Let's Talk - Companies

After a week's delay, I'm finally back with the next edition of the 'Let's Talk' series. This week, the main subject is 'Companies', as most of the questions asked corresponded to said topic. A little disclaimer, most of the information displayed in this article is from my own personal observations and experiences, and other people may have experienced different things that impact their view on said topics, but I will go solely off of what I think/have seen.

The first question coming from the blog itself comes from MagicalMystery who asks:

Personally, for me it depends on the song. Some songs pull it off well, while others don't. However, we can all agree that the companies simply do this to avoid paying more money for lyrics to fill the time used for the dance breaks. If the company puts the break to good use and has a dance that's actually choreographed well and performed by a good dancer, that's when I don't mind it. However, when the dance shots are crappy and hard to see, an example being the Mr.Mr. video, that's when it gets on my nerves. Sure, the background music may be great and all, but I'd much rather see what the hell is going on in the video then have a crappily-lit room with awful cuts.

Because I needed more questions, I went to the trusty forms of OneHallyu and decided to ask people what they wanted to see being covered, and I got a few good questions.

Firstly...

I (personally) don't believe that Korean consumers themselves prefer larger groups, but more of the idols in those groups themselves as individuals rather than the group as a whole. You see, the thing about large groups is is that there is variety among the members. Some idol groups have distinct personalities and if there is a larger variety of people in a group, the more types of people that group can appeal to.

As I said, it's not the consumers who prefer these groups, it's the companies. Many companies take advantage of this, and seeing as groups like these offer more variety and appeal to a larger number of people, they can make more money. Be it from selling merchandise of the group as a whole or selling specialized individual-member items. Because of this, groups like EXO or Girls' Generation, who have many members, are popular among the Korean crowd. A quick example of this is of my friend, who even though she doesn't like EXO-M, still stans EXO because she likes EXO-K so much. She couldn't care less for the whole 'Kris' thing going on, but she still supports them and sees them as one of her bias groups.

Though if you want another example from the actual Kpop world, you could take into account what's going on with Kara. After Jiyoung and Nicole left, there were only three members in the group, and they weren't the most favorited members per-se. Sure Hara is among the most popular, but amongst non-fans she's often regarded as a bitch because of the 'water-bottle incident', and some people fail to realize that Gyuri's personality of being a 'goddess' is all just an act. With Nicole, possibly the most popular Kara member among both Korean and international fans leaving the group, DSP, much to the fan's displeasure, decided to add new members to the group. Now, even if the general public hates the other members, there may be one that they like now.

Next question...

I love this subject because it never fails to amuse me. Though some groups have pretty good names (ex: Nine Muses, T-Ara is pretty good as well), there will always be those groups who have absolutely awful names.

The main reason for this is because the companies probably either have people with a second-grade level of English working for them (which explains all the awful English lyrics) or because they find it 'cool' or 'edgy' to have their name be in English. Another reason for this is because since English is spoken by many of the international Kpop crowd, the group names can be more easily recognizable or remembered by the viewers. 

Another person brought up the fact that 'Well, if they have English speaking members, why do they still have bad names?'. I'm utterly sorry to burst your bubble, but idols have little to no say in what their stage names and group names will be. The members of TVXQ admitted that they all cried upon hearing the name, but because they couldn't do anything about it, they went along with it anyways. I don't blame them, after training endlessly for years and getting a shitty name in return would probably piss off just about anyone.

And the last question is...

It's cheap. That's it. It's simply cheap to make, maintain, and shoot in. They don't have to buy props, and if they do, very minimally. Along the same line is the reason that SM shove their groups into box rooms and make them dance for the MVs. They don't have to pay much for the set and the fans will go batshit over it anyways and won't really care as long as they can fangirl over their idols.

And my question for you is:

1. Which company do you feel manages their idols the best and why?

As always, if you want a subject to be covered, either leave it in the comments sections below or leave it at my ask.fm. Talk to you again next week!