Mina's K-Pop Hottie Picks (Girls Edition)

Since I'm still a noob when it comes to K-Pop I've yet to find a variety show to watch with English subtitles so that I can get to know the personalities of the various idols.  Therefore, what I'm going to do is  pick out who I find the most attractive of each group.  I will also provide a runner-up.  I'll remind you guys, like my wifey/BFF post this is based on my personal preferences.  I'm not saying any one member is definitely better than the rest because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I thought I would do something fun in between my serious posts, plus I don't have too much time to spare today.  I'm not including explanations because this is based on looks.

Girls Generation (SNSD) - Sunny
Runner Up: Taeyeon

KARA - Jung Nicole
Runner Up: Han Seung Yeon

F(x) - Sulli
Runner Up: Amber

4Minute - Jihyun
Runner Up: Jiyoon

Chocolat - Melanie
Runner Up: Juliane

2NE1 - Minzy
Runner Up: CL

Wonder Girls - Sohee
Runner Up: Yubin

T-ara - Jiyeon
Runner Up: Boram

Brown Eyed Girls - Narsha
Runner Up: Gain

Miss A - Suzy
Runner Up: Min

Nine Muses - Hyemi
Runner Up: Kyungri

SunnyHill - Seung Ah
Runner Up: Ju Bi

K-Pop and J-Pop on the International Stage

For the holidays I got an iTunes gift card.  I don't listen to American music much anymore so I had no idea what I wanted to buy (except for Florence + The Machine).  There was of plenty of options for K-Pop, but my usual go to artists were missing, completely.  I've purchased tons of music from Hamasaki Ayumi the past couple of years, but everything was gone.  The J-Pop available was scarce with few artists that I was interested like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, SCANDAL, and Brand-New Idol Society (BiS).  AKB48 only has one of their albums and has not continued adding releases.  The one group who does a decent job is Hello Project.  Manufactured music from Korea, however, is doing quite well.  Popular releases from units like 2NE1, Super Junior, and Kara have songs selling for $1.29.

Now hold your horses K-Pop fans who preach about how awesome it is and how it is taking over the world.  Sit your butt down.  Japanese artists don't expand to the Korean market (like how K-pop artists go to Japan) because they have the second largest music industry in the world.  They are not going to go to a smaller market, therefore the only place they are going to go for is the United States.  And we've all seen how well that goes over, for K-Pop artists too.  Artists like Koda Kumi are comfortable with being successful at home.  Korean culture will be a sub-culture in the United States, just like how J-Pop is.  There will be some attempt to cash in on the boom.  I don't want to be a wet blanket.  I would just like to remind fans who are excited for the Wonder Girls TV show what happened to Puffy's program: it got pulled off the air eventually.  Another major factor is that they are manufactured.  The United States' and the UK's consumers tend to have a negative perception of artists that don't have power in the creative process.  Even girl groups like Danity Kane wrote some of their own music.

I expect all of you to react to the reaction with an open mind.  Many K-Pop fans had that same reaction when they first saw it.  My perception of K-Pop wasn't too favorable either.  They are children!  They are asked to react to a little glimpse of the whole picture.  It is suppose to be off-the-cuff and a bit outrageous because that is entertaining.  Notice the majority of them are interested in listening to more of the genre.  This video is to illustrate the major issues K-Pop faces when expanding to the United States.    

What I'm curious about is the promotion of K-Pop groups in Japan.  A fair amount of songs by Korean groups are Japanese versions and not originals.  Those releases match their Korean image.  [The following statement has nothing to do with the male groups.]  However, to reach significant success they may dispose of their typical persona for a Japanese one.  This is evident if we compare Kara to SNSD.  I never realized how 'competitive' they are with each other until I did a Google search about their comparative activities in Japan.  The results were mixed.  Some sites claimed SNSD was beating Kara and are relevant in Japan.  Other data suggested the Kara had a stronger foothold.  Then there were others that suggested that the results didn't match up to the hype.  One thing is clear is that the strategy between the two is different.  SNSD basically re-released songs that were successful.  Kara, in my opinion, actually went all out.  Their musical style, with the exception of a couple singles, turned to a more care-free, innocent spirit that is common in Japanese idol music.  Kara is the reason why I resent people who said as part of the hype of the Hallyu wave that K-Pop was more popular with women because they presented a less doll-like persona.  First of all, those people were clearly not familiar with female Japanese artists (Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, SCANDAL, members of AKB).  Second, there were female K-Pop artists went all doll-like, cutesy, AEGYO as soon as they hit Japanese shores.  Others followed through not too long after debut.  These girl groups were doing it in Korea too!  Personally I found that Kara was more present in the industry than SNSD, not by a ton but I felt like there was a difference.

SNSD in Korea

SNSD in Japan

KARA in Korea

KARA in Japan

Was there a Hallyu wave this year?  Yes, and I don't think it is necessarily over.  However, Korean groups in Japan were not the top dog in any way.  AKB48 owned this year, they were head to head with Arashi in 2010.  The other big hitter in the music industry of Japan was the song Maru Maru Mori Mori.  They entered a market where idol groups are doing quite well.  We could chalk up a portion of their success to an idol boom.  JE debuted two new idol groups that made the top spot, and Hey!Say!Jump had a really good year.  There were idol groups that made the top spot which I never expected to do so, like Passpo.  The industries aren't that much different style-wise.  There are some general differences, but I feel like people play them up to be much bigger than they truly are.

Kara's 'STEP' MV Review + Upcoming LIVE on YouTube!

I tend to dislike most female, Korean artists while active in Japan.  However, when they release something in Korea I adore it.  I didn't care for Kara when they were active in Japan.  I love the song.  The use of colors is a ton of fun.  The girls aren't trying to be overly cute or sexy.  This proves to me is that a studio song without a plot line can be amazing.  The blue outfits in the white room reminds me of the '80s.  However, when they are dancing with the bleachers in the back I think of '90s Britney Spears.  The bright set and mix of patterns bring me back to miss A's Breathe music video.  Even though it is just dance shots and close up shots, they do a variety of angles, pans, and mixture of lighting.  The pacing is great so I never got bored.  The one thing I would of liked to see is that towards the end they use all of the various dance shots.  They seemed to do a pairing of dance shots that they switched back and forth between.    
☆☆☆☆☆

The main set is very picturesque and loud.  What I think is cool is that they were able to do that without distracting too much from the girls themselves.  

They used three types of solo close up shots.  One was a party scene, where you could see extras dancing.  The other, a play on the generic close up but closer which gives it s bit of an edge.  

One of my personal favorite, simple editing techniques is cutting clips together without transition, if the clips are similar enough it keeps things interesting.  One example they used is by using various distance shots.  

 

This was another twist to the classic solo shot.  They have the subject off center; the movement attracts the audience attention still.  

It is the same room as before, but with a different underlining color.

We can see a similar background from one of the solo shots.  There is so much going on that I am impressed that it all layered together.

To be personally honest, this style shot was beautiful, but out of place compared to the rest of the video.

The large group dance, with an upwards (bird's eye) pan had a hint of Bollywood to it.  

I hope someone got to see it.  I didn't get to watch the concert on YouTube because it was during the school week at like 2AM my time.