Eric Nam Lifts the Lid on the Other Side of K-Pop Success
“Everyone knows what you’re signing up for when you go into K-Pop," Eric Nam says
When it comes to exponential, international growth at a speed and scale any start-up founder could only dream of, K-Pop is a glitter-coated juggernaut.
The sparkly genre has spent the best part of the past decade filtering its way down from its obsessive native fanbase to more diverse Western platforms, collecting many a new fan along the way.
It’s spurned a multi-billion dollar industry in its wake – labels are at pains to find the next “big thing”, and go to extreme efforts to control their talent in fear of any Hollywood-esque scandal erupting and bringing unwanted attention.
During the ‘Behind the Rolling Stone Cover’ podcast, Rolling Stone AU/NZ Editor-in-Chief Poppy Reid addressed some of the lesser-known elements of this complex culture, sitting down with Korean/American crooner Eric Nam during his latest visit to Australia.
“There’s an interest in the strict rules around [K-Pop]. There’s this thought that some of the [artists] can’t have a mobile phone, and they can’t have a partner. What are your thoughts on that now, in 2024—are those strict rules around K-Pop still a thing?” Reid asked Nam.
“I think there are a lot of critiques, particularly from a Western perspective because it’s so different from what Western artists are used to”, he replied. “But at the same time I’d like people to consider that K-Pop performances and production, and the meticulous maintenance and management of the groups, the fandoms, and all the great things that comes from it, are all very different from [the] Western system as well.
“In order to play within K-Pop, you kinda have to play by those rules.”
“When there are artists or trainees who are going against the rules, it’s really throwing into jeopardy not only that one person’s career, but the entire group, and also the success of the entire business,” Nam says.
“If you lose that trust and you put into jeopardy the success of not just your group, but an entire company, I think there’s something to be said about ramifications or consequences.”
Does the austerity that exists within the four walls of K-Pop’s jealously guarded status quo come as any surprise to an outsider entering the industry? Nam says no.
“Everyone knows what you’re signing up for when you go into K-Pop.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how celebrity is shaped within the context of K-Pop, the decisions that drive the music, and why there’s no Western equivalent of performances this energised and intricate.
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