I will travel to Seoul this summer and I am inspired by all the great K-pop songs that I have listened to since I was there last time, in June of 2009. I realize that many of these I have been listening to for several years. Hence this summer’s list is more of a best of K-pop list than a fresh summer list.
All the songs are from 2009-2015. To be honest, I have heard very few good songs from this year and most rookie groups and comebacks appear to be quite lame. Tiffany’s (Girls’ Generation) solo album is okay, though, but did not make it into this list. Most songs do have an official music video but some have not, such as EXO’s “Machine” and “Transformer”.
As one may notice, groups from S.M. Entertainment dominate, with G-Dragon and Taeyang as the only exception.
K-pop is not just the name of an umbrella music genre – South Korean pop music – which mainly attracts teenagers and young adults in East Asia and other locations of the world, but a phenomenon that is used as a means for national branding by the South Korean government and even as a concrete soft power tool in the context of a seemingly even more rancorous armistice between the two rivalry Korean states. Hence it is far from trivial, although a large share of the K-pop content indeed is very banal (and that is in turn an integrated part of the contemporary South Korean culture and something which its isolated northern neighbor lacks).
However, in this post I will not dwell on these particular sub-topics but instead briefly describe some of the characteristics that K-pop shares with bodybuilding and fitness. The increasing popularity of bodybuilding and fitness in South Korea is a subject of its own, and I may eventually write more about that as well. Nevertheless, there are some interesting parallels between the K-pop industry and the fitness industry that I will focus on. Part of the inspiration is obtained from this article and other observations.
First of all, both K-pop and bodybuilding/fitness are mostly about appearance and to make money out of it. (And this is not the same as to say that there is no passion in it.) The obvious difference in this regard, on the other hand, is that within K-pop a thin model look is praised while bodybuilding and fitness are, more or less, about muscle volume and definition. Even Men’s Physique competitors appear quite distant from their male K-pop counterparts, although there is also a partial overlap in terms of low percentage of body fat and even in relationship to the universal ideal face, as well as with regard to other secondary traits such as hairstyle and make-up (especially among girls/women). An additional difference is that K-pop, of course, is more audio-visual than fitness and bodybuilding which are mainly visual-only.
As with most comparative analyses, one can focus on either differences or similarities, or both. In terms of similarities, I think that one of the most striking parallels is the extent to which K-pop artists – often called idols – and competitors as well a large amount of non-competitors within fitness/bodybuilding are willing to go to succeed. The types of training within these two fields are of course very different from each other: dancing, singing, social etiquette and language practice are not being part of bodybuilding and fitness, whereas hypertrophy training and particular posing routines are not being part of K-pop. Additionally, the amount of training in total is not the same since K-pop artists train much more and more diligently than fitness athletes and bodybuilders.
Moreoever, K-pop performers are mostly educated and trained from an early age within the frames of their entertainment agencies’ talent systems, whereas bodybuilders and fitness athletes tend to start while they are teenagers or young adults and mainly as mere amateurs before they eventuallty become some kind of professional and then can make a living out of it. And within both categories, one is expected to smile most of the time, especially in a stage setting. The analogy between these two categories is perhaps harder to imagine with regard to heavy-weight bodybuilding, such as the Mr. Olympia, but easier in relationship to fitness and Men’s Physique. ‘A total package’ – and oft-repeated phrase within fitness – implies good looks and an overall appealing presence.
Another parallel that I can come to think of is the far-reaching changes of outer appearances by means of various ‘unnatural’ – besides ‘natural’ ones such as the conventional training and dieting patterns – measures: in K-pop plastic surgery and cosmetics, and in bodybuilding and fitness, the frequent and widespread use of anabolic steroids. Perhaps Brazilian butt lift and breast implants are used by females within both K-pop and Bikini Fitness but these are much more widespread within the latter domain, whereas alteration of facial features is the main route within the South Korean entertainment industry (and in fact, the South Korean society in general).
There are of course some ‘naturals’ within in K-pop that do not require any double eyelid and/or nose surgery, as there are some professionals in fitness modelling, Men’s Physique and even bodybuilding classes that do not use so called performance-enhancing drugs. And needless to say, not everyone uses either plastic surgery or anabolic steroids to the same degree and extent, and there is also a quite broad spectrum of different mixtures and components that may be utilized. In this respect, there is also an interesting difference in that sense that plastic surgery is completely legal and vastly promoted in public, particularly in Seoul, while anabolic steroids are illegal and banned from sports of all kind.
Further, another analogy is the visual extremes in terms of perfection – not just in relationship to training and dieting – but also regarding stage presence and performance. While among people in general, a large share may often tend to think that good are well enough for themselves, their friends and families and what they achieve, in K-pop, as in professional fitness, bodybuilding, and Men’s Physique there is virtually no limit to how perfect, ripped and/or big a group or individual and their performances should become. Just look at acts such as TVXQ, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, EXO, and GOT7 among many other; and then at Men’s Physique competitors and fitness models such as Jeremy Buendia, Sadik Hadzovic, Jeff Seid and Sergi Constance to mention just a few. Of course, people’s tastes may differ but the ideals of perfection are rougly the same. Just good is definitely not good enough.
Spectators and audiences of K-pop on one hand, and bodybuilding, Men’s Physique and (Bikini or Figure) fitness on the other, may be stunned by the skills and perfection – and sometimes, in a seemingly contradictory and implicitly resentful fashion – wish for some balance and slack to it; but still want more and complain if they find flaws after scrutiny of the individuals who are blessed to act as the stars in their respective orbit. And this is also the case with the global fitness industry’s main marketing tool and, at least indirectly, primary consumer platform: social media, and its innumerable amounts of pictures that paint the individual strivings for quasi-perfection, also among millions of amateurs.
The South Korean male group Super Junior celebrate their ten years anniversary at November 6 this year.
Most members are now between 28-32 years old, and over the years the group setting has shifted between eight to as much as thirteen active members depending on various circumstances, such as contract disputes and mandatory military services. The Canadian Henry Lau (1989-) – whose parents are from Hong Kong and Taiwan – is however only a part of the Mandarin-singing sub-unit Super Junior-M and during the last years he has mainly focused on his career as a solo k-pop artist. There is also another member of Super Junior-M, Zhou Mi (1986-) – born and raised in China – who is not a part of the regular SuJu setting, and Han Geng (1984-), also from China, is not a part of neither the main group, nor Super Junior-M, any longer.
Since the group – in tandem with their management company, S.M. Entertainment, which has founded the group and does generally decide its current sound and image – has released a vast amount of material over their active years (especially if one adds all the different sub-units such as Super Junior-K.R.Y., Super Junior-M, Super Junior-H, and Super Junior-T), it might be relevant to pick the ten best SuJu music videos in order to get a decent overview.
As the chronological selection below indicates, I am personally speaking more into the more catchy electronic dance music than ballads and R&B songs. Some of the more rap/rock-oriented stuff, such as the Triple 8 song ‘Twins’, and ‘Don’t don’ – which was produced and released when the group’s name was Super Junior 05 – does also appeal to my taste, and perhaps because these songs remind of bands like Faith no more and other hybrid acts of the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, if I could only pick one absolute favorite in has to be ‘Bonamana’ (2010), which is still a fantastic song and MV. Note that ‘Super Girl’ (Korean version) is part of the sub-unit Super Junior-M, and hence this song and MV is also released in Mandarin.
Super Junior has definitely been a part of the recycling of different music genres and sub-genres among pop groups – a phenomenon that has become fashionable over the last years – while at the same time has been in the forefront of new music and fashion trends. Generally speaking, girls like SuJu more than guys do, but from a male perspective it may be quite inspiring to look into the fashion styles and demeanors; so if one has planned to go and shop anytime soon it is relevant to check out some of the MVs.
The seventh album, Mamacita (2014), is largely adjusted to the Latin American markets, such as Mexico, which is a consequence of these markets’ relative size and commercial significance and the group’s large popularity in this region.
Det sydkoreanska pojkbandet Super Junior – som under åren har växlat mellan att ha åtta till 13 aktiva medlemmar, beroende på en mängd orsaker, till exempel obligatorisk militärtjänstgöring – firar sitt tioårsjubileum den sjätte november i år. De flesta medlemmar är nu omkring 28-32 år gamla, men Henry Lau (1989-), som är född i Kanada av hongkongesiska och taiwanesiska föräldrar, och Zhou Mi (1986-), född i Kina, är enbart medlemmar i Super Junior-M. Han Geng (1984-) – även han från Kina – är inte längre medlem över huvud taget.
Eftersom denna grupp, i direkt anslutning till managementbolaget S.M. Entertainment, har släppt en stor mängd material under sin livstid, kan det vara relevant att lyfta fram de, enligt mig, tio bästa musikvideorna och låtarna. Jag har lagt upp dem i kronologisk ordning nedan.
Det som dominerar mitt urval är gruppens mer elektropop-aktiga material från 2009-2012, men även vissa rap/rock-låtar som Triple-8-covern “Twins”, och “Don’t don”, finns också med på listan. Noterbart är att samtliga låtar är på koreanska, men gruppen har lanserat material även på japanska (Super Junior K.R.Y.) och kinesiska (Super Junior-M), och i enstaka fall även på engelska. Om jag bara fick välja en enda video och sång skulle det bli “Bonamana” (2010), som fortfarande är en lika fenomenal dansuppvisning.
Super Junior är ett typexempel på fenomenet då popgrupper återvinner äldre musik- och modetrender, samtidigt som de är med och bidrar till nya sådana. Man kan även nämna den innehållsanpassning som har skett i och med det näst senaste fullängdsalbumet, Mamacita (2014), som troligen är en direkt följd av att gruppen är mycket populär i delar av Latinamerika, till exempel Mexiko. Det innebär att k-pop vidgas från de östasiatiska musikmarknaderna till andra sammanhang.
