Which entertainment agencies made
remarkable moves in the Korean entertainment scene this year? One of the
biggest issues that dominated the management business was that persistent
demand on Hallyu contents, especially on K-pop, allowed singer and actors to
expand their boundaries to overseas market. In the contents producing industry,
it has become a matter of common interest that abilities to create and produce
more diversified contents as viewers and audiences have higher criteria. There
were bigger examples of middle and small sized agencies to make strategic
alliance or have merger and acquisitions for retaining stable profit system. In
addition to those, private life of stars became more in danger thanks to the
Internet, which make the “risk management ability” as the top priority of the
management firm should have.
As a wrap-up and recap of this year
2013, TenAsia picked up eight entertainment agencies that impressed the
industry and found out their performance, strength and weakness and searched
their right direction to go (in alphabetical order).
This Year’s Performance
Wonder Girls was once the symbol of
JYP Entertainment and one-time favorite girl group in Korea. When Wonder Girls
was taking slower track, it was miss A who replaced the position, technically
it was Suzy of miss A. Starring in 2011 movie “Architecture 101” was a magic
touch of both JYP Entertainment and Suzy. The starlet, who shot to stardom as
‘the nation’s first love,’ now became the star who is beloved from whatever she
does. She led TV series “Kang Chi, the Beginning” to success, coming back to
her original ground (?), miss A’s second studio album “Hush.”
Although Suzy was known as ‘a girl
breadwinner of JYP Entertainment,’ actually it is 2PM who earned higher profit
than Suzy. This March and May, 2PM released studio albums each in Japan and
Korea. In Japan this April, the group stood up on the Tokyo Dome stage and exuded
charm of ‘Beast-like idol’ in front of some 110,000 audiences. The DVD album
which included the live concert shot to No. 1 on Oricon’s DVD chart. Although
local response toward 2PM was seemingly disappointing, the popularity of each
2PM member was still hot. Taecyeon grew enough to take on the main character in
TV series “who are you” and expanded boundaries by making screen debut through
“Marriage Blue.” Junho was acknowledged potential in debut movie “Cold Eyes,”
while Chansung continued acting activities in drama “7th Grade Civil Servant”
and movie “Red Carpet.”
After leaving Wonder Girls and
coming back as a solo singer, Sunmi played the role as ‘JYP’s secret weapon’ by
showing her unexpected sexy charms. Her single “24 Hours” swept real-time
number one on numerous online music charts. Baek A-yeon, who joined JYP through
TV audition show “KPOP STAR,” released album “A Good Girl” and participated in
the original soundtrack of “Goddess of Fire.” Another “KPOP STAR” participant
Park Ji-min paired up with Baek Ye-rin in singing duo 15& and released
single “Somebody.” It leave a little regret that it was lacked to reach
the dominance of Lee Hi, another “KPOP STAR” contestant in YG Entertainment.
JYP’s chief producer Park Jin-young
also back to the stage with new album “Halftime.” From year-end concerts to
jury of “KPOP STAR,” Park is still alive and strong as ‘veteran’ dance singer.
JYP actors were also busying themselves, including Lee Jung-jin (TV series “
100-year Legacy,” variety show “Cool Kiz on the Block”), Yoon Park (drama “Good
Doctor”), Choi Woo-shik (movie “Secretly Greatly,” drama “TEN 2”) and Park
Joo-hyung (drama “Two Weeks”).
This Year’s Star
Whatever they say, the star of
current JYP is Suzy. She plays 100 people’s roles in singing, acting, appearing
on TV variety shows and commercial films. It is not in vain that Suzy is ‘a
girl breadwinner’ of JYP, nicknamed by the Internet users. It was also timely
clever and successful step to star in TV series “Kang Chi, the Beginning” and
come back as miss A, changing her image again to sexy one. From innocent looks
to sexy charisma, it is not easy to imagine anyone to replace Suzy’s position,
which allows ‘Suzyache’ to continue for a while.
Park Jin-young was still strong. It
looks a bit unexpected but his activities with a new album feel pretty
welcoming. Another glad comeback is Sunmi. Sunmi came back with a totally
different sentiment from hers in Wonder Girls, which makes her more promising
in the future. 2PM didn’t grab big response in the local scene but received
‘pass’ with members’ individual activities, such as Taecyeon, Junho and
Chansung’s.
What’s Next?
Asie from Suzy, there were not many
stars who created big issue in JYP Entertainment. Still, JYP is JYP. The
company is not one of the three major K-pop agencies for no reason. It is sad
that Wonder Girls is seemingly going their separate ways, but JYP-made idol
groups will continue to pursue their ways. 2PM will continue musical and
individual acting activities in and out of Korea. Suzy, miss A as well as Baek
A-yeon, Park Ji-min and Sunmi will seek their new chances to shine. Moreover,
JYP will introduce four rookie idol groups next year. As information on the
rookie boy group begun to be revealed little by little, people are having more
and more curiosity. Also, JYP Entertainment merged and acquired its unlisted
company JYP, which runs its subsidiary firms in the US, Japan, China and AQ
Entertainment, expecting a synergy effect from it.
Reporter. Hwang Seong-woon
jabongdo@tenasia.co.kr
Translator. Cory Lee
Editor. Cory Lee
Translator. Cory Lee
Editor. Cory Lee
Courtesy of JYP Entertainment
News Link: http://www.tenasia.com/archives/76177
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