she/her
BoA's success didn't happen in a vacuum, and while she can be credited for paving the way for Hallyu overseas, she didn't do it all by herself! Let's now take a look at the state of the K-Pop industry around the time of her debut.
BoA with Andy and Junjin from Shinhwa, and Bada from S.E.S. (2000)
The 90s saw the emergence of the First Generation of K-Pop, pioneered by the group Seo Taiji and Boys. Most artists would initially only have success in Korea, and some of them went on to be the first stars of the Korean Wave. Among them, SM Entertainment ended up forming:
BoA with Andy and Junjin from Shinhwa, and Bada from S.E.S. (2000)
The 90s saw the emergence of the First Generation of K-Pop, pioneered by the group Seo Taiji and Boys. Most artists would initially only have success in Korea, and some of them went on to be the first stars of the Korean Wave. Among them, SM Entertainment ended up forming:
- H.O.T in 1996. The boyband was recognized as the first K-Pop idol group, serving as a model for those that followed them. They were also the first K-Pop act to perform overseas.
- S.E.S. the following year, whose albums became best-sellers in Korea.
- Shinhwa, which was created in 1998 to capitalize on the two formers' successes. They remain the "longest running K-Pop boyband in history".
- M.I.L.K in 2001 through BM Entertainment, a subsidiary.
SM acts were challenged by those from other agencies that debuted during the same period:
- Baby V.O.X, formed in 1997 by DR Media, who later broke into the Chinese market.
- Fin.K.L in 1998 by DSP Media. Seen as a rival group to S.E.S., this girlgroup also put Lee Hyori on the map.
- Jewelry, formed by Star Media Empire in 2001. Over their fifteen years of existence, they branched out into the Japanese market while undergoing many line-up changes.
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BoA ended up hanging out with her labelmates and even collaborating with them on special occasions such as the SM Town releases, which I'll get the opportunity to talk about later on during the eliminations.
Beforehand, SM had already made their first attempt at marketing one of their acts, S.E.S., towards the Japanese market. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Not resting on their laurels after this flop, they decided to give it another try with their newly signed idol.
BoA debuted right on time for the start of the Second Generation of K-Pop when Hallyu, the Korean Wave, went into full effect. The term was first coined by the Chinese media in the late 1990s as they noticed the rise in global popularity in Korean pop-culture. It encompasses the increased interest in Korean Pop, Korean Dramas, and a rising number of Korean brands, like Samsung and Hyundai, getting more popular on the global scale.
At the time, the growing awareness of Korean entertainment in China and other countries in East Asia couldn't be ignored anymore. In Japan, this became visible when Swiri and Winter Sonata, the former a Korean film and the other a Korean drama, particularly started gaining massive followings.
In parallel, K-Pop was also garnering a lot of attention, allowing the commercial potential of the foreign market to be seriously taken into consideration. On November 2000, Avex signed a licensing deal with SM Entertainment, which meant both would market each other's releases in their own countries from now on. It was a big deal because this move set a precedent by breaking a political barrier that, up until that point, had persisted for decades. It signaled that Korea was getting ready to accept Japanese culture again.
A news report from Billboard (2000)
But what is BoA's place in all of this?
Japan is the largest music market in Asia and the second largest in the world, so naturally, she had to adapt to a different culture. In comparison to her Korean career, slight differences in terms of sounds, visuals, and styling were noticeable. Even though she already had an appeal to this newfound audience, properly entering this market while not forgetting her roots was still the main goal, and the choice to re-record select songs in Japanese and other languages helped bridge that gap as well.
Following a string of successful singles in 2001, one year later, she released her Japanese debut album, LISTEN TO MY HEART, which topped the Oricon Chart and sold a million copies in Japan, making her the first Korean artist to do so. An interesting comparison to make is that, although she didn't blow up right away in Korea, the gradual moves made in her native country worked in her favour as her arrival in Japan was rewarded by a juggernaut success that seemed instant.
As told above, the latter came at a crucial time as South Korea had lifted its restrictions on Japanese cultural imports, a long-lasting consequence from World War II and more recently from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, that had prevented Japanese entertainment from reaching her homeland. As the relations between both countries softened, BoA got a few opportunities to mark the strengthening of Korean and Japanese's cultural ties by showing up at major cultural events.
BoA with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Summit Dinner Party held by Koizumi himself in Tokyo (2003)
Afterwards, the Korean Wave got a second wind involving Rain, Wonder Girls, and once again BoA all eyeing the United States in the late 2000s. By then, it was common for K-Pop artists to adapt their songs towards the Western market, with an increased presence of English words in the lyrics, and videos that are strongly influenced by that culture.
Early in the following decade, as K-Pop continued to rise, Western mainstream attention was brought with Girls' Generation, 2NE1 and Big Bang among others leading the wave. PSY would be a key player with Gangnam Style getting viral and breaking record after record. This time, the development of social media, the omnipresence of YouTube and other video-sharing platforms, and the digital expansion of K-Pop helped spread the Hallyu Wave globally. At that point, what started as a niche for some was gathering fanbases everywhere.
Lee Soo-man himself would later be quoted as saying "If BoA wasn’t here, there would be no SM". With her subsequent success, it's fair to say she not only kept the agency afloat, but also contributed to furthering the Korean Wave and making K-Pop a global phenomenon, which today's acts are currently reaping the benefits from.
BoA ended up hanging out with her labelmates and even collaborating with them on special occasions such as the SM Town releases, which I'll get the opportunity to talk about later on during the eliminations.
Beforehand, SM had already made their first attempt at marketing one of their acts, S.E.S., towards the Japanese market. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Not resting on their laurels after this flop, they decided to give it another try with their newly signed idol.
BoA debuted right on time for the start of the Second Generation of K-Pop when Hallyu, the Korean Wave, went into full effect. The term was first coined by the Chinese media in the late 1990s as they noticed the rise in global popularity in Korean pop-culture. It encompasses the increased interest in Korean Pop, Korean Dramas, and a rising number of Korean brands, like Samsung and Hyundai, getting more popular on the global scale.
At the time, the growing awareness of Korean entertainment in China and other countries in East Asia couldn't be ignored anymore. In Japan, this became visible when Swiri and Winter Sonata, the former a Korean film and the other a Korean drama, particularly started gaining massive followings.
In parallel, K-Pop was also garnering a lot of attention, allowing the commercial potential of the foreign market to be seriously taken into consideration. On November 2000, Avex signed a licensing deal with SM Entertainment, which meant both would market each other's releases in their own countries from now on. It was a big deal because this move set a precedent by breaking a political barrier that, up until that point, had persisted for decades. It signaled that Korea was getting ready to accept Japanese culture again.
A news report from Billboard (2000)
But what is BoA's place in all of this?
Japan is the largest music market in Asia and the second largest in the world, so naturally, she had to adapt to a different culture. In comparison to her Korean career, slight differences in terms of sounds, visuals, and styling were noticeable. Even though she already had an appeal to this newfound audience, properly entering this market while not forgetting her roots was still the main goal, and the choice to re-record select songs in Japanese and other languages helped bridge that gap as well.
Following a string of successful singles in 2001, one year later, she released her Japanese debut album, LISTEN TO MY HEART, which topped the Oricon Chart and sold a million copies in Japan, making her the first Korean artist to do so. An interesting comparison to make is that, although she didn't blow up right away in Korea, the gradual moves made in her native country worked in her favour as her arrival in Japan was rewarded by a juggernaut success that seemed instant.
As told above, the latter came at a crucial time as South Korea had lifted its restrictions on Japanese cultural imports, a long-lasting consequence from World War II and more recently from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, that had prevented Japanese entertainment from reaching her homeland. As the relations between both countries softened, BoA got a few opportunities to mark the strengthening of Korean and Japanese's cultural ties by showing up at major cultural events.
BoA with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Summit Dinner Party held by Koizumi himself in Tokyo (2003)
Afterwards, the Korean Wave got a second wind involving Rain, Wonder Girls, and once again BoA all eyeing the United States in the late 2000s. By then, it was common for K-Pop artists to adapt their songs towards the Western market, with an increased presence of English words in the lyrics, and videos that are strongly influenced by that culture.
Early in the following decade, as K-Pop continued to rise, Western mainstream attention was brought with Girls' Generation, 2NE1 and Big Bang among others leading the wave. PSY would be a key player with Gangnam Style getting viral and breaking record after record. This time, the development of social media, the omnipresence of YouTube and other video-sharing platforms, and the digital expansion of K-Pop helped spread the Hallyu Wave globally. At that point, what started as a niche for some was gathering fanbases everywhere.
Lee Soo-man himself would later be quoted as saying "If BoA wasn’t here, there would be no SM". With her subsequent success, it's fair to say she not only kept the agency afloat, but also contributed to furthering the Korean Wave and making K-Pop a global phenomenon, which today's acts are currently reaping the benefits from.
