I Call It Chocolate Love

Korea loves Korean companies. I realize this might sound obvious...but really, this goes beyond national pride. Practically everything is run by huge companies that make Walmart look like the local 5 and Dime. Samsung, LG, and Lotte seem to be the biggest 3 companies, with Lotte being the biggest. Lotte is EVERYWHERE. They make the ice cream, own the stores people shop at, make most of the goods they buy...and with "Lotte World" even run the amusement park they vacation at. Hell, just to make the odd parallel to 'Dogma' even stronger, they have their own restaurant like "Mooby's" called "Lotteria".

This goes even farther with their music industry. Korean pop music, or "K-pop" is entirely controlled and created by huge companies. In America people were shocked when they found out that a few of a the big boy bands of the 90's were created by a marketing genius (like Lou Perlman who created the "Backstreet Boys"). The difference of course is that people didn't know this until well after the fact. In Korea however, not only do people know this is what happens...they are in to it! As an example, the top band in Korea right now is a 9 member all girl group called "Girl's Generation". They released an album 2 weeks ago, and I am not kidding...but EVERY song on the album is in the top 20 of their music charts. If you would like to see the number one song...here is a youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-bYRBqBvco the name of the song is "Oh!". The band was announced over a year before even a single member had joined.

Here is what happens. When a child is discovered (either through scouting or parents submitting their child) the company, SM Entertainment in the case of Girl's Generation, takes the child in and they are trained. Some kids do acting, some do dancing, some do singing, and others do a combination of the three. A child can do this for YEARS without ever being a member or a band or anything. They are simply being trained to be pop stars. Most of them even get plastic surgery during this time because Korea's obsession with being pretty makes Hollywood look like a lifetime movie. This is a sentiment I hear almost DAILY...about how important it is to be pretty. Now, people speculated as to which SM trainees would join the band, and when the band was chosen, they were announced like the starting line up of the Super Bowl.

Once you join the band, then the real work begins. Girls Generation has been around a little longer than 2 years. In that time they have released 2 albums, appeared in several commercials, and have even done 3 reality TV shows (A horror spoof, one where the girls go around cheering up sad people, and a third where the girls take care of a REAL BABY).

The previous #1 hit was a song called "Chocolate Love" which Spencer and I both thought was supposed to be an allusion to loving the chocolate brothers out there (which is quite taboo here). We were wrong. VERY wrong. Actually, the song is a 3 minute and 56 second commercial for the LG Chocolate Cell Phone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2NkGHkqDZk). The Koreans are fully aware of this too.

I'm not going to lie. I really like Girl's Generation...and I am embarrassed to admit it. The stuff is catchy, and since you hear it played EVERYWHERE here, I guess it is bound to grow on you eventually...and really, that is the point. This music is specifically crafted so that people like it. There is no musical accomplishment here. There is nothing of substance to the songs, and even though it is catchy to listen to, at the end of the day it has no real effect on your life. Somehow I don't expect Korean kids 10 years from now talking about "Chocolate Love" or "Oh!" with the same reverence as someone from my generation talks about "The Freshman" or "Jeremy".

I suppose I see a lot of this coming from the states as well, with the Lady Gagas and Kety Perry's out there, but Korea takes it to a completely new level.