This week, 2NE1 broke the record previously set by Big Bang, to become the highest ranking K-Pop act on the Billboard 200 chart. The album CRUSH has received attention from American media outlets ranging from the avante garde Noisey to FUSE TV. Girls' Generation also entered the Billboard chart, providing the unique opportunity to introduce two of the most prominent musical acts in K-Pop to American audiences. In addition to those monumental accomplishments, mainstream press in America will have the opportunity to leading pop and rock acts at SXSW's K-Pop Night Out.
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The inroads that K-Pop has made in America are far beyond the tone set by PSY's 2012 Gangnam Style performance on The Today Show. While many K-Pop fans scoff at the notion of PSY as the preeminent leader of K-Pop in America, mainstream media in the U.S. neglected to cover K-Pop until the viral explosion of Gangnam Style. Whether the coverage was derived from audience demand to learn more about K-Pop or a desire from the media to focus on the perceived novelty of PSY, the sensation created by Gangnam Style ignited a spark within America.
Prior to PSY's iconic Rockefeller Center performance, the first KCON was held in Los Angeles, California. Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Yang admittedly expressed skepticism when he was first asked to appear as a panelist at KCON 2012 stating, “Even as I accepted the invitation to speak, I suppressed a nagging fear that MNET was forcing into existence something that wasn’t there, trying to engineer a need among K-Pop fans to gather as a collective from the top down, rather than letting it spring up from the grassroots.” Upon arriving at KCON 2012, Jeff Yang was convinced that CJ E&M was in fact on the cusp of a growing trend. KCON 2012 yielded an audience count of 10,000 with attendees that were from numerous ethnic groups and not limited to Korean Americans.
2012 served as a pinnacle year for K-Pop in the United States, with 2NE1 and Big Bang's concerts as two of the best live performances that were attended by The New York Times music critics. The United States had firmly established itself as a fertile ground for K-Pop concerts by 2013. B.A.P, only a year after their debut, presided over an audience of screaming fans in New York's Times Square while promoting their Live On Earth tour.
PSY returned to Rockefeller Center and artists such as INFINITE, 2AM, and VIXX performed before American audiences. KCON, which once had its skeptics, doubled its audience to 20,000 attendees who witnessed the only live performance of G-Dragon outside of Asia.
Although it is only March, 2014 may prove to be the year that K-Pop fully conquers the U.S. market. There are scheduled concerts for Teen Top, Boyfriend, B.A.P, and Block B. The K-Pop Night Out at SXSW in now a focus of media attention, following the appearance of f(x) at last year's event which yielded a viral parody video from Funny or Die with actress Anna Kendrick.
In addition to the influx of concerts and showcases, Los Angeles will host the KBS sponsored LA K-Pop Festival and the Korea Times Festival. Organizers for the LA K-Pop Festival are estimating 100,000 fans in attendance, with audiophiles planning to travel from throughout the country to the event.
While there is an influx of concerts, two tours remain on the top of audiences must-see list. The YG Family Tour which last visited the U.S. in 2006 and SMTOWN are priority events for fans. Concert organizers for Korean pop music are also faced with growing demand from fans to expand concerts beyond the New York and Los Angeles market. Jazzy US, who has been at the forefront of a movement to provide concerts to audiences in the Middle States and the South. However, Atlanta continues to be neglected even though it has the fifth largest Korean American population. Although, the city was an initial destination for an upcoming Block B showcase, Washington D.C. and Miami were chosen.
A writer for 247 Asian Media presented an honest analysis of K-Pop's journey into the U.S. in the editorial Is America Ready For An Official K-Pop Invasion?. This is a valid question, as evidenced by the surprise expressed by K-Pop fans in the United States when the announcement broke that YG Entertainment would be opening an amusement destination known as YG Land in a Orange County mall that is currently undergoing development. YG Land is scheduled for 2015, while SM Entertainment maintains plans to open a SMTOWN Museum in the heart of Los Angeles Koreatown. While both projects may seem like an improbable success, they are testimonies to the growing desires of American fans to partake in the Korean entertainment experience.
Source : kpopstarz[dot]com
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