Producer and composer Kim Hyung-suk performs during a special lecture on K-pop at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, July 4. Courtesy of Byun Jae-gil
By Lee Gyu-lee
“There has been a lot of research on European-based (pop) cultures but not so much on K-pop, K-dramas or hallyu (Korean wave). And we believe that this research will give a new and very challenging perspective.”
Professor Jieun Kiaer of Korean language and linguistics at the University of Oxford shared this expectation as she explained her visions and goals for the forthcoming research in collaboration with K-pop producer and composer Kim Hyung-suk.
Professor Jieun Kiaer / Courtesy of Jieun Kiaer
Kim recently joined the university as a visiting researcher of Asian and Middle Eastern studies as part of the Kellogg College academic program, which invites renowned artists to work with its scholars for research and creative purposes.
The producer, who has composed more than 1,400 songs including countless hits, has been a pioneer and one of the most prominent figures in K-pop since the 1990s. He expressed his intention to use his background in finding a groundwork for K-pop to thrive further as a culture through the research.
“First, I really feel that the status of K-pop has grown significantly, and I'm grateful to be with Oxford, a place that can be considered a starting point for culture and knowledge … Oxford emphasizes tradition and has a certain legacy and heritage and with K-pop, which is something that expands through platforms in the digital age, I think an interesting wave can be created from it,” he told The Korea Times during a video interview Monday.
“And with this collaboration, K-pop can continue to expand not just as an event or something passing, but as a major cultural axis and I feel that working with Oxford will make this much more valuable.”
Kim explained that K-pop has garnered worldwide attention with its uniqueness to create a platform for fans and artists.
“From a musical perspective, K-pop encourages fan participation rather than just listening … like having various genres in one song with strong musical contrasts, and rhythm and melody that are easy to follow,” he said.
“From a marketing standpoint, a community is formed through a platform, transforming the relationship between artists and fans from a vertical to a horizontal for a mutually complementary relationship. Especially when you look at BTS' ARMY, fans now have their own community.”
And with the artists further committing themselves to interact with fans through additional content like livestreaming and messaging platforms, it creates stronger bonds between the fans and artists to build a community.
U.S.-based K-pop girl group KATSEYE, produced by HYBE / Courtesy of HYBE
Kiaer explained that the collaborative research will cover diverse approaches to K-pop from linguistics, humanity and educational aspects to AI.
“We want to know what kinds of social impact and filters K-pop and hallyu will have on humanity and the creative art music field. So we aim to research social and linguistic impacts with producer Kim,” she said.
“And we also will be researching how it can be sustainable especially in the age of artificial intelligence, like what meaning does K-pop have?... If K-pop has been viewed as entertainment until now, this represents a new transition to seeing K-pop as ‘edutainment.’”
Kim added that studying the rise of AI and its effects in creative fields is essential to prepare for future.
“I believe technology has ultimately developed as a means to benefit and make things easier for humans … In the past, only those who learned music would compose songs, but now you can write songs through computer drag and drop... After the emergence of AI, the paradigm has changed. So it’s time we think about what industries it will create and what they might be,” he said.
“Technical problems are easily solved through AI solutions. So we’ve entered into an era where the philosophy, humanities or integration with relating arts have become much more important, focusing on what messages people want to deliver. Since it's now an era where individuals can create their own media, I want to provide children with the right direction and discuss deeper philosophical aspects in this regard.”
Composer Kim Hyung-suk, left, and professor Jieun Kiaer speak during a special lecture on K-pop at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, July 4. Courtesy of Jieun Kiaer
With K-pop going global with artists working with other pop genre producers and agencies producing overseas K-pop groups like KATSEYE, the boundaries of K-pop as a genre have become more and more vague.
However, Kim noted that K-pop has developed itself as a culture, beyond genre.
“All music genres will eventually melt into pop and so as K-pop. Now in K-pop, who’s collaborating with whom is actually not very important anymore. It's no longer about group-to-group culture, or nation-to-nation culture, but about individual-to-individual culture,” he said.
“The most important point of K-pop is its platform-based community. The interaction between fans and artists, their mutually complementary relationship and having a community, which K-pop is the first attempt. And these define K-pop: Having a philosophy, communicating with fans, creating a community and working within it.”
The professor added the two hope the research will offer a concrete look into the social impact from such culture.
“Through K-pop, people who aren't even Korean are developing a social identity, and these phenomena are significant. We both hope to elevate K-pop research to mainstream cultural studies,” she said.
“As a linguist, I'm very interested in the language and identity of K-pop, and I believe we shouldn't let this flow away unnoticed. I think it's important to materialize and research it. My vision, starting with myself and professor Kim, is to establish a hallyu research center or program at Oxford.”
English (United States) ·