Superstitions that rule K-culture

Celebs hold onto ‘groundless’ belief in hope of catching a glimpse of future

By Park Si-soo

Superstition dies hard despite the rapid advancement of science and technologies.

Perhaps the showbiz industry is most vulnerable to this given its nature of uncertainty. Hard work doesn’t always lead to success in the industry while, ironically enough, something implemented without much care hits the jackpot frequently.

This has laid the ground for entertainers to take something unscientific seriously — as a prelude to good or bad news — in a desperate wish to catch a glimpse of their future.

Song title determines singer's future

One of the superstitions that prevail in the Korean music industry is that a singer’s future is affected — either good or bad — by the title of his or her song.

Gan Mi-yeon, a member of now-defunct five-member girl band Baby Vox, is among the musicians who believe in this.

The title of the main song of the group’s debut album in 1997 was “It’s time to go to beauty salon.”

“The album was truly a failure,” Gan recollected during a TV talk show in 2010. “What we did back then was putting on full makeup at a beauty salon and standing by waiting for any call from broadcasters.”

The band had a meteoric rise in 1999 with the song “Get Up” and swept domestic music charts with follow-up song “Killer.”

“We had no rival. We ‘killed’ all of them with the song,” she said. The band’s fame started declining with the next album’s title “Game Over” in 2001 and reached its lowest point when it released the song “Bygone Lady.”

Veteran singer-songwriter Kim Gun-mo is another follower. He made a huge hit with “Wrongful Encounter” in 1995, but the same year he parted ways with his long-time friend and renowned songwriter Kim Chang-hwan due to a conflict.

In a radio talk show, Kim said, “I tried to regain fame in 2007 with the song ‘Scarecrow.’ But public reaction was so bad that I had to stay idle at home like a scarecrow.”

The two-member rock band Spring Summer Autumn Winter leaped to stardom in 2002 with “Bravo My Life.”

Ghost voice: prelude to success

Many big-hit albums have one thing in common: the singer heard eerie voices while recording an album in a sound proof studio vocal booth.

Affected singers have described it as similar to a ghost voice, making it a “proven” prelude to success in the music industry. There are so many singers who have benefited from the scientifically unexplainable event.

Crooner Sung Si-kyung’s “Oh my goddess” in 2011 allegedly contains the low but eerie voices of a woman, which he claims he never heard while recording, in the middle of the 4:22-minute song for a spilt-second.

How the strange sound crept in still remains shrouded in mystery, but the song became a big hit in that year, keeping the superstition alive.

Ballad singer Lee Seung-hwan garnered huge media attention in 1997 as his music video “Imploration” featured a ghostly shape of white mourning clothes-dressed woman standing next to a subway operator in a moving train.

This terrified the public after the operator testified that he was the only person in that section of the carriage. Its director opened raw data to the public for joint investigation but that failed to offer any explanation.

Rumors have it that some up and coming musicians have pretended to have experienced such supernatural events in order to get media attention amid intense competition.

'Horrific November'

Korea has its own version of Friday the 13th known as “horrific November,” which applies solely to the showbiz industry.

By coincidence or not, deaths or unsavory scandals of numerous top stars have taken place in the 11th month of a year for decades, giving November the dreadful name tag.

TV personality Lee Yoon-ji, whose stage name is Amy, was the latest public figure keeping the phobia alive. She was convicted last November of habitually consuming the powerful anesthetic propofol without medical prescription, which is illegal.

The 32-year-old was sentenced to eight months in prison with the term suspended for two years. Back then, rumor had it that there were more celebrities under investigation for the same suspicion. Two months later, three popular actresses — Lee Seung-yeon, Park Si-heon and Jang Mi-inae — were indicted on charges of abusing the prescription drug.

In the same month, top actress Park Joo-me was critically injured in a car accident and had to skip shooting an epic drama, where she performed in the lead role. Actor Yoo Joon-sang had his left cruciate ligament injured while shooting an action movie.

A team of journalists at the country’s largest broadcaster KBS conducted an extensive research last year to uncover the mysteria of the die-hard phobia, but failed to complete the mission.

“I don’t know why. For any reason, many top stars were dead or embroiled in unsavory scandals in November for the past many years and, I think, it has become the grounds for the ‘horrific November’ tag,” said Ha Jae-geun, an entertainment culture critic.

He suspected the phobia was born with the death of singer Cha Joong-rak, on Nov. 10, 1968. He suddenly died of acute meningitis when his song “Love Has Gone with Autumn Foliage” was gaining popularity.

Three years later (Nov. 10, 1971), then top singer Bae Ho died of complications of nephritis. Popular singer and songwriter Kim Jung-ho died of pulmonary tuberculosis on Nov. 7, 1985, and another musician Yoo Jae-ha, who is still touted as the father of Korean ballads and remembered by an annual memorial music festival, was killed in a car accident on Nov. 1, 1987.

Another legendary crooner Kim Hyun-sik died of hepatocirrhosis on Nov. 1, 1990. Kim Sung-jae, a hip-hop singer, rapper and dancer, part of the hip-hap duo DEUX, died of heart attack on Nov. 20, 1995, under very mysterious circumstances.

The November phobia is still thriving in the new millennium.

Kang Won-rae, a member of the country’s top dance duo CLON, had a motorcycle accident on Nov. 9, 2000, that left his lower body paralyzed.

Comedian Joo Byung-jin was accused 10 days later of sexually assaulting a female college student, which was later found to be false. One day later, Ahn Chil-hyun, the lead singer of five-member boy band H.O.T., was arrested by police for driving under the influence of alcohol.

The following year, then baby-faced top actress Hwang Soo-jeong surprised the public with police investigation into allegations of her abusing drugs. Miss Korea-turned-actress Ko Hyun-jung announced her divorce with Chung Yong-jin, incumbent vice chairman of retail giant Shinsegae Group, in November 2003. Singer-turned-TV personality Shin Jung-hwan was placed on Interpol’s wanted list in November 2010 on suspicion of illegal gambling at a casino in the Philippines.

Baseball player-turned-TV personality Kang Byung-kyu was arrested for illegal gambling in November 2008 and accused again the following year of blackmailing actor Lee Byung-hun.

Singer Kim Sung-soo and comedian Choi Hyo-jong were indicted last November for assaulting his girl friend and defaming a conservative lawmaker, respectively.