停不下來的K pop 韓國流行音樂席捲亞洲

I remember the first time I ever heard the term “Korean Wave”. It was in the late 1990s, and I was a teenager. Back then, pioneer boy bands and girl groups such as H.O.T., NRG and Baby V.O.X. had totally changed my understanding of pop music.

我記得第一次聽到“韓流”這個詞是在90年代末，那時我還只有十幾歲。以H.O.T., NRG 以及Baby V.O.X爲代表的最早一批少男少女偶像團體完全改變了我對流行音樂的認識。

Now, almost 20 years later, the invasion of South Korean pop music is ongoing. The latest evidence is Saturday’s MBC Korean Music Wave, a concert held for the very first time in China (at the National Stadium in Beijing), where some of the biggest names in the South Korean music industry performed, including EXO, INFINITE, Girls’ Generation, T-ARA and 2PM.

如今，快20年過去了，韓國流行音樂的勢頭依然不減：最近，韓國音樂波演唱會首次在中國（北京鳥巢）落地，此次演唱會匯聚了韓國樂壇的大腕明星，EXO, INFINITE, 少女時代, T-ARA以及2PM等都登臺表演。

In addition to taking off in Asia in a big and enduring way, K-pop (short for Korean pop music) is also conquering the world, finding popularity in the US, music’s biggest market. On Aug 25, Billboard officially launched the new K-pop music chart, ranking the best-selling South Korean songs both in the US and the home country.

韓國流行音樂（簡稱K-pop）不僅在亞洲大獲成功、經久不衰，而且也開始征服世界，在全球最大的音樂市場——美國——也大爲流行。8月25日，公告牌官方開設了K-pop新歌榜，盤點美國國內和韓國本土最賣座的韓國歌曲。

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of K-pop itself — the catchy and calculating strain of music that somehow manages to simultaneously sound like every contemporary musical genre, mostly electronic dance music, arranged in conventional pop song structures. But if you see K-pop as a culture, things get more interesting.

說實話，我並不是K-pop的鐵桿粉，這些音樂朗朗上口、結構千篇一律、雜糅着各種當代音樂元素，常常是建立在傳統流行樂結構基礎上的電子舞曲。但如果你將其視爲一種文化，那麼它就變得有趣起來。

Assembly line

造星機器

First, the process of creating a K-pop singer, mostly through forming boy/girl groups, is like car production: Industrialize and focus on exports. Talent agencies find potential singers, often through global auditions. The training of the future stars, who are taught to sing and dance, act and learn foreign languages, can take three to seven years.

韓國的造星大都是通過偶像團體的形式。以工業化和出口爲目的的生產模式簡直像汽車行業一樣，造星公司首先通過全球海選挑出一些有潛力的歌手，然後經過三到七年的聲樂、舞蹈、表演訓練以及外語學習，將他們打造成明星出道。

In the South Korean model, a pop group is more like a brand than a proper band. For instance, SM Entertainment’s Super Junior boasts 12 members. This allows the company to break the band down into sub-units targeting different markets, including Super Junior-M (Mandarin pop music), Super Junior-T (trot music, a form of Korean music dating back to the early 1900s), and something called Super Junior-Happy.

在韓國的造星模式中，偶像團體更像是一個品牌而非普通的樂隊。比如SM公司旗下的Super Junior就有12名成員。公司可以針對不同的市場將他們分成子團體，比如（針對中國的）Super Junior-M，（主打二十世紀早期韓國半島傳統流行樂，韓國演歌）Super Junior-T，以及Super Junior-Happy。

The pace of the K-pop music production is quick. You get one song that can last for a week, and that’s it. The record labels always want something new out of artists, in order to sell more music, as well as draw more fans. So it makes sense why South Korean singers are under huge amounts of pressure.

K-pop的更新速度很快，一首歌也許只流行一個星期。爲了賣出更多的專輯、圈更多的粉絲，唱片公司總希望藝人不斷有新作推出。所以也就不難理解，韓國歌手爲什麼會壓力巨大了。

But meanwhile, there is good news for K-pop fans. If you’re a K-pop fan, you’re really getting involved in a community of people. They all like the same band as you, you all get to know the same thing, and it becomes a family. So maybe that’s why everyone’s so passionate.

但（這種模式的）好處就是，作爲K-pop的粉絲，你能遇到一大羣“志同道合”的人，他們和你喜歡同一個組合，和你瞭解同樣的事，就像一家人一樣。這也許是爲什麼其中的每個人都充滿熱情。

You feel the dedication of those South Korean artists who are taught to fight in life, and understand that dreams are attainable. Then you get music that makes you dance and smile. What else is needed?

在那些被教育成不斷爲人生奮鬥的韓流藝人身上，你看到了奉獻的精神，覺得夢想觸手可及。他們還帶來讓你隨之舞蹈、讓你歡笑的音樂，那麼，你還有何求？

It seems that K-pop’s ability to dazzle is in no danger of diminishing just yet.

這樣看來，K-pop的光芒怎會有黯淡之時？