Hallyu Wave – Part 1

Date: 4th July 2013
Time: 9.00 p.m.
Place: House
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In the present days, it is an undeniable fact  that majority of the countries in this world know what is KPop, a longer word for it is called Korean pop music. But what about hallyu wave? It always tag along in the introduction of the news reports or articles regarding on KPop. Hallyu Wave is actually the Korean Wave.  Just like the meaning depicted from the word, ‘wave’, it basically means the superior popularity of the Korean entertainment industries (both Music and Dramas/Movies) have around the world. The word ‘hallyu’ is originated from a Chinese word called, ‘han liu’ which means the flow of Korea.As it sounded similar to one another, Hallyu is used. It is also claimed that the popularity of Korean Music and Dramas started since the late 1990s.

So, what about in Malaysia? When is it that the Hallyu wave reached Malaysia? It all started through the Korean Dramas (KDramas) which started its broadcast in year 2002, with the first drama, called Winter Sonata broadcasted on TV3. There isn’t any results or findings to show when is the exact year of the arrival of KPop in Malaysia’s radio and television broadcasting stations. But as far as I remember,the first radio broadcasting stations which played KPop music is 988 fm, through a night show conducted by a deejay, called Simon. I don’t quite remember the day and time of its broadcast. But, I still remember that I was quite shock to know that this night show has stopped its broadcasting since I am already addicted to KPop music by that time.

 

So, here’s the story of how I got myself into KPop music. The year 2007 was my first time, stepping into a genre that was once odd to me, the Kpop genre. And the Kpop artist that led me to this is DBSK, most widely known as TVXQ.

Rising Sun

As far as I remembered, initially, I didn’t like their songs at all. The first Korean song that I knew from them was Rising Sun, and  didn’t like it. Probably, it is because I didn’t know their language and have never listen to any Korean songs before. It was really hard to adapt to a song that is not from the languages that you are familiar with.

O-Jung Ban Hup

However, my sister loves it so much that she listens to it almost everyday and learned to sing and rap according to the lyrics in romanization (similar to what we called as pin-yin from the Chinese characters). Somehow, after listening to it everyday, I’ve got used to the Kpop genre. And so, I enjoyed the song too. As they released their latest album, which was on late 2006, I totally fell in love with the main track of their album, called ‘O’-Jung.Ban.Hup. Since that year onwards, I started listening to Kpop songs. 

* Listen to this 2 songs here       >  Rising Sun               > 'O'-Jung Ban Hup

Eventually, on year 2009, I am fully a huge fan of Kpop, as it has totally influenced to change my music style and genre. I have also grew interest towards the Korean artists’ news, their performances, concerts, and other activities. I am glad and happy that Malaysia is one of the countries that got the Kpop influence and I’m grateful that they have put efforts on inviting the artists to Malaysia. Just like this year on the month of March, the 27th Golden Disk Awards, commonly known as the the Korean Grammy Awards was held in Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit.

Until today, my favourite Kpop groups would SHINee and Super Junior . Thanks to them, I got more influenced and have a bigger impact to Kpop and also the Korean Music Industry. Look at the world today, everyday is PSY’s ‘Oppa Gangnam Style’ and ‘Gentleman’, which has totally become a hit around the world. 

Here are some basics that one should know as a KPop fan.Firstly, the top 3 record labels or we called music companies in Korea who are always on the spotlight and are very competitive among each other.

SM Entertainment, the top and richest record label, found by Lee Soo Man. The artists who are under them are S.E.S, H.O.T, Shinhwa (ended their contract due to certain issues, and formed their own SHINHWA Company), Fly to the Sky, KangTa and BoA. They are known to be the first generation as they are debuted in the 90s. Followed by the second generation, they are TVXQ/DBSK (disbanded due to certain issues and only left two members in the present, while the other three formed a group by themselves called JYJ), The Trax, The Grace, Super Junior, Zhang LiYin, J-Min, Girls Generation and lastly SHINee . It is then followed by f(x), EXO, and finally, Henry, Super Junior M’s member who is going to have his own solo debut soon this summer. 

EXO

Girls Generation

BoA

Most of the artists in SM Entertainment had great record sales and achievements, which is also the reason why they are always the top record label over the years. SM Entertainment is also the ones who started to spread the KPop music over the world, starting off with the debut of their solo artist BoA in Japan. Following her footstep, TVXQ also emerged into the Japan music industry. Due to that, they are very well-known as the King and Queen of KPOP.  Up until today, all these artists have their world tours all around the world, including,New York, Las Vegas, Mexico, Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Beijing, all states in Japan, and many more. They have their family name as well, called as the SMTOWN. Therefore, it is undeniable that all KPop fans are always interested and are always aware of their new artists and also the comebacks of the current artists.

 

BigBang

2NE1

The second top record label is YG Entertainment, found by Yang Hyun Suk, who is very well known as YG. The artists thar are under YG Entertainment are BIGBANG, 2NE1, se7en, Gummy, PSY, Epik High, LeeHi, and Akdong Musician. In their early years back then, they  were not recognized by the societies and were not popular as SM Entertainment as their music style are way different,too much on the rap styles, and hip-hop music which were not interested by the societies back then. Not until in year 2006, when they formed a boy group, called BIGBANG, they got fame and famous thanks to BIGBANG. In year 2007, BIGBANG won almost all the music awards with ‘New Artist Award‘ and ‘New Boy Group Award’. Following their senior, it was 2NE1 who got the fame as well and are coming back withtheir latest album in this summer as well. Last but not least, PSY who is in the hot topic in 2 consecutive years, 2012 and 2013, due to his two most popular songs, ‘Oppa Gangnam Style’ and ‘Gentleman’ made YG entertainment more popular around the world. They have their family name as well, called as YG Family. 

2PM

Wonder Girls

Miss A

Meanwhile, the last record label is JYP Entertainment, found by JYP, Park Jin Young in full name. Their family name is called JYP Nation and the recording artists under them are 2PM, 2AM, Wonder Girls, Miss A, JOO, JJ Project, and 15&. Although JYP is known to be the top 3 record label, but they are actually way out if we were to compare the profits of every year among the 3 companies. In my opinion, it is due to the least achievements of their artists compared to both YG and SM Entertainment in any music awards. They always lost to that two companies when its comes to the top awards, like Album of the Year, Singer of the Year, and Song of the Year. If all three artists were active on that particular year, most likely SM will be the one who swept all the three main awards. If SM artists were not active on that year, most likely YG will be the one who got them. Probably it is due to the fans popularity that each company had, whereby SM had the most fans all around the world. Rain,well-known as the Korean King of Pop was once under JYP Entertainment too, but he left and formed his own company, called JTune Entertainment. As far as we can see, the only artist who helped JYP to sustain their fame is Wonder Girls, as their song ‘Nobody’ was a hit around the world, especially in the U.S. and Thailand. My friend who visited Thailand around that period, told me that all the vendors and stalls played ‘Nobody’. ‘Nobody’ can be heard in every corner of  Bangkok stalls and shops.

 

IU

Meanwhile some of the other record labels there are in Korea are CUBE Entertainment which is the subsidiary of JYP Entertainment. The recording artists consists of BAST, 4Minute, G.Na, Roh Ji Hoon APink and BtoB. They are called as United CUBE. Next is FNC Entertainment which under MNET Media. The recording artists under them are FT Island, CNBlue, Juniel, and AOA. Under MNET as well, there is Core Contents Media, where T-ARA, The SeeYa, Coed School, SPEED, and Davichi are under them. Lastly, LOEN Entertainment is well known due to their solo artist, IU which is very much well-known with her great vocal range, where she can sing up to 5 octave high with no stops  in between.

  

That is all for the basics of Korea Music Industry and a few ideas on the Top 3 record labels. Next week, we will look into the influence of KDramas and KMovies as well as the main broadcasting stations they have in Korea.