SEOUL -- K-pop supergroup SuperM, formed by seven members of different South Korean boy bands, will make their Hollywood debut this week, group members said on Wednesday.
"It feels like a dream, especially because it’s with these members," one of the group, who goes by the name Taemin, told a news conference in Seoul, referring to the upcoming visit to Los Angeles.
Taemin is a member of the group SHINee. The other six members of SuperM are from the bands EXO, NCT 127, and WayV.
They are due to make their debut at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angels on Saturday.
"When we add up all the experience we’ve had as individuals, it’s a lot of combined experience," said a member of the group EXO, who goes by the name Baekhyun.
"If you want to talk about what makes us unique, I think it would be these experiences we’ve gathered as individuals."
South Korean pop groups and television soap operas have in recent years become hugely popular across Asia, and, increasingly, beyond.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SEOUL -- Known for its ultra-competitive, pressure-cooker society, South Korea has one of the world's highest suicide rates. And this week the even higher stresses in the country's lucrative showbiz industry took their toll on a K-pop superstar.
Kim Jong-Hyun, a 27-year-old lead singer of the hugely popular boy band SHINee, took his own life in a Seoul hotel room on Monday, with his death sending shockwaves through fans around the world.
Five-member SHINee were at the forefront of the "Korean Wave" that has seen South Korean pop culture sweep Asia by storm in the past decade and lap at shores even further afield.
The band has found fame and fortune with multiple chart-topping albums and sold-out concerts at home and abroad since their debut in 2008.
But a grittier reality lies beneath the glitz and glamour of the K-pop scene -- cutthroat competition, a lack of privacy, online bullying and relentless public pressure to maintain a wholesome image at all times and at any cost.
Many stars like Kim are picked up by agencies at a young age, usually in their early or mid teens, their lives then taken over by gruelling singing and dancing training, with the ever-present risk of falling foul of a cut-throat screening process.
Holidays are rare and privacy an unaffordable luxury as many live with other band mates in dorm-like apartments provided by their agents, who dictate everything from music styles and diet regimen to mobile phone use -- and normally impose dating bans.
Many struggle with a constant lack of sleep and privacy.
Kim Se-Jeong, a popular K-pop singer, confessed of once sleeping a total of one hour for four days. "I had to perform on stage, appear in TV shows and shoot ad commercials all at the same time," she told a television interviewer earlier this year.
Kang Daniel, of the popular boy band Wanna One, admitted that his biggest wish was "having just one day of rest."
"For months ahead of my debut, I usually woke up four or five in the morning... practised until two or three in the morning the following day," Kang said in a television interview aired in August.
He was "grateful" to get a chance at fame, he added, but the gruelling schedule eventually affected his health and the 21-year-old cancelled all public appearances earlier this month.
Smiley happy face
Many K-pop stars face tremendous pressure to look and behave perfectly in an industry powered by so-called "fandoms" -- groups of well-organized admirers who spend enormous amounts of time and money to help their favored stars climb up the charts and attack their perceived rivals.
In return, the stars are expected to tread carefully in an industry where today's most-fervent fans can be tomorrow's most vicious critics if their idols fail to meet their expectations -- or "betray" them.
Drug use or drunken driving are seen as career-breakers, while behavior that causes a "stir" -- anything from a social media gaffe to a failure to smile ceaselessly at public appearances -- could be criticized for years.
Many are constantly chased by paparazzi and camera-touting fans who share or sell every single detail and images of the stars' daily lives online for public scrutiny.
"These 'idols' virtually live in a fishbowl and are pressed to put on a smiley, happy face while behaving nicely 24/7," said cultural commentator Kim Seong-Soo, adding the strain could "cripple them emotionally."
Such challenges are common among celebrities around the world, he told AFP, but are amplified in the hyper-wired South Korea, which has some of the world's fastest internet speeds and highest smartphone usage, and a society where pressure to conform is high.
Taboos about mental illness dissuade many from seeking medical help, including public figures, he added.
Winner takes all
Kim's death is unusual for a K-pop musician at the height of his popularity, but is the latest in a long list of showbiz suicides.
In 2010, Park Yong-Ha, a top actor who had huge followings at home and in Japan and China, hanged himself, and former actor Kim Sung-Min, whose career was ruined by a jail term for drug abuse, did the same last year.
In the most shocking series of suicides, actress Choi Jin-Sil - a household name - hanged herself in 2008, her actions blamed on online bullying.
Her brother, also an actor, killed himself two years later, and her ex-husband, former baseball star Cho Sung-Min, followed suit in 2013.
Actress Park Jin-Hee interviewed hundreds of actors and actresses for her master's thesis in 2009 and said that 40 percent had considered suicide at least once due to a lack of privacy, online bullying or unstable incomes.
But celebrity suicides are only a microcosm of South Korea's wider social problems, including cutthroat competition in areas from education to workplaces and a lack of safety nets, said commentator Kim, calling depression an "inevitable outcome" of living under such strain.
"Our country has an extreme form of winner-take-all system where those who fail can hardly make a comeback, or even survive."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SEOUL - Hundreds of fans of top South Korean boy band SHINee member Jonghyun visited his altar on Tuesday at Asan Medical Centre in Seoul to mourn the death of the singer.
Tearful fans and his fellow singers offered condolences and expressed their sadness at the loss of the K-pop star.
"I feel really sorry that I didn't consider his pain at all, I only thought of him giving me strength," said Jeong Yujin, a 22-year-old South Korean fan.
"I hope Jonghyun is happy wherever he is," said Walatip Kitkan, a 24-year-old Thai fan.
Kim Jong-hyun, 27, was found unconscious next to burning briquettes on a frying pan inside a serviced residence in the South Korean capital Seoul, a police official told Reuters.
"We're always going to miss you. And I'm so sorry this is what you thought and you needed to do, though I'll always love you. And for everyone that couldn't be here, I'm so sorry. But he knows you guys are here with him too," said 26-year-old American fan Natasha Burgard.
Kim spent nearly a decade in his leading role as one of five members of SHINee, one of the most popular boy bands in the country. He also sang as a solo artist.
His death is a blow to the massive worldwide fan base that Korea's K-pop music has attracted in recent years.
Editor's note:
A group in the Philippines is dedicated to addressing those who have suicidal tendencies.
The crisis hotlines of the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation aim to make these individuals feel that someone is ready to listen to them.
These are their hotline numbers:
Information and Crisis Intervention Center
(02) 804-HOPE (4673)
0917-558-HOPE (4673) or (632) 211-4550
0917-852-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-6876
0917-842-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-4084
In Touch Crisis Lines:
0917-572-HOPE or (632) 211-1305
(02) 893-7606 (24/7)
(02) 893-7603 (Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm)
Globe (63917) 800.1123 or (632) 506.7314
Sun (63922) 893.8944 or (632) 346.8776
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SEOUL -- A top K-pop star bemoaned feeling "broken from inside" and "engulfed" by depression in a suicide note, it emerged Tuesday, as his death sent shockwaves among fans worldwide.
Kim Jong-Hyun, a 27-year-old lead singer of the massively popular K-pop boyband SHINee, was found in a Seoul hotel room on Monday in what police said was suicide.
Kim's close friend, musician Nain9, released a suicide note on Tuesday on her Instagram account, saying he had asked her to publish the message in the event of his death.
"I am broken from inside. The depression that gnawed on me slowly has finally engulfed me entirely," it said, adding he "couldn't defeat it anymore".
"I was so alone," he went on. "The act of ending is difficult. I've lived until now because of that difficulty."
"Please tell me I did a good job," he implored, ending the note with: "You've worked hard. You've really gone through a lot. Goodbye."
Five-member SHINee debuted in 2008 and went on to lead the "Korean Wave" that saw South Korean pop culture develop followings across Asia and beyond.
Known for peppy songs and carefully choreographed dance numbers performed with military precision, SHINee has become one of the world's best-known K-pop acts.
The band has released five albums that swept charts at home and abroad, with some topping the US Billboard World Albums chart.
The band's agents SM Entertainment -- which dominates K-pop and has several other top acts under its wings -- said Kim's funeral would be held on Thursday.
"Other members of SHINee as well as other artists at our company are all mourning his death amid deep sorrow and shock," it said in a statement.
Many other K-pop stars at the firm cancelled public appearances to visit the mourning altar at a Seoul hospital where his body lies, with hundreds of tearful fans also in attendance.
"It looks certain that it was a suicide," police told a briefing. "So we plan to close the case without autopsy as requested by the family."
Ultra-competitive society
Social media was flooded by thousands of messages of mourning, with photos showing throngs of fans sobbing near a makeshift memorial set up outside the Korean embassy in Santiago, Chile.
Kim was pronounced dead shortly after being moved to a hospital. A coal briquette was found burning on a frying pan in the room where he was found -- a common method of suicide in South Korea.
The country -- known for its ultra-competitive society -- has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with the deaths of public figures and celebrities often making headlines.
K-pop stars go through cutthroat competition and gruelling, years-long training by their agents, who dictate everything from the artists' music style to diet regimen and even mobile phone use.
Many are also pressed to maintain squeaky-clean and wholesome images at all times, smiling throughout their public appearances and staying away from "troubles" such as romantic relationships.
Kim earlier sent his sister several text messages saying "This is my last farewell" and "Please let me go and say I did a good job", prompting her to make an emergency phone call to police.
Editor's note:
A group in the Philippines is dedicated to addressing those who have suicidal tendencies.
The crisis hotlines of the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation aim to make these individuals feel that someone is ready to listen to them.
These are their hotline numbers:
Information and Crisis Intervention Center
(02) 804-HOPE (4673)
0917-558-HOPE (4673) or (632) 211-4550
0917-852-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-6876
0917-842-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-4084
In Touch Crisis Lines:
0917-572-HOPE or (632) 211-1305
(02) 893-7606 (24/7)
(02) 893-7603 (Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm)
Globe (63917) 800.1123 or (632) 506.7314
Sun (63922) 893.8944 or (632) 346.8776
source: news.abs-cbn.com
