K-pop, the sound of subaltern cosmopolitanism?Last, but not the least, the incorporation of hip-hop and electronica is due to the specific
method of music production in idol pop. In K-pop production, priority is given to how the
group members are deployed, rather than the quality of the songs. Thus, most of the songs by
idol groups are divided into parts that each member can actually perform. Each and every song
of the idol groups is constructed in ways that expose the musical characteristics of the members.
For instance, the best singer in the group gets the main melody, and the best rapper gets the
rap part inserted in the middle of the song. The members’ harmonious melody is essentially a
portion designed to highlight dancing. Rap-centered hip-hop and beat-centered electronica are
assembled in order to supplement the limited vocal skills of the idol groups. Given this situation,
idol pop necessarily calls for the strong electronic beat and hip hop-tinged sound structures that
facilitate rapping. Depending on the disposition of the team, an idol group may have a prefer-
ence for hip-hop or electronica, but generally speaking, the two genres are blended on the basis
of song construction and sampling sounds for pop melody, rapping, and powerful dance.
Idol pop understandably does not require actual instrumental performances in studio. Except
for the vocal parts, all sounds rely on a computer-controlled recording system. This does not
mean that creativity is always absent in such a computer-controlled production method. It does
emphasize that the music making of K-pop is different from the conventional method. It is not
the songwriter/producer who seeks out a singer after songwriting is done, but just the opposite.
First, a performer is found, and then the songwriter/producer optimizes the music for the per-
former. In this system, songwriters often double as producers who develop musical trends and
engage in the singers’ musical activities. Thus, songwriting, arrangement, recording and mixing,
and post-production are all integrated into a production collective or team. That is why the best
songwriters of K-pop, such as Yoo Yongjin (a.k.a. Yu Yŏng-chin) in SM and Teddy in YG, are
currently the board members of their companies. Another one, Park Jinyoung (Pak Chin-yŏng),
is the founder of JYP. Some of the well-known K-pop songwriters outside the companies also take
the form of a production team, such as Yonggamhan Hyŏngje (Brave Brothers) and Sinsadong
Horaengi (Sinsadong Tiger).
Another key factor in K-pop’s formula for global success is international collaboration, in
which SM is the most pioneering and adventurous. For example, Girls’ Generation’s “Genie”
(2009) was made by a Norwegian collective; “Hoot” (2010) by a Danish collective and a British
songwriter; and “Run Devil Run” (2011) by a multinational collective composed of American,
British, and Swedish songwriters and producers. To facilitate this collaboration, the com-
pany organizes a “songwriting camp” that invites songwriters–producers from Europe (mostly
Scandinavia) and North America. Songs are first written in English and then translated into
Korean before their release. Hence, it is tempting to put K-pop not in the temporal trajectory
of Korean popular music, but in the spatial-geographic configuration of global pop music, yet
suffice it to state here that some K-pop songs sound more and more global and metropolitan
even with Korean lyrics. It is cosmopolitan pop music performed by Asian bodies, which suits
the soundscape of globalized urban spaces.
Making money: K-pop as multi-use content
Simon Frith once said that making money out of music is done “with difficulty” (Frith 2001, 26).
Whenever I meet the staff and employees in the Korean music industry, I hear the same story.
What is the “difficulty” of making money out of K-pop?
How K-pop makes money is indeed not well known to the outside world. One can speculate
that the major source of revenue is idols being treated as a commodity or brand. K-pop idols
are never idle, and they do work hard in the cultural industries. A successful idol works not only