SOUNDSCAPE: Unmade in Korea?

Five aspiring boy-band members from the UK, a house in Seoul’s popular Itaewon district, and training at one of Korea’s leading K-pop talent agencies — this is the recipe offered up by Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience, a new BBC reality show.
The show charts the journey of a group of young men, aged between 19 and 23, through a strict, 100-day training process, leading to their debut as a band called Dear Alice.
Made in Korea taps into global interest in K-pop and curiosity around the industry model that has generated a large number of shiny, attractive and highly-skilled acts, such as BTS, Blackpink, Seventeen and Twice.
The results speak for themselves. Taylor Swift may have been the biggest-selling artist in the world in 2023, but four of 2023’s top 10 best-selling acts globally were Korean, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
The leading South Korean K-pop music agencies are known for their rigorous and years-long training programmes, which have come under fire at times for being exploitative of talent. Disillusioned performers have complained of being overworked, underpaid, abused and unprotected by contracts that fail to fairly and responsibly manage their careers.
Criticism of such practices has led to unionisation and some improvements in conditions for performers. However, as members of world-famous girl group Blackpink and others have attested, the training required to reach the heights of industry success remains extremely rigorous and all-consuming of performers’ time and energy.
A ‘unique’ experiment
Despite claiming to be a “unique experiment” with its British membership, Made in Korea is not the first time non-Korean hopefuls have faced the K-pop training machine. A number of non-Koreans make up some of K-pop’s most popular acts, including Blackpink, which features a Thai member, and Seventeen, which has members from China and the US.
Their inclusion is part of a strategy to help K-pop groups connect with foreign fans and communicate in languages other than Korean during international appearances.
In a similar experiment to Made in Korea, Netflix has also just released Pop Star Academy — KATSEYE. The documentary follows a collaboration between HYBE (a leading Korean talent agency and the creator of global sensations BTS) and the US label Geffen Records, as they work to create a girl group made up of women from different countries.
The Korean talent agency that agreed to work with the British creators of Dear Alice is SM Entertainment. One of several leading agencies in South Korea, they have been generating chart-topping acts since the mid-1990s. Like its counterparts HYBE, YG and BigHit Entertainment, SM is a one-stop shop that takes talent from casting, to training, production and management.
With an “unwavering commitment to excellence” such agencies hire and manage only the best. They have been swift to adapt and promote the appeal of their acts across borders by releasing songs in English, to improve accessibility for English-speaking fans, who make up a large proportion of K-pop’s 200 million-strong global following.
SM’s website makes a subtle nod to previous critique of the industry’s methods by stating its commitment to “setting the gold standard for responsible management in the industry.” This does not mean a soft approach to raising chart-topping talent, however.
The secret to success
Episode one of Made in Korea sees the five boys face “evaluation” after a testing first week of training by SM entertainment’s formidable Hee Jun Yoon, known for her no-holds-barred criticism.
After watching the group’s first performance, during which the choreography is poorly synchronised and the singing far from pitch-perfect, Yoon tells them: “You don’t know the tough situation you are in now.”
She threatens not to view any future performances unless they make considerable improvements. Thoroughly demoralised, the five members come away from the experience having glimpsed the harsh reality of what it takes to succeed in the K-pop industry.
The negative feedback is unsurprising. A Blackpink documentary released on Netflix in 2020 leaves the viewer with the impression that those who survive the “trainee system” must possess an extraordinary degree of mental resilience — perhaps over and above their vocal talent and ability to learn choreography.
To succeed in this industry is to be able to push yourself to limits unimaginable by most. In addition to this, it also requires performers to avoid any behaviour that might generate a reputation-destroying scandal.
Taylor Swift fans are unfazed by news of the singer’s tumultuous love life, and fans of other global acts are relatively accepting of the often relatable imperfections displayed by Western performers. But K-Pop acts are bound by contracts to remain squeaky clean. They are rarely, if ever, permitted to date publicly or engage in unsavoury behaviour, which can include even minor misdemeanours, such as vaping indoors.
For years, BTS had remained fairly scandal free. But in August, one member, Suga, fell off his e-scooter in Seoul and failed a breathalyser test, incurring drink-driving charges. The incident has created significant waves and prompted a public apology in the hope that the group can rebuild public trust.
If Dear Alice makes it through training and evaluation, it’s unclear whether they will be subject to the same moral and behavioural standards required of groups made up of predominantly Korean members.
However, if SM Entertainment is to put its name to the group’s management, there is no question that these five young men will have to learn to bounce back from tough criticism — and show a willingness to learn and improve to a level beyond anything they have achieved before.
The writer is a Senior Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK
Republished from The Conversation
Published in Dawn, ICON, September 1st, 2024