Whatever idols sing becomes a hit

[fuuism.livejournal.com]

Idol groups, for the most part, possess absolute sovereignty over the Korean music industry. This has been proven by the rate at which songs by idol groups often reach #1 only hours (even minutes) after release, and by the duration at which these songs remain at the top, impervious to outside competitors who attempt to thwart their position.

However, what is more remarkable is that idol groups not only influence the pop market with their own music, but the international songs that they introduce to the public through TV programs or radio shows.

Last December, Karina Pasian’s song Slow Motion, which was released in 2008, rose to #1 on the music charts due to the collaborative effort of 2AM’s Jo Kwon and 2NE1’s Bom. In MBC Quiz to Change the World, Jo Kwon played a piano version, and on KBS 2TV Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook, the 2AM leader sang Slow Motion live.

Bom also promoted Slow Motion during an episode of Mnet 2NE1 TV, wherein she said, “Whenever I’m sad, I listen to this song.” Following her seemingly trivial commentary, the song skyrocketed on music charts as viewers searched for the song and took a liking to it as well. Likewise, Rihanna’s Take a Bow found its way to #1 on music charts after 2NE1 was captured rehearsing the song on camera.

A song by American singer/songwriter Jason Mraz climbed up to the top spot through an indirect promotion by CNBLUE’s Jung Yonghwa. On MBC Radio Star, the CNBLUE leader sang Jason Mraz’s Geek in the Pink, which was released in 2006, live. After the broadcasting, ‘Jason Mraz’ and ‘Geek in the Pink’ became the top searches on portal sites while the actual song swept real-time music charts for the first time in four years.

From the perspective of both parties involved, it is a win-win situation for everyone. While idol stars are able showcase versatility and vocal talent that may have otherwise gone unrecognized before, international stars experience an unexpected growth in popularity without the intention of doing so.

A Universal Music representative that is responsible for the distribution of pop songs said, “The idol sensation cannot be ignored. The reason for the expansion of pop market is owed to them.”

And it shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

S: Newsen, AKP

Comments

[trifletuesday.livejournal.com]

The idol sensation cannot be ignored. And it shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

I'd say they're set for world domination.

[caro1az.livejournal.com]

MTE... Korean fandoms are a force to behold... and to be freakishly scared of...

[aho-monky.livejournal.com]

someone needs to sing something incredibly stupid and see if it goes up to #1

[stopthedisco.livejournal.com]

Did "Mazeltov" ever get to #1 then?

[kioko-u.livejournal.com]

Well thats kinda true. If my idols mention any songs, I'd immediately go and check out too, and try to understand why they like a particular song so much. Like last time CN Blue sing "Wherever You will Go" so beautifully, I went to download the actual song too ^^ (cant believe I never heard that before though...)

[pastelnotes.livejournal.com]

I'm guilty of this XD; Because of "Juliette", I have "Deal with it" in my Ipod. Same goes to "Love like Oxygen" and "Show the World". I still have many other songs, but this is just to name a few.

[papertownz.livejournal.com]

lol yes to "show the world".

[sparklop.livejournal.com]

When I see SHINee dancing in their Juliette outfits in America, I'll say they've achieved the domination of pop markets

[neyoismad.livejournal.com]

How about 4minute's "Milkshake"? Did it have the same effect?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

LOL IRL

[evil-zucchini.livejournal.com]

me too.

[audiobebop.livejournal.com]

I discovered Karina's "Slow Motion" cause Junsu sang it in an interview and said, "The girl that can sing this I'd fall in love with." or something to that extent haha.

On a side note, I was stoked when I found out Karina was Dominican XD

[jyurian21.livejournal.com]

Whaaaaaaaaat? she's dominican? OMG yay for more people from the Dominican Republic \o/

[teliaia.livejournal.com]

Does any song that doesn't suffer from repetition ever make it #1

[x-urbia.livejournal.com]

When 2pm+SNSD did that Mary J Blige song (I think it was called With or without you?), I couldn't stop playing it for days.

Jjong+Onew did an awesome cover of Because of You.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

wait whattt? when did this happen???? I love without you

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

It makes me happy that K-Idols like Jason Mraz. They've only played/sung three that I know of; I'm Yours, Lucky (feat. Colbie Caillat) and Geek in the Pink, but that's enough for me--the latter two are my favourite two of his. Jason Mraz in my K-Pop always makes me happy.

[thevignette.livejournal.com]

Who sang lucky! I'd love to check it out :)

[curls975.livejournal.com]

but cant this be said for just about any song that gets national exposure.

take that dirty vegas song "Days Go By" on that car commerical or just about any song that is played on AI or SYTYCD. not all will go to number 1 but even BoA's song was on the front page of the search shortly after that one contestant danced for 30 seconds to "Did Ya" at which point i knew her marketing team was shit cause that was the perfect avenue for her to promote along side her forever 21 spot *sigh*

place a song in a popular show or have a popular person mention it and everyone that follows them will be intrigued.

[meccamputech.livejournal.com]

lol isn't it sad that 30sec solo did more promo for boa in the us than sme did the whole time she was here?

[queefing.livejournal.com]

Thats sad.

[herro-kitty.livejournal.com]

I search for songs that play in variety shows too ahah some of them are Korean though like DJ Doc's Run to you XD

[jyurian21.livejournal.com]

Also, wow people are actually hating on others for discovering music through idols? Not everyone follows every artist out there, if they just happen to discover songs through their idols and love it, what's wrong with it? :]

[curls975.livejournal.com]

i think its more the "oppa says its good so i shall like it" variety that people are not jiving to.


like in that one cyworld post on sj-world where donghae was fanboying over the new 2AM song, comments like "i will have to like this song now because donghae oppa says its good. ^_^"

[lesth.livejournal.com]

Recently I really felt like entertainments were tasting the fans: that's the first thought I had, hearing ring ding dong, although now I live this music crazily. They can sell anything with the right faces.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

Bitches need some variation. It's all idolidolidolidolidolidolidolidolidolidolidol when there are plenty of fucking good artists in Sudkorea which don't fall under that category and aren't "idol bands" comme CN Bleu and L'Isle FT.

[aunts.livejournal.com]

Lol so guilty of this it isn't even funny. I especially like the music they use during dance battles. I had a newfound love for 'Circus' and 'The Boogie That Be' after seeing SNSD dance to them last year. ;)

[yumi-maki.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to agree on Circus. I listened to it before that and thought it was terrible but after that dance battle performance, I gave it another listen and thought that it was really good.

[steeele.livejournal.com]

Lol @ people boohoo-ing at the underexposure of other K artists. It's like that everywhere. Honestly, I think I got into KPop because of the idol worship. It's fun.

[mangobubbletea.livejournal.com]

i'm glad karina's been getting more exposure because of this- love that girl to death :')

[papertownz.livejournal.com]

she's pretty amazing. *___*
discovered her thanks to junsu xD

[itangeisha.livejournal.com]

It sounds like korean don't know international artists if their idols don't cover them.. but Pussycat dolls made a concert, and Gaga at Mnet have shown smthg.
OHAI baby fans, your idols wouldn't be that big if they didn't have their influence~~

[loversflyinfree.livejournal.com]

I have to admit...... I did not listen to Geek in the Pink til Yonghwa covered it l:
I'm sorry.

[cookiers.livejournal.com]

Usually it's songs I like already that SJ covers / recommends xDD
Seeing Donghae/Henry cover I'm Yours made my week when it came out lol, also 2AM's song which I was in the process of starting to adore exploded up my awesome meter when Donghae put it as his bgm xDD

[beebz-x.livejournal.com]

Everyone singing Slow Motion was annoying.