Japan emulates K-pop incubating model
Japanese top-ranked girl group AKB48 perform “Teacher Teacher.” The dance moves for the song was choreographed by Korean dancer Park Jun-hee. Courtesy of Park Jun-hee
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Japan's popular music industry was thriving in the 1990s and its cultural influence was felt all across Asia, including South Korea.
Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment, is one of the Asian musicians inspired by the systematic talent training in Japan back then and transplanted it to the entertainment industry in Korea.
The singer-turned-businessman started from scratch. At that time, there was no system in place in the local entertainment industry in terms of talent searches and training. Lee emulated Japanese talent search agency Johnny & Associates which was established in 1962 and established SM Entertainment in Korea in 1995.
Aspiring singers, after joining the agency, underwent years of thorough, systematic vocal and dance training before they made their debut as singers. Through the rigorous years of pre-debut training, the aspiring singers were reborn as professional, charismatic performers on the stage.
The first K-pop group to roll out of SM Entertainment was the boy band H.O.T in 1996. It popularized upbeat dance music and idol culture, overtaking the folk and rock songs of yore. As the Korean music industry saw a potential rise in both domestic and international markets, the process to produce more idol bands became formidable. The SM factory then manufactured S.E.S., BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, and Girls' Generation.
The local incubating system has served as the springboard for some Korean boy and girl bands' stunning successes outside the country, earning Lee the nickname “a trailblazer” who sowed the seeds for K-pop's global expansion.
Over two decades after Lee's experiment in K-pop, Korea's talent training model has begun to influence the Japanese entertainment industry. Some experts in charge of K-pop groups' choreography are called up by Japanese agencies to teach their singers to upgrade their dancing skills.
A choreographer under Big Hit Entertainment, Son Sung-deuk was spotted at Hey!Say!JUMP's recent practice video for their new song. Son has been helping train artists at the agency, including mega-hit group BTS. Son was credited with choreographing BTS's “Not Today,” “Blood Sweat & Tears” and “DNA.”
Else, choreographer Park Jun-hee, who was credited with choreographing GFriend's “Glass Bead” and “Me Gustas Tu,” has taught AKB48, the nation's top-ranked girl group. It was the first time that AKB48 enlisted the support of a non-Japanese choreographer for their latest song “Teacher Teacher” (2018). Japanese fans' immediate reaction was that K-pop flavored dance features sensual moves that were never seen in the group's previous works.
“Many Japanese talent agencies long for K-pop choreography because they admire K-pop music,” said Hwang Sun-up, a music critic, who specializes in J-pop music. “They realize that the current trend revolves around K-pop and think that relatively simple and easy choreography performed by J-pop artists could no longer satisfy audiences' demands for high standards.”
Just as furnished K-pop stars enjoy enormous recognition around Asia, tarnished J-pop stars are seeking new channels or connections to boost their reputations in the lucrative music industry.
As for AKB48, the girl group is desperate to increase their fan base across the continent because their popularity and album sales are on the downfall. Learning K-pop styled choreography, which often includes “point dance,” referring to a dance made up of hooking and repetitive movements within the choreography, is a good way to compete with Korean idols in Japan, according to Hwang.
“It's hard to deny that K-pop has enhanced its competitiveness by imitating foreign music, mostly benchmarking J-pop. But ambitious Korean entertainment companies have since refined the star-incubating system into a more delicate and chic style, and eventually ended up exporting it back to Japan,” he said.