TODAY...I want to get into the nitty and the gritty about this WHOLE THANG that Non-Asians will never be accepted in Korean society and that "it won't look right" mess and all that lovely stuff. I have proof! I've got receipts and documents proving these statements to be untrue! After that I will tell y'all the REAL reason why I think we have yet to see an Non-Asian K-pop idol/star.
1.) Companies have ALREADY stated that they don't care about race/ethnicity/nationality; they are just simply looking for TALENT!
this piece came from an online new article from Korea.net, an online Korean news website. The article was released in 2012 and the title of it is, Foreign Young Talents Flock to K-pop Auditions, and it basically discussed how more foreigners (non-Asians) are auditioning for the opportunity to become K-pop idols/stars. It also included the Korean entertainment companies thoughts about this and they have noticed that every year the amount of foreigners that audition keep increase and in 2012 outweighed the amount of Koreans that auditioned.
adding on to that with the next point
2.) There have ALREADY been foreigners (non-Asians) that were casted by Korean entertainment companies as trainees or given spotlight for their amazing talents.
I think the first one I am going to start off with is an obvious one. Y'all might have heard of or seen this woman before her name is, Nataile White aka Pumashock!!! She is known for making Korean covers of popular Korean songs that she remixes to fit her style. She's covered artist like Lee Hyori, SS501, Wondergirls, SuperJunior, BoA, TVXQ, etc... BUT the cover that put her on the map was her remixed cover of SNSD - Gee. It got over a million views in one day and a featuring on Star King. ^_~
On Star King they really showed a LOT of interest in her! They said that when she sung in Korean she sounded like a Korean person. They really like her. They said it was like she has Korean blood in her because her pronunciation was PERFECT! They also mentioned that she had such a unique R&B style to it that it was like she created a new genre!
This is also a video of her doing a South Korean commercial for a coffee brand.
The man in the middle, his name is Gregg. He is an English teacher in South Korea and he is very well loved by the community. He got noticed when he was a contestant on Superstar k6 and after that he has been doing little performances, collaborations and mini concerts in Seoul mostly. He has also been featured on famous TV programs like Running Man and Star King. I also saw him on a episode of AfreecaTV with a famous host on there.
You all may know this young lady. Her name is Allyse and she is a YouTube star most known for her amazing vocals and K-pop covers of groups like BIGBANG & 2NE1. In 2012 she won the best vocal for the BIGBANG cover contest. After that she was scouted by an entertainment company in South Korea called, StarStruck entertainment. She moved to Seoul and started training with the company. But because it was a small company that was short on funds and lost financial support causing the company shut down and Allyse, unfortunately, had to comeback to the States. Now she is back on YouTube making covers again and she participates in singing contest and still trying to debut in South Korea. In my opinion I think she would have been the first African American K-pop idol/star if she would have still been able to be in company.
This is a cover she made in honor of Aaliyah but she remixed to and added Korean lyrics! It's really good!
I was searching on the web and I found this article about this guy named, Neil Hannigan. He was a SM trainee for 2 years or more but he recently left and is now continuing his studies back in his hometown, New York. The article itself is actually an interview and he was asked various questions about his trainee life in SM entertainment. If you would like to read his interview ---->CLICK HERE!!!
The interview is very eye-opening to the good and the dark side of trainee life. So if you want to know more about trainee life in SM you can just go check out the interview.
In the very last (2nd to last) question of the interview, he was asked if had anything that he wanted to say or provide anymore information that he felt needed to be included in the interview; and he responded with......
I think he just pretty much summed it up right there.
Also, a long time ago, back in 2013, I watched a video of a young boy he was like 14/15 years old and he had just got through with the SM 2013 global auditions. He was Hispanic American and he was talking about his audition and how excited he was and how much he prepared for it. He even gave some helpful tips that I still use when I go to auditions. He previously had already auditioned for JYP the previous year...anyway. He was applying as a dancer for the audition and he was talking about how after the whole group he was finished the judge asked him to stay behind while the rest of the group left. After that they asked if he could dance again and he did but for a longer time. He also (or I think) that they asked him some more questions and then after all that he was able to leave. Unfortunately, I can't find the video he had on YouTube I think he might have deleted his account because I don't see his account anywhere. BUT I just thought that I should share this little piece of information. For what it's worth, I thought that this would be good information for the Hispanic community so they don't lose hope! Since I don't have actual PROOF or evidence that this is what he said that leaves this info invalid but again, for what it's worth I hope it gave some hope to people out there.
This video is a snippet from an episode of Star King. They were having K-pop cover groups from all over the world come and perform on the show. This is of the girl group that came they are really good and got to do a dance with F(x). Now why is this significant? Well one of the reasons why people say that non-Asians can't be K-pop stars/idols is because they won't look right in the group well that's why I got this video to prove that statement wrong! It starts at 4:14
And this video is from the K-pop cover dance final. The group performing is Febris Eroctica and they did a cover of Beast(B2ST) - Shock and they were given high praise for their performance. The fans even did fanchants while they were dancing, I thought that was pretty cool.
This next person is getting really well-known in the K-pop world. She is a YouTuber that has won numerous K-pop contest and was even on American Idol! Her name is Arnelle "Elly" Nonon but you probably know her as Ellythefiaryy on her YouTube Channel. In 2013, she was the grand prize winner of the 2013 K-pop World Festival. She is also well-known for her vocal cover response to Bang Yongguk's "CURXE". Someone posted on his twitter and he commented about saying how good it was.
and this is a cover of Taeyang's "Eyes, Nose, Lips".
This is Margarita Letitchevski is a YouTuber and she is well-known for her K-pop vocal covers. This is a video about her 2012 YG global audition and how it went. She said that the judges told her that they were interested in her becoming a trainee. But unfortunately, she did not get in but she came pretty close.
This young lady's name is Toyanna Rae aka Toy as most of you would know her as. She was a contestant on Show Me the Money 3 in Illionaire's team alongside with Bobby of iKON. She is a female rapper and a YouTuber. She has been living in South Korea for 4 years now and is hoping to debut in South Korea as a rapper.
This is one of her remixes called "I mean that"
3.) Korean entertainment companies have ALREADY casted non-Asians into K-pop groups.
I'm pretty sure most of you know about this group. They are called, The Gloss, and they are a four member girl group that was formed under, entertainment company MGMC. They were introduced in 2013 on their official YouTube channel doing vocal covers of both Korean and American songs. The whole group concept is that they are the first international/interraical girl group because they have a member in their group who was Non-Asian. Her name is Olivia and she is from France. They found all of their members through auditions held in Korea, Europe and America. Although, the group disband last year they did come pretty close to debuting as an official group in South Korea. I think they are very talented girls and who knows we might see them again. This next video is just a documentary of the girl group and Olivia.
Kyle Moffat was the 3rd place winner of the whole contest.
4.) Because BRAD EXIST!!!
Okay...I already know what you're going to say...BUT HE'S NOT K-POP!!! Well technically he is because K-pop meaning Korean POPULAR music isn't really a genre. It is just a category where the hottest songs of the year are put. But that's neither here nor there because honest...IT DOESN'T MATTER!!! He IS a singer (or part of a singing group/band) in South Korea. The band (itself) is very famous and much loved in South Korea. And last time I checked he ain't Korean...or Asian! I know people can deny a LOT of things but one thing they can't deny is his success! You can't deny that! You just can't!5.) There are entertainment companie(s) based in South Korea that their main goal is to successfully debut non-Asians K-pop idols.
So far, the only company I know that right now (or at least heard of) that are branching out and are trying to successfully debut an interracial idol group is...
Areia Creations is an entertainment company based in Seoul, South Korea.
ACGE focus is to blend the current K-pop image with international trends that are beyond the Korean social and creative boundaries in order to appeal better to the emerging global K-pop market mainly by promoting artists for their personality.[2]
In order to better describe their vision, they have declared a subgenre of K-pop called "Global K-pop", attempting to create products specifically tailored for the peculiar taste of international K-pop fans. In the process of doing so they will attempt to create groups that include non-Asian members. All their releases will be bilingual (English and Korean) and distributed both internationally and to the Korean market.[2]
(wikipedia)
The CEO and founder of the company is named, June, and he is from Greece. He remixes K-pop songs and makes his own songs. His vision is to successfully debut K-pop groups with Non-Asian members. He even explains how it can be done! In fact I have made post about them.
Movie Night: How to become a K-pop idol as a foreigner #1 | Introduction
MOVIE NIGHT: How to become a K-pop idol as a foreigner #2 | The Skills
6.) Koreans (themselves) seem open-minded to the idea.Movie Night: How to become a K-pop idol as a foreigner #1 | Introduction
MOVIE NIGHT: How to become a K-pop idol as a foreigner #2 | The Skills
Check out his new artist Roh Siena!
This man here, his name is Uncle JJ, or that's what he goes by on this channel. He is a modern South Korean man and in this video he discusses his thoughts of Non-Koreans (Asians) becoming K-pop idols/stars. He thinks that it would be GREAT for non-Asians to become K-pop idols/stars because he thinks that Korea is too mono-polarized and that they need more people to become more diverse and to him adding a non-Asian in a K-pop group would be a good idea and he would like to see it happen.
In an article, that I have mention before, it was a response to a question that was asked by fan of the blogger. The name of the blog is called, Ask a Korean, the blogger is Korean, ethically they are Korean and they were born and raised.There is a section called Ask a Korean, it's where fans of the blog go and ask questions, mostly about things related to Korea. One fan asked the question:
Dear Korean,
How ready do you think Korea is for a foreigner in the K-pop scene? My definition of a foreigner in Korean market would be someone who isn't Korean and does not look visibly Asian.
Maria J.
HIS RESPONSE:
"The Korean is not joking when Busker Busker was the number one K-pop band of 2012. They deserve the moniker based on any serious metric. Busker Busker sold the most number of albums in 2012 in Korea, and their songs were the most downloaded. (They sold significantly more songs online than PSY in 2012 Korea, even with PSY's Gangnam Style.) The band also placed six different songs in the top 10 of Gaon Chart (the most authoritative chart for K-pop) through 2012, and five songs in the top 10 of Billboard's K-pop chart. Busker Busker also took home three Korean Music Awards for 2013, including Best Pop Album and Best Pop Song. In the cafes of Seoul last year, it was practically impossible to avoid Busker Busker's songs, like 벚꽃 엔딩 ["Cherry Blossom Ending", the video above] or 여수 밤바다 ["Yeosu Night Sea"]. And this wildly successful band had a highly visible white member, who is the drummer for the band.
Does this mean that the next non-Asian foreigner will be inevitably successful, or be able to completely avoid Korea's racism? Of course not. But Busker Busker's success is still a significant data point. The number one band of K-pop in 2012 had a member who was a non-Asian foreigner, and Korean pop music scene hardly made a fuss about it. That should have answered the question before it even made its way to the Korean's inbox", (Ask A Korean 2013)
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE!!!
Lastly, I have stories from my own experience with Korean people. KEEP IN MIND THAT ALL OF THESE EXPERIENCE HAVE BEEN WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE ETHICALLY KOREAN, WERE BORN AND RAISED IN KOREAN AND STILL LIVE THERE TIL THIS DAY.
Before I went to China I was practicing my Chinese with a Chinese lady I met at her families restaurant and she would help me with my Chinese and I would practice speaking English with her and her friend, Koran. Mrs. Koran was from South Korea, Both ladies are mothers and wives so they are a lot older than me but Mrs. Koran was the oldest. One day while we were practicing we started talking about singing and dancing. They asked me if I could sing and dance and I told them yes I could; I started dancing and singing and they were very impressed. After I finished Mrs. Koran started asking me if I knew what K-pop was...(I couldn't lie! BUT I said very modestly) I told her I knew a little bit about it lol and she began telling me about different famous groups like 2PM, BIGBANG and she also said that in South Korea they hold lots of auditions to become K-pop idols and she told me that I should audition because she thinks that I could be a idol in South Korea....let me say that again....SHE TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD AUDITION BECAUSE SHE THINKS THAT I COULD BE A IDOL IN SOUTH KOREA!
To me that was sooooooooo shocking because I would have NEVER though that I would hear something like that from a Korean person (let alone an OLDER Korean person). The fact that she was actually VERY serious with her statement just made me feel like...SURPRISED I was so surprised.
Also, when I was in China I made LOTS of Korean and Chinese friends and they ALL would tell me that I should audition to become an idol because I have the talent and the personality. Now this is not me bragging BUT this is to prove a point!
MY THOUGHTS: What a think about this WHOLE thing is that South Korea (or just Asia in general) actually might be more open-minded than people make it out to be. Usually, most of the hate comes from people who AREN'T EVEN KOREAN!!! or Asian for that matter; because literally my Asian friends support my dream more than all of my Non-Asian friends COMBINED! Now does that mean that ALL Koreans (Asians) are going to be open to it? NO! it definitely does not but the fact that there are a good number of them that would be open gives a little hope. To be honest, I don't think Koreans (Asians) would like the fact that people refer to them as being racist and unwelcoming to other races and cultures. That is actually very rude to call another race of people racist when you don't even know the culture yourself; so how can say that EVERY SINGLE person racist when people themselves come very different. Everyone is different they have their own way of thinking and doing things. So saying that a whole race is racist simply because of certain things you read somewhere and what you heard is very rude and ignorant and not fair to that race of people at all!
With all this being said I hope that this post helps and encourages some people. I also hope that this proves to some people that Korea may be more open-minded than you think it is.
Alright guys I'll catch y'all later, BYEZ!!!
