Recently, there have been a lot of hate towards the KPOP fandom in the Philippines and KPOP itself. There are a couple of Facebook fan pages that are dedicated solely in hating KPOP. While searching for the term “KPOP Jologs” on Google, I found out that there’s a discussion thread in MYX’s Facebook fan page entitled “KPOP IS JUST FOR JOLOGS JOLOGS!!!!” (Ironically, the group was created by Westlife fans ) Honestly, I wasn’t THAT surprised by this turn of events… I have somehow anticipated that this would happen sooner or later given the raging popularity of KPOP in the Philippines. Just last year, I posted an article expressing my disagreement to the soon-to-be KPOP craze with the anticipation that KPOP will soon be “jologs”. Nonetheless, I do feel the need to defend the Fandom by debunking the common attacks against KPOP and its fans.

Why the hate?

I felt the need to post this blog because “arguing” on the MYX discussion board is pointless. The entire discussion is a huge flamebait wherein each reply contain at least 1 Ad Hominem and 2 curses. I have posted a very long, three-paragraph rational argument and my reply was followed with a post that reads “Putangina mo”. So yeah, I wish your eyes good luck if you wish to read that discussion board.

So okay, let’s start discussing the most common “attacks” to the KPOP fandom and KPOP. I will continually update this post when “new” attacks surface. 

1. KPOP is JOLOGS

Before we can sanely argue if “something” is “jologs”, we must first define what jologs is. In my previous post wherein I discussed SNSD’s popularity, I defined jologs as:

I don’t really know how to define Jologs but I will try to give an example on how something can achieve the Jologs status. Just as a certain footwear became the “in” thing in the Philippines. This particular footwear is really expensive considering its just a pair of rubber stuff worn on one of the smelliest parts of the human body. But since the Philippines has that penchant for creativity, anything is plagiarized just as fast as the speed of light, the said footwear now cost only 50 pesos and is readily available at your local tiangge. Now everyone from your driver, to your labandera’s son owns the skillfully crafted identical footwear you are wearing. The footwear is now “mainstream” in the sense that the “representative population” of the Philippines (AKA “the masses”) can now own and wear the footwear. Congratulations, your footwear is now jologs.

In summary, something is jologs when the “representative population” of the Philippines (AKA “the masses”) have direct access to it. In terms of music (or entertainment), a certain music genre is jologs when “the masses” have direct access to it by means of local radio and TV. The jologs factor of the music is being amplified when said music is being played in places where “the masses” thrive like the “Divisoria” or some low-end malls. In one word, a music genre (or anything for that matter) is jologs when it is already “mainstream”.

Given the criteria above, I must sadly acknowledge that KPOP is now jologs. Here are the telltale signs:

• Remember Wondergirls’ Nobody? Even Jollibee and KFC’s Chucky wasn’t immune to it.
• SHINee’s visit for the Korea-Philippines Friendship day
• 4Minute’s guess appearance at Wowowee (I love Hyuna!)
• F.T Island’s concert at PICC
• 2PM’s Nichkhun Danbi shoot at Payatas (Ala Manny Villar)
• UKISS’ guess appearance at Party Pilipinas
• Upcoming Super Junior concert at Araneta

If that wasn’t enough, local KPOP-wannabee groups such as POP GIRLS and XLR8 are polluting the local KPOP scene. (Side comment: I think XLR8 is a huge improvement from POP GIRLS. The entire act is so KPOP-ish. They even release 30 second trailers on Youtube lol. )

Here’s the take-away: Most western groups are jologs (yes, that includes Westlife). Both (them and KPOP) have already achieved critical mass to be considered jologs. However, the “English” group’s  material is much more accessible to the pinoy “masses”, thus achieving more jologs points. Case in point, I say that there is a certain level of sophistication that is required to be a TRUE KPOP fan… the barrier-to-entry to KPOP fandom is way higher compared to western music. Remember that our country is more “western” (in terms of music) than Asian and most Filipinos can easily understand English by default… so there is a tendency for them (the masses) to listen to “English” songs more than KPOP. So the question is, why the sudden influx of KPOP fandom “membership”? I say it’s just a trend. Like the Macarena trend, we true KPOP fans hope that it will soon fade out of the limelight.

As a side note, please do not confuse the poser KPOP fan — one who merely follow the trend, with the true KPOP fans. They are not of the same caliber.

2. KPOP Fans do not understand the lyrics

This has to be the most pathetic assault on KPOP. For the sake of argument, I must say that I can’t really follow the English lyrics of Paramore (Or songs with growling in it). Now, people might say “Well, you just suck at understanding English lyrics”… Those people are usually the ones who do a mockery of the song by singing it with a different lyric with the defense of mishearing the song. (Side comment: I have a colleague who went to the Paramore concert and was singing “That’s what you get” and I had to correct his lyrics). Although this argument does not justify the inability of Filipinos to understand Korean, it illustrates that people can enjoy music without really understanding the lyrics.

Setting that point aside, let me just say that we “true” KPOP fans are willing to go the extra mile to understand the idols (Note: Idol is another word for boy band or girl group). Each popular KPOP group has their own international fan cafe (read: Fansite) where fans can download “subbed” (with subtitles) music videos (MV). To have a more deeper understanding (or connection, if you will) of the group, fans would usually download variety shows, commercials, BTS (behind-the-scene) clips, award show clips, documentaries and news clips where their idols are in. Not only that, true fans will usually take the effort to learn the basics of the Korean culture because it is impossible to fully grasp the context of the songs without such understanding of the Korean society (Like what does “Oppa” mean? Why is there a need to suffix names with “Ssi”, etc). Also, most true fans that I know can read Hangul (I said read, not understand. )… If you really put an effort into learning it, you can read any KPOP lyrics in just 6 hours! (Watch this series of tutorials to learn Hangul now!)

Remember what I was saying about KPOP having a high “barrier-to-entry”, well this is it. For us, this is what makes the fandom more meaningful. Having a deep understanding of a foreign culture that we admire and at the same time, having a deeper connection with our favorite groups. Since the Philippines is intrinsically western (we are more American than Asian), I doubt that there’s a need to “go the extra mile” to understand the English bands and their culture.

3. Korean group members are not talented

This really really makes me mad. I have a colleague (yep, you guessed it right, she’s a she) who will always insists that Girl’s Generation (SNSD) is not talented in terms of singing and dancing. I mean., W.T.F., she even compared SNSD to Sexbomb! Blasphemy!!! Okay okay, enough of the obsessive fan boy act.

According to her, SNSD members are not talented singers because they are producing “synthesized” music (or music that is heavy on the usage of Synthesizers). Okay, she might have forgotten that SNSD is a POP GROUP performing a Bubblegum pop song; I may not be an expert on music but Bubblegum pop rely heavily on Synthesizers. I mean, I don’t even understand how the use of synthesizers undermines the singer’s vocal capabilities. Another issue that she pointed out is that SNSD is always lip syncing during performances… My response to that is that – SNSD performances are not concentrated on just “singing”, they also do a lot of powerful dances with cute poses together with the performance. Singing is just a part of the performance. If the performance is just singing, then they will always sing live. Local artists are more pathetic, the number are just singing and yet they are lip syncing.

Another colleague of mine has a girlfriend with innate hate towards SNSD. She criticizes SNSD’s dance routine; according to her, the dance moves are just cutesy and not even hard (she even showed us how “easy” it is for her to dance Gee; I will just leave the imagination to you on how it turned out). Adding insult to injury, she said that the “Pussycat Dolls” is a lot better than SNSD when it comes to dancing just because their dance routine involves breaking your bones in 17 different places (Italicize text is mine).

This is what I want these people to understand. SNSD (and other KPOP idol groups for that matter) is a POP GROUP. Their total entertainment value does not rely solely on just dancing or singing; it’s an entire package. They are, what I call, entertainers. Allow me to explain.

In Korea, there are big entertainment companies (like conglomerates) that control the Korean media. These entertainment companies hold “audition” all over the country to recruit (more like hoard) really young talents (like 9 years old). After they recruit talents, they will put them on a crazy “Training Academy” in where they will be trained in areas of singing, dancing, modeling, acting, rapping, foreign languages, asian poses, looking at the camera (projection), fashion, etc (all of the needed skills to be successful in the entertainment industry). The average training period is 6 years… during this time, they do not have any exposure to the public (If you’ve watched Batang-X, it is somewhat like this ). Now, when the company decides “Okay, we need a new group”, they will select from this pool of well-trained entertainers to create the group and they will let them sign unfair contracts that span 10 years (and then perform plastic surgery! Kidding! ).

My point is, how dare you compare these well-trained entertainers to a group of On-the-Job trainee entertainers. No, sorry, that’s not my point. My point is, these people are “commercially” created in “talent factories” to entertain. They are performers that are “created” to suit the public taste. They do not write their own song, they don’t even choreograph their own dance. The company will decide on what “concept” (song, dance, fashion, etc) suits the current entertainment climate and they will hire armies of stylists, composers, choreographers to “train” the group. But that doesn’t mean they are not talented. Even before they “start” training, they are already talented. Remember the gruesome audition process? They are being picked against thousands of candidates. And right after that, they are even trained in all aspects of the entertainment business. How can you say they are not talented?

One argument that I always receive is this: “Local artists don’t even need years of training and yet they are performing okay”. Seriously? I was a genius at birth but I still had to attend school and college to get a job. So don’t throw me that argument, it’s just stupid. And as a side effect of this “untrained” entertainers, just look at their performance on noon-time shows… its mediocrity at its best. They don’t know where the camera is, they don’t have any “emotions”, and they have that smile on their face that says “I don’t know what I’m doing but since I look good, I’ll just copy the backup dancers”. Your entertainers are not just “untalented” (incapable), they are also unskilled. Maybe it is best to put them in some “training academy”.

4. KPOP fans are not nationalistic

Growing up, I was not really fond of music. Okay, I take that back, let me rephrase. Growing up, I was not really fond of contemporary music. I grew up listening to my Dad’s antique song collection that includes John Denver, Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra. For me, contemporary music (both foreign and local) is just too “noisy”. Somehow, I felt that the “perfection” found on my Dad’s antique song collection is not found on said contemporary music. That all changed when I first heard the local band called Eraserheads from our neighbor’s loud boom box. The music of Eraserheads is what we call OPM (or Original Pilipino Music) and up to this day, their albums are still on my MP3 player (together with Rivermaya’s and Parokya ni Edgar’s albums). Sadly, as one of my dear readers have pointed out, the “O” in “OPM” is now long gone; It’s no longer “original”. It’s the same crappy, mediocre, cheap rip-off of whatever music is perceived “cool” by the masses (usually foreign songs).

My point? We, KPOP fans, will not “support” the local music industry just because “we need to support our own”. Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. I would gladly buy a repackaged E-heads album but I will NEVER EVER EVERY buy POP GIRLS’ album or Sexbomb’s album or Sarah Geronimo’s album (Sorry SG fans, you don’t have the right to label “Right Here Waiting” as OPM). If local artists wants our support, they should first rid themselves with the mediocrity that is so common in the local music scene today.

One of the reasons why I am addicted to KPOP is because I can see “perfection” on everything they do. From the superior technicality of their music videos to the perfect execution of their dance routines, you can never see a hint of mediocrity on their performances. I was never able to detect the prevalent “Puwede na yan” (It will do) mentality on their products. It’s just perfection all around. Let me emphasize:

• In terms of technicality: They have HD videos (720p at least) while we are still stuck with Standard Definition. The camera angles (close-ups) are just perfect, I can’t say the same to the camera angles on our noon-time show (I often end up puking out of dizziness).
• In terms of dance routines: Synchronized. Just watch our local talents on noon time show to get your daily dose of mediocrity. (and hey, wardrobe malfunction anyone?)
• In terms of “concept”: In Korea, they have this concept of “debut”, “hiatus” and “comeback”. When a certain KPOP idol group “debut” for the first time, they will promote their album using a certain “concept” (Sexy concept, cute concept, dark concept, etc). The concept covers fashion (Wardrobe), hairstyles and behavior (Yes! Each concept have a certain “feel” that the members of the group needs to emit) among others. After promoting their albums on different shows for a couple of months, the group will then go into “hiatus” which will officially end their “group activities” and promotions. Using the “hiatus” time, the company and the group will then prepare the new “concept” and album for their “comeback”. Usually, the new “concept” is totally different from the previous concept and you will feel that its an entirely different group! My point? KPOP groups always deliver fresh material. Unlike our local talents who are just stuck on whatever image they started with (Uh sorry, I shall correct myself. When local artist reach the lowest point of their careers, they usually post nude/sexy on Men’s Magazine. Maybe that’s their new “concept” huh? )

I think I have the answer why the local music industry is suffering from mediocrity and its bad effects: Lack of competition and complacency. Big stars are complacent because there is no competition and somehow, new artists never seems to threaten the big stars. When was the last time Regine Velasquez or Christian Bautista came up with a new concept? It’s the same stuff and I’m sick and tired of it. Complacency kills competition and lack of competition kills innovation. Did you know that in just 2009, there are a total of 10 KPOP girl groups that debuted in Korea? That is how tough the competition is in Korea! And big stars such as Lee Hyori is never complacent because they are never guaranteed the top spot anytime they make a comeback — they need to fight for it. Anyone who took an Economy subject knows that market competition is a good thing — and that applies in music, too.

5. KPOP boy band members look gay (or lesbian)

I have a colleague who’s a practitioner of MMA (Mixed martial arts) and I wasn’t surprised that he thinks Super Junior (and other KPOP boy band for that matter) is gay. Ironically, he thinks that LFO and Justin “Beaver” is cool.

Anyway, there’s a recent scandal between the popular Philippine DJ Mo Twister and the KPOP boy band UKISS (Details here). Apparently, MO dissed UKISS by twitting “UKISS looks gay” or “UKISS looks like my lesbian aunt”. Filipino KPOP fans shouldn’t really be surprised about this, Mohan is known as a “careless” DJ with a penile disorder (Wikipedia’s words not mine)… the guy’s surrounded by scandal for saying stupid things. Also, just a little bit of FYI, Mo is born and raised in the US of A. His perception of what “manly” is is being influenced by his American lineage. For Mo Twister and my MMA friend, this is how they define manly:

"Manly" by Mo Twister

What I am saying is, when judging KPOP boy bands, please do not forget that this people are POP GROUPS from an East Asian country. For them, being “manly” is not defined by biceps and tight shirt nor is it defined by grown men cuddling with cute teddy bears. The issue here is that Koreans (boy or girl) have an insatiable addiction to cute things. This is a “social” thing in Korea… I will let the Korean do the explaining:

Why is this happening? A society’s consumption pattern is a complex sociological issue, requiring many eggheads and inscrutable doctoral dissertations in order to uncover the multitudinous layers that create a sophisticated mosaic comprised of tastes, class identifications and …

Heck, who is the Korean kidding? The answer is one word:  Japan.

Although Korea is a major exporter of culture at this point (in the form of movies, TV dramas and pop music,) Korea had no significant pop culture to speak of as recently as 40 years ago as the country struggled to build their way out of the heap of rubble. As Korean pop culture grew into form, it was influenced by two major pop cultures close to Korea — American and Japanese. It is, then, no surprise that Korea is infected by Japan’s love for cute cartoon characters. Let’s face it — people like cute things. There is no population of children in the world that rejected Pokemon, and that’s not because of its compelling story line. It is perhaps the first cartoon whose only appeal was cuteness overload.

So, there you have it, blame the Japanese’s Kawaii culture!

Okay, let me move on to my next point. We Filipinos are heavily influenced by the Americans. When they bought us from Spain for US$20,000,000.00 in 1898 (Treaty of Paris), they didn’t just “use” the Philippines as a military base, they’ve also “educated” us. In the process of educating the Filipinos, the transference of their social, political, and economic culture was inevitable. As a result, Mckinley’s dream for the Philippines has been fulfilled. A nation who thinks and speaks like an American but will work for half the price (I Kid, I Kid ).

Anyway, my point is, most Filipino’s outside the Fandom will think that KPOP boy band members are gay (or lesbian) because they are mentally-conditioned to do so. Growing up, they (or we) were bombarded by movies of Robin Padilla wielding dual handguns in a shiny leather jacket… for them, that is the definition of being a man and we cannot change or influence that. Being a true KPOP fan, it is our obligation to just ignore their lack of understanding of cultures outside of their own. Let me quote the Korean again for his words of wisdom:

The only reason why American adults are inhibited from embracing their cuteness-loving nature is the years of Puritanical repression they suffered as children, only using yellow No. 2 pencil when they secretly desired colorful mechanical pencils with anime characters printed on them.

As a side note, it is my hope that we start to act more like Asians than Americans. Not that there’s something bad about the American culture… but maybe we can take what’s good from the Americans and merge it with our own Asian heritage (Like in Japan where they’ve successfully merged the old with the new). I may not be THAT proud as a Filipino but I am a proud Asian.

If you liked this article, I suggest that you also read this. And If you know of any other attacks to KPOP and the fandom, just leave it at the comments and I will try to update the article! KPOP Hwaiting!

PS: You do not need my permission to re-post, re-blog, tweet, or link this blog post. I do appreciate a linkback/trackback but it is not necessary. Please propagate this message to all KPOP haters. Let us spread KPOP love! <3

Thanks to "Jesika Wabbit" noona for proof-reading this post. <3