The power of locality even when K-pop aims for "global" reach
On October 11, it was announced that RIIZE's Seunghan would return to the group after nearly a year's hiatus, and would perform again for the first time in November. On October 13, he withdrew from the group permanently.
The shocking speed of things is somehow not the most surprising part of this news story, but the reason: some fans were so upset that Seunghan was returning to the group that they sent funeral wreaths to SM Entertainment, RIIZE's company, in protest.
A gruesome metaphor and insult, the wreaths were a physical reflection of the fans who wanted RIIZE to continue as six members, without Seunghan, who they deemed more or less a problem child. His sin? Being absent for 11 months because he had, before RIIZE's debut, spent time in bed with a girl, made jokes with friends, and smoked, as per a series of images and videos leaked about him.
The initial news of Seunghan returning from hiatus had been greeted by excitement from the fans who had been asking for the return of 7-member RIIZE for months, and upset from those who wanted the team to remain as six people. The reverse uno card news of his withdrawal flipped the emotions, and the sides in the argument.
And that's where things get tricky: sides, because this certainly feels like a moment when K-pop's eyes on international markets has come into play with Korean business and consumer culture, and just generally Korean and East Asian cultural norms.
To many international fans (aka i-fans), Seunghan's "sin" was being a pretty normal young dude. To a loud group of Korean fans, it was being a man whose career targeted the affection of predominantly female fans and acting in a way that was off putting. (I don't want to minimize others here; there was definite support of RIIZE as 6 from other fans, but it does feel very local, and most of the infighting online seems to come from Western vs. Asian, particularly East Asian, fans.)
This comes at a time of an intense cultural gender war in South Korea, when women are regularly defamed for simply speaking up against gender inequality and men declare themselves the victims of feminism, despite historical and modern patriarchy making life miserable for the majority of Korean women. The gender divide is a huge political talking point, but the people in charge seem to just be making it worse.
I am obviously not Korean, but I can't help but wonder if the intensity of the backlash from Korean fans reflects this, a nuance that casual Westernized fans by and large are not necessarily thinking about in everyday conversations. We've seen a backlash to female stars dating, notably Karina of aespa, unprecedented in the industry, and now this, which makes me wonder if this tightening of Korean fandom leashes are only going to tighten because of cultural-social issues in Korea. Essentially, it kind of feels like the unsaid, cultural understanding among Korean fans against his return felt that Seunghan f-ing around and finding out before his debut left a stain that meant he'll f*** around and find out for all time, and as such isn't an ideal representation of manliness that these fans want to spend their time and money on.
Tamar Herman
This all makes so much sense, even if it's hard to wrap your head around: K-pop, like K-dramas and rom-coms, pedal a fantasy of the ideal sort of human.
But unlike K-dramas and rom-coms, K-pop is focused on real people, not simalcrums existing only on-screen for the sake of a film or TV episode. This means that nobody can live up to the standards people set. I'm sure some "Dark Side of K-pop" documentarian will take this instance as a sign of the control fans exert over artists, and people are certainly not wrong in accusing fans of bullying Seunghan to withdraw (if you saw videos appearing to be him walking around and looking at the wreathes... it was just really sad).
But I think you have to zoom out of it being a "K-pop" conversation and more a intra and intercultural one: RIIZE is a group that is pretty fervently targeting international audiences, especially the U.S. It feels like maybe RIIZE's team saw the support of international fans, and thought time had passed; Seunghan could come back. But they didn't gauge the ferocity of the home market's fans, and those fans will almost always win because those are the ones that, as long as you have their support, are reliable spenders. And in a capitalist entity like K-pop, that will always win.
Or will it? To be honest, this feels like a bit of a miscalculation from a business perspective, let alone a PR one. Aside from the conspiracies that people are spreading that this was intentional, it feels like yet another blunder from SM Entertainment execs this year, of somehow not having a contingency plan in place in case there was backlash. They had to know it was coming, at least because historically, SM has dealt with things like this in the past. And almost every time, I honestly can't remember a time when the company hasn't given in to local fan demands. And they didn't even have to buy stock this time to get heard, they just had to wish death upon someone.
And I think, after all that I've said, I think that this shows how poorly prepared some of K-pop's standard practices are for international business norms. I'm not talking even about cultural nuances that can lead a company to a viral moment that some people will decry as "cancel culture at work". Instead, we're visibly seeing a moment when a K-pop company has decided to prioritize local business needs over their larger "global" audience, and, well, their stock prices being the only K-pop-focused entertainment company trending downward over the past 5 days definitely feels like a sign that investors are also uncertain of if this is the right move.
There is a whole lot to say about the wtf-ery of how this is essentially a huge company giving into "Bullying Works" as an idea, and how intercultural fandom culture is playing out in truly nasty ways online. But I think ultimately I keep coming back to the point that bullying backlash was more or less expected because SM's artists have lived it before, should have a plan of action to handle it, and a choice was made to not expect it.
This isn't the first time in RIIZE's history its team has changed actions based on fan backlash, which perhaps make this even more curious: they've changed lightstick design and fandom name based on feedback, and now this. This was predictable backlash and yet it seems like everyone acted like it was the first time they had heard concerns regarding Seunghan's return.
Just as in many other historical instances of fans protesting one of their artists, SM decided to heed the immediate demands fans instead of... you know, making business plans regarding how to deal with a conflict when an audience acts the way you expect them to. Ultimately, it came down to letting a guy who worked hard for years to bow out to save the longterm, local support for the group he hoped to be part of. And I think that's key: international K-pop fans may offer longterm support, but to thrive in Korea in the longrun, artists need local fans. This was perhaps a longterm business decision that may not pay off in the long run. (It's also why a lot of Korean fandom discourse seems to be particularly focused on how they spend and international fans do not, but that may just be what is appearing on my feed .)
Right now, international fans are posting on social media that they'll boycott SM, and create a "black ocean" (ie. no fanlights) at MAMA LA when RIIZE is there next month. I've received over 50 of the same chainmail email from fans in the past 24 hours, in English and Korean, asking for media coverage of the situation. It doesn't seem to be as much of a big deal, somehow, to the future of RIIZE, because no matter how internationally-focused K-pop proclaims it to be, that at least for SM when it comes to personnel decisions and fan backlash it'll always be "K" first.
In the news
Hanni of NewJeans testified to the Labor Committee of South Korea's National Assembly during a hearing about workplace harassment regarding the ongoing situation between NewJeans, Min Hee Jin, HYBE, and Ador.
BTS's j-hope returns on Thursday, and Jin announced his solo debut album, Happy. - Billboard calls Happy an LP, aka a full album in K-pop world, in the headline, but it's six tracks so I believe it will be categorized as an EP, or mini album. However, we have increasingly seen shorter "full" albums in K-pop lately so let's see.
What I'm working on
I spoke to the BBC OS programme on the BBC World Service radio about Seunghan very briefly, but cannot find the clip.
Ironically, I wrote a quick news piece for Teen Vogue about the end of Seunghan's enlistment. The piece has since been updated.
What I'm listening to
I wrote this while listening to Seventeen and Xdinary Heroes' new albums. I know I keep saying I will review music, and I promise I will. Someday... For now, here are some of my favorite B-sides.
What I'm reading
Samantha Lui
"The Music Press Has Decided to Pivot a.k.a. After years of pushing star worship and post-pandemic silliness, Pitchfork and Resident Advisor have spun up a new narrative" by Shawn Reynaldo
"‘It’s like, wow. I was really deranged’: stars and repentant stans on the terror of toxic fandom" by Alim Kheraj (The Guardian)
"everybody wants to be Beyoncé, nobody wants to be Beyoncé: on the business (or lack thereof) of a cultural icon" by Ochuko Akpovbovbo
"Do music genres matter any more?" by Sowmya Krishnamurthy
Joshua Minsoo Kim interview Hikaru Utada for Tone Glow. This interview should win a lot of awards, or at least be taught in J school.
"A World In Upheaval- In conversation with N.S. Lyons" by Freya India - The rest of these are more music focused, but this one is about mental health, particularly Gen Z mental health
If this newsletter needs updating for factual or typographical errors, please email me at tamarhermanwrites@gmail.com.
