Sexiness gone too far?

By Kim Ji-soo

One of the main pillar’s on which Korean pop stands is sexiness.

When K-pop boy groups such as 2PM were soaring to global success, this writer asked several overseas fans how the K-pop groups differ from J-pop groups. In reference to 2PM, who are often dubbed as “jimseungdol” or “animalistic” idol stars, several Japanese fans replied that they were sexy, compared to lean J-pop boy groups.

And there’s no doubt the K-pop girl groups ― including Girls’ Generation and KARA ― are sexy, as well as cute.

But just several weeks into the first month of 2014, girl groups are rushing headlong into what you might call the sexy war.

When the four-member group Girl’s Day returned with a mini-album titled “Something” on Jan. 3, the lighting for its stage was a garish red, something synonymous with sleazy settings.

The performance of Dalshabet’s new song “B.B.B” has suggestive dance moves included.

Rainbow Blaxx’s “Style Film” has the members lying on some sort of mat during their performance, and the music video for the song has a “19-or-older” version. Rainbow Blaxx is the four-member spinoff from the seven-member group.

The girl groups’ rush to sexy been going on for few years now. Last year, the group After School opened the gateway to the sexy war by introducing pole dancing in its song “First Love.”

Lee Hyo-ri pulled off a swimsuit look for her song “Miss Korea” and CL of the group 2NE1 also featured a white-brief look for her solo single “Baddest Female.”

The performances created the necessary stir, but were not the subject of the kind of fines or other penalties the Korea Communications Standards Commission used to assess on K-pop stars years ago.

Admittedly, the songs by Girl’s Day, Dalshabet and Rainbow Blaxx are not unpleasing to the ear, but the groups’ performances are definitely raising concerns about just how far K-pop stars might go.

Lim Jin-mo, a music critic, told The Korea Times the sexy concept is not limited to Korean pop.

It’s true that the sexy concept is a controversial issue. Last year, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, 47, and the American singer Miley Cyrus, 20, exchanged terse words over the latter’s performance on the video for “Wrecking Ball.” O’Connor wrote an open letter after Cyrus said in an interview that her performance swinging naked on demolition equipment for the music video was inspired in part by O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U.” O’Connor wrote to the young pop star not to let the music industry “make a prostitute” of you.

The two had several more exchanges in which O’Connor’s mental struggles were mentioned, but ended with the Irish singer noting that it was positive for the industry that the two were able to bring up such issues.

In the 3 trillion won-large domestic music market, and the comparable yet ever-increasing concert market for K-pop, these issues have not yet been raised so publicly. Music critics and industry watchers do voice concerns, but only sporadically thus far.

The tendency in Korean society is to follow what’s hot and growing. That, combined with the big money and fame that the Korean entertainment industry currently wields, has obscured the debate about just how far performers should take the sexy concept.

They say that the essence of culture lies in diversity. But, if all the groups adopt the sexy concept, where is the diversity?