K-pop: A Disenchantment

by Rachelle Gan 


Aside from the occasional drama or five, this Korean drama freak did heavily indulge in the sinfully diabetic K-pop scene as well; here she relates the scandal that made her look past the sugary surface.

Contrary to popular belief, the South Korean music scene in actuality does not only consist of joyous bubblegum pop songs about puppy love, infatuation and uh, puppy love.

But while the music landscape in general does encompass a range of genres, I’m afraid the joyous bubblegum pop songs about puppy love, infatuation and puppy love reign supreme. And to be honest, that’s exactly why I like it. I like the sugariness of it all; it’s a lot more fun than the Western entertainment scene because things aren’t taken so seriously.

Most of the bubblegum songs stem from the Korean pop music – better known as K-pop – scene, which is largely dominated by dance-orientated idol acts sporting great walls of make-up and busting synchronised dance moves. K-pop acts the likes of Rain, BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki, the Wonder Girls, Big, Bang, Super Junior and Girl’s Generation – have all inspired rabid fans well beyond South Korea.

You could say K-pop appealed to me because it appeared to put a lot more emphasis on humility and hard work. Celebrities and entertainers in Korea didn’t get away with bad behaviour easily, and I loved that being goofy as hell actually gained you plus points instead of obliterating them. I knew that behind the scenes it was a little murky but I was taken in with the neatly packaged, prettily tied up surface.

Occasionally though, some of the behind-the-scenes ugly manage to reach the surface and cause a few ripples in the shiny veneer. In the past year alone, the three most prominent entertainment companies in South Korea have had to deal with their own sets of very public scandals.

Occurring within close timeframes of each other, there was YG Entertainment which was slapped with multiple plagiarising accusations and later with various fines regarding one of their artists performing inappropriate material during a concert.

Things were uglier with SM Entertainment when three members of Dong Bang Shin Ki – arguably one of Asia’s biggest acts – filed a lawsuit against the company, citing a 13-year slave contract and unfair contract terms. The company took a further hit when a member of Super Junior, another massively popular group, filed a lawsuit to terminate his contract with SM for similar reasons.

However, it was JYP Entertainment (JYPE) that took the cake. I mean really, to say the company handled its biggest scandal and subsequent crisis in years badly, would be a complete understatement.

When screenshots of ‘anti-Korea’ comments made by Jay Park, the Korean-American leader of popular JYPE rookie group 2PM, surfaced the web – all hell broke loose. The line, “korea is gay... I hate Koreans... I wanna come back”, in particular drew much attention and criticism.

The comments were written in a private MySpace conversation Park was having with a friend back in 2005 when he was first brought to South Korea to train under JYPE at the age of 17 – he  had stated in interviews many times prior that he had great difficulty adjusting to life in Korea.

Park issued an apology on the day itself; however, the backlash quickly blew out of proportion. In just three days, after being continuously crucified by the media and the many online petitions demanding his resignation and even suicide, Park announced he would leave 2PM. The very next day, 500 fans mobbed Incheon Airport crying and screaming for him not to go as he left for his hometown Seattle.

His drastic departure was suspicious as entertainment companies rarely let a popular artist go that easily while still under contract. It soon became apparent that Park was in fact kicked out to preserve commercial deals threatened by his controversy.

JYPE remained mum on the subject, breaking its frustrating silence only months later by announcing it would hold a fan conference to address questions fans had regarding the past few months – it was widely believed that Park’s comeback would be announced at this conference.

By then, public opinion had mellowed and many were expecting his return. Instead, two days before the conference, JYPE officially announced the termination of Park’s contract with the company.

The company claimed Park had confessed to repeatedly making a “serious personal mistake” which could cause social problems if revealed, therefore resulting in the termination of his contract. Fans and the public alike were stunned.

Fans were shocked further when 2PM themselves spoke in a rude and belittling way at the conference both to the fans and of Park. They blamed fans and stated they couldn’t take Park back due to his “mistake” and dirty social life. Almost all fans present at the conference walked out as antis.

When it transpired that JYPE was aware of the screenshots well before the scandal erupted but kept silent because Park had mentioned his slave contract amidst the page of comments – Park began to receive tremendous support while JYPE’s and 2PM’s names were dragged through dirt.

2PM’s fan club lost over 100,000 fans in two days and 84 fan sites shut down. Stalker fans released all the dirt they had gathered on the boys from following them around in retaliation to their accusation of Park having a dirty social life.

Like many former 2PM fans, the Jay Park saga left me disillusioned with the K-pop world. Now that I’ve seen the extent of how fake things can get, it’s a little harder to overlook – so many things are made up, planned or scripted.

Still, in a way, I prefer K-pop to the Western scene – because hey, at least values get the light of day here.

Plus, Jay Park’s back.