[ENG TRANS] 121010 TVXQ were mentioned in french online news « Le Nouvel Observateur

This was part of an article on Gangnam Style entitled « Gangnam Style : how to explain korean pop success ? »
It was talking about Kpop in general beside it.

K-Pop, a real industry in Korea

« Gangnam Style » spread all over the world, in Europe as well as in the USA. In Europe, we see this « band » phenomenon as one of the new boys-bands. But it actually is really different. K-Pop got a real added value : dance. They are extremely skilled when it comes to synchronization and execution of complicated dance routine. That’s what really passionates fans. The number of dance-covers that we can see everyday on internet is a proof of it : thousands of fans cover those choreography. And that’s something that feeds the K-Pop phenomenon on the internet.

To go further, we need to explain that in Korea, K-Pop is a real industry. Three big companies owns the main bands (SM, JYP and YG Entertainment). Members are spotted and recruited around 12/15 years-old. Then, the companies invest on them, by paying them different classes (languages, acting, modeling…) and training (singing, dancing, sports…) – a little bit like football players in Europe. For example, I think about the singer BoA, who was casted really young, and who is now a huge star.

After that, K-pop is working on a cascada scheme. The first band who really initated the movement was DBSK (Dong Bang Shin Ki). Then, there was Super Junior, who took up the torch, taking a lot of inspiration from their senior’s production.