For my artist's fashion style, I chose some classic K-fashion outfits. In South Korea, fashion can be extremely different. A lot of K-fashion is simple and neat but can also be flashy, bright and crazy. however whenever westerners see classic K-fashion, they often see it as too dressed up. This is because in Western countries such as American and the UK, people usually dress down which creates an even bigger contrast between Western fashion and K-fashion when really, Koreans just add more thought into their everyday outfits, especially K-artists.
Yeo Yoonjin's style is usually inspired on solo and group's 2NE1 artist, CL, who is featured in this moodboard of Korean fashion. Yoonjin often likes to wear bright and bold colors with statement pieces or coordinated outfits to match her music style.
In this Prezi, I have introduced the artist that I have created, Yeo Yoonjin, explaining her life from where she was born to her first track and how she made the name that she has for herself in the Asian music industry. I featured real-life Kpop artists and how they have noticed Yoonjin to make my artist even more realistic as well as quoting tweets that I have created.
As I am focusing on Kpop, a not very well-known genre of music around South London, I am intrigued about what non Kpop fans and Kpop fans think about music magazine covers from western (American, English) magazines and Kpop magazines. Not only will this give me first-impressions from fans and non-fans, but it will help me spot what is different &/or similar between Korean and western magazine covers. Because I feel like it is not accurate nor fair to judge all Kpop/Western magazines by just showing one music magazine cover, I am going to show my interviewees a printscreen of what google images shows when I search 'music magazines' (I would not have to refer to 'western' as the most well-known music magazines are British and American) and 'Kpop magazines' to show a more accurate representation of the typical styles of the magazines. I have decided to interview three young people, one fan and two non-fans; I chose two people who are not fans of Kpop because I wanted to get more first-impressions. Interviewees: Martha (15/non-fan), Naya (17/non-fan), Annastasiya (18/fan) 1. (Before I showed the images below) From experience &/or own-knowledge, what do you think of when you think of a typical western music magazine cover? How about a Kpop magazine cover?
M: (Western) I think of classic colours like black, white and red. My dad has a lot of magazines from the 80s and 90s and they're a lot more colourful than magazines nowadays. (Kpop) I have never seen a Kpop magazine before, they're not as well known, I guess.
N: (Western)I collect a lot of music magazines, my favourite one is Q and it's very popular and covers a lot of different artists. I know its logo is in a red box which catches my eye every time I go out to buy the newest monthly issue. They usually have one artist on the cover and use the colour red a lot, mainly because the title is red for it to match. The cover stars often look sexy, powerful and even intimidating. (Kpop)I have never seen a Kpop magazine so I am quite clueless. I would say very colourful and in-your-face because I have seen Kpop fashion and what some girl groups wear. It is all very quirky so I can imagine a very bright, colourful cover.
A: (Western)I don't buy magazines often but I know red is a popular colour for magazine covers, probably because it pops out to catch your attention. In western culture most artists pay attention to looking sexy in their music videos so I can imagine female cover stars wearing revealing clothes or in seductive poses. (Kpop) I don't have a favourite Kpop magazine because all different ones feature my favorite Kpop group, EXO, in them so whenever I see a magazine with them included in it, I try my best to buy it even though it is very hard; I am lucky that I have a relative that lives in Seoul, Korea and they send me merchandise and magazines with EXO in them. Because I have seen quite a lot of different magazines, I am aware they are usually very simple and neat unlike western magazines that are covered in lines of texts, but like an art/artistic magazine. A lot of white, then black and a soft, light colour. However you do get some very bright, colourful ones and in my opinion they are much more interesting-looking and catch my eye more when im searching for new magazines online. You don't find a lot of them but that makes them look exclusive and very unique. The title of the magazines usually have 'Kpop' in them which I quite like because its simple.
2.Do you see any differences between the styles of western magazines and Kpop ones, if so what exactly?
M: Oh definitely. The colours are very different; the American magazines use a lot of darker, harsher colours than the Kpop ones. I never new Kpop magazines used so much pink. But thats mostly for the girls, the guy ones are darker and use black, white and grey but still are lighter than Western magazines.
N: Western magazines seem to use more closer-type shots and with solo artists. I have a friend who is obssessed with Kpop and she has all these posters of boy and girl groups so the Kpop magazines seem to use longer shots depending on how many people in the group.
3. Do you see any similarities between the style of western magazines and Kpop ones, if so what exactly?
M: Even though a lot of the cover stars on Western magazines are presented in a more sexy way, the guys in Kpop magazines seem to be presented kind of sexy too. The girls not so much since they're so girly.
In this presentation for my (general) audience research, I talk about why I created the survey with the questions I chose, why I chose them as well as showing you the results and talking about what I have found out from them.
In this video, I talk about the three main Kpop entertainment companies and their same branding strategy called Umbrella Branding, talking about many Kpop groups as examples to help explain my points.
After an extraordinary year that has included two headlining-arena dates for KCON 2016 as well as two albums featured in the Billboard 200, BTS has made sure they are still at the top with their lead single, 'Blood Sweat & Tears' for their second full-length album, Wings, that was officially released on October 10th 2016. With the single's MV almost as 88,000,000 views on Youtube, the song features the emotional, falsetto vocals of the group's singers, Jimin, Jungkook V & Jin which are then contrasted by the tough-yet-delicate grunts of the verses from rappers Suga, Rap Monster and J-Hope. These graceful tones are juxtaposed with the electronic-dance breakdown at every chorus.
The beautiful, melancholic vocals and raps fit perfection with the MV with their artistic theme; many theories have been made about the meaning of the MV with one of the most common ones being about the book, Demian by Hermann Hesse where Sinclair (Jin) makes a deal with the devil (V) and seals it with a kiss (referring to the scene when Jin kisses the stone statue).
Suga has said that in their songs, the rappers have an order of 1, 2 and 3, with J-Hope rapping last. Rap Monster and Suga have deep voices, so when J-hope raps, it's full of hope.
Wings is a new era for BTS as the album flew to No. 1 on the overall U.S. iTunes Top Albums chart as well as 'Blood Sweat & Tears' in the overall Top Singles chart as Top 30. Not only that but the members Wings is a new era for BTS as the album flew to No. 1 on the overall U.S. iTunes Top Albums chart as well as 'Blood Sweat & Tears' in the overall Top Singles chart as Top 30. Not only that but the members have also explained how this 15-track album means a lot to them since each member has a solo song in it along with the fourth iteration of their 'BTS Cypher' tracks, 'Cypher (P.t) 4'. They have already announced a comeback, Wings: You Never Walk Alone for February 13th 2017 and have just released new concept photoshoots for the two album versions, 'Left' & 'Right'. BTS are also still to add more dates for their Wings Tour; to the group, this is only the beginning of a whole new era.
ZICO (지코) - BERMUDA TRIANGLE (Feat. Crush, DEAN)
Just like a bermuda triangle, Zico, Crush and Dean really do form the dopest trio proven by this track 'Bermuda Triangle', released on November 28th 2016. Although the song is fairly new, Zico flew to South Korea's real-time music charts Monday in less than 12 hours of its release; Crush and Dean have helped the song receive so much attention with the MV having more than 15,000,000 views on Youtube.
Before Zico released 'Bermuda Triangle', he was seen at the Melon Music Awards 2016 where he won the Hot Trend Award and the Rap/HipHop award; he also performed in London for Men's Fashion Week 2016 in November. With his effortlessly cool vibe, Zico gives it all with his rapping. Against the heavy beat and bass of 'Bermuda Triangle', his buoyant style matches it perfectly. Crush has been a big name in Korean R&B for a while now however Dean has been imprinting himself in the South Korean music industry much more recently as well as turning into an international star in 2016 with the release of his first EP, '130 Mood: TRBL'.
With the work of some of the coolest names in Kpop, we were given 'Bermuda Triangle'. Not only was this collaboration and song perfect, but we as an audience get to experience legitimate street credit, something that is rarely found in Kpop. Each part of the song fits the artist who is rapping/singing like a glove. Deans opens and closes the track from the awesome hook to the closing of the menacing beat. Crush is rougher and takes up the middle portion. The contrast of these artists and parts of the song helps keep 'Bermuda Triangle' dynamic. The overall beat has multiple layers, making it dark, deep and intimidating, just like the artists.
BIGBANG - BANG BANG BANG (뱅뱅뱅)
During 2015, BIGBANG were releasing MVs at the incredible rate of two per month and along came 'Bang Bang Bang'. Even with the astounding amount of MVs they were releasing, the quality of them were awesome, proven by this third release from the MADE project in particular. From the numerous locations to the outfits, this MV is a classic representation of modern Kpop. It begins with quirky camera spin and disorientation, zooming into the first member's part. This continues throughout the MV, jumping from member to member until they unite for the chorus.
Overall, 'Bang Bang Bang' recieved extremely positive reviews from critics. Fuse praised the MV, "an over-the-top affair, with the guys rocking a slew of wild looks, hairdos and fashion in a neon-tinged world."
Billboard also called the track a banger, praising every single look and making it the biggest Kpop song of 2015 in the World Digital Songs chart. Stereogum ranked it the 14th best music video of the year being the only non-English song on the list. It's MV was the most viewed K-pop group video of 2015, second of all time behind their own 'Fantastic Baby'. The choreography, by Parris Geobel, was one of the most popular dances in 2015. Not only that, but the track was even chosen by the South Korean government for a part of the loudspeaker propaganda broadcast into North Korea borders, in response to the January 2016 Nuclear tests.
BLACKPINK (블랙핑크) - BOOMBAYAH (붐바야)
YG Entertainment teased Kpop fans for months of an upcoming new Kpop girl group, and since it has been almost seven years since they debuted a Kpop girl group with the last being 2NE1, a four-member group including CL, Dara, Bom and Minzy, the news was enormous in the Kpop community. Although fans couldn't wait for BLACKPINK's debut, the entertainment label did all they could to build the hype with numerous teaser photos of the members Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rose.
YG enertainment eventually revealed BLACKPINK's debut through a series of teaser images and two songs, 'Whistle' and 'Boombayah'. Needless to say, the newly-debuted girl group exploded the Kpop community. Without having to go into extreme detail of the MV, the vibe and style is almost identical to 2NE1's which caused controversy as many fans compared the two four-membered groups, being biased to the group they preferred and creating hate to the other. Technically, this was done on purpose by YG Entertainment to express that the feel 2NE1 has was not exclusive to them, but to make all groups that are signed to YG Entertainment stand out as a whole from other Kpop artists that are signed under other labels. The Korean news outlet, Naver, reported that the CEO of YG Entertainment said that he did not try to differentiate the two groups. Either way, both groups have their own fame, fan base, albums and members.
“We didn’t try too hard to create a difference between Black Pink and 2NE1. It was the same when we created 2NE1. YG has its own unique sound so we focused on making the music sound the most like us.”
Here is a prezi presentation of a summary of the history of the genre I am focusing on, K-pop. I included its origins, a brief of the different eras during the 20th century that effected the genre to form it to what it is today and also a couple of examples of K-pop groups to show the impact of the English language and lyrics in Korean songs.
As I have most access to teenagers and young adults and they are the majority of K-pop listeners, my target group is to be people from the age range of 16-18 years old. By including a few young adults, I can expand my research and be able to see a variety of interests and opinions from a slightly wider age range for more accurate research. I will benefit from this age group also because they would have more experience with music magazines and would be more sure of their answers for my questions such as which music magazines are most popular right now and why they think that is as well as about what makes a magazine appealing. As I am focusing on a very different genre of music, since it comes from another country, I aim to ask both K-pop fans and non K-pop fans for their opinions on K-pop magazines, comparing them to British and American ones and seeing their preferences and why.
For my market research, I will create a survey that will include questions about music magazines they generally see, but also about what my target audience around me already know/do not know about K-pop. This would be interesting to see as it could tell me what K-pop fans & non K-pop fans know. I will then convert this information into graphs to conclude and clearly see any patterns in the answers I receive from my survey and to understand why people have responded the way that they have to help with the succession of my magazine. However because there are not many K-pop fans around me, this information may be difficult to decipher for my benefit. I then aim to show them examples of western and K-pop magazines, asking them questions like what they first notice about the magazines and its effect and whether they like the magazine or not & why, comparing the two different styles of magazines from the east and west. I will also ask whether they prefer the style of western or K-pop magazines and why, to be able to keep the two styles distinct in preparation of mine.
For my research with my focus group, I want to include both K-pop fans and somebody who knows nothing about the genre.I would also like my focus group to react to a few K-pop music videos to give them a sense of what K-pop really is as this is a genre that most people do not know about. To get a variety of opinions. By including both fans and non-fans of this genre, I will be able to get their very first opinions on K-pop and the style of music it is, as well as what they liked and disliked about the music videos they will watch.
Once I have collected my research I will be able to know what differs from a western magazine and a K-pop one, helping me to make my magazine look more believable as a Korean-styled one. Not only that, but I will also find out more about what elements make a magazine eye-catching and successful.
Searching online, I have found many different styles of fonts that music magazines both from the West and the East use; here is a mood board:
Whilst looking at the different mastheads of music magazines, I noticed that Western magazines' most-used feature colour is red, proven by the mastheads of Q, Rolling Stone, XXL, NME and so on. The other most popular colour to use is black because of its classic look with examples such as KERRANG!, Vibe, Mojo and DAZED. On the other hand, Eastern-Asian Kpop magazines often go for other softer colours, especially pink shown by Staraz, Kwave and 10asia+Star (and Bromide which changes their masthead's colour depending on the front cover's style and feature colours). However just like Western music magazines, Asian magazines like High Cut and KPOP LIFEalso use black for a more classy look that can contrast with softer, lighter images that are common in Kpop magazines.
With the help of this mood board, I have found out that for my Kpop music magazine I can use a unique colour for my masthead and not challege Asian magazine conventions as long as it matches my front cover.
Here I have deconstructed two K-pop magazines' front covers, explaining what their key features are and their impacts on the reader.
Whilst looking at various different Korean magazines and deconstructing these two examples, I noticed how simplistic magazines in Korea can be and I absolutely love it. The minimalism of the front covers are very aesthetically pleasing as the cover photograph is not buried in texts and graphics and the overall style looks very neat. It also leaves a lot of what is featured in the magazine as a surprise which can be an advantage and a disadvantage; it would make the reader intrigued to look inside the magazine however can also not make them want to pick up the magazine in the first place. For example, if you saw your favorite artists' name in bold on a front cover, you are more likely to pick it up than have to guess &/or search for them in a magazine that does not feature their name on the cover.
These thoughts are making me wonder whether I should go for a more minimalist style for my front cover, contents and double page spread or a busier, more 'busier'-looking cover. Either one I choose, I know I have to keep this style consistent through my pages to keep them all connected to each other and look like they all come from the same magazine.
Here I have presented some key example of music magazines with styles & layouts that inspired me for my future magazine. I focused mainly on Kpop magazines as that is the music genre I chose to use for my music magazine however I did also present one western magazine to give me a more worldwide look on music magazines.
In this video, I introduce some of my ideas for my music magazine before explaining my decided genre as well as what inspired me to focus on the genre of Kpop.
