© Copyright 2020 Young Dae Kim The Pursuit of Modernity: The Evolution of Korean Popular Music in the Age of Globalization Young Dae Kim A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2020 Reading Committee: Shannon Dudley, Chair Clark Sorensen Christina Sunardi Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Music University of Washington Abstract The Pursuit of Modernity: The Evolution of Korean Popular Music in the Age of Globalization Young Dae Kim Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Shannon Dudley School of Music This dissertation examines the various meanings of modernity in the history of Korean pop music, focusing on several crucial turning points in the development of K-pop. Since the late 1980s, Korean pop music has aspired to be a more advanced industry and establish an international presence, based on the economic leap and democratization as a springboard. Contemporary K-pop, originating from the underground dance scene in the 1980s, succeeded in transforming Korean pop music into a modern and youth-oriented genre with a new style dubbed "rap/dance music." The rise of dance music changed the landscape of Korean popular music and became the cornerstone of the K-pop idol music. In the era of globalization, K-pop’s unique aesthetics and strategy, later termed “Cultural Technology,” achieved substantial returns in the international market. Throughout this evolution, Korean Americans were vital players who brought K-pop closer to its mission of modern and international pop music. In the age of globalization, K-pop's modernity and identity are evolving in a new way. BTS' unprecedented success indicates that K-pop's modernity can be achieved through authentic narratives and Koreanness, not merely through cosmopolitan sounds and visual aesthetics that have eliminated nationality and locality. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. v Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Terms and ideas .......................................................................................................................... 6 Understanding the nature of K-pop and the periodization ........................................................ 11 An Overview of the dissertation ............................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1. The Rise of Dance Music ............................................................................................ 19 1.1 The rise of Dance scene ................................................................................................. 19 1.1.1 Dancers and DJs go to mainstream ......................................................................... 22 1.1.2 The birth of rap dance group ................................................................................... 28 1.2 Conclusion: Rise of dance music as a prelude to “K-pop” ............................................ 32 Chapter 2. Hybridity and transnationalism of K-pop idoL music ................................................ 33 2.1 Cultural Technology: Globalization tactics of K-idols .................................................. 34 2.1.1 Localizing K-pop .................................................................................................... 34 2.1.2 Regional sub-units .................................................................................................. 37 2.1.3 Variable unit system ............................................................................................... 44 2.1.4 K-pop supergroup ................................................................................................... 48 2.1.5 Summary ................................................................................................................. 51 2.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 51 i Chapter 3. whatever goes: The art of song camp .......................................................................... 53 3.1 Song Camp: The art of collaborating songwriting process ............................................ 56 3.1.1 Lead......................................................................................................................... 56 3.1.2 Foreign yet Korean ................................................................................................. 60 3.1.3 Pastiche ................................................................................................................... 68 3.1.4 Why Scandinavian? ................................................................................................ 73 3.1.5 “Whatever goes” ..................................................................................................... 80 3.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 4. Diaspora Koreans and the modernity of K-pop .......................................................... 87 4.1 Backgrounds and terminology ....................................................................................... 87 4.1.1 Context of the research ........................................................................................... 88 4.1.2 Generation categorization ....................................................................................... 89 4.2 "Inverse immigration": gyopo and musical authenticity ................................................ 91 4.3 Korean Americans in K-pop production system .......................................................... 100 4.3.1 Gyopo as Culture Technology .............................................................................. 101 4.3.2 American Idols as K-pop stars .............................................................................. 104 4.3.3 American Idol: Facing the limitation as Asian performers ................................... 104 4.3.4 It's better than American Idol: the journeys of three "idols" in K-pop ................. 109 4.3.5 "Homecoming" ..................................................................................................... 115 4.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 5. BTS: the new model of K-pop .................................................................................. 119 5.1 K-pop’s new model of success in the U.S. mainstream ............................................... 120 ii 5.2 Authentic narrative over localization ........................................................................... 124 5.3 Koreanness as a part of the authentic narrative ............................................................ 131 5.3.1 “Han” and Satoori rap .......................................................................................... 131 5.3.2 BTS’ exploration of Koreanness in “IDOL” ........................................................ 134 5.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 141 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 144 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Gangnam Style by PSY .................................................................................. 19 Figure 1.2. Club “Moon Night” at Itaewon district .......................................................... 22 Figure 1.3. DJ remix album by Nami and BoomBoom .................................................... 24 Figure 1.4. Hyun Jin-young and Wawa ............................................................................ 30 Figure 1.5. Seo Tai-ji and Boys ........................................................................................ 32 Figure 2.1. Super Junior-M ............................................................................................... 40 Figure 2.2. Album covers of MAMA (EXO-K / EXO-M) ................................................ 41 Figure 2.3. Album covers of XOXO (EXO-K / EXO-M) ................................................. 41 Figure 2.4. Korean and Chinese music video clips of “Overdose” (EXO-K / EXO-M) .. 43 Figure 4.1. Uptown’s first album: Represent [|reprɪ|zent] (1997) ..................................... 99 Figure 4.2. William Hung, American Idol, 2004 ............................................................ 106 Figure 5.1. "IDOL" by BTS ............................................................................................ 137 Figure 5.2. BTS’ J-hope performing Korean traditional style dance .............................. 140 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 List of K-pop albums on Billboard 200 ................................................................. 3 Table 2 Korean and Chinese lyrics of Overdose .............................................................. 42 Table 3 Members of various NCT U recordings .............................................................. 45 Table 4 SHINee Chapter 1.