Discussion 1 by Junoh Bark
- Asia327Student
- Sep 25, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 27, 2018
Question: How can Korean idols balance the need to be nationalistic (as demanded by Korean audiences, the government, media companies, and advertisers) while still attracting international audiences who (if they notice them) may dislike/react negatively to these nationalistic elements?
In relation to Bak Jaebeom, this question can be broken down into two parts: Pre-2PM Bak, and Post-2PM Bak. During his 2PM career, it was revealed that, as a then seventeen year-old trainee, he wrote on his MySpace page that he disliked being in South Korea, and that he wanted to move back to United States (Lee, 2009). When this was discovered, the fans as well as the public considered it deeply insulting to South Korea, and demanded that he faces consequences. As a result of this action, Bak Jaebeom released a public apology through his label, JYP and was kicked out of 2PM, which he was the leader of. He then moved back into United States. Due to the comment that he made as a teenager, he was deeply criticized by the public, and his career as an idol seemed to be over.
Post-2PM Bak Jaebeom seems to have a completely different attitude towards Korea. In Un Hae-Kyung’s article, The poetics of resistance and the politics of crossing borders, she states that “these boundaries between ‘regional’ and ‘domestic’ [are] rather permeable and fluid, contributing to their translocal and inter-regional characteristics in production and consumption”(2013, 52). What this means is that traditional boundaries between different regions around the world is becoming less important in how media is produces and consumed. Bak recently released the song “Soju” under an American label Rocnation. In an interview, he stated that the reason why he decided to name the track Soju was because that he “wanted to preserve a Korean element with this release” (The Cut, 2018). This suggests that he is attempting to blur the regional and cultural boundaries between the United States and Korea through Soju, a traditional Korean alcoholic beverage by using hiphop, an American musical genre. This way he can please both American and Korean fans, creating a optimal compromise between his desire to attract international audience while keeping his Korean fans.
Another example of him appealing to both Korean and international audience is shown through his release of two versions of the same song. For example, All I Wanna Do is available in both Korean and English versions.
Bak Jaebeom balances his need to be nationalistic for the fans of Korea while still appealing to foreign fans by becoming a Korean cultural broker to international fans through songs that explore his Korean-ness while using his American-ness as a leaverage.
Junoh Bark Lee, Mi-Hye.“JYP, 2PM Jaebeom hangook biha gongsik saguamoon." Choongang Ilbo, Sept 5,2009.
TheCut. "[Context] Jay Park Bak Jaebeom - Soju Soju". YouTube video, 8:06, posted by “TheCut,” May 30 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQE9yaZq27Q&t=42s Um, Hae-Kyung. The poetics of resistance and the politics of crossing borders: Korean hiphop and ‘cultural reterritorialisation’. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
I appreciate your effort in fitting him into the bounds of this question, as Bak Jaebeom certainly is an arguable outlier to study regarding this topic. In future discussions however, feel free to expand the realm of your answer to engage the broad majority of K-pop idols. For this question in particular, it would’ve been effective to study the common, mainstream ways that the industry tries to market yet mask their intense nationalism. Good job!
Checking to make sure that comment moderation is off now. p.s. you never fixed all the problems with the Um Haekyung bibliography entry
Adding on to what I have said before, many famous K-pop groups can easily connect with international fans and attract new audiences because their consisting members come from different cultural backgrounds. Bak Jaebeom appeals to both Korean and American fans by combining Korean elements into Western style music. As mentioned by Junoh, several of his title songs are available in two languages (English and Korean) such as All I Wanna Do, Yacht, and Me Like Yuh. He is obviously aware of his style of music and of his fans. While some other K-pop groups may have to follow their own agency's standard expectations of showing nationalism, Bak Jaebeom deliberately includes Korean elements in his song lyrics and dance performances, simply…
I also think that Ky brings up an important point about how Bak Jaebeom may have felt more pressured to be nationalistic when he was in a group versus when he became a solo artist. I feel as if these issues are not highlighted and talked about enough amongst the Korean popular music audience because a lot of listeners are not as familiar to Korea’s history and how the much the country’s past as deeply affected its culture today.
Celia
I agree with Ky in highlighting the importance of Park being signed to an American label and being born in American. I think this can grant him some leeway in being more nationalistic then most artists without being off putting.