As i was reading “Factory Girls” the first connection i made had to do with what BlackPink said in “Light up the sky”. No tattoos, no drinking, no smoking. Those were some rules as they were becoming who they are today. This connected to the “Ministry of Gender Equality and Family” state agency and how they censor everything. K-pop managers or producers, or the “judges” in the “training camps” already knew that keeping them “Clean or innocent” is a way to reach the broader audience. There were so many other comparisons. For example the tremendous amount of training. Girls and boys are recruited from such a young age. They spend hours in training. Just like Jennie said. 14 hours of training for 13 days. And then finally they get a day off. And this could last years before they even make a debut. This just shows how intricate korean producers expectations are. Unfortunately we live in a world where if something is it done right the first time, or shown correctly the first time, peoples brains can just shut it out after that and not care for it at all. I believe korean producers are very aware of that and it’s why they expect so much from their trainees, not only training wise but as public figures as well. They focus on their look and presentation. The “market oriented democracy” is what helped the rise of K-pop. The restrictions of media were decreasing and this led to Korean people in America bringing the “american genres” of music to their home. The always thought countries “trading” never included music until now. I always thought that it had to do with goods or resources. But in order to expand a new genre you have to be able to include/trade with countries. You need you to know and understand their culture and what offends them and what is considered taboo. All of this studying in order to integrate new music into different areas of the world is a big reason why K-Pop is expanding so rapidly. Emerging different genres and doing it in a way that can be heard from all around the world without separation from the audience, is how the concept of hallyu comes into play. They want to spread their culture, not in a form or religion, or tradition, but in the form of music and dance. 

I never really listened to K-Pop before. I have heard maybe a couple verses from different songs here and there but never considered it a genre I would listen to. But it actually is. I’m not obsessed with any genre or artist and K-Pop songs will probably just be in my playlist just like the others. I honestly believe reading about how genres come about or how artists come about give a new feeling of respect, at least for me. Learning about how intricate K-pop producer’s way of doing things is makes me feel a connection that I usually don’t feel when watching performances or just listening to songs. I am definitely for this “new music” era. I love when artists mix music around and i feel like everyone should just embrace what they like and not be ashamed if it isn’t “in” right now.