K-pop Live

Suk-Young Kim is Professor of Critical Studies and the Director of the Center for Performance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also the author of the award-winning book DMZ Crossing: Performing Emotional Citizenship Along the Korean Border (2014). Her research and commentary have been featured on CNN and NPR.

"Suk-Young Kim's intimate and detailed ethnography showcases the strategic, interlocking exchanges among producers, directors, performers, fans, and studios in Seoul and beyond. Kim captures both the small moments of curated, performed liveness and their layered, highly mediatized production contexts. A glittering glimpse into a pure realization of late capitalism, and perhaps into our collective future, K-pop Live uncovers why K-pop is the global cultural phenomenon."—Carol Vernallis, author of Unruly Media: YouTube, Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema "K-pop Live is essential reading for all interested in popular culture in general and K-pop in particular. Suk-Young Kim provides accessible and lively insights into the complexities of the artistry and the commerce, the manufactured and the impromptu, the virtual and the somatic, and the local and the global that propel the production, dissemination, consumption, and reproduction of Korean popular music today."—Hyung-Gu Lynn, University of British Columbia "K-pop idols are sweeping the world, and K-pop Live is the book you need to understand this incredible phenomenon. From the music videos to a futuristic fan museum, Suk-Young Kim reveals the ways idols are transforming how we think about musicians and fandom. An excellent read and great for all levels of coursework."—Ian Condry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "[The] ultimate "star" of the book seems to be Kim's witty and contemplative prose that takes on another extended definition of liveness as "liveliness" through a dexterous weaving of critical theory and original arguments. The book's delivery on the paradoxical performance industry of K-pop—simultaneously glamorous and coveted, yet cutthroat and hypercommercial—satisfies the critical lacuna of K-pop scholarship from a performance studies perspective. With its well-organized index and extensive list of references, K-pop Live...is a welcome companion for educators of performance studies, media and visual culture, and Korean studies alike."—So-Rim Lee, The Drama Review "Kim explores the possibility that the origin of the success of K-pop may be significantly attributed to the heung (feeling of excitement) of Korean traditional music....I am most impressed by [her] intimate, cautious, and critical participant observation. Her close attachment to the performances and activities as if she were a 'K-pop maniac' in her early twenties adds heung to the experience of the reading of the book."—Gil-Soo Han, Cross-Currents "This study is informative, insightful, thought-provoking, and entertaining. It mediates the key scenes of K-pop with a sense of liveness for the reader; as if we were there with the author."—Nikki J.Y. Lee, Pacific Affairs "Suk-Young Kim's K-Pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance offers an accessible, in-depth perspective on K-pop...[T]his book encourages its readers to be more alert to their various senses and more inquisitive about the range of experiences such multimedia engagements can create, much like the heung excited by K-pop's multi-sensory appeal."—Walter Byongsok Chon, Situations: Cultural Studies in the Asian Context

• Introduction1. Historicizing K-pop2. K-pop from Live Television to Social Media3. Simulating Liveness in K-pop Music Videos4. Hologram Stars Greet Live Audiences5. Live K-pop Concerts and Their Digital DoublesConclusion