For about a year now, I’ve been tweeting about all the interesting Korean gender issues, advertising, and pop-culture stuff (and much more) that I don’t get a chance to blog about, but a lot of readers have suggested that it’s high time I created a Facebook page also. With apologies for the wait then, here it finally is, and I definitely hope to make it a site in its own right, not just a glorified RSS feed for the website proper.
To that end, I’ll not just be providing cool stuff that you won’t see here, and taking advantage of the opportunity to interact more with readers, but I plan to let my hair down and be a little less intellectual on Facebook too.
For instance, as a dispassionate critical commentator on Korean girl groups K-pop, normally I would never ever reveal that there’s something about Love Alone (러브얼론) above by Miss A (미스에이) that has me smiling radiantly almost every time I listen to it. Indeed, although I was initially very disappointed that there wasn’t a proper music video produced for it, now just seeing the members being themselves in it has me smiling all the more!
(2:29)
Granted, all of them being attractive women certainly helps, but I genuinely think that some unique combination of the music, voices, and lyrics makes this an incredibly warm song, especially for what can often be very tinny and artificial-sounding K-pop.
Any other fans?^^ Call me naive, but I’ll be investing 660won (US$0.61) in the MP3 as soon as I finish typing this!
Update: See here for some high quality screenshots of the video.
The Grand Narrative 
Meanwhile, sorry, but I’ll be making my personal Facebook account completely private – while I won’t be booting anyone (except *ahem* those who won’t notice or care), I’ll only be accepting new friend requests from people I genuinely know. Call it an occupational hazard!
(p.s. Unfortunately, that also means that my personal Facebook account is suddenly going to become a lot more boring too…)
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Can’t wait to keep following you
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Thanks!
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I thought about making a Facebook page, but I never knew what I’d do with it. I may watch yours a bit for clues.
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Honestly, just 3 hours ago I didn’t have a clue what I do with mine either, but once I got down to it then an extension of what I was already doing on Twitter (and delicious.com) seemed obvious.
One reason I didn’t set it up much earlier was because I thought it would be difficult to keep the TGN page and my personal Facebook separate on Hootsuite, but in the end all I had to do was set up one more “social network” for the former. Took 2 mins!
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“One reason I didn’t set it up much earlier was because I thought it would be difficult to keep the TGN page and my personal Facebook separate”
Exactly, once you start getting too many randoms/fans adding you on Facebook, a Fan page is required :D. You can put a RSS stream and related media on there.
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Well, technically I said keep them seperate on Hootsuite (it would be a hassle having to post things on each individually if I couldn’t), but yeah, that was also a concern. Especially as with a fan page you want as many friends or likes as possible, the exact opposite I want for my personal account.
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Hmm… I haven’t exactly gone full-throttle on Twitter either. Maybe I’ll make that a project after the semester ends.
The one thing I don’t want is for Facebook to crowd out or overshadow the blog. The blog is still where it’s at, methinks, and what Facebook does seems a bit limiting in terms of content presentation: a Facebook page still looks like a Facebook page. Or maybe I’m doing it wrong.
I have to admit I’m also a bit suspicious of FB and have used it far less than before. Basically I have Facebook mainly for people to find and contact me, and only occasionally do I comment on my own or friends’ status. This is partly because they seem to be more and more intrusive with private information, and there were times where I was logged in to such-and-such site via my Facebook account, unbeknownst to me until too late.
Sometimes I feel like Facebook is taking over the world, which seems so different from their mission a few years ago.
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All agreed, and of course every blog and blogger is different, but in my case at least I think it will complement the main blog quite nicely (for reasons I gave in my last comment), with no danger of ever overshadowing it. And in particular, I think that people already logged onto Facebook, and by definition in a chatty mood, would be much more likely to comment on something on the page than they would here (which takes a little longer).
Speaking of which, I just hate the interface for commenting on Blogger blogs like your own, and seriously find it so cumbersome that I often just give up halfway through. So I at least would indeed be more likely to comment on a Facebook page!
If you’re worried about FB’s privacy issues though, then I’d consider using Tumblr and/or Formspring instead.
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This is one of the best K-Pop songs I’ve heard in a while. I’ve had Se7en’s Better Together on repeat for the past 500 or so plays, so now it’s time to wear out a new song.
I look forward to seeing your Facebook page expanding. Less than one hundred subscribers at the moment of typing this is simply not enough for such an informative site.
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As I type this it’s just made 100 actually, but thanks very much. And although often I have little more than a face for each of them, it’s been really interesting getting a (literal) snapshot of who reads my blog for the first time.
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James, well you know how I feel about Miss A.
I’ll just note (as I did somewhere else–have you referenced the song before?) that the song is a winner and I find it very interesting that it’s pure English, and does so without e.g. the WG attempt to go to the US to take America by storm (or drizzle, as the case may have been). I predict that eventually they’ll be the most successful K-pop group globally (incl. Korea, China, N. America and Europe) ca. 2013. You heard it here first. JYP knows what he’s doing.
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Correction: ca. 2013-2014, given their dual national make-up, they might call it (more accurately) A-pop and they’ll be the clearest exemplar…..
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That all sounds very logical. In particular, their English sounds very natural here, which suggests extensive coaching, with a view to the long-term (Min though, is already from the US). In contrast, I think the WG mostly picked theirs up once they were already in the US.
Having said all that, I think the lack of a proper MV suggests that JYP is still testing the waters a bit.
p.s. It was on Facebook that we already talked about the song a little.
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She’s not from the US but has been there for a long time as a trainee. I remember when I saw her trainee videos before she was part of Miss A. She was really popular trainee on youtube as was May Doni who unfortunately isn’t sharing the same success.
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Thanks for the extra info. But on a related note, I was surprised at that info on Miss A’s Wikipedia page that said that she was a “JYP USA trainee for 8 years”, as I didn’t think that JPY Entertainment would have had a US presence for that long. Checking up on it just now, I’ve found out that indeed it hasn’t, only setting up in there in 2007, so I’m a bit confused as to what exactly Min was doing for 8 years now.
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It definitely seems like JYP’s testing the waters, but it might also be because the song is to help promote Kim Yuna’s Ice Show. Since she’s one of the most recognized South Korean figures internationally, it would make sense that they would use an English song to draw in her non-Korean fans. Or just emphasize her status as an international celebrity. one of the two, lol
p.s. i’m seriously loving this song :D
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I listen to that song on repeat whilst studying. Which I should be doing now. Sigh.
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How kind of you to give Mark Zuckerberg your stuff !
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Well, I don’t want to overanalyze that, but I’m not quite sure how I’m giving him anything he doesn’t have already. In particular, there’ll just be links there and not actual posts, so if he wants the full ones then he’s still just going to have to subscribe to an RSS feed and/or copy and paste them like everyone else!
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hi
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Er….hi yourself?
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thanks for introducing me to this song. i totally love it!! i agree that it has a more emotion to it than most kpop songs…
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You’re welcome, and it’s especially the part at approx. 2:44 that does it for me personally, although I don’t like the pause that follows at 2:58.
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It’s because it was produced by a European producer (Fuego, he was responsible for a Jason Derulo song, he’s well-known apparently) and the lyrics were written by an american. I wouldn’t even call it kpop if it was released in Korea. The song really shows a difference between kpop and western music, I think.
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What difference would that be though, and/or how? Not necessarily disagreeing, but I’d be interested in hearing your reply!
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I’m not entirely sure. It just sounds like something that would be played constantly on London radios, whereas kpop, no matter how much I love certain groups and would love them to go international, kpop just doesn’t sound like it would appeal to general western tastes. I heard this and thought, “JYP’s got it!” then found out about the foreign producer and songwriter. There’s just a sound difference. A lot of slow songs in kpop think they need a piano, dramatic violins and an over-the-top climax to make it a slow song. This song, like you said, has a certain warm quality found in those of western music. I generally can’t stomach most slow kpop songs. It doesn’t sound cheesy. Is that the word I’m looking for?
I wish I could explain in a more technical way but that’s all I have! haha
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No need to, and thanks!
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