▲This photo, provided by Hybe label Japan, shows group &TEAM. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows group JO1. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows groupNiziU. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲This photo, provided by SM Entertainment, shows group WayV. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, December 11 (Yonha[) -- Major Korean entertainment companies are introducing localized idol groups consisting of the country's nationalities as "next-generation idols" as K-pop enjoys global popularity.

These groups combined with the know-how of fostering Korean idols, are expected to play a role in further expanding the base of the Korean pop culture industry.

On the other hand, some K-pop fans are questioning if they can be considered as K-pop.

Hybe Music, which has groups BTS and Seventeen, introduced their rookie boy group &TEAM on December through Hybe Labels Japan, a local corporation.

&Team is a nine-member group created with five people selected from the audition program "&AUDITION-The Howling" broadcasted in Japan and four people from the audition program "I-LAND" aired in Korea in 2020.

Seven people out of the nine members are Japanese and one is Taiwanese, making up the majority of foreigners. There is only one Korean leader, EJ (real name Byun Eui-joo), in this group.

&Team showed an successful start as their newly released album topped the Japan Oricon chart as soon as they released, and ITunes "Top album" chart.

Big Korean entertainment agencies have been announcing localized groups like these for several years.

Starting with SM's debut of the Chinese unit WayV of the group NCT in 2019, JYP Japanese girl group NiziU (2020) and CJ ENM Japanese boy groups JO1 (2020) and INI (2021) who were produced as a series of "Produce 101 Japan" met local fans one after another.

CJ ENM crossed the high threshold of the Japanese market by broadcasting the Japanese version of the hit "Produce 101" series in Korea and establishing a joint venture "LAPONE" with Yoshimoto Entertainment, a leading local entertainment agency.

In addition to popular K-pop girl groups such as TWICE, IVE, and LE SSERAFIM, rookies such as NiziU, and JO1 were also included in NHK's "69th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen," which is considered a "dream year-end stage" in Japan.

Lim Heui-seok, head of CJ ENM's music IP business division in charge of JO1 and INI, said, "It is competitive to pursue differentiation from existing Japanese groups such as music genre, synchronized group performance, and stylish styling, which can be called K-pop DNA."

In addition, Hybe is preparing to dscover a female group that will play an active role in the global market in partnership with Geffen Records under Universal Music Group.

◇K-pop Hallyu 3.0 begins... "Diversifying portfolio to respond to trend changes"

The music industry believes that Korean agencies have entered the so-called "Hallyu 3.0" era, in which they directly target overseas markets with their know-how accumulated over the past 20 years.

Earlier, Lee Soo-man, the executive producer of SM Entertainment suggested the so-called "three-step theory" that Korean Wave should be localized in three stages: creating a joint venture with a local company and transferring Korea's "Culture Technology" through the first stage of exporting Korean Wave cultural products and the second stage of recruiting foreign members.

In an interview with CNBC Asia last month, the executive producer also preached his theory, saying, "As NCT is created all around the world, it is CT if you create content that can be enjoyed together while networking around the world."

It also has the advantage that localization groups, which are on track for now, can engage in overseas activities more stably than Korean groups who waste every minute and second of their time traveling abroad.

In a conference call last month, Park Ji-won, CEO of Hybe, pointed out, "With a diversified artist portfolio, we can avoid focusing on specific countries and flexibly respond to changing trends to reduce risks."

CEO Park also mentioned in the shareholder letter in October, "As it is a challenge for a large market, successful localization can create a greater influence in the mainstream music market."

◇ Vague colors are "weakness"..."hybrid is the identity, and let's be open minded."

However, criticisms are made that a vague identity is a weakness, making it hard to finalize whether these groups are K-pop or J-pop and C-pop.

Although these groups call BTS or TWICE their "seniors," it is whether these groups working in their own countries can be included in the category of K-pop in local languages.

In particular, in case the public sentiment between Korea and Japan deteriorates, there is a concern that such a problem will be revealed on the surface.

In fact, WayV was criticized by some audience for singing in Chinese on a Korean terrestrial music program in 2020. It is pointed out that Korean singers are blocked from entering the Chinese market due to the Korean law, and it is appropriate to sing Chinese songs, not even the Korean version, on terrestrial programs.

In response, most localized groups avoid answering questions immediately when asked about their identity or come up with the safest answer saying, "Our own pop, not K-pop or J-pop."

There are comments in contents related localized groups saying, "J-pop who copied Korean style" and "Japanese idol who is doing K-pop."

An official from the music industry said, "K-pop has also been influenced by mainland U.S. pop, and the genre characteristics of K-pop are now defined one by one," adding, "If (localized group) has the attributes of K-pop, it can be seen as K-pop."

"These groups have difficulty revealing their identity, but I think the hybridity is an important identity," he said. "Cultural exchanges in the global market become difficult if they are seen in a negative way, ." "We need to look at them with an open mind," he stressed.


(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)


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