Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Asians love theme restaurants, and Mongolians are no exception. I’m not sure how it compares to Tokyo’s bikini girls in gundam suits, but this is still intriguing… Anand Erdenebileg spotted this in Ulaanbaatar. A new Korean restaurant that kept the old facade, but stuck a brand new meme on the roof. Do they loop PSY’s one international hit from open to close? Do they offer private dining in a sauna? Do they “horse dance” when they bring the tab? I’m tempted to find out.
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Although it’s challenging to say that anything at Coachella could be considered ground breaking (especially considering this year’s lineups of reunions vs. new discoveries) it seems that Hologram Tupac may have led the way for the future of K-pop. The Korea Times reports that SM Entertainment, home to some of today’s most popular idol groups, are seriously considering investing in holographic theatres that would offer “concerts” of their top acts. As their story points out, they had to use a hologram Tupac at Coachella, because he’s DEAD. According to The Korea Times, SM Entertainment has been wanting to do this for a while, and after they pulled off a successful holographic Girls Generation concert, their passion for 1980s futurism was re-ignited. Just imagine how AWESOME it would be to be able to pay to go to a holographic concert, watch the whole thing through your Galaxy s3 screen (wriggling through the crowd of people in front of you with their giant phones blocking your view) while you record the show to post on your tumblr on the subway ride back home to your parents house. The future is bright for groups like Girls Generation and steady hitter, BoA. At least they get to have boyfriends and be “themselves” in real life, unlike their J-pop counterparts, AKB48. GR Familia, Anne Ishii wrote a brilliant piece about the weirdness of AKB48′s idol reality. It’s like K-pop is Jem and the Holograms, and J-pop is the Misfits – seriously, like with the evil manager, and the orphanage, and the holograms, and the Misfits always having hard times but better outfits… Everything we thought was only a cartoon futuristic techno fantasy is our now.
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There is much to say about the phenomenon of K-Pop. In a female band, the performers appear to be more R and B, American style, and yes, they do stand a chance of breaking the US Market. Their counterparts, J-Pop resides in it’s own world and has so far failed any English speaking entry. K-Pop, they’ll do it as well as anyone in the world and in that style. (Reuters – K Pop)
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“Two years ago, one of its most successful groups, Dong Bang Shin Ki, took its management company to court, on the grounds that their 13-year-contract was too long, too restrictive.” The music is really fun, very danceable, and the young boy or girl singers are really cut, have great moves, and some have amazing voices. Yup, Korean pop, or K-Pop, is fun to hear, fun to watch, and is really starting to find a fan base outside of South Korea and Japan. But behind those happy singing young faces apparently lurks a music management machine that does not have a track record for always treating the talent very well. Seems that many K-Pop acts are subjected to very restrictive contracts which are not very financially rewarding for the performers and instead focus on ensuring singing coaches, choreographers, wardrobe specialists and other management expenses are paid before band members ever see a check. Sure, this overall scenario sounds similar to stories we’ve all heard about exploitative music managers in Motown and Hollywood. But in Korea it seems to be aggravated by the youth of the performers and a general cultural distaste for aggressive and fair negotiations. K-Pop is sure fun and definitely growing in “pop”-ularity, so here’s hoping this young industry can get past these unpleasant internal growing pains. (JYJ3 Official Website – K-Pop Industry Woes)
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