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How to Make a K-Pop Boy Band

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2018

BORA KIM ,
KARIN KURODA  and
SAMANTHA Y. SHAO (IMMABB: I'M MAKING A BOY BAND)
BORA KIM
Affiliation:
Email: [email protected].
KARIN KURODA
Affiliation:
Email: [email protected].
SAMANTHA Y. SHAO (IMMABB: I'M MAKING A BOY BAND)
Affiliation:
Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

A creative collective, I'm Making A Boy Band (IMMABB) discuss the issues of postcolonialism and identity/gender politics surrounding the transnational circulation of K-pop by sharing their process of making a non-Korean K-pop idol group called EXP in New York in the form of an experimental “how-to” manual. They also talk about the possibilities of fandom in relation to feminism and sexuality by using an in-depth analysis of the K-pop industry as well as themselves whilst blurring the line between fine art and pop culture.

Type
Special Forum: Inhabiting Cultures
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 943 - 968
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and British Association for American Studies 2018 

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References

1 This manual was finished in 2016 but some of the photos were updated in 2017.

2 It is interesting to see how the English word “content” (although the written form of the English pronunciation in Korean, 컨텐츠, sounds closer to “contents”) infiltrated Korean media and government institutions (including the names of agency branches) rapidly in the early 2000s. It has now become an official way to comprehensively indicate pop-cultural products such as K-pop, K-drama, and television shows, that sell well abroad and are perceived as the “Korean Wave.”

3 “Hybridization is anti-exoticism” (translation by the author). 기욤 르블랑, 안과 밖-외국인의 조건, translated by 박영옥 (서울: 글항아리, 2014).

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10 “Cultural technology” is the term coined by SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man, who argues that cultural products could be packaged and marketed in certain ways to reach out to a mass audience internationally.

11 Yu-chieh Li, Bora Kim, Karin Kuroda, and Samantha Y. Shao, “Making Waves: Bora, Karin and Sam Make a Boy Band,” Screen/介面, 14 Nov. 2015, at http://www.onscreentoday.com/conversation/making-waves.

12 JREKML1.EXP? KPOP? REALLY NOW. April 19, 2015. Accessed April 19, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-dNVq2rVQ. JRE is a YouTuber based in Miami, he does K-pop related skits, reactions, and vlogs with his cousin KML. He has more than 500,000 followers and represents the English-speaking corner of the K-pop fan world.

13 Omar López-Chahoud. Bora Kim, Karin Kuroda, and Samantha Y. Shao. “Bora Kim.” Columbia University School of the Arts. April 20, 2015. https://arts.columbia.edu/profiles/bora-kim

14 “HOW EPIC IS BTS? | KCON NY 2016 EXPERIENCE,” 21 July 2016, accessed 30 July 2016, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=umg2t9Tdu6w.

15 The most important production entity in K-pop. You can think of it as similar to the concept of a label and management agency in the United States, molded into one.

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17 They are from the conversations that we had with K-pop fans who we became friends with through this project, and K-pop articles over the 2014–16 period, as well as some of our own personal anecdotes.

18 R. Jun, “Fans Request Statement from BTS about Misogynistic Lyrics, BigHit Responds,” Soompi.com, 6 July 2016, at www.soompi.com/2016/07/06/fans-request-statement-bts-misogynistic-lyrics-bighit-responds.

19 Kwon Ji-Hye (권지혜). “EXO Chanyeol's Fan Club, Donates to Feminist Group ‘WomenLink’” (엑소 찬열 팬클럽, 여성단체 ‘한국여성민우회’ 기부),” Wikitree.com, 28 Nov. 2016, at www.wikitree.co.kr/main/news_view.php?id=283384.

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23 Maud Lavin, Bora Kim, Karin Kuroda, and Samantha Y. Shao, “Re-mapping Identity Politics in K-pop,” the Korea Society lecture, New York, 31 May 2016.

24 A four-member female idol group.

25 Yanan Wang, “Can a K-Pop Group Succeed with No Korean Members? Not Likely, Say Skeptical Fans,” Washington Post, 29 July 2015, at www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/29/can-a-k-pop-group-succeed-with-no-korean-members/?utm_term=.e4b629f99727.

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