K-pop, the sound of subaltern cosmopolitanism?(Caramanica 2011). As an institution, the term “idol” has a long history in popular music with
several variants across place and time. Although it initially borrowed heavily from Motown in
the United States and Johnny’s in Japan, the Korean idol has turned into a unique institution.
In local parlance, it is simply dubbed as a “trainee system” or “academy system.” There always is
a long queue for an audition set up by major entertainment companies running this “system.”
After passing the audition, the trainees undergo a long training period to develop performance
skills (singing, dancing, acting, etc.) as well as language skills (English, Japanese, and Chinese).
Some idol training manuals even include cosmetic surgical enhancements. This “idol-dom” is
a special kind of stardom, because an idol suddenly rises to stardom from complete obscurity
without first paying his/her dues in the lower circuits of the music entertainment industry.
The idol and the entertainment company are dedicated to work hard for each other. The
production system of the idol is characterized as an “in-house system” (Shin 2009: 510). This
system integrates the music industry’s basic functions (record production, distribution, and talent
management) and other necessary functions for making idols. The company (hoesa) is a combi-
nation of the record company and the management agency. Housed in multi-story office build-
ings (saok) equipped with all kinds of facilities, such as recording studios, rehearsal spaces, and
conference rooms, major companies retain songwriters-arrangers, recording engineers, manag-
ers, choreographers, costume designers, design coordinators, and other personnel. Many success-
ful companies are clustered in the plush areas of Seoul, especially in the districts of Gangnam and
Mapo. Cheongdam-dong, a luxurious Gangnam neighborhood where a local road has recently
been renamed as K-star Road, is the production center of idol entertainment. The idol-making
system was consolidated around the turn of the century when the so-called Big 3 emerged:
SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment. DSP, which manages SS501 and
Kara, is sometimes counted into Big 4.
Seo Taiji and Boys (Sŏ t’aeji wa aidŭl) in the early 1990s perhaps foreshadowed the era of
idols, but the formula for the K-pop idol was not concocted until 1996 when the five-boy
group H.O.T. (High Five of Teenagers) arrived on the scene. Their producer was Lee Soo-man
(Yi Su-man), who went on to found the entertainment company bearing the initial of his given
name, SM. H.O.T. composed of pretty boys was the first idol group that brought about a rev-
olution in Korea’s pop music history, both in the good and bad sense. A year later a trio named
S.E.S., another product of SM, set the standard for female idol groups: cute, sexy girls singing
bubble gum pop. With some variations, the same basic formula still applies—to organize and
train a single-sex idol group that consists of good-looking members with distinct personalities.
The best medium for idol K-pop is on-screen video performance, be it on a TV, personal
computer, or mobile device. Live dancing with lip-syncing to pre-recorded music (“AR” in the
local business jargon) is the rule rather than the exception on an idol show. An idol group is likely
to include one or two quality singers or rappers, but what makes a K-pop idol is the collective
dancing skills rather than any individual singing. A typical K-pop song features a compelling,
sometimes even addictive, hook with meaningless lyrics synchronized with signature dance moves.
The K-pop industry does not necessarily produce cookie-cutter idols who are indistinguish-
able from one another. Some local critics observe different idol types based on company cultures
(Cha and Choi 2012, 146–150). For example, while the “hard-trained model student type” idols
come from SM, YG produces the “hip-hop influenced, wild, and self-boasting type,” and DSP
does the “boys/girls next door type.” The critics also highlight the “artistic achievement and
generational difference” of “the second generation idol groups” since the late 2000s—to name a
few, “Tell Me” (2007) by Wonder Girls, “Lie” (2008) by Big Bang, “Gee” (2009) by Girls Gener-
ation, “Mr” (2009) by Kara, “Sorry, Sorry” (2009) by Super Junior, “Fire” (2010) by 2NE1, and
“Ring Ding Dong” (2010) by SHINee.