K-pop’s Global Strategies
Dr. Crystal S. Anderson / George Mason University
In the last few years, K-pop groups have made an unprecedented entrance into the musical mainstream of the United States. Focusing on the current moment, many point to this as definitive proof of K-pop’s global spread. Doing so overlooks the prior development of K-pop, as well as its established spread globally.
While some hail K-pop’s success on American charts as positive proof of its quality and value, others have been skeptical. They question whether K-pop’s popularity has been overblown. Such questions have dogged the music since early attempts to break into the market in the United States. BoA, one of K-pop’s most well-known artists, attempted to break into the American market in 2008 with the English language track “Eat You Up.” The track did not do well. Many characterized it as a failure and viewed it as an example of K-pop’s overhyped potential in the United States. As a result, BoA becomes part of a handful of K-pop artists who attempted to break into the American market before the “real” success of groups like BTS, whose sales and chart performance, according to Tamar Herman, “propelled them upward on Billboard charts when others failed due to linguistic, societal and geographic barriers.”
However, placing the United States at the most significant destination for K-pop skews our understanding of K-pop’s global spread. BoA’s American debut came 8 years after her Korean debut. During this time and after, her music matures over the course of a decades-long career. Her 2003 album, Atlantis Princess, encapsulates what many think of when they think of K-pop: upbeat pop music. Of the title track, one reviewer noted: “The song is addictive. . . . It’s cute, it’s catchy, it’s something you can dance to using cute dance routines. . . . BoA’s voice is clear, she sings with an energy that is passionate and happy and it truly sounds like she’s having a good time.”
By 2010, BoA emerged with a different sound and look with her Hurricane Venus album. One reviewer appreciated the development of her sound and image: “She had, after all, been the reigning teenage queen of K-pop for several years, and her fans were expecting no less than a full-fledged pickup from where she left off. . . . Rather than asserting a cohesive artistic identity (which K-pop artists seldom do anyway), the album comes off as a mixtape, a compilation of great songs from various genres.” This album represented a departure from her usual sound by using a greater variety of music genres. The music video for the title track echoes this shift, which shoes BoA with more edgy styling, a dark backdrop and more aggressive choreography.
This trend continues, in 2018 when BoA released the single “Woman,” the title track from her album of the same name. Here, BoA continues to reshape her music and her image. A long-time reviewer of K-pop music understands this release within the context of her long career: “It’s easy to take charisma like BoA’s for granted. She’s been performing for most of modern K-pop’s existence, and the energy she’s able to conjure seems almost effortless. I think a lot of fans forget just how important a presence she is.” Another reviewer points out the confidence the song exudes, which differs from the poppy nature of her early work: “‘Woman’ knows how to make an impression. The absolutely filthy bass line arrives next, introduced by the oft repeated ‘woman’ sample that makes its first appearance. These elements together create a stunning opening few seconds, buoyed by a production that knows how to elicit the most from each of its elements to create an excellent listening experience.” The music video complemented the confident message of the track: “BoA serves up the slick, top-notch choreography with the kind of effortless cool only she can deliver nearly twenty years deep into her career.” This brief retrospective of BoA’s career not only provides an alternative to how she is characterized within an American context, a context that ignores her development as an artist outside of the United States.
This tendency to focus K-pop artists’ early failure in the American market also overlooks its impact in the Japanese market, placing scrutiny on the artists and their failure rather than on the American music industry and its less-than-stellar experience with foreign music. BoA and the management at her label, SM Entertainment, view her forays into the American and Japanese market very differently. On the retrospective on BoA’s 20-year career, Nobody Talks to BoA, BoA and founder of SM Entertainment Lee Soo-man admit that they tried to enter into the American market too early. It was clear that the United States was not ready for K-pop in the mainstream, although K-pop did enjoy a vibrant subculture active enough to support “family concerts” like SM Town at Madison Square Garden in 2011.
They turned their attention to Japan, the second largest music market in the world. While Western female pop performers of the time, like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, were popular in other countries, BoA’s popularity came from immersing herself in Japanese culture, learning the language and releasing entire albums in Japanese. By 2008, she has released six Japanese albums.
By doing so, she introduced a different musical sensibility using the context of the local culture. Her 2002 album, No. 1, reflects what a Japanese newspaper describes as “her brand of R&B-tinged pop.” While her promotional track, taken from the album’s title, reflects much of female pop at the time, the album also contains much of the range in genres that SM Entertainment had developed as a standard for their artists. While “No. 1” is a Japanese version of the Korean song, BoA would raise the bar by going on to record an entirely distinct discography in Japanese over the course of her career. She established the practice of recording Korean music in the language of the market, which suggests that this is a long-term strategy rather than the occasional single. Moreover, the promotional strategy included the development of an entire marketing and promotion apparatus in Japan. SM Entertainment partnered with Avex Trax for distribution of music of its artists in Japan.
BoA’s Japanese career represents the success of K-pop’s global strategies in a foreign music market. Her success made it possible for her labelmates and other K-pop artists to establish a long-term presence in Japan.
BoA is often hailed as the Queen of K-pop with good reason. Lee Soo-man credited her with saving SM Entertainment through her successful career in Japan as a K-pop artist. Her longevity in the Korean music industry is unparalleled. More importantly, her career shows how centering success in the American market can skew our understanding of K-pop’s global spread.
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