Volume 1 2009 Chapter 21: First Review of Girls' Generation
A sudden chat ended smoothly and strangely, and both the person who initiated the chat and the one being chatted up gained a lot.
The first time Quan Enfei took the initiative to strike up a conversation in her life, she achieved a "brilliant" result.
The hasty and impulsive bold move not only successfully got me acquainted with a handsome young man, but also allowed me to happily shoot for an entire afternoon, leaving my beautiful figure in almost every corner of the street, and also helped me to gain a lot of pride . More importantly, I also got the young man's contact information, or more accurately, a guarantee of contact.
For the first time in his life, Yi Haoyan chose to accept a conversation.
Fortunately, I met a kind and beautiful girl, and left a series of beautiful street photos. We spent a happy afternoon together, and I also understood that sometimes walking out of your own castle does not necessarily mean danger and misfortune. Sometimes you will reap the bright sunshine and blooming flowers outside the wall.
Oh, and one important bonus, a new cell phone number.
However, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the two of them overlooked one thing at the same time.
They both forgot to ask each other's name.
Perhaps it is this subtle sense of distance between strangers and friends that creates such a wonderful charm of mutual attraction, making both of them involuntarily maintain this comfortable distance that is neither close nor far, leaving room for imagination for both parties.
When Yi Haoyan returned to his aunt's house, he found that Sun Enxi had gone home early and changed into home clothes. She was lying on the sofa in a very relaxed posture, watching TV. The TV was playing KBS's music program Music Bank. On the stage, nine girls in white navy uniforms were dancing in unison. The uniforms that highlighted their figures and the dance that deliberately showed off their leg lines were very eye-catching.
When Sun Enxi found Yi Haoyan coming back, she asked with concern, "Where did you go? Why did you come back just now?"
"Oh, I went out to Apgujeong and took some photos." Yi Haoyan answered while changing his shoes, glanced at the TV and asked, "Is this Girls' Generation?"
"Well, they have finally made it. The huge success of 'Gee' at the beginning of the year directly put them in the ranks of first-tier groups. Now they are promoting the sequel to expand their success!"
Walking into the living room, Yi Haoyan poured a glass of water. The dance on TV just ended, leaving a handsome and seductive ending pose.
"I remember that 'Gee' was a cute song, right? How come it's changing to a mature and sexy style so quickly! It just established a foundation in the market with its cute style, but it's too hasty to change the style before the foundation is stable?"
"Well, their comeback performance this time is not bad, but it's still a little behind 'Gee'," Sun Eun-hee nodded. "You seem to be very knowledgeable about idols? You talk about it very clearly."
"Entertainment is all interconnected," Yi Haoyan took a sip of water and talked freely, "They all satisfy people's desires and needs, and the collection of these needs constitutes the market trend. The success of a song must be that some of its characteristics meet the current market demand, so it will be sought after. At this time, rashly changing the style is equivalent to giving up the previous successful experience and starting over. The risk is of course very high. Generally speaking, when you are in trouble, you will think of change. The members of this group are all in their late teens and early twenties. There is no problem in continuing to follow the cute style. There is no need to rush to transform. Just like Wonder Girls, after the retro style of "tell me" was successful, they continued to launch "so hot" and "nobody" in the same style. They took advantage of the explosion of "nobody" and used the retro style to directly push the group to the top of the industry and achieved huge success! This point makes people have to admire President Park Jin-young."
Sun Enxi was somewhat surprised to hear this analysis. She cocked her head with interest, obviously attracted by it: "So what you mean is that SM's change of style is a failure?"
"That's not the case," Yi Haoyan paused and sorted out his thoughts: "I think SM and JYP have different operating philosophies. JYP pays more attention to the musicality and addictiveness of songs, and often has good songs that are in line with popular trends. The dance part is not very difficult. It is a company that focuses on musicality. At present, JYP's concept of idol singers focuses on singers."
After a pause, seeing that Sister Eun Hee seemed very interested, Yi Haoyan continued, "In SM's philosophy, the focus of idol singers is on the idols themselves. The songs and the stage are all for the idols themselves. So in order to enhance the appeal of idols, SM pays special attention to their looks, likes gorgeous and difficult dances and gorgeous live effects, and is more inclined to the live performance of the entire stage, rather than purely focusing on the music. So this change in style may be a small test based on long-term development."
"tell me the story?"
"The Korean music market is highly competitive, with new groups emerging one after another. Compared with boy bands, girl bands obviously have less fan stickiness. Male fans always like young and energetic girl bands, but they tend to lose them over time, while the fan base of boy bands is female fans, who have strong stickiness and are willing to spend money. So it is obvious that if girl bands want to remain popular for a long time, female fans are the key fan group they need to capture."
Son Eun-hee nodded frequently after hearing his analysis of the Korean idol market.
Seeing that his analysis was confirmed, Yi Haoyan smiled and continued, "A large group like Girls' Generation, judging by its personnel and age composition, was launched with the goal of reaching the top. Now that they are very popular, if they want to continue to be popular, they must start trying to capture the hearts of female fans."
“Is this what you’re trying to transform for?”
"This is how I see it. Korean girl groups have very distinct styles. When they are young, they tend to go for the cute style. When they are older and can no longer go for the cute style, they have to switch to the sexy style and try to break through. Girls' Generation also follows this development path, but their attempts are very restrained. Although "Genie" has sexy elements of uniforms and beautiful legs, it is not revealing. There are more handsome and charming elements. It is just a small test step. The adjustment of style is very restrained. If the effect is not good, they can switch back to the cute style."
"Besides, being cute and sexy is not enough to attract female fans. Korean women have a low social status and face a lot of pressure. To attract female fans, you need to show an independent, handsome, charming and changeable image. Jun Ji-hyun became famous overnight with the image of 'the savage girlfriend'."
When Sun Enxi heard Yi Haoyan's analysis of the idol market using the social status characteristics of Korean women, her eyes lit up. She watched him continue to talk with interest.
"To put it simply, this attempt is an experiment for them to broaden their image. The more images they can have that are accepted by the market, the longer they can develop. In addition, idol singers focus on the word idol. What is important is the image and personality. After becoming famous through songs, they should start to make money through the personality. As they get older, a purely sexy style will reduce the favorability of female fans. The only right way is to maintain a multi-faceted goddess style. Didn't the lyrics this time say 'I am your goddess of wishes'?"
Yi Haoyan ended his statement by summarizing his analysis with a verse from a new song by Girls’ Generation.
