CASE STUDY Source: SM Entertainment 80 www.seriquarterly.com
Girls Generation and the New Korean Wave AHN Shin-Hyun Introduction On August 14 nine young women went on stage at Summer Sonic 2011, a Tokyo rock festival that regularly hosts global stars like Stevie Wonder, Metallica, and Coldplay, as well as Japan s highest profile musicians. Though Girls Generation 1 are not rock musicians, they nonetheless captivated the audience with their striking black outfits and boots, tight choreography, and energetic singing, proving themselves worthy of sharing the stage with acts like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Suede, and Avril Lavigne. In an interview with CNNGo before they took the stage, Girls Generation member Tiffany revealed the extent of their ambitions by declaring We need to be nine Beyoncé s! 2 In fact, the strong reception for Girls Generation in Tokyo should come as no surprise. Since the group s debut four years ago, it has become a leading force in the New Korean Wave of Korean pop culture that has won over fans in Europe and Asia. Leading the New Korean Wave Success at Home & Abroad Girls Generation is no overnight success. Every member of Girls Generation has undergone rigorous training over three to seven years at S.M. Entertainment, Korea s largest talent agency and its principal star maker. In the case 1 Girls Generation consists of Taeyeon, Tiffany, Sunny, Seohyun, Jessica, Yuri, Yoona, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung 2 Beyoncé performed at the Summer Sonic festival in 2009. of Girls Generation, rumors were already afoot that this new group would be super girls even before they appeared in public. When they released their debut single Into the New World, sporting a wardrobe that ranged from school uniforms to roller skates, Girls Generation became an instant smash hit. The girls were soon making the rounds of Korea s entertainment and reality TV shows as clean cut and energetic teenage stars. In January 2009, after a heavy publicity campaign in Seoul, Girls Generation released Gee, their signature song and their first overseas hit. With its catchy chorus of Gee gee gee gee baby baby, a storyline of innocent adolescent love, as well as sophisticated choreography, and fashionable outfits, the video for Gee caught the attention of fans in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. By August 2011, the video had 50 million views on YouTube. Follow up hits like Genie (2009), Oh! and Run Devil Run (2010), further cemented the status of Girls Generation as Korea s girl supergroup. Figure 1 Regions where Gee received the most views on YouTube (August 2011) More Less October 2011 SERI Quarterly 81
Girls Generation and the New Korean Wave Success in Japan In June 2010, S.M. Entertainment announced that it had signed a contract with Universal Music Japan for sale and promotion of Girls Generation albums in Japan. Two months later, Girls Generation Arrival, a DVD with seven music videos, was released. In its first week, the DVD opened at third on Japan s Oricon weekly music DVD ranking, 3 with sales of 23,000. In the first half of 2011, Girls Generation toured Japan for 14 performances, and then released their first regular album, Girls Generation in June. With sales of 500,000 copies in its first month, Girls Generation became the third double platinum album by a Korean artist in Japan (after BoA and TVXQ) 4. DVD and album sales in the first half of 2011 alone brought in 2.6 billion in Japan. perform Girls Generation dances, S.M. Entertainment decided to arrange a second concert. When performances were attended by 14,000 people, France s media rapidly caught on. French newspaper Le Monde headlined with The Korean pop wave reaches Europe, while Le Figaro chimed in with The Korean Wave storms into the Zenith. In addition to the new interest in Korean singers, S.M. Entertainment has drawn considerable attention as the reigning force in the Korean music industry. In its coverage of Girls Generation, Le Monde included an interview with Kim Young-Min and Lee Soo-Man of S.M. Entertainment. Kim Young-Min discussed S.M. s idol singer training regime. Into the New World Demand for K-pop is spreading beyond Japan and Southeast Asia to include North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. K-pop s expansion is being bolstered by fans sharing and reproducing music videos on Youtube and social networking sites, where its popularity and presence grow daily. At the center of this lies S.M. Entertainment s singers, who could be seen at the S.M. Town Live World Tour in Paris at the Zenith de Paris in June. SMTown Live was a performance of S.M. artists to promote Korean singers in Europe. With only one concert scheduled, all 7,000 tickets were sold in 15 minutes, months in advance. After hundreds of European fans formed flash mobs in front of the Louvre to sing songs and European Fans at the SMTown Live Event in Paris Reports from Le Figaro and Le Monde 3 Oricon Inc. supplies statistics on music and the music industry in Japan. The company s charts track sales of CDs, DVDs and video games. 4 Like Girls Generation, BoA and TVXQ are singers trained by S.M. Entertainment. Source: http://www.facebook.com/smtown/, S.M. Entertainment 82 www.seriquarterly.com
AHN Shin-Hyun Figure 2 Sales and Operating Profits at S.M. (Unit: 100 mil. won) 332-37 Sales Operating profits 435-17 618 Established in 1995, S.M. Entertainment is now Korea s largest firm for young pop music idols. In addition to Girls Generation, the company s current top asset, S.M. Entertainment s roster includes an array of past hit makers like H.O.T., S.E.S., and BoA, and new talents like Super Junior, SHINee, and f(x). With the debut of Girls Generation, S.M. s sales, operating profits, and stock value have soared. Sales surged an annual average of 37.5% from 2007 to 2010 while earnings per share (EPS) skyrocketed from minus 479 in 2007 to plus 266 in 2008 and then to 93 864 2007 2008 2009 2010 Figure 3 Girls Generation Success Factors Diverse image making Systematic production Flexible expression 255 1,342 in 2010, when S.M. singers entered Europe. Success Factors for Girls Generation How has Girls Generation managed to make such an impact? Of course, the main factors in making a star are, as always, singing ability, dancing ability, and looks, and Girls Generation are well supplied with all of the above. Another critical factor, however, is S.M. s unique strategy of providing a complete entertainment package for its groups. Systematic Production Girls Generation s success is a direct result of S.M. Entertainment s unique system for casting, training, producing, and managing promising talent, and its stable of experts in each field. The most important part of this process is seeking out new stars. The company holds weekly open auditions, and receives e-mail/mail applications and referrals. Weekly open auditions are also hosted in the agency s US office in Los Angeles, and auditions have also been held in Malaysia, Thailand, and Kazakhstan. Those who pass the audition process can then expect to undergo years of rigorous training. Would-be singers must learn how to dance and act to improve their ability to express themselves, and enhance their chances of reaching stardom. Trainees are also required to develop skills in foreign languages, songwriting, and music production to ensure that they develop the professionalism and image of a bona fide star. In the case of Girls Generation, all members underwent at least three years of training, with one member undergoing seven years of training beginning at age 12. Producers then form and rearrange members in order to build groups with the October 2011 SERI Quarterly 83
Girls Generation and the New Korean Wave greatest potential for success. Again, in the case of Girls Generation, more than a dozen hopefuls were brought together and tested before the final nine were decided upon. S.M. s content production is also highly systematized, and regularly enlists foreign composers and choreographers to produce music and dance moves that can appeal on a global scale. Korean and foreign composers have worked jointly to produce hit songs like Girls Generation s Hoot, a product of cooperation from songwriters in the UK and Denmark. Diverse Image Making and Flexible Expression S.M. has reinvented the image of its stars to keep them on top of the market. When Girls Generation debuted in 2007, all its members were teenagers, and all songs projected an image of innocent young girlhood (e.g. Into the New World and Honey ). Today, Girls Generation has evolved into a group of confident young women with their own opinions (e.g. Run Devil Run, Hoot and Bad Girl ). As they made the transition from teenagers to women in their twenties, Girls Generation have been able to explore a variety of images and continue meeting the expectations of their fans. Girls Generation moreover, has not restricted themselves to any one genre or style. In their career thus far, Girls Generation has tried on various types of music and fashion, as literally expressed when they played mannequins come to life in their Gee video. Girls Generation functions like a platform in that they seamlessly accommodate many kinds of music and visual styles, with multiple members each able to express a different mood or fashion. Characteristics of the New Korean Wave Korea s idol groups, including Girls Generation, are making waves not only in Asia, but throughout the entire world, and are ushering in another Korean Wave. While the first Korean Wave in the early 2000s began with movies and television dramas and spread Korean culture throughout Asia, the present Korean Wave is being led by K-pop and is spreading worldwide. This constitutes a new Korean wave for the 2010s. The story of Girls Generation offers insight into the differences between the New Korean Wave and the first Korean Wave of the early and mid 2000s. While the first Korean Wave was dominated by dramas like Autumn in My Heart and Winter Sonata, K-pop singers are at the heart of the New Korean Wave in the 2010s. Social networking services such as Facebook and YouTube have played a key role in spreading this next Korean wave to Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, and then on to Europe, Table 1 Differences between the First Korean Wave and the New Korean Wave Korean Wave New Korean Wave Genre Mostly dramas More genres such as K-pop Location Asia Across the world Leaders of the trend Mass media-led dispersion Voluntary evangelism among local fans 84 www.seriquarterly.com
AHN Shin-Hyun Figure 4 Income from Audiovisual Services in Korea s Balance of Payments (US$ million) 169.5 182.9 207.8 197.8 190.0 127.2 123.5 13.4 23.8 44.3 27.9 55.7 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 First half North America and Latin America. In Germany, the First K-Pop Night was hosted by the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin on August 21. At the venue, 300 German K-pop fans gathered to enjoy and share information, watch videos, sing along, practice their dance steps, and participate in a quiz and karaoke contest. In other countries including the US, UK, Poland, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Thailand, people gathered signatures and staged flash mobs to request their cities host performances of Korean singers. 5 The most pronounced difference between the two Korean Waves is their underlying drivers. In the early 2000s, the culture industry was designated as a new growth engine by the Korean government, and many Korean wave events were planned by the then Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Korean wave dispersion at the time was primarily in the hands of broadcasters and other mass media. In contrast, the driving factors behind the New Korean Wave are largely user led, and spurred by the active participation and evangelism of local fans. Local fans have directly sought out Korean cultural content, and arranged performances and events to enjoy and discuss Korean pop. In Brazil a K- pop booth was installed at the animation festival Anime Family in Rio de Janeiro in July. Brazilian fans prepared all of its displays, including photographs, picture books, and Korean made televisions screening videos from Korean singers. They introduced Korea and Korean culture and taught choreography for Hoot. The New Korean Wave has become a major contributor to Korea s balance of payments since the mid-2000s. Revenue from singing and dancing surpassed $200 million for the first time in 2008, 15.5 times more than the initial Korean Wave in 2000 ($13.4 million). Although revenue dipped slightly in 2009 and 2010, it climbed to $123.5 million in 2011 in the first half alone, and is expected to rise further in the second half, as several overseas concerts are scheduled during the period. The number of international tourists coming to Korea to attend events for record sales, concerts and awards ceremonies doubled from the previous year to 34,000 in 2010. 6 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgrfu27l8a. Keywords: K-pop flash mob 6 South Korea s K-pop craze lures fans and makes profits, (April 26, 2011) BBC News, Asia Business. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/13191346 October 2011 SERI Quarterly 85
Girls Generation and the New Korean Wave Above all, the perception towards Korean culture has changed. The world is paying attention not only to Korean popular music, dramas, and movies but also to its high end performing arts. At the Edinburgh International Festival (August 12 September 4), one of the two largest performing arts festivals in the world, three Korean performance groups were invited for the first time. These included the Tempest of Mokwha Repertory Company in the performing arts, the Princess Bari of Eun-Me Ahn Company in dance, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in music. Conclusion Notwithstanding its popularity, Korea s content industry has to date been plagued by criticism and doubt about its perceived lack of variety and quality. With the New Korean Wave, however, prospects for sustainable growth are much The Girls Generation Virtual Museum in Celebration of Their Four-year Anniversary brighter. The New Korean Wave appeals to more regions; and its fans voluntarily consume, reinvent, and evangelize the content. BBC has noted on its Asia Business section, Korea s pop culture is emerging as the main backbone of Korea s brand. 7 Having grown up enjoying various cultures, today s young Koreans are defining their own generation s identity and brand of popular music and dance. However, the Korean culture industry will have to continuously create fresh content. It has to be mindful of the main criticism toward the TV dramas of the first Korean Wave that plots were predictable because story lines were continually recycled from previous movies and dramas. Maintaining the creative energy and unique style of K-pop will be critical in maintaining its appeal in the future. Translation: Yi Chi-won Keywords New Korean Wave, Girls' Generation, Summer Sonic 2011, K-pop, content industry www.intothenewworld.net Fans of Girls Generation made a virtual museum documenting the group s history in English and Japanese, as well as Korean. Chinese, Spanish and French are coming soon. 7 Ibid. AHN Shin-Hyun is research associate at SERI. Her research interests include culture technology and IT convergence. She holds a PhD in Culture Technology from KAIST. Contact: shinhyun.ahn@samsung.com 86 www.seriquarterly.com