K-Pop is going global. The genre has recently been gaining a lot of traction both from dedicated international fans and curious Western media outlets, which may make it seem like it was only recently that K-Pop artists have begun to get recognized and promote themselves in the West at all. This, however, is not the case.
As outlined by Eun-Young Jun in chapter 3 of Hallyu 2.0: solo artist and actor Rain held a showcase in New York’s own Madison Square Garden in 2006 that wasn’t well received but that didn’t deter his success continuing his career in Korea and Japan, solo artist BoA made an unsuccessful American debut in 2008 after leading a successful career in Korea and Japan for 8 years, and solo artist Se7en “moved to the United States in 2007 to prepare for his American debut, but after his debut single ‘Girls’ (2009) flopped, he returned to Korea” (77-78). A new wave of K-Pop emerges in the late 2000s, and while groups like Big Bang, 2NE1, and Girls Generation did begin to gain some attention from the likes of MTV and some US talk shows beginning in 2011, the hype for these groups in the Western media was still relatively short lived (80-81).
But that was then. Compare that to now, where it’s become difficult to keep track of the amount of K-Pop artists that have performed on US talk shows, starred in Buzzfeed Celeb videos, played festivals like SXSW and now Coachella, and have held successful multi-city concert and fanmeet tours across North America and beyond. So why is it, then, that K-Pop artists coming from the same training system, and even same entertainment companies, who are delivering the same genre of music and level of performance are now becoming successful in the West? Something has to have changed for this to be possible now in ways that it was not before.
Pieces like Michelle Cho’s “Pop Cosmopolitics and K-Pop Video Culture” point to YouTube, and more broadly the work of international fans utilizing YouTube and other social media sites to produce user generated content like reaction videos and dance covers which interact with and effectively promote K-Pop to an international audience without the entertainment companies themselves having to do any additional work or investment. In Hallyu 2.0 it is argued, “By expanding engagements with fans, actively encouraging K-Pop fans all over the world to participate in fandom activities through social media, the Hallyu K-Pop industry pilots its potential to the maximum with very little investment of either time or money” (86). This is an incredibly shortsighted view into the dynamic processes in which K-Pop spreads to Western audiences, but in particular completely disregards the investments of time and money that companies are putting into making their K-Pop artists accessible internationally.
Even just looking at the roster of activities that K-Pop acts are up to in the States nowadays, it is clear that artists and their companies are investing in building an international presence. But even before they make it onto American soil, an effort has to be made for the K-Pop artist to attract international fans and keep them interested. Entertainment companies hold auditions globally to source international talent, require their trainees and artists learn foreign languages, invest in translators to translate the artists’ shows, music videos, and social media posts, and sometimes hire entire management and marketing teams specific to the country they are trying to promote their artist in, as well as risk costs on planning large scale tours to be able to bring live shows to international fans. Clearly, constant focus as well as long term vision are required on the part of the company on top of their monetary investment in order to ensure a group is marketable abroad. The international success of newer wave K-Pop is also commonly attributed to the industry’s adaptation to social media, not in the way of directly bargaining for fans to produce content that serves as free marketing, but rather as a means of keeping fans updated efficiently, producing more content to make full use of the platforms, and providing opportunity for fan-idol interaction from anywhere in the world.
While fan consumption, feedback, and engagement play a hugely important role in the cycle of the production of K-Pop, it isn’t possible to point to one aspect of one platform (like reaction videos on YouTube) as the main measure of success in pushing K-Pop into the Western market when there is conscious effort put forth in every part of the the production process to help K-Pop artists gain the attention of international fans and stay relevant in the Western market – which, of course, is to say nothing to the shifting ideals of Western culture itself that may enable more open-minded consumption from Western consumers as time goes on.
The Politics of K-Pop 
The reaction video thing is interesting to me because that is exactly how I was exposed to Kpop initially. I had a friend in my South Asian art history class who was Korean and when we were at the MET during one of our field trips, she had me react to a music video of BTS and then asked me at the end of it what meaning I drew out of the video. That was quite exciting for both her and me so I can see how this combination of reaction videos and Youtube can really help the whole K-pop industry gain traction in a global sense.
I also do to a certain degree agree with what Dr. Anderson mentioned in class: a fan theory about how since One Direction (arguably the most popular boy band of America till they split) was broken up, the American boy band fandom needed to fill in that space with another group via having another boy band in hand, which is where BTS came in. That might really be true given America really has only widely accepted BTS most extravagantly although there are many other artists and idol groups who are just as talented or more but haven’t received more acknowledgment or recognition. This is perhaps because America really is only able to accept one boy band at a time — especially when it’s a foreign one. Additionally, another theory I have here is that given America is so desperately now (and finally) trying to be “woke”, even though I’d argue, deceptively woke, to appear as an all-accepting nation, the country might just be finally accepting K-pop to remain relevant and be able to contribute to the current dialogue.
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That’s interesting, thanks for sharing!
In regards to your last point – I totally agree that there is likely a level of “fake woke”ness to some of the positive reception of BTS and K-Pop in America, and especially on the media side I think you’re absolutely right in that a lot of what they are doing is just trying to stay relevant/with the times. In addition to that, now that it is more known that K-Pop groups obviously have very dedicated worldwide fanbases with a huge amount of buying power and attention to spend within the so-called attention economy of digital media, bringing K-Pop groups in for interviews and guest spots on shows or at events is a sure-fire way for that outlet to gain a ton of views, clicks, ad revenue, and free marketing by the group’s fans, even if the outlet/anchors/etc don’t actually know anything about K-Pop or the group (which has been seen to be the case pretty often).
But, as they say, “all press is good press.” Even if the media or the average Western viewer may still not know a lot about K-Pop or care for it themselves, I think the fact that K-Pop is even being acknowledged and promoted in a positive light in the American media is a big step forward for representation and is helping to facilitate the shift towards positive reception of non-Western media products in Western media, even if there is a long way to go.
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