Perhaps ninety-nine percent of the K-pop songs we hear today (as opposed to popular Korean music of the early 21st century), there is some amount of English mixed into the Korean lyrics. Korea attempts to transform mainstream music from a form of authentic Korean culture to a hybridization of East meets West. The recent change … Continue reading Ailee as an Example of Attempting to Hybridize K-Pop
In Eun-Young Jung’s article, “K-pop idols, social media, and the remaking of the Korean Wave”, he accredits the extensive social media for allowing Hallyu K-pop culture to be popular worldwide (Jung 2015: 83). As mentioned in the article, in the past the spread of K-pop and Hallyu was very limited to neighboring Asian countries, and … Continue reading Social media as a critical tool in shaping an idol’s popularity
Television singing competitions have become widespread following the success of American Idol and have created a new path for becoming a professional musician (Cho et al 2018: 3). This paper will discuss how a key factor of Ailee’s success resulted from her participation in singing competitions. In competitions, aspiring musicians show off their potential talents … Continue reading Ailee’s Career Through Television Singing Competitions
K-Pop idols are often seen as the perfect role models to the public. The fans’ demand for perfection is often followed by negative backlash when there is a transgression that conflicts with their expectations of the artist (Shin 2015, 135). Ailee’s photo scandal in 2013 is an example of this statement by Shin. A scandal … Continue reading Ailee and Spectatorship
Popular culture has greatly influenced how we perceive the regions of South Korea (hereafter Korea) and East Asia; one way is through the dissemination and consumption of popular cultural products. However, because popular culture is vast and constantly changing due to social and cultural influences, I argue that we should use more reliable factors to … Continue reading Popular Culture and Region-Making
AILEE 