Five young son group members from the UK, a home in Seoul’s common 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 fresh BBC reality show.
The present charts a group of 19 to 23-year-old young men’s trip through a rigorous, 100-day training regimen that led to their circle debut as Dear Alice.
Made in Korea taps into the international attention in K-pop and interest about the business concept that has produced a number of highly-skilled, beautiful acts like BTS, Blackpink, Seventeen, and Half.
The results speak for themselves. Although Taylor Swift may have been the top-selling performer in the world in 2023, four of the ten best-selling Asian works worldwide were, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Market.
The best South Korean K-pop music companies are known for their comprehensive training programs that have occasionally been criticized for exploiting talent. Disillusioned performers have complained of contracts that do n’t treat their careers fairly and responsibly and that they are overworked, underpaid, abused, and unprotected.
The censure of these practices has resulted in some labor wages and improvements in working conditions for performers. But, as members of the world-famous lady group Blackpink and others have testified, the training needed to reach the heights of business success is still very labor intensive and time-consuming for performers.
A’ special’ experiment
Despite claiming to be a “unique test” with its European account, Made in Korea is not the first day non-Korean hopefuls have faced the K-pop teaching device. A number of non-Koreans make up some of K-pop’s most famous functions, including Blackpink, which features a Thai part, and Seventeen, which has people from China and the US.
Their participation is a part of a plan to support K-pop groups ‘ international travels by allowing them to communicate with overseas fans in different languages.
Netflix really released Pop Star Academy – KATSEYE in a study that is comparable to Made in Korea. The film follows a collaboration between the US brand Geffen Records and HYBE, a top Asian talent agency and the creator of BTS, as they work to form a girl group made up of women from various nations.
SM Entertainment is the Asian talent company that partnered with the European directors of Dear Alice. One of several leading firms in South Korea, they have been generating chart-topping works since the mid-1990s. Like its rivals HYBE, YG and BigHit Entertainment, SM is a one-stop shop that takes skills from casting, to education, production and management.
With an “unwavering commitment to excellence” such organizations hire and manage simply the best. By releasing songs in English to enhance mobility for English-speaking fans, who make up a large portion of K-pop’s 200 million-strong world following, they have been quick to adapt and encourage the charm of their acts across borders.
By claiming that it is committed to” setting the gold standard for accountable management in the industry,” SM Entertainment’s website makes a simple smile to past criticism of the company’s procedures. 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 synchronized and the singing far from pitch-perfect, Yoon tells them:” You do n’t know the tough situation you are in now”.
She threatens to watch any additional performances until they are significant improvements. Thoroughly demoralized, 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 that was released on Netflix in 2020 gives the impression that those who survive must have an extraordinary level of mental resilience, perhaps above and beyond their vocal prowess and ability to learn choreography.
To succeed in this field requires pushing yourself to limits that are not apparent to most people. In addition to this, it also requires performers to avoid any behavior that might generate a reputation-destroying scandal.
Fans of other international artists are generally accepting of the frequently relatable imperfections that Western performers exhibit in their daily lives, and Taylor Swift fans are unfazed by the news of the singer’s turbulent love life.
However, K-Pop artists must keep their records in good order. They are rarely if ever,  , permitted to date publicly , or engage in unsavory behavior, which can include even minor misdemeanors such as , vaping indoors.
For years, BTS has remained relatively scandal-free. But in August, one member, Suga, fell off his e-scooter in Seoul and failed a breathalyzer test, incurring , drink-driving charges. In the hope that the group can rebuild public trust, the incident has caused significant waves and prompted a public apology.
If Dear Alice is successful in both training and evaluation, it’s not clear whether they will be subject to the same moral and behavioral standards as groups made up of mostly Korean members.
However, if SM Entertainment is to put its name to the management of the company, it is unquestionable that these five young men will need to learn to bounce back from harsh criticism and show a willingness to learn and advance to a level above what they have previously achieved.
Sarah A Son is senior lecturer in Korean Studies, University of Sheffield
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.