More info on that Hollywood produced kpop girl group

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

(Read here the previous article on topic.)



With numerous local bands and soloists waiting in line to become the next big thing in the United States, a U.S.-based entertainment agency and its head is thinking outside the box and planning to do it backwards.

"The fact that many Asian entertainment companies have been coming to the U.S. to buy music and work with U.S. producers has given us the desire to reverse the trend and create a group from Hollywood and send them to Korea to cater to the music industry out there," Stephen Um from West Side Entertainment told The Korea Times.

Um started working in Hollywood from the early 2000s and realized that there was no Asian presence in the U.S. music industry. While working with various figures in Hollywood, including producer Cudda Love who nurtured stars such as Nelly, he found that he could start using his experience and expertise to help Asian entertainers. Thus, Um and the agency have begun working on creating a girl band in the U.S. The five-member group will consist of two Korean Americans, two Koreans and one Korean-Japanese.

"The biggest priority in choosing the right members is that they need to know the Korean language and culture. Since our activities will be in Korea, our group members will need to respect the people and communicate with them efficiently,"



Moving to the U.S. has become contagious over the years in Korea. Local agencies have either moved or sent their singers stateside, but this has proved to be a very difficult and time-consuming ordeal, let alone expensive.

With the exception of Rain, who won the Biggest Badass Star at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards for his acting, not singing, most got the cold shoulder, with the local press giving them the wrong kind of media exposure and even posting photos randomly taken at parties. Fundamentally, it was hard to determine if they were actually paying attention to their music, their fashion, collaborating artists or Asian ethnicity.

"The biggest problem we saw was that the recent wave of Korean singers' U.S. management partners didn't handle their management affairs properly and that the singers were not able to communicate clearly to the American masses due to the language barrier. Fans here in the U.S. want to make their stars personal to them. They want them to be their role models or even boy or girl friends in their minds," Um analyzed.

"In any market, a singer must have decent vocal strengths and have looks that are marketable. In America, fans are more focused on vocal talent and distinct personality. However, it seems that in Korea, even with talented vocal strength, people seemed to be more impressed by a singer's or group's visual style and catchy dance routines. Consequently, our group will be designed to focus on these attributes in Korea as well," he added.

Um's observation is not new. Such problems have been noticed by music critics, industry experts and even fans, and the language barrier has always been an obstacle. But, according to Um, it's not impossible to overcome.

"The more the Asian artists can open up and communicate what is in their hearts and minds more clearly and conduct more detailed interviews and be on live shows, they can win over more U.S.-based fans' hearts and minds as well."

The agency will hold an audition in September in Korea and the exact date, location and time will be announced shortly through media outlets.

"We are looking for girls who can turn heads with their looks and also melt hearts with their voices. From our experience in America, we know that this dream will not be easily achieved so we look toward working with girls who can grind it out, stay focused, and give it their best to make the fans happy," Um said.

The goal is set, auditions to be scheduled and hopes are high.
"The final goal for the group is to be embraced by all Asian fans in the next three to five years so that we can bring the group back here to the U.S. and hopefully make them one of the first successful Asian groups to be established here in the mainstream U.S. music industry."

Source: The Korea Times

Comments

[ssehun.livejournal.com]

Um, not sure if want :O

[bulleusekat.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna rant but .. really ?
"desire to reverse the trend and create a group from Hollywood and send them to Korea to cater to the music industry out there,"

The trend has just begun... I don't want a Hollywood prod in my Kpop !

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

this
Like hollywood is a mecca for music artist.

[shiawaseiro.livejournal.com]

Sounds pretty cool to me! Can't wait to see whether and how they'll be different from Korean-produced groups.

[xradiostatic.livejournal.com]

hmm this sounds quite interesting. i'm curious to see how this works out.

[koushiba.livejournal.com]

I hope it goes well but at the same time.... There's so many girl groups already... I'm getting tired of it >.>

[dalpaengee.livejournal.com]

if you think about it, though, there's just as many boy groups (and maybe even more). it's arguable about popularity, but i'd say there are a few that a really popular and few that have moderate popularity of each gender:

boys: suju, dbsk, big bang, mblaq, beast, 2pm, 2am, z:ea, u-kiss, shinee, epik high, ss501, supernova, ft island
girls: snsd, wonder girls, 4minute, 2ne1, t-ara, secret, after school, sistar, kara, seeya, jewelry, rainbow, ham, f(x)

and i'm probably even forgetting some, but at that count, there are 14 boy groups and 14 girl groups that have been active in the past year or so that have tags on onoma

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

this feels dirty.

[platinumpair.livejournal.com]

Pretty curious to see how this will work out. It isn't going to be easy.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

This will probably be the last time we hear about them

[bloods-rose.livejournal.com]

kmusic market is just much smaller compared to US and JP. The US has the biggest music industry and Japan has the second largest, hence why korean artists are eventually sent to Japan as there is more money to be made there and probably why they are so eager to make korean stars succesful in the US, even more money still

[corrakun.livejournal.com]

i don't understand. are they creating a korean group in america that's fluent in korean and debuting them in korea to build a korean fanbase so that after a few years they can uproot them from korea to america in order to create an asian presence in the american music industry?

[light-lee.livejournal.com]

basically

[niara-honey.livejournal.com]

All I can think of is West Side Story.

[diamondbox.livejournal.com]

i just watched that again last night!

[midnightcolor.livejournal.com]

i don't know about this :/

[inudela.livejournal.com]

not sure i want.

[omonaki.livejournal.com]

Still sorta confused as to why they're doing this, but if the group actually turns out good.. Yay?
Is this the first time a company is creating a group in their own country but is planning to market solely in a different country?

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

However, it seems that in Korea, even with talented vocal strength, people seemed to be more impressed by a singer's or group's visual style and catchy dance routines. Consequently, our group will be designed to focus on these attributes in Korea as well,

mte. half of the new stuff there's going on in kpop isn't really worth listening to because they try so hard to cater to that kind of audience.

[underhand-glory.livejournal.com]

this is fucked up in so many ways...

[bluebandit77.livejournal.com]

i hope this works..idk though..i'm kinda nervous

[mskatness.livejournal.com]

lol, this is such a bad idea

[luvey.livejournal.com]

it makes me chuckle a bit with comments like "don't want Hollywood in my Kpop" when it kinda already is...just a few years back.

seeing how k entertainment companies have been stacking their new idol groups with multi languaged boys/girls AND seeking songs and producers outside of Korea, it could work. (you can see that the companies are looking at the future for expanding outside of Korea. it could be refreshing and push the notch of K pop up a bit. example Suju and SNSD. they changed their sound and picked up a few (including myself non asian) new fans.

JYP is smart in that he hooked up with mega giant Disney for the Wonder Girls when they debuted here. but now...he's gonna have to find a way to keep it fresh and bring in more fans outside of Asian Americans to get the girls more radio play. And he's even smarter with this tour to pull in the 2pm boys (such smexiness).

gonna be interesting to see what develops on both fronts. (i'm just dying for SuJu to hit the east coast...although i have a feeling that won't ever happen)

[luvey.livejournal.com]

oops i meant doing the reverse - an American Korean groups entering the K Pop scene could be refreshing and push the notch of K pop up a bit.

[merely-a-facade.livejournal.com]

Wait up, are they straight up stupid? Just look at the currency people!

[babunattack.livejournal.com]

Uh...

[maple88.livejournal.com]

OT but Janelle Monae is awesome.

[sballet06.livejournal.com]

Seems like an interesting idea to me. Guess I'll just wait and see what happens

[kawaiiairbender.livejournal.com]

good luck, I hope they do well. and if they do well I hope I like them.

[ahmtal.livejournal.com]

this.

[brassbikini.livejournal.com]

Holy running in circles, Batman.

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

meh whatever. in the states there's no asian american artist out there, i think that needs to be changed. why bring it to an asian country when you can just develop it here? it's time to make some changes.

[luvey.livejournal.com]

IA that there needs to be some Asian American artists in the states. it kinda made me sad that the Royal Pirates are working on their stuff for Korea than the states.