CN Blue: Code Name Blue

  CN BLUE is an acronym for Code Name: Burning, Lovely, Untouchable, Emotional. Each adjective refers to each individual member of the four-man rock band. They made their debut with the album Now or Never in Japan in 2009 under AI Entertainment, followed by their Korean debut in 2010 with FNC Music. . . Click…

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2PM: They’re Your Men

2PM debuted in 2008 under JYP Entertainment. Other groups debuting that year included sister group 2AM, and Davichi, SHINee, and U-KISS. A sub-group of One Day (made up of 2AM and 2PM), 2PM debuted with seven members: Park Jae Beom (Jaebeom), Kim Jun Su (Junsu), Nichkhun Horvejkul (Nichkhun), Ok Taec Yeon (Taecyeon), Jang Woo Young…

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BEAST/B2ST: B2UTY and the BEAST

Beast debuted in 2009 under Cube Entertainment. Other groups that debuted that same year were 4Minute, 2NE1, After School, T-Ara, MBLAQ, Secret, and f(x). Beast debuted with six members- Yoon Dujun (Dujun), Son Dong-woon (Dongwoon), Lee Gi-kwang (Gikwang), Yang Yo-seob (Yoseob), Jang Hyun-seung (Hyunseung), and Yong Jun-hyung (Junhyung). Originally formed as B2ST, they soon changed…

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Boyfriend: Can They Be Yours?

Boyfriend debuted in 2011 under Starship Entertainment (labelmates: Sistar and K.Will). Their debut contemporaries include boy group B1A4 and girl group A Pink. Boyfriend has six members: Kim Dong Hyun (Donghyun), Shim Hyun Seong (Hyunseong), Lee Jeong Min (Jeongmin), Jo Young Min (Youngmin), Jo Kwang Min (Kwangmin), and No Min Woo (Minwoo). A unique feature…

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SS501: Five Men United As One

SS501 debuted in 2005 under DSP Media, the same year as SM Entertainment’s mega-group, Super Junior. The male group, made up Park Jung Min, Kim Hyung Joon, Kim Hyun Joong, Heo Young Saeng and Kim Kyu Jong, displays a range of pop music styles marked with complex Kpop dance moves. The members chose SS501 as…

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iFans Update: What Fans Think….about 2NE1!

As part of the ongoing project that is iFans: Mapping K-pop’s International Fandom, I have been working on the fan responses to Case Studies surveys. Click here to read about what 2NE1 fans think about the group’s significance in K-pop as well as an in-depth interview with a BlackJack!

Whose Generation? GIRLS’ GENERATION!: Gender, Audience and K-pop

by Crystal S. Anderson, PhD As the number of female groups increase in number in K-pop, commentators and scholars continue to focus on the meaning of the representations produced by these groups. While some argue that such representations are geared towards men, this ignores the way the majority female fanbases of these groups construct meaning of…

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The Digital Documentation Project: An Update

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick, M.S.L.S. University of South Carolina Lancaster During KPK’s early days in 2011, Dr. Anderson and other KPK founders were having quite a difficult time accessing some Kpop entertainment companies’ artist websites.  They kept encountering what they called, “the circle of death,” and then timing out. I wasn’t having this problem and had just discovered the…

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Hallyu Harmony Update: APeace

Hallyu Harmony: A Cultural History of Kpop is a digital humanities project that traces connections among the artists and groups across genres, generations and geographies through visuals, music and choreography.  The first exhibit, Seo Taiji: President of Culture, explores the reasons why Seo Taiji is considered the pioneer of contemporary K-pop.  The current exhibit under construction, Move the…

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