全通翻譯/翻譯社

K-POP Goes Global

If you're unaware of Korean pop star PSY、s hit “Gangnam Style,” perhaps you've been living under a rock. Released in July in PSY's native South Korea, the song went insanely viral. The infectious beat and goofy dance moves have made it the most viewed YouTube video of 2012 and, incredibly, the most liked of all time. “Gangnam Style” has topped the U.K. charts and reached number two in the U.S.

The portly, comical PSY is hardly indicative of the K-pop trend, which features multi-member boy and girl bands with impeccably-choreographed dance routines, cutesy tunes, and shiny outfits. What they have in common is their method of penetrating non-Asian markets.

Part of the S.M. Entertainment label, groups like Super Junior, Girls' Generation and SHINee have scored hit after hit in Asian countries, but have struggled to scrape the charts elsewhere. Yet, they are managing to sell out venues from Germany to Chile thanks to their prominence across social media. YouTube launched a dedicated K-pop channel late last year, and S.M.'s Facebook page has the second-highest number of hits of any music label. 


韓流風席捲全球

如果你不曉得韓國流行歌星 PSY 的熱門歌曲〈江南 Style〉，或許是你一直與世隔絕。七月在 PSY 家鄉南韓發表的這首歌瘋狂爆紅。極具感染力的節奏與逗趣的舞步使這首歌成為 YouTube 二○一二年觀賞次數最多的影片，且更驚人地名列史上最受喜愛的影片。〈江南 Style〉已登上英國榜冠軍以及美國榜的第二名。

胖胖且帶有喜感的 PSY 不能算是 K-Pop 風潮的代表。K-Pop 以無懈可擊的編舞、討喜旋律和衣著光鮮的多人男女團員組合為特色。他們的共通之處在於打入非亞洲市場的方法。

S.M. 娛樂旗下的 Super Junior、少女時代和 SHINee 等團體在亞洲國家締造一首接一首的暢銷歌曲，在其他地區卻踢到鐵板。然而，由於在社群媒體的聲望，他們達成從德國到智利的表演完售的成績。YouTube 在去年底成立一個專門的韓國流行樂頻道，S.M. 的臉書專頁則在音樂廠牌中擁有第二高的點閱率。

資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報