Crystal S. Anderson, PhD Associate Professor of English, Longwood University While recent reports about arguments over K-pop fanclub colors may seem superficial, they reveal the value of branding for group promotion as well as the emotional relationship between K-pop groups and their fans. The ire of fans of Shinhwa (one of the oldest K-pop groups…
Category: CSA’s Scholarship
Black Popular Music and K-pop
Crystal S. Anderson, PhD Associate Professor of English, Longwood University One of the major forces driving the appeal of K-pop around the globe is the music, but it seems to receive the least attention. When commentators do turn their attention to K-pop, they recognize that it draws from a variety of musical genres and styles….
Fan Commentary: Nostalgia and Fly to the Sky
Crystal S. Anderson, PhD Associate Professor of English, Longwood University As their 2014 comeback shows, Fly to the Sky (FTTS) remains a potent force in K-pop, even after a five-year hiatus. However, even before the rumors of a comeback, the group was ever-present in the minds of fans, who recalled Fly to the Sky’s emotional…
Fan Commentary: Yoon Mi Rae and Sony Pictures
The recent legal entanglement between Yoon Mi Rae (also known as Tasha) and Sony Pictures prompted K-pop fans to express their opinions about copyright, permission and global corporations. In “Yoon Mi Rae to Take Legal Action Against Sony Pictures for Using Her Song in ‘The Interview’ Without Permission,” Soompi writer kiddy_days writes that Yoon, legendary…
IFANS PROJECT UPDATE: Online Interview with BigBang Fan
iFans: Mapping K-pop’s International Fandom is a digital project that examines the attitudes, practices and creative output of global K-pop fans. VIPs (as fans of BigBang are called) were given the opportunity to participate in an online interview with questions geared toward their experience as BigBang fans. Whale, a VIP, wrote about the criticisms about BigBang as well as the…
Hallyu Harmony Update: S.E.S – Original Queens of K-pop
S.E.S is an acronym for “Sea, Eugene, Shoo,” the names of the three members of the group. Formed in 1997 by SM Entertainment, this female group consisted of Sea (better known as Bada, born Choi Sung Hee), Eugene (Kim Yoo Jin) and Shoo (Yoo Soo Young) and became the first successful female group in the…
iFans Update: Anniversary Fan Projects
One of the most common projects for K-pop fans is the anniversary fan project. It is usually the result of a call for fans to participate in a project by sending a photo or making a video, then some enterprising K-pop fans combine them together for an anniversary video Because the iFans project seeks…
K-pop Chronicles Becomes Part of iFans Project
If you are a regular reader of KPK, you might remember an announcement for a new site, House of Hallyu, which would feature content related to fan activity as well as house the kpop chronicles project, which collects fan narratives. The House of Hallyu site will remain available (and may transform into something else in…
Hallyu Harmony Update: Kim Hyun Joong Concepts
Because Kim rose to fame portraying “flower boy” characters in K-dramas such as Boys Over Flowers and Mischievous Kiss, many suggest his image reflects a desire to escape from modes of masculinity based on a “pretty boy” appearance. . . . However, an examination of Kim’s concepts reveals a range of images that go beyond the extremes of “flower…
KPK: Kpop Kollective 