I had to roll my eyes when the article describes a two hour drive as a “tough journey”:
K-Pop Group Red Velvet is popular with ROK Soldiers.
It was a tough journey. It took more than two hours for the eight-member girl group to reach the destination. The road was not well-paved, and some sections were full of twists and turns. Their performance was not broadcast on TV, and the girl group was also paid a lot less for the gig compared with other performances hosted by private event organizers.
To put it simply, it was one of the least attractive jobs out there for entertainment groups, but 9Muses could not turn down the offer.
“Many people think of 9Muses as guntongnyeong, and they have been much loved by soldiers for a long period of time,” a person who works for Star Empire Entertainment said. “Thus, we try not to say no when we get offers from the military.
“In addition, popularity among young soldiers helps expand their fandom among music fans in their 20s.”
Guntongnyeong is a compound word made up of the Korean word gun, which means military, and daetongnyeong, which means president.
The neologism is often used when describing girl groups that are popular among members of the military.
And the title of guntongnyeong is much coveted among girl groups because “popularity within the military is often used to measure one’s popularity,” according to another industry insider.
Because of this, many girl groups take time to perform at military bases, which are usually located in remote areas of the country.
Recently, the JoongAng Ilbo wanted to identify which girl group among all-female acts were the No. 1 choice among soldiers. The newspaper ran a survey of 466 soldiers who were on their way back to their posts after taking leave.
It turned out that the eight-member girl group AOA received the most number of votes among survey responses. The respondents who voted for AOA included soldiers of various ranks. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but you would think they would make more effort to appeal to US soldiers as well in an effort to make their image look more international.
Maybe in Korean the lyrics sound worse than what it sounds in English because after reading this article I don’t see what the big deal is:
A Brazilian novel first published more than 40 years ago has unexpectedly become a highly sought-after read, after the Korean pop star IU was accused of sexualising the story of its five-year-old protagonist in one of her songs.
José Mauro de Vasconcelos’s My Sweet Orange Tree, first published in Portuguese in 1968 and in English in 1970, is set in Rio de Janeiro and follows the life of the boy Zeze, as he gets up to mischief and is mistreated. “Everyone beats him. If you look softhearted he will tell you it’s revolting the way they beat on a little kid. Can you believe him when he says he’s only six? No! The boy is a liar. He is five years old,” runs the copy on the first UK edition.
My Sweet Orange Tree has been out of print in English for years, but Abebooks.com has reported that the novel became its most searched-for title late last week after controversy enveloped IU’s pop song Zeze, which is based on the story. The bookseller’s Richard Davies said that My Sweet Orange Tree was “a much-loved book in South Korea and often studied in schools”.
According to the Korea Times, the book’s Korean publisher has issued a statement saying that: “We regret the way the five-year-old character is portrayed as a sexual object.”
The paper quotes lines from IU’s song which run: “Zeze, come on up the tree quick and kiss the leaves, don’t be naughty and don’t hurt the tree, come up the tree and get the youngest leaf … you are innocent but shrewd, transparent but dirty and there is no way of knowing what’s living inside.” [The Guardian]
You can read the rest at the link, but IU has since apologized for the lyrics, but says she had no intention of sexualizing Zeze.
It was a tough day at work for the K-Pop group GFriend which saw band member Yuju fall eight times during the course of a song. Another singer also wiped out during the performance as well. It looks like someone needs to get some traction on that stage:
During a performance Saturday in South Korea, one of the members of girlband GFriend took a number of painful looking falls onstage.
Yuju, easily identified by a white knee guard, fell eight times over the course of one song, and another member SinB took a big spill in the middle of the stage. [Mashable]
Just when you thought reality TV could not get any worse:
K-pop group Girls’ Generation is set to show “a side of them never before shown on TV” in the pilot episode of their new reality program later Tuesday.
“Channel Girls’ Generation” — to be aired on South Korean cable channel OnStyle at 9 p.m. on Tuesday — isn’t the band’s first attempt at reality TV by any means.
Previously, some members have appeared as guests or had permanent roles in shows like “The Taetiseo,” which chronicled the lives of Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyeon on the same channel last year.
“Channel Girls’ Generation” is the first to feature all eight current members after the exit of Jessica last year, with each of them directing her own segment, or “channel” in the program’s vernacular. [Yonhap]
South Korean singer BoA responds to reporters’ questions during a showcase in Seoul on May 11, 2015 to promote her eighth album “Kiss My Lips.” (Yonhap)
U.S. celebrity gossip channel TMZ is under fire over the “racist” comments of a reporter who mocked a K-pop star who spoke in English.
A video clip of the segment has gone viral among Koreans.
The TMZ segment, which mainly deals humorously with celebrity stories, aired last Saturday ㅡ showing K-pop girl group EXID member Junghwa greeting the TMZ crew in English, which the reporter mocks.
TMZ staff instantly show disgust at the reporter’s comments.
As of Wednesday, “TMZ racist” was among the top 10 searched words on Korean web portal Naver, with bloggers and news outlets blasting the U.S channel for its comments. [Korea Times]
