'In Myeongdong, Seoul's major tourist shopping district, the streets are replete with K-pop's synthesised sound. Store after store blasts largely auto-tuned vocals and drum machine beats, rap interludes and intermittent English lyrics - all the obligatory staples that make K-pop irresistibly catchy. Outside, it's a scene eerily reminiscent of Western pop music's late-'90s peak. Advertising is relentless. Giant faces of idolised groups on billboards loom over the streets that house life-sized cutouts rising every few metres. They beckon you into various stores stocking the soft drinks, sports shoes, reading glasses and hand creams they endorse. Pair these with socks emblazoned with your favourite bandmember's face while you eat at the fried chicken restaurant sponsored from the same person. K-pop's sheer saturation is, and indeed will continue to be, a phenomenon.' (Publication abstract)
