[스브스夜] ‘Archive K’BoA → Rain,’the first generation of K-POP Hallyu’ that conquered pan-Asian regions beyond Japan

[SBS연예뉴스 | 김효정 에디터] K-POP has expanded beyond China and Japan to the world.

SBS’Legendary Stage-Archive K'(hereinafter referred to as’Archive K’) aired on the 7th recorded Korean popular music that went beyond Korea to the world.

From Ahn Jae-wook, who led the Korean Wave fever with the popularity of the drama, clone, NRG, and first-generation idol HOT gained great love in Greater China and won a victory. However, a crisis has come for them as well.

The popularity of the Korean Wave did not immediately lead to the profits of the artists due to the reckless production of pirated and fake albums. In addition, attempts to exploit the popularity of the Korean Wave have resulted in performance fraud incidents. In particular, the cancellation of a large concert on the day angered Chinese audiences and eventually spread to protests, leading to a ban on Korean celebrity performances by the Chinese authorities.

Although Korean singers were also victims of performance fraud, unaware audiences and Chinese authorities considered Korean singers to be scammers. Accordingly, the Minister of Culture and Tourism at the time offered a free performance, fearing the deterioration of relations between Korea and China, and Jaewook Ahn and the NRG performed a free performance to lift the ban on entry into China. Cooperation between countries was essential for overseas activities, and Korean singers even took on the role of diplomatic missions.

Accordingly, the first generation of Hallyu at that time strengthened themselves with pride that they represented Korea. And Korean popular music has begun to target Japan, the world’s second largest record market, beyond China.

The Japanese music market has nothing to compare in Asia. However, the barrier was so high. Especially in Japan, where the preference for local artists is high, the success of foreign singers was difficult. Therefore, it was difficult to find examples of singers who succeeded in Japan while maintaining the original form of Korean popular music.

Nevertheless, the large record market and loyal fandom were attractive markets for artists. It is difficult to enter the early stage, but if the fandom was secured, profits and sustainability were guaranteed. As a result, numerous singers attacked Japan. However, each time it failed and the Asian star BoA ​​appeared in the wasteland Japanese market.

BoA made her debut and activities in both Korea and Japan, as well as successively rising to the top in both countries. From the time of training, BoA had in mind to advance into Japan, and he received various training, including Japanese classes, culture and dance, as well as Japanese classes.

Unlike before, SM Entertainment entered Japan with a thorough localization strategy by producing a boa optimized as a Japanese singer, and this was a success. But the first time wasn’t as easy.

Unlike the Korean market that was tolerant of lip sync at the time, Japan was based on live music. Accordingly, BoA had to wear a headset and not a hand microphone on the debut showcase stage, but a sound deviation accident occurred, which had a big impact on BoA as well.

“At that time, I was shocked and stage fright, so I still have a hard time playing live with a headset,” BoA explained.

In addition, I recorded’Listen To My Heart’ with the thought that it was the last to see the reaction that was lower than expected from the management companies of both countries at the time, and this was unexpectedly, ranked 3rd on the Oricon single chart daily.

BoA said, “At the time, this music was used as a background music for mobile phone advertisements, and I got a lot of attention. After that, every day was like a dream. I held a guerrilla concert at Shibuya 109 Department Store, and about 20,000 spectators gathered. On the stage alone, the vast expanse of this music was gathered,” BoA said. I remember seeing the streets filled with people, and I thought I was doing well right now.”

The fact that an artist born and raised in Korea rose to the top in the Japanese music market shocked the Japanese culture. It was both a stimulus and a shock to the Japanese music market, where there were no artists playing the same music as BoA at the time.

Tickets for the first concert (hall tour) in the third year of BoA’s debut in Japan were sold out in no time, and the final final performance was changed to a national stadium. BoA said, “I thought the hall tour was a big stage, but I did the final at the National Stadium, but it was so weird. I couldn’t believe that there were 15,000 people in front of me.” He showed pride.

After BoA’s success, K-POP singers who stood out in the Japanese market and TVXQ were at the forefront. TVXQ even succeeded in making a dome tour that can be recognized as a superstar in Japan, and their success led to other juniors entering Japan.

And around the same time, K-pop’s territory began to expand across Asia. And Rain was the leader who was loved by the pan-Asian world.

At the end of 2004, thanks to the popularity of the drama’Full House,’ Rain, who received hot support from all over Asia, completed an Asian tour in over 10 countries over two years. After that, he achieved the grand slam of the MTV Awards in Thailand, China, and Japan, and was selected as the ‘100 Influential People in the World’ by Time Magazine in the United States.

And Iru released Indonesia’s first Korean album. He was the first foreign singer to reach the top in terrestrial music broadcasts, and he gained great popularity with a drama title containing his name.

Iru explained, “I asked if I could wear my song’Black Glasses’ for an Indonesian movie that I would like to make in Korea. I accepted it, but since then, a cameo offer came and even a local promotion offer came.” He added, “It was already a K-pop craze locally. So that led to interest in me. 20,000 people flocked to the first performance,” he added.

However, even Iru did not have success from the beginning. At first, most of the people who gathered at his concert hall with interest in K-POP, narrowed the distance to the fans with familiarity and touch with the desire to make K-POP fans their own. It was revealed that he was standing and attracted attention.

Meanwhile, in the final episode of’Legendary Stage-Archive K’to be broadcast on the 14th, and in the second episode of the K-POP episode, the vivid voices of top idols such as BTS, Black Pink, and Twice were expected to be revealed, raising expectations.