By now, most of the KPop world knows that Girls Generation received one of the biggest awards, Video of the Year, at the first ever YouTube Music Awards.
What some of you may or may not be aware of is the controversy surrounding the girls winning this award. Unfortunately, there were many hateful comments being posted on Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr etc…
But one wonders, why is Girls Generation’s win so surprising? YouTube is not an American only social media outlet. So an international artist winning an award on the award show should not be so shocking.
Well, Tao Jones, a writer for Speakeasy, an online media magazine, has provided some insight on the situation. In his article Tao describes the “I Got A Boy” video as an “eclectic, electric mashup of candy-colored visuals.” I agree and think that this is a very accurate description. He goes on to comment though that “while the song is catchy and the video is cute, musical merit and artistic accomplishment are secondary.”
With that in mind, lets remind people that the YouTube Music Awards are based solely on the fans! Nominees were chosen a month prior to the live event. The winners were chosen by the number of new fan shares. This means, that “the obsessive, insatiable, all-consuming devotion of the musicians’ fan bases” was what determined the winner.
And let’s face facts, KPop fans are some of the most determined people when it comes to getting the recognition we think our KPop Idols deserve. Winning over Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and One Direction for the video of the year award only proves that point.
While all these artists’ fans are indeed dedicated, they cannot compete with the KPop fan. According to Tao, “K-Pop fans stand head, shoulders and starry eyes above” any other fan in the pop culture genre. Throw in the fact that the majority of KPop fans hail from countries that are leaders in the social media market and you’re just adding fuel to the fire.
Tao also discusses how the world does not see the boom of KPop as much as it could due to restrictions on things like how each country has it’s own iTunes store. On YouTube, with no restrictions present, one can witness exactly what fans can do, like give the “I Got A Boy” video “millions of views in its first few hours“. What makes this even more startling is that most KPop fans, even “SONES,” the name given to the Girls Generation fanclub, will confess that “I Got A Boy” isn’t even one of Girl’s Generation’s better songs. But regardless of the song’s popularity, when the fans had a chance to put the girls in the spotlight of the world, criticism went out the window.
KPop is an enormous sensation because of it’s fans, because of their undying devotion and their need to have the world recognize their favorite artists. You will rarely find a multitude of harder working people with such diverse backgrounds as you will within the KPop fandom.
As long as the winners of the YouTube Music Awards are determined by how many shares one can give their favorite nominee, the awards will always be “dominated by artists with vast, wildly motivated fans.” This is particularly true if these fans have unlimited internet access and the intrinsic social media knowledge of the current generation.
Tao’s closing statement regarding the future winners of the YouTube Music Awards being KPop artists resonates with me, “…until the rest of the world catches up with East Asia’s unbelievable online video saturation and K-Pop’s manic support base, they’ll probably win the year after that, and after that, and after that. Which means all you Beliebers, Little Monsters and Cyrus Viruses: Time to lift your game.”
KPop fans… we are an amazing bunch of people!
To read the full article yourself you can click HERE
Source: Speakeasy
Article by: Angelspatience
Edited by: Stephanie
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