SNSD and the Art of Bridging The

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The Art of Crossing the Line

Although the intensive coverage provided to the new all-boy and all-girl bands through the Internet and in more traditional media such as television may make it seem as though such they have long dominated popular music, the current explosion in popularity of idol groups begun only two years ago. What is more, this is not the first time that such groups have stormed the K-pop charts. The first wave of massively popular idol groups was in the late 90s, when a veritable army of teens made their debut as singers. Korean multi-entertainment companies recognized the business potential in well-trained young and attractive stars, and the feverish reception from the public confirmed this. The result was that H.O.T., Sechs Kies, Shinhwa, Fin.K.L.,

S.E.S., and G.O.D. enjoyed chart success and outstanding album sales.

Around 2002, this first golden age of idol groups came to an end. Most of the first wave of idols split up, while some individual members went on to pursue solo careers.

Although some groups did continue, with Shinhwa performing as recently as 2008, the moment of the idol group seemed to have passed. For a short time, the K-pop scene was now host to a series of successful solo artists, such as Rain and Yi Hyo-ri, the latter a former member of the all-girl band Fin.K.L. In 2004, the first forerunners of the second wave began to appear, with TVXQ, for example, releasing their first single that year. It was not until 2007, however, that the second wave started to crest,

1 Princeton University

85 with the two most prominent girl bands, The Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation

(Sonyŏ shidae, hereafter SNSD), debuting.

Although they have been—and continue to be—wildly and almost equally popular, there is a peculiar distinction in the marketing of SNSD that deserves attention. The marketing of an idol group, whether Korean or non-Korean, depends mostly on the idol image. This may or may not shift from song to song, from album to album. But typically, this image is built around a central “concept”, a certain role or conceit to which the group adheres. For example, in the 90s, the Korean boy band Sechs Kies maintained a rough alpha-male image through powerful dance moves and lyrics oozing bravado. This changed radically with the release of their winter 1998 song

“Couple”, a rare major-key song for which they donned fluffy oversized coats and ski gloves in bright solid colors. The image tends to change through the group’s career, in order perhaps to display a musical range or to attract new fans. The marketing image of SNSD, however, has revolved consistently around an emphasis on youthful innocence. This is especially unique considering that even when other girl bands such as Kara, 2NE1, 4minute, and numerous others joined the music scene, SNSD remained the only image to maintain this concept.

SNSD made their official debut in summer 2007, with a single called “Into the New

World (Tashi mannan segye)”. The name of the group was meant to indicate an era in which girls would take control. The music video seems to support this interpretation, with scenes of group members playing girls who achieve their dreams with inspiring tenacity. Music videos are arguably the most calculated and finely honed aspect of self-presentation available to idol groups. This is because they combine visual and auditory promotional material, can be properly edited, and released at strategic times.

86 For these reasons, the manner in which the group and song subject are treated in a music video is likely to be the best indication of the group’s targeted image. However, since this single was released a few months before SNSD’s first album, and was not widely seen, the group image was still in the process of formation. This is evident in the lack of cohesion and character in the video.

Stardom accompanied their album later in the year, however, when they began to perform the song “Girls’ Generation”, a remake of Yi Sŭng-chŏl’s 1989 hit. With lyrics such as “Don’t tease me for being young, I was too shy to say so”, the song relies heavily on the charm of the timid romantic novice. Whereas it is difficult to completely deny the role male fantasy may have played in the creation of Yi Sŭng- chŏl’s original version, the song takes on a drastically literal dimension when sung by nine high-school girls. The narrative POV of the song becomes identical to that of the singer. Though ostensibly a love song, the music video contains no references to romantic relationships of any kind and does not star anyone apart from the group members themselves. The video consists of scenes of SNSD performing, dancing onstage, playing their instruments, and taking part in photoshoots. The choreography uses moves that are reminiscent of such throwbacks to childhood pastimes as jumping rope and stiff-limbed dolls. The gist of the message seems to be a group of girls who are too innocent even to grasp the exact meaning of the love they proclaim, delighting only in their chance to entertain. Nonetheless, the video does not preclude all possibility of SNSD appealing as females rather than children; their baggy sweaters are paired with short shorts, and brief sections of their dance still emphasize the line of their bodies.

Their second song from the album, “Kissing You”, continued this trend. Whereas the

87 kiss in “Girls’ Generation” was an occasion for flustered panic, turning the girl’s

“trembling lips” to “waves of blue”, the narrator in “Kissing You” is more poised. The song contains lyrics such as “When I close my eyes and kiss your lips”, a more romantically active position than before. Still, the kiss is extremely chaste in nature and leads to such innocent promises as “Thank you, I love you, I’ll only give you happiness” and “You are beside me and in my eyes, and I’ll always be in your arms”.

The kiss is as family-friendly as a vow of marriage, underscored by the group’s white outfits, the traditional color of purity. This time, the music video does contain a male figure, but he is a singer from a boy band by the same SM Entertainment company—

Tong-hae from Super Junior—and the interaction is not much more than playful. His recognizable professional link to the group puts him, as sŏnbae, in the position of an older mentor rather than a romantic interest. But perhaps the most significant concept in “Kissing You” is the extensive use of lollipops as stage props. In the music video and live performances, SNSD treat these lollipops as they would fans or pom-poms, merely as something they happen to be holding in their hands. In stark contrast with the way in which France Gall’s 1966 song about lollipops—“Les Sucettes”—was definitively and horrifyingly phallic, the use of the same image in SNSD’s video maintains it as an icon of prepubescent female sexuality.

SNSD resumed activities in early 2009 with “Gee”, returning to their theme of the ingenue in love. The narrator sings of her “first love story” with lyrics such as “So shy she can’t even look at him, a bashful girl in love”. However, there are occasional hints of greater maturity. “Gee” is their first hit song composed largely in a minor key, and the male figure in the music video plays a more significant role. The individual in question is Min-ho of SHINee, another boy band from SM Entertainment. In the video,

Min-ho acts as an employee in a clothing store in which the SNSD members are

88 mannequins. The mannequin is another icon frequently perceived as sexual, with its origins going back perhaps as far as the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. The appeal stems partly from the mannequin embodying the ideal female figure and partly from the lack of self-will of an inanimate object. At the beginning of the video, this is precisely what is highlighted, as the man is seen carrying and arranging the mannequin girls to his satisfaction. This obedience is somewhat akin to the credulity of the wide-eyed innocent, the other prominent image employed by SNSD. “Gee” also marks the introduction of their most suggestive dance moves yet—although it is perhaps a stretch to describe them in this way, certainly in comparison with the choreography of other girl bands—which frequently emphasize hips clad in tight skinny jeans. But the fast tempo of the song and the rapid succession of moves mean that any suggestive hint is gone in the blink of an eye, and the dance is performed with a lively cheerfulness that paints them closer to cute than to outright sexy.

Certainly the modesty of the lyrics seems to indicate the singers are unaware of any sexual undercurrents.

Their most recent song, “Tell Me Your Wish (Sowŏn ŭl malhae pwa) (Genie)”, was one of the biggest hits of summer 2009. The first verse contains the lyrics, “Picture your ideal woman in your head, and look at me—I’m your genie, your dream, your genie”. This is a concise summation of the dichotomy embodied by SNSD since their debut. In order to be consummately popular, they must be everything all at once.

Despite their conceptual youthful innocence, they constantly add a sexual tinge to their performances. Telling are the scenes in the music video that occur between the shots of the group dancing. One shows the group members having a pillow fight in a room decorated all in pink; a second shows the members in a private nightclub with disco balls hanging from the ceiling. In a manner, it is a less drastic version of the

89 Madonna-whore complex, which demands that a perfect woman embody both purity and sexuality. Naturally, most women are not able to satisfy this ideal. However, as a painstakingly manufactured idol group, SNSD seeks to rise to the challenge; their approach is perhaps best described as “accidentally sexy”.

In their music videos and performances, at least up until “Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)”, all sexual connotations were carefully staged so as to seem unintended. As clueless as children of the connotations of their actions, the group members were trained so that certain aspects of their performance could be construed as sexual but only if a particular fan was willing to construe it like that. Even in “Tell Me Your Wish

(Genie)”, the nominally risque choreography is designed to show off their legs, their outfits pairing short shorts and feminine heels for the first time. As far as the female body is concerned, the legs are not primarily sexual; this is why they are exclusively a woman’s assets. This is not to say that in sexual terms, a childish body is to be preferred to a fully grown woman’. Instead, it suggests a psychological neoteny.

Instead of retaining the young female’s physical characteristics, SNSD embodies the psychological aspects of youth, such as innocence. Conceptually, they have the souls of children but the movements of women.

In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, that monumental love song to the prepubescent girl- child, the appeal of the titular heroine is described in almost completely opposite terms. “Why does the way she walks—a child, mind you, a mere child!—excite me so abominably? [...] Very infantile, infinitely meretricious”, says Humbert Humbert.

Humbert goes on to talk of “very young harlots disguised as children in provincial brothels” who remind him of her. This attraction works precisely because of her physical youth; her mental vulgarity comes from having grown up too fast due to

90 movies and American consumerism. The same dynamic can also be found in the

French singer Alizée’s 2000 debut single, “Moi... Lolita”. At the time of its release, she was 16 years old, barely over the age of consent in France. The music video highlights the devil in her, portraying her as indifferent and manipulative, headed for the anonymous, frenzied, sweat-filled orgy of the nightclub. Two minutes and 45 seconds into the video, in the company of strangers, she uncoils her body. It undulates in the flashing lights and laser beams, her movements fully deliberate. The desire for the young female form is, to some degree, biologically fueled. More confounding is the psychological neoteny created in SNSD through the need to unite the two parts of the virgin-whore dichotomy.

On the other hand, “Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)” displays a more mature side of the group. It has now been more than two years since their debut, and though this time may not seem that long for a career in entertainment, for a high school girl, it makes a great deal of difference. College, maturation, and the Korean age of consent are three lines that can be crossed during these two years. We may be witnessing the evolution of the group as it happens before our eyes; as the meaning of the word “girl” in their name changes bit by bit, morphing into womanhood. After such success with their image as innocents, nieces to their devoted older “uncle fans”, will their transition to this new identity be successful?