So Much More Than Gangnam Style Four artists that are sure to keep the popularity of K-pop rising long after PSY’s hit single By JENNIFER MANALILI
Illustration by ADAM BAIRD
Four artists that are sure to keep the popularity of K-pop rising long after PSY’s hit single No one could have predicted the success of “Gangnam Style.” Many may have written PSY off as a one-hit wonder, but with his chubby exterior and colorful humor, he is himself a departure from the regular K-pop machine. A machine, that continues to chug along a year after the craze. What’s most fascinating perhaps, is watching this machine from the outside. The handful of labels and management companies in South Korea that churn these “idols” out are like conglomerates, pouring time and effort into artists the same way Pepsi would obsess over a Super Bowl campaign here. Their strict management style predates today’s Hollywood, one perhaps only reminiscent of the actor-studio contracts of the ‘40s and ‘50s when stars
See GANGNAM, page 26
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