The vampire/goth edition of K-pop

This one entry is dedicated to Simon Bacon and Eva Gledhill, two world-renowned British researchers with a penchant for vampires, monsters and all things gothic. I met Simon and Eva at the third "Celebrity: Exploring Critical Issues" at Mansfield College, Oxford, UK, in July 2014.

Below are a selection of K-pop videos from 2000-2015 that have a dark theme. In the videos, the dark theme is used in a myriad of ways, from a mere cliche (as in Taeyang's "I'll Be There"), a symbol of lost innocence (in Park Jiyoon's "Adult Ceremony") to a take on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde."

So without further ado...


"Adult Ceremony" by Park Jiyoon (2000)
At the time of the song's release, Jiyoon was only 18 years old (international age.) I have already mentioned in a previous entry that while in most parts of the world she was considered legal at 18, in South Korea she was still pretty much a minor, as the age of consent there was 20 (international age) and it wasn't until 2013 that age of consent was lowered to 19. This should come as no surprise as Jiyoon was under JYP at that time, which is (in)famous for sexualizing minors in a variety of dark themes, which would be seen many years later in Suzy Bae (real name Bae Sooji) of Miss A.


"I'll Be There" by Taeyang (2010)
This mega hit by Big Bang's Taeyang (real name Dong Youngbae) is also available in Japanese and English, but his English pronunciation isn't that clear in the song and I'm not a fan of K-pop songs in Japanese, hence this original Korean version. Find Taeyang's tribute to that iconic scene from "Nosferatu" at 02:01.


"Pray" by Sunny Hill (2011)
A main fixture on the lists of K-pop videos to watch for Halloween, "Pray" was released when Sunny Hill was a co-ed group (it remains the only co-ed group in K-pop history) in 2011. In 2014, Sunny Hill's only male member Kim Janghyun left the group after completing compulsory military service to focus as a producer for the group.


"Touch" by Miss A (2012)
The opening scene still kinda gives me nightmares, more than four years on. Oh, and by the way the album version has a rap break by one of the group's Chinese members, Meng Jia.


"Hyde" by Vixx (2013)
Vixx stands out from the rest of K-pop boy groups for its consistency in the exploration of dark themes. If blood and gore are more your cup of tea, check out "Voodoo." For more loose adaptations of famous gothic literary pieces by the six-piece band, take a look at "Error", which is their take on "Frankenstein."


"V" by Lee Junghyun (2013)
Directed by Park Chanwook, dubbed the Korean Tim Burton, "V" by Lee Junghyun reminds me of "House", a 1977 Japanese slapstick horror movie. I totally dig the vampire brides, and my favourite scene is one starting at 03:38.


"Bad" by Infinite (2015)
What makes this one special is that "Bad" was actually released during summer time, a time when K-pop is bombarded by videos around the theme of beach and pool and skin-revealing outfits (hahah here's looking at you Sistar)! I love how the "Bad" video plays with the mirror theme as much as I love Sunny Hill plays around with the crucifixes in their "Pray" video.

Fellow K-poppers, am I missing anything? Which one do you like best?

The future of K-pop...

This kid was born in 2001. Her name is Ennik Douma (but she goes by her Korean name Jeon Somi), half Canadian and half Korean and part of JYP's "Sixteen", a TV show where 16 girls are put together and eliminated one by one (those who stay will be JYP's next girlband - in other words, the next Miss A.)

We're in the fifth generation of K-pop idols, and to me the sixth generation, those born in 2010 and beyond, is already visible. Rumours have it that JYP has already been eyeing Yerin and Yeseo Park (born in 2010 and 2013 respectively.) There's also another pair of kid uljjang sisters Aleyna and Ilayda Yilmaz, who are half Turkish and half Korean. Then there's Breanna Youn, half Korean and half Filipina, who's arguably the biggest kid uljjang right now. Last but not least, we have Bailey Ann Boehr, who's also half Canadian and half Korean and likely to go by her Korean name Park Gabi. Little Bailey has already walked in the footsteps of f(x)'s Krystal Jung, who starred in Shinhwa's "Wedding March" video in 2000 when she was six years old. Bailey starred in Xia Junsu's music video for "Flower", which was out in March, as seen below.


I guess I don't have to point out at what second exactly Bailey appears...

And those are just a few the of possible future idols. Don't get me started on those celebrity kids on "Superman is Back"...

Also, I see a trend in the near future of K-pop. This year, four mixed blood idols debuted: Samuel Kim of 1Punch (half Korean and half American), Vernon Choi of Seventeen (half American and half Korean), Shannon Williams (half Korean and half British) and Jeon Somi (even though being in a reality show doesn't mean she's officially debuted.) The last time we saw mixed-blood idols debuting was back in 2011 when three half American girls (Juliane Alfieri, Melanie Aurora Lee and Tia Cuevas) debuted in Chocolat. Given the fact that most of the kid uljjangs mentioned earlier are mixed blood, it's very likely that for the first time in its history K-pop will have more mixed-blood idols than ever.

This will be good not only for South Korea's image but also the mentality of Koreans...If you've been living in another planet so far, Koreans are known for not liking mixed-blood people - or any foreigner for that matter. Just ask Yoon Mirae or Lee Michelle...or wonder why Kris Wu, Luhan and Tao (real name Huang Zhitao) of EXO left the group!

Infinite OGS Jakarta short report

So here's my own account of Infinite's One Great Step (OGS) concert in Jakarta, which was held on August 31.

I'm gonna keep it short and focused on the things that grabbed my attention and have staying power.

Before the concert started, I was worried that I wouldn't understand a single thing except the English lyrics of Infinite's songs. OGS was my first K-pop concert and I'd always wanted to go to a K-pop concert (I actually considered going to see Miss A and SM Town when they came to Jakarta), but I never went to one because I was worried I wouldn't be able to sing along. It turned out that Infinite boys spoke to the audience in English and their English was FAR BETTER than expected, although if it was obvious that they practiced their English conversation before the performance. Hoya, the band's frequent "English announcer", particularly impressed me when he said towards the end of the concert, "We have sad news to break to you guys - our concert is coming to an end." For a guy who was often made fun of for his, "We're concept [sic] is unique," and "We're first travel [sic]," this was HELLA IMPRESSIVE.

After which the boys did the "sangat sedih" aegyo. "Sangat sedih" in Indonesian means "very sad."

Did I mention that the boys did more than saying the standard fares "terima kasih", "selamat malam" and "lebih keras"? Get this - they actually managed to talk to each other in Bahasa Indonesia. I don't remember most of their Indonesian conversation (because I was so filled with "fangirl feels"), but I clearly remember Sunggyu saying, "Tadi malam saya tidak bisa tiduru [sic]."

And if you're wondering, yes they did sing "Pelangi." Now that's a standard fare for international musicians having concerts in Indonesia. Needless to say, this was the only song I could sing along to.

And yes, Sungyeol and Sungjong's birthdays were celebrated on stage with a tiered cake that said "Happy birthday Sungyeol & Jong." Hahahahah. How hard was it to add "Sung" before "Jong"?

All this in addition to the performances (or "stages" as the seven princes called it), one word to sum it up: daebak.

Wait, that's an understatement...

What grabbed attention and what is overlooked...

Hey guys! I'm done with my thesis defence, so now I'm officially an M.Sc...which honestly I'm not too excited about. I'm not too happy about my thesis (which is on IRA), as I think it's just skin-deep and could've been deeper. But oh well. My final cumulative GPA isn't out yet. Will let you know you once it's out, whether or not you want to know...

Hokay, it goes without saying that it's not what I wanna talk about. I'm currently crazy about yet another Korean girlband - not a crazy, over-the-top one, mind. They're called Chocolat (funny how the members sometimes refer to themselves as "THE Chocolat" instead of "LE Chocolat"), they've been around since August 2011, but so far they've lost a member (Jae Yoon, the main singer, is reportedly taking a leave because of some health issues) and only released two singles.

It's funny also how they're billed as "South Korea's first multinational girlband" just because three out of four the members are American citizens...Aren't there many Korean bands whose members were born and raised in The US (mostly) and are therefore US citizens? Not to mention Miss A and f(x) that have Chinese members. Oh wait, these three girls are Eurasians. Yes, long-time readers, that's one of the things that drew me to them in the first place.

Now, on to the big (notorious now) name behind Chocolat. I guess by now you've all heard of Jenny Hyun, the writer of Chocolat's recent hit "One More Day" (Hyun once uploaded this song on her MySpace under the title "The Same Thing to Her"), and her major racist tirade on Twitter against black people, triggered by boxer Floyd Mayweather's racsim-laden twits against Jeremy Lin and Manny Pacquiao (read Hyun's rant in detail here). While I know this is nothing compared to the songwriter's (Hyun has also written songs for Girls' Generation) racist rampage, I find something noteworthy in Chocolat's music videos for "Syndrome" and "One More Day." Take a look.



Tia Cuevas (Korean-Puerto Rican) and Melanie Aurora Lee (Korean-German-Italian) get more camera time than the other girls.



Tia gets more camera time than the rest of the girls!

Mild racism, anyone?

Guilty pleasure...

Ok, I admit I have a thing for over the top, ridiculous Korean girlbands! A few months ago I wrote about Orange Caramel, now I've just discovered f(x)! Check them out.


It's impressive how they managed to bring a tank and dye it black and pink...

My favorite is a tie between Krystal Jung, younger sister of Girls' Generation member Jessica and former child model (when she was six, Krystal appeared in Shinhwa's "Wedding March" video), and Amber Liu. Amber Liu is actually an ABC (that's American-born Chinese for those who have just returned from Uranus), and she stands out because, well, she's the boyish one. Amber reminds me of Ella Chen from Taiwanese girlband S.H.E for those who are old enough to remember the early 2000s, except maybe Ella wasn't that boyish if I remember correctly.

I guess it's a current trend in the Korean music industry to recruit Chinese members. Besides Amber Liu, f(x) has another Chinese member, Victoria Song. Another Korean girlband, Miss A, also has two Chinese members, Meng Jia and Wang Feifei.