. Idol is a type of entertainers. For example, A Kpop singer, like PSY who sings Gangnam Style, is not necessarily an idol. Because PSY’s career focuses on music. People like PSY because he is humorous, but not because he is Prince Charming. An idol, like Bogum Park, is more an idol actor than a Kpop idol. He is a prince on a white horse for his fans, but his career focuses on acting rather than music.
Therefore, I wrote a whole article explaining Kpop the music before because the essence of Kpop idols is still the music performance (If you have not read my last article about Kpop the music genre, I strongly suggest you read it first). Bringing “Kpop” and “idol” together, Kpop idol becomes a unique type of entertainers whose career relies on music performance and become a global phenomenon in a way different from professional singers. In this article, I will explain Kpop idols in other perspectives, by following the history of Kpop’s development.
0th Generation: Kpop, but not idols
Kpop the music genre was created by Seotaiji and Boys in 1992. However, Seotaiji and Boys are not idols since they were too different from following Kpop idol groups. Seotaiji and Boys were talented self-producing musicians. They produced their own songs and choreographed their own dance. They spent most of their career on music performance. But Idols perform way more than music. Idols also are also actors, tv show hosts, models who can attract fans from different fields.
Meanwhile, Seotaiji and Boys are more like Western boy bands rather than Kpop idol groups because they were neither trained nor managed by any agencies. The first Kpop idol group is H.O.T., as they were trained and totally managed by their agency SM Entertainment.
1st Generation: the foundations of Kpop idols
The most unique features of Kpop idols are
· Trainee system
· Total management
· Music performance
· Group activities
Teenagers who want to become idols are recruited by agencies. Once they pass the audition, they become trainees receiving vocal, dance, and other training from agencies. Although agencies offer free training and dorm to trainees, trainees’ life are extremely arduous. Trainees sleep 5 hours a day and spend all their time on training. There is evaluation every month eliminating unqualified trainees. Only a tiny number of trainees can have the chance to debut. Becoming an Kpop idol is even harder than lottery.
In 1995, producer Lee Sooman and his company SM Entertainment first adopted this kind of trainee system inspired by Jpop idol agencies from Japan. One year later, SM produced the very first Kpop Idol group — H.O.T. and obtained huge success by the total management strategy. SM totally managed H.O.T. by providing the group with everything they need for performance, from songs, music videos, clothing, and styles; and arranged all their activities. H.O.T. members rarely participated in producing their own music but focused on performance.
The total management strategy even manages fans. Agencies make official fan clubs for the idols and organize fan activities so that they can make benefits from fan economy. Fans go to concerts with the idols’ official light sticks and chant with the idols in an organized way.
H.O.T.’s success became a landmark of Kpop idol industry. Since then, a lot of following Kpop artists were produced by the trainee system and the total management in an industrialized way. You may wonder why Kpop’s industrialization started this time. This is because the training system and the total management made the agencies into factories which can produce batches of stars. Also, this kind of production is proved to be sustainable because the majority of Kpop’s customers are teenagers. Our world never runs out of teenagers in any time. Therefore, Kpop idol industry can easily attract capital to support their business. Today, many big Kpop agencies went public or got backdoor listing, raised significant amount of funding. Some agencies even grew into groups owning multiple labels, such as HYBE, CJ ENM and Kakao M. Behind all those investments, there has always been an invisible but key investor — the Korean government.
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis broke out and heavily hit South Korea. To make up for the loss of South Korea’s national image after this crisis, Korean government wanted to enhance her soft power by making the world love this country. Thus, government decided to invest in cultural industry, especially in this newborn Kpop industry. The government behind the scenes has always been eager to push their idols to international stages so that fans from all over the world can feel the charm of Korean culture. This is the reason why Kpop, from its very start, aims at taking over the world.
On the one hand, Kpop found the best way to produce stars in batches. On the other hand, it led to the overpopulation of stars. Because of this sophisticated system, new stars debut one after another at a staggering speed. New stars easily surpassed old stars because they are younger and fresher. Then they will be surpassed by even newer stars just in years. Korea is not a huge market since there is only 50 million population to support such great number of stars. Thus, Kpop needed to find audiences elsewhere to support this huge industry.
Once H.O.T. become famous domestically in Korea. They expanded their international market by releasing a Chinese album, which helped them survive through the Asian financial crisis. In 2000, SM’s solo artist Boa debuted both in Korea and Japan. Boa was so fluent in Japanese and became as famous as native Japanese singers in Japan. China and Japan were able to be the first stops for Kpop’s international development because China, Korea and Japan share similar beauty standards and appetite for idols’ music performance.
2nd Generation: Multilingualism
In late 1990s, 1st generation Kpop idols made Kpop boom. In 2000s and early 2010s, 2nd generation Kpop idols made Kpop soar. This was Kpop’s fast growing era. Both the number of music works, and number of artists grew exponentially then as they were conquering not just Korea, but also other Asian countries. 1st generation Kpop idols started their career only in Korea and began promoting overseas if they had been successful domestically. Unlike their predecessors, 2nd generation Kpop idols prepared for overseas activities before they debut, and aggressively promote both in Korea and other countries once they debut.
One great feature of this era is that Kpop idols are multilingual entertainers. Japanese is a must-have language skill. English and Chinese are also important. Kpop idols are trained to speak multiple languages when they were trainees. There are even speech pathologist helping trainees pronounce foreign languages right, and helping foreign trainees pronounce Korean right. Many Kpop idols will translate their Korean songs into Japanese, sometimes into English and Chinese. Another great feature of this era is that many Chinese and Asian-American, and a bit of Japanese idols joined Kpop industry, as they could lead to groups to promote overseas. For Example, Girls’ Generation (SNSD) is a 9-member girl group with 2 American members — Jessica and Tiffany, who are native English speaker. Among Korean members, Sooyoung is the Japanese specialist and Yoona is a fluent Chinese speaker. Girls’ Generation released numerous Japanese songs besides their Korean songs, achieved sweeping success both in Japan and Korea.
However, there is major difference between Chinese and Japanese in Kpop. On the one hand, Kpop groups like to sing their songs in Japanese more than in Chinese. On the other hand, they like to take Chinese members in the team. There are way more Chinese idols than Japanese idols in Kpop. Why?
First, I think it is because Japanese and Korean are linguistically similar. They have nearly same grammar and syntax, and very similar vocabulary. Korean can be translated verbatim into Japanese. Therefore, it is easy to translate Korean lyrics into Japanese, and to train the idols speaking Japanese. But it is difficult for them to speak Chinese because Chinese and Korean are linguistically different.
Second, I think it is because Japan also has a well-developed Idol industry. Jpop idols also perform in groups. Since Kpop groups also want to compete in Japanese market, it is important for the whole groups to perform in Japanese together. On the other hand, China does not have a mature idol culture. Solo singers are more popular than Idol. Therefore, Kpop groups do not need to perform with full members in China. A Kpop group only need 1 or 2 Chinese member and let him/her promote individually in China. If this Chinese member becomes popular in China, fans will follow this idol and get to know the group that idol belongs to. The perfect example would be f(x)’s Victoria, Super Junior’s Han Kyung.
There is an interesting pattern for SM Entertainment. During the 2nd generation, the agency will debut a new girl group just 2 years after an old girl group, a new boy group just 2 years after an old boy group. It might seem that producing the groups so frequent will lead to competition between the groups in the same company. However, this is the cost for Kpop’s rapid expansion internationally, because the groups aim at different international markets.
For boy groups, in 2003’s Christmas, TVXQ debuted and aimed at Japan. 2 years later in 2006, Super Junior debuted and aimed at China. 2 years later in 2008, Shinee debuted and aimed at Japan. For girl groups, in 2007, Girls’ Generation debuted and aimed at Japan. 2 years later in 2009, F(x) debuted and aimed at China. Although the groups might compete domestically in Korea, they have alternative international markets so that SM and Kpop can rapidly expand their popularity in East Asia.
Usually, a Kpop idol group consists of 4 kinds of roles — A vocalist, a rapper, a dancer and a visual (who is the most photogenic member). This is the reason why groups are more popular than solo artists. Thus, forming a small group only need 4 people.
A great feature of this generation is the birth of large groups. The first large boy group, Super Junior, had 13 members in its peak. The first large girl group, Girls’ Generation, had 9 members in its peak. It might seem excessive at the first glance to have so many people performing on stage, but actually this is a groundbreaking invention proven to be successful. Having so many members is very expensive, but they can perform spectacular large-scale “kalgunmu”, the extremely synchronized group dance.
Also, large groups can break into sub-units which consists of several members of the group trying different style of performance. For example, Super Junior’s sub-unit Super Junior M sing Mandarin songs and promotes in China. Girls’ Generation’s Sub-unit TTS’ style is old-school. Sub-units are groups inside groups, evolving into many creative forms today. Some groups like EXO and NCT even debut as sub-units and merge together later into a whole group.
3rd Generation: Globalization and Localization
In 2000s and early 2010s, 2nd generation Kpop idols promoted Kpop from Korea to Asia. From late 2010s to now, 3rd generation Kpop idols promotes Kpop from Asia to the world. Agencies have stable outputs in this era. Big companies will debut a new group around every 4 year. In my opinion, there are 2 fundamental things which made Kpop going global — social media and Gangnam Style.
In 2012, Gangnam Style was a global phenomenon that spread to the parts of the world where Kpop never reached before. After Gangnam Style, a lot of capital flows into Kpop made this industry boom. Also during this period, people start switching their old mobile phones into smart phones, where social media are easily accessible. Instagram, YouTube and VLIVE pull Kpop idols way closer to their fans than ever before. Fans can digitally enter idols’ daily lives and even interact with them. Idols sell fantasy of love. With social media, Idols’ job as fans’ imaginary boyfriends/girlfriends/children can be fulfilled just on fans’ hands. Besides, video platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube also boost Kpop as I explained in my last article.
Although Gangnam Style paved way for Kpop’s global success, the progress of Kpop’s globalization was severely obstructed by international relations. While Kpop idols achieving sweeping success in Japan, Japan and Korea’s dispute of islands broke out in 2012. The political conflicts directly lead to Japanese audience’s dislike toward Korean. Kpop idols’ activities in Japan drastically decreased. Therefore, Kpop needed to find a new way to export to its largest foreign market. By recruiting Japanese and other international members in the crew, Kpop groups will not look purely Korean. Although 2nd generation groups already began taking foreign members in, they only have 1 or 2 foreign members and still the minority. But in 3rd generation groups, half of the members can be non-Korean. For example, 9-member group TWICE have 4 international members and 3 of them are Japanese. After Kpop’s slump in Japan due to the political conflicts, TWICE became even more popular than 2nd generation groups in Japan and revived Kpop there.
However, though Kpop won Japan back, it lost its 2nd largest market — China due to another political conflict. In 2017, due to the military tension in Korean Peninsula, Chinese government banned Korea’s cultural export to China and thwarted Kpop’s development. By then, many groups which have Chinese members had been popular in China or had been prepared for activities in China. But because of the policy’ restriction, they could not perform in China anymore. For compliance reasons, many groups having Chinese members do not promote in China, such as aespa and Seventeen. Many Chinese members go solo in China and seldom return for group activities in Korea, such as EXO’s Lay and WJSN’s 3 Chinese members. This is quite a loss for Kpop. But Kpop managed to avoid that loss by finding a new world to export — the West and Southeast Asia.
Kpop tried to export to the western world around 2010s, but it was not successful because the beauty standard and performance styles between the East and the West are too different. Although Gangnam style was popular in the west, it did not make the world accept Kpop idols. However, 10 years later, BTS and Blackpink’s unprecedented success in the Western World and Southeast Asia really epitomized Kpop’s globalization as I argued in my last article. The number of English Kpop songs rapidly increased in recent years. Westerners began to like Kpop music, but whether they will accept Kpop’s idol culture is still a challenge for Kpop.
Another feature of foreign members in the group is that they are getting more and more international. In 2nd generation groups, foreign members are usually Chinese, Japanese and Asian-Americans who look just like Koreans. But today, foreign can come from other parts of the world and look very different from Koreans. Blackpink’s Lisa is Thai. Somi is half-white Canadian-Korean. There is even black member in a new girl group BLACKSWAN.
Having so many foreign members is definitely promoting Kpop to the globe. Because foreign members will have fans’ support from their motherland. For example, (g) i-dle’s members are from Korea, Thailand, China and Taiwan. Besides their activities in these countries, they also sing English, Chinese and Japanese songs so that they can be popular in other regions. Another benefit is that foreign members sort of bypass Korea’s political conflicts with foreign countries. Blackpink’s Lisa is Thai instead of Korean, so that she can still appear on Chinese shows.
But whether racial diversity will increase in Kpop still remains uncertain. Although Kpop is expanding its market to the world, it might be difficult for Korean audience to accept idols from other races. However, there is also a trend called “globalization + localization” in Kpop. As Kpop going global, Kpop idols can be made just for international fans without Korean fans support. For example, JYP entertainment, who created “globalization + localization” concept, produced the Japanese girl group NiziU in a Kpop way localized for Japanese fans. Kard never won any prizes and 1st places in Korea, but they were accustomed to Western fans and are popular in Americas. In 2nd generation, Kpop groups never lose their domestic fans while going international. Now, Kpop groups can just start from international fans without domestic fans’ support.
On the other hand, it is quite expensive and difficult for an idol to be fluent in multiple languages. It is impossible to train idols to be so multilingual that can speak Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, Thai, and Spanish. Therefore, it is more economical and realistic to have the groups localized for certain regions. For example, if a girl group’s style is sweetheart, then they will focus on Korea and Japan like TWICE. If a girl group’s style is “girl crush”, then they will look for opportunities in the west like Blackpink.
So, what is an Kpop idol?
Kpop idols are entertainers who sing, dance, look pretty, speak multiple languages, usually perform in groups, benefits from fan economy and aggressively export Korean culture to the world driven by capital and politics.
Kpop idols perform love song, make visually appealing music performance, and use social media to make you fall in love with them. It is everyone’s teenage dream to shine on stage like them. But behind the scenes, Kpop idols are manufactured by the trainee system and the total management from their agencies in similar ways. They do not have much freedom, but usually overwork and are underpaid. It’s also everyone’s teenage dream to have a partner like Kpop idols. Idol is a profession that sells fantasy. As a fan, you may pay a lot of money and effort for your imaginary boyfriend/girlfriend, but Kpop idols are just teenage dreams. Do not forget to cherish the people who love you in your real life.
