How did Korea with a relatively small-scale music industry come to create a vibrant pop culture scene that would enthrall not only young Asian fans but also global audiences from diverse racial and generational backgrounds? From idol training to fan engagement, from studio recording to mastering choreographic sequences, what are the steps that go into the actual production and promotion of K-pop? And how can we account for K-pop's global presence within the rapidly changing media environment and consumerist culture in the new millennium? As an informed guide for finding answers to these questions, The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop probes the complexities of K-pop as both a music industry and a transnational cultural scene. It investigates the meteoric ascent of K-pop against the backdrop of increasing global connectivity wherein a distinctive model of production and consumption is closely associated with creativity and futurity.
Edited by:
Suk-Young Kim (University of California Los Angeles)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 250mm,
Width: 172mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9781108837057
ISBN 10: 1108837050
Series: Cambridge Companions to Music
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 09 March 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction: Korea's moment in the limelight Suk-Young Kim; Part I. Genealogies: 1. Sticking it to the man: early neoliberalism in Korean pop music Roald Maliangkay; 2. Itaewon class, Gangnam style and Yeouido star: the industrial revolution of Korean pop in the 1990s Hyunjoon Shin; Part II. Sounding out K-pop: 3. Finding the K in K-pop musically: a stylistic history Jung-Min Mina Lee; 4. Recording the soundscape of K-pop Hyewon Kim; Part III. Dancing to K-pop: 5. K-pop dance music video choreography Chuyun Oh; 6. Embodying K-pop hits through cover dance practices CedarBough T. Saeji; Part IV. The making of idols: 7. K-pop idols: media commodities, affective laborers and cultural capitalists Stephanie Choi; 8. From K-pop to Z-pop: the pan-Asian production, consumption and circulation of idols So-Rim Lee; Part V. The band that surprised the world: 9. BTS, transmedia and hip hop Kyung Hyun Kim; 10. The BTS phenomenon Suk-Young Kim and Youngdae Kim; 11. Transcultural fandom: BTS and ARMY Candace Epps-Robertson; Part VI. Circuits of K-pop flow: 12. K-pop and the participatory condition: vicarity, serial affect and 'real-life contents' Michelle Cho; 13. Idol shipping culture: exploring queer sexuality among fans of K-pop Thomas Baudinette; 14. Following the footsteps of BTS: the global rise of K-pop tourism Youjeong Oh.
Suk-Young Kim is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at University of California. She is the author of Illusive Utopia (2010), DMZ Crossing (2014), and K-Pop Live (2018) and frequently comments on Korean cultural politics for BBC, CNN, and National Public Radio.
