No, you’re not seeing things, that really is Korean singer Rain’s picture on the side of a 777. Korean Airline’s top execs recently announced that they will be promoting Rain’s current tour, as well as Korean culture in general, throughout several of their hub airports worldwide. Not much is known whether Rain will be the only pop star promoted, but one can only hope he’s not the last. Just imagine–huge crowds being stirred to a frenzy, upon seeing a gigantic, hot pink, Lee Hyori plane getting ready for take-off..
Archive for the 'korean music' Category Page 3 of 6
Korean artist Younha, has recently secured an interesting new job for herself, after proving to be quite skilled in conveying Japanese sensibilities to her fellow Koreans. She’s been chosen by Japan’s National Tourist Organization, to promote Japanese tourism throughout her homeland of Korea, and the organization hopes to build more public interest in visiting Japan. The trend lately within Asian tourism, has seen Japanese destinations losing out to more exotic Asian locals, and the JNTO hopes to remind Koreans, and other Asian nationals, just how interesting a trip to Japan can be.
A study published by Japanese music ranking company Oricon, has made a few quite interesting discoveries. Oricon wanted to probe why Korean artists are making such headway against the once dominant Japanese. Some interesting facts came out in the study, the first being, that many feel that Korean stars interact much more often with their fans–refreshing considering the distance that some Japanese stars have been known to keep with theirs. Another interesting discovery, was that fans like to see their favorite Asian pop stars involved in TV and film projects as well–a trait that Korean artists are known for, often diversifying amongst many different artistic projects quite well.
If recent rumors are correct, Korean pop idol Lee Hyori, is set to become the highest paid female singer in Korean history. After coming to the end of her current contract, she’s received several very lucrative offers, and has been spending quite a lot of time going over each of their pros and cons. What may be the deciding factor in the end, has less to do with the money offered, but rather the vision of the current CEO of this rumored new agency. Evidently the CEO has such an interesting take on Lee Hyori’s future career, enough to woo the young Asian star, and I’m sure enough to keep her fans on the edge of their seats for many years to come.
The Korean phenomenon, better known as Bada, had a pleasant surprise during a her recent trip to China. After performing a few songs at the “F1 Korean Wave Concert” in Shanghai, she apparently impressed the audience so much, that she was the talk of the town for several days afterwards. This came, not only from fans, but from the press as well, many of which gave her glowing reviews throughout the Chinese media. Since that time, her management’s phone has been ringing off the hook with offers for return visits to be made as quickly as possible.
Korean singer Lee Hyori, played the good samaritan this month, after helping a man she found lying down on the street she was traveling on from work. Determining he had simply passed out from a few too many drinks, she quickly used his cellphone to call family members to come pick him up. Lucky for him, they came rushing to his rescue, but I could not help but feel sorry for the guy as I’m sure he felt this wasn’t the most ideal way to meet one of Korea’s most beautiful pop stars..
BoA has just started her “Feel BoA at Your Arm’s Distance” tour to completely sold-out audiences throughout Japan. The idea behind the shows, is to offer much more intimacy with fans, which in the past have been typically over 30,000 people at some of her more popular shows. The new venues will be decidedly more intimate, with a mere 2,000 seats available at most. All of that comes at a price, however, with so few seats available, all of them have sold-out quickly. The good news is that TBS TV recently decided to air one of these shows to celebrate BoA’s birthday on November 5, and the broadcast was such a huge success, that word has it that BoA may be considering doing a few more like these sometime soon.
Before Korean singer Rain embarks on his next multi-city tour, he’s decided to give a little back to his homeland. He will be offering the first show of his World tour for the incredible low price of–free. And this will be no ordinary tour, he’s bringing in several top industry heavy weights, to choreograph and direct every aspect of the show. When asked why he’s decided to give back in such a big way, Rain stated that it’s the least he could do, considering the overwhelming support he’s been given by fans at home over the years–even when many predicted he would be just another Asian pop star wonder.
I recently reported on Chinese newcomer Zhang Li Yin’s upcoming music debut, and was pleasantly surprised to see her first release do so well. The single “Timeless”, was downloaded an incredible 500,000 times in just a few hours, and it looks like all the hard work SM Entertainment has put into the young pop star, is starting to pay off. Don’t think that the SM execs will be taking anything for granted, however, they continue to aggressively promote her throughout Asia, and you can bet that the next several releases will probably do even better.
Although she’s an actress by trade, recently published photographs of Korean starlet Jeon Ji-hyun, reveal quite another side. The photos in question, were apparently taken for a cosmetic company that she currently endorses, and have created such a stir, that rumor has it that several top music industry execs may be planning a possible pop music debut. That remains to be seen, but one look at these photos, and one can’t help but see why such a move might just make sense..
