There was a time when certain Koreans were flustered by even the slightest reaction from foreign lands about K-pop. Those were the days when international communication only existed through newspaper and Television. However, now that the Internet has opened new modes of global communication, marketing through such blind deception isn’t possible anymore.
In that sense, the back-to-back concerts on the 10th and 11th of June, “SM Town Live in Paris” carries that much more meaning. The artists Super Junior, TVXQ, SNSD, SHINee, and f(x) have never released a single album in France. Yet, approximately 14,000 fans in the area attended the concert to support their favorite foreign artist. This is why this first K-pop idol collaboration concert in Europe carries so much more meaning than just the surface definition.
So then, why has K-pop been able to cultivate the European wasteland (regarding Korean culture)? We’re able to find the reason behind this on the June 15th episode of tvN enews e-fact, who captured live footage in France.
e-fact concluded that, “The specific style of dance and music of idols, along with attractive looks also appeal to the European youth”. On an interview with the program, pop-culture critic Ha Jae Keunstated, “Nowhere in this world can you find cute, sexy, handsome, and pretty teams of kids that are able to pull off perfect performances along with high-quality music”.
Korean idol groups’ dances, songs, and appearances have actually risen to a level where they could compete anywhere in the world. There was a time when foreign pop music dominated Korean culture, but now the tides have completely turned.
Especially now that the giant entertainment corporations have shifted their aims towards the global market, producing albums that are relevant to the cause, the strength of penetration into foreign markets have grown substantially. Add to that the utilization of Youtube, Facebook, and other modes of global marketing, interest in K-pop has grown in even the Korean wasteland of Europe.
Not to leave out the renowned Park Chan Wook film, ”Oldboy”, which was awarded the Grand Prixat the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. This film brought, slowly but surely, much French interest to the pop-culture of Korea. With this said, foreign interest grew exponentially as foreigners were able to come across Korean music through online and social networking communities.
On top of everything, the reassurance of the explosive feedback to K-pop in European lands opened doors to positive, long-term outlooks into foreign lands.
In an interview with e-fact, the director of a French national broadcasting channel, France 2 TV, commented, “Korean musicians or groups should have no problems succeeding in other European countries, not to mention, any other country in the world.” The director continued, “They are perfect since they have all the basic necessities down along with fluent English. The fact that they have sold out 14,000 tickets in two days without any serious advertisement quantifies the huge potential of the Hallyu wave”.
