Alright so that's three questionable albums in a row now.

I just don't get it. 2003's Stylish was a classic; then she came with this plagiarism bs on Dark Angel, which was weird because everybody does it anyway (I'm looking at you Wilber Pan). 2008's Hyorish was barely half decent at best but in terms of quality it's still a far cry from what was hot at the time, namely the albums put out by those group efforts. Seriously, if it were not for the name Lee Hyori and any other artist came with that weak joint would Hyorish even sell?

Now she goes and hooks up with some shady ass foreign producer (Bauhaus I think his name is) who just gives her a bad name by ripping other artists, which I might emphasize is due to NO FAULT ON HYORI'S PART. And I don't even want to bring up the whole Lady Gaga look-alike thing.

I thought the OST single for that one drama with Lee Dong Gun was a superb effort. That one stays in rotation. It's hurting me to say this, especially because I think she's one of the most, if not the most, talented female artists out right now, but why is Hyori messing up so much?

That's your opinion. I've loved her all her albums.

First, this belongs in the "Other Music" section.

Second, Hyori is equally to blame for anything her producer might have done, because all she had to say was, "I've gotten in trouble for ripping off other people before...no, thanks!"

Third, it's nothing new for Hyori to borrow other people's looks, as there was a long period during which, shall we say, she did everything possible to enhance her resemblance to BoA.

Finally, have Hyori's albums failed to sell well, or is it just that you don't care for them? Because if she's selling well, then she doesn't really have a problem.

She most likely didn't know the songs were rip-offs.
M-net or whatever she's under should have double checked, especially since Bahnus isn't well-known.
She does share the responsibility though.

I personally don't care for her music that much..
I like her title tracks, but nothing from her albums.

I don't think she's talented (vocals and dance) at all, but she's definitely one of the best female performers (stage presence and energy).
And she has a fun personality and beautiful looks. :]

Haha, what is your problem? Doesn't mean you dislike what she has means that everybody has the same opinion. I don't think she has done that bad so far anyways, she's had a few bumps on the road sure but you gotta understand that this is her career, not your's. If she wants the Lady GaGa look go ahead, its her choice.

Personally, I don't think that the main goal for her is to sell albums.

She can't sing. No one can deny that fact.
However, when it come to being sexy, she's the queen. She's one of the best entertainer out there

I don't care if her songs are rip off or whatever they are. I just like HyoRi because she is a beast on stage.
As a performer, she has no flaw: presence, charisma, dance moves, etc...

I am pretty sure that she generates more money from her presence in CFs, variety show and magazines than she does by selling CDs.

Her albums are a mean for her to stay in the spotlight, that's all.


^ You have to take into account what an idol is on Korea. Nowadays, idols are not only a singers anymore. They are built (this word is chosen intentionaly) to be entertainers: actors, singers, announcers, radio dj, etc... according to what they are good at. To me, albums are just the central pillar of their business. They need albums to be on music tv shows, to have songs for concerts, to be on radio etc...
Currently, you have a catchy song, easy to reproduce catchy dance moves and you're done.

So I don't get why you're saying that HyoRi's albums are questionables. If you're a kpop fan, you should know that idols are not here to make "good music" (even though that "good music" is entitled to everyone opinion).
It's a whole package now, not only music.

The goal here is not to please your ears but to generate more and more money.
I think that you just don't get what that business really is.

yes to this

and to what O'chibi said all~


i personally enjoy hyori's title tracks only, because in the rest of her album (even H-logic) either is not interesting or just plain...pale for my ears.
but her being an entertainer is much more enjoyable than her being a singer.
she's a better comedian than a singer even

from what i see, fans only buy CDs nowadays only to put their idols on top of charts until another one release a better and catchy songs for their ears

From what I see, it's exactly the reason why I don't like K-pop music overall.

The artists are not entirely devoted to music, they are not artists/musicians but more like "idols."

There are certain K-pop stars who just focus on music, and I like them for that.

BoA for example, she's one amazing example, she's no "idol" - she is purely an artists, a musician, not an "entertainer/actor/singer/model/IDK MAYBE even DOCTOR/etc."

I never like idol groups/stars in the first place, the music quality between an idol and a purely music based artist is evident.

Idol artists rely on trends and what's "popular" and "in," while purely music based artists actually create their own mould for themselves, whether the public likes it or not.

Lady Gaga is purely music based, she set her OWN trend. Hyori Lee is an idol, she just follows the trends in music since she's probably too busy doing other stuff to set her own trend in music.

It's great how everyone posting here sounds so snippy

and now someone is going to get all hoity-toity and insist this is just a "discussion"

^

LOL
props B


i wonder where's the place i met that similar situation ?? hahahhah

I agree with this. I've saw alot of images they put together in 1 pictures of Hyori and BoA with the same hairstyle, dressing style etc. :/




Agree with this. Vocal and dancing, someone can do better than her but i really like her charisma and personality (her on Family Outing).

To be fair, Hyori's vocals have improved (either that or the songs that she releases require so little vocal talent that she sounds decent). When she first came out, she could barely hold a tune. Now, she sings live far more often.

But, like everyone's been saying, she's an entertainer. One should not be expecting her to come up with her own music style or to be forward thinking in the music industry. She's there to entertain and she's good at what she does.

Does anyone else see how wrong this statement is? BoA is one of the best examples of what an idol is. She isn't a doctor, nor has she done real acting, but years ago she said she was interestsed in becoming an actor after the Olympus CM with DongHae. BoA was a spokesperson/model for so many companies I cannot even count, especially during her prime years. Also BoA rarely writes/produces her own music as she relies heavily on professionals to make hits for her. The only exception is her latest IDENTITY, but that was a result of lacking budget from avex.

I don't think she can't sing.Her voice is special.It is potential to be so much better,strong,warm and unique but Idk why through those 12 years,she hasn't improved her singing ability well.That's why I don't like her,she never seems to try to improve her singing.

I don't think she has the charisma on stage,too.Listening to her live makes me sick.

She seems to be doing something right. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has stayed in the top 5 on the KBS world's Top Music Chart since it released. Its currently in 3rd place from I heard on this mornings airing of the Top 10.

Since it is all opinion based comments coming out, no one is wrong nor right.

In my opinion Hyori is a really great performer, although there are better vocalists and dancers then herself, she can keep most people watching till the very end.

I disliked Hyori a couple years ago because of her BoA similarities. Copy? Also because she was SO sexual about her releases. However someone introduced me to her song Hey Mr. Big and I was pretty hooked. The whole copy right deal really threw into a loop. The number of songs was crazy and I couldn't believe how many songs were being ripped off.

Unfortunately, Hyori is the face of the production, you have to not only blame her producer and managment, but also her. However, not to the extent of them.

Also, I want to remind everyone really what most idol stars do to get where they are.
Most are a figment of your imagination. Not to the total point that they are fake everywhere, but most dress, sing, talk, walk, dance, etc. because that is how they were fabricated. There is no denying that Hyori, BoA, and other idol stars have been subjected to this. I am just getting sick of everyone compairing.

Look at that star as if you had no favorite or no one to hold them against, however remember your knowledge of music so you won't think a repeating song is a masterpiece.

I'm not a fan but I can say that when the "Swing" song came out, I genuinely thought she could sing. Prior to that, I heard a few of her songs and wasn't really interested. I just thought people liked her because of her looks and her sexiness.

...I liked 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'...its like her best single since '10min'.

I aint the biggest Hyori fan...far from it, but I mean...her recent album is actually pretty good.

I just watched her Guerilla interview and she was talking about her plagiarism issues and she explained that overall she needs to keep up with the trends and she cant ignore what the world music trend is...which explains why her music is going the way it is. And I cant blame her. If she were to totally ignore the trends in music she would have a much bigger issue than what she has now...


Not much of a voice but she sure understands how to entertain. Which is why she has lasted this long in the industry.

BoA isn't considered an idol, SM state she's a musician.

SM Entertainment doesn't let BoA go to variety shows or devulge that much into acting for that reason, they want BoA as a musician.

There's an official statement of it from a news article regarding why SM wasn't letting some of their artist go to variety shows anymore, they want their artists to stay as musicians rather than entetainers/idols.

Maybe before BoA went into acting and did go to variety shows, but that was because she was debuting in Korea, she needed to get her name out there.

Also just because BoA is a spokesperson/model doesn't mean she's is an idol.

Thats how musicians make money. They hardly earn from album sales, so you'd see someone like Namie Amuro sign a contract with Coke for TV advertisements.

Lady Gaga said herself, musicians don't really make money from music anymore. It's more like, if they make good music that the public likes, they go on tours and commercials/spokesperson/models.

BoA appears on magazines at the same time a single/album is released. BoA doesn't just appear on a magazine for no reason, there's a reason behind it - to promote their music.

However, people like Arashi/Big Bang, you see them in magazines everyday!

The definition of "idol" according to J-pop:



For one thing, BoA doesn't regularly appear in mass media. Even during BoA's peak (BEST OF SOUL), BoA wasn't always in the media.

A perfect exmaple of an idol right now is Erika Sawajiri - she's doing so much things all at once, constantly in Japanese media, like EVERYDAY.

You know Erika's actually an actress, but she hasn't acted for over a year now, and she's still in mass media every signle day because she's either trying to sing, hosting some show, appear in magazines, ads, etc.

^ frankly, even with all that "evidence", I still think BoA is more of an "idol" type in the industry. Note, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but really, even if SM rabbits on about her NOT being an "idol", what BoA does (and has been doing her entire career so far) for a living doesn't seem to be that much different to all the entertainers who fall under the "idol" category.


And people, for gods sake don't start flaming me for calling BoA an "idol"- because there's nothing wrong with being one. In fact, it's probably more awesome, what with the crazy fans giving you awesome birthday presents and such lol. Shallow, I know. But come on, everyone likes popularity lol

^^ Mashimaro, I don't know what your problem with the term 'idol' is.

1. You are only trying to convince yourself that BoA is not an idol.
SM stated that she's only a musician? Back it up. Give us the source of that info.
Same thing for all the things you said about SM.

2. Why are you giving the Jpop definition of an idol when we are talking about HyoRi and obviously Kpop?


3. Does that mean that SNSD, Suju, SHINee and f(x) are not SME artists? Because we can see them often on TV...
Most of SM artists went or are on variety shows (from HOT to f(x) ). Who are the artists you're talking about? Source pleease :]

4. No one has ever said that an idol can't be a musician.
A few examples: TVXQ and CNBlue write lyrics, compose some of their songs, play instruments (piano, guitar, drums).

5. You keep quoting or talking about Lady Gaga:

No offence but that made me laugh because it sounds like she's a music reference. When did she reach such a high status?
I prefer things like this than saying "Lady said it":
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/compa...ustry/index.htm

Sorry, just had to point out that Erika disappeared since 2007 after she left Japan when she got married. All her activities since then were two ads in 2008, after that absolutely nothing (Side note, the company she advertised for, 'Kanebo', went under that same year). Now she's getting divorced and will most likely try to make a comeback. But her image has gone downhill since the motorbike accident and her all around bad attitude. She was an idol in her glory days of Taiyou no Uta and 1 litre of tears but she's no idol anymore.

Anyways, BoA is an idol, there's no way around that. Honestly, every popular singer is an idol in some way. But it doesn't really matter because BoA is still recognised as being extremely talented, being an idol does not obscure that. BoA is one of the few k-pop legends to come out of the last decade, the others are Dbsk, Hyori, Rain and Se7en. All of them are idols.

The best way to think of it is that there are different kinds of idols. There are the one's who have a sense of artistry and then the one's who are just personalities that market themselves through music.

^ THIS.
I said BoA was an idol in another thread a while ago, and some people were calling it offensive. >: (
She might not be doing as many random things as other idols, but she doesn't do enough to be solely called a musician or an artist.

I thought true musicians were singers that actually write, compose and produce a majority of their own songs

In this case I would not classify Boa as an musician

^
isn't that too simple to conclude musicians (or true musicians) to be only singer?
so that means an instrument players, lets say a guitarist or a drummer is not a musician then?

because i believe that any individual who are involved anything "musical" is a musician.

the one that makes the difference is their quality of the music(be it vocally or instrumentally) of that individual.....according to the society that is full of critiques

Yes, I looked at her new look for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (title taken from a american classic movie for familes), and producers seems to thing "if you look like lady gaga, YOU WILL be famous" lol. I'm sorry, but most Kpop these days is trying to sound so americanized. None of it is really original anymore.

well, than we should stop calling singers SINGERS and start calling them "Idols"?

I mean, every singer I know is spokerperson/model for, at least, one company.

but I agree with mashimaro, when he said BoA isn't an idol.

the literal translation to my language of "idol" isn't the same as asian ppl gives to it. or is it? in my language Jesus was an idol, and almost every important person in your life is your "idol" (idolo, in portuguese), as "who is idol for you?" and the person says "oh, my mom is my idol, she had done so many things in her life, got through so many hard times but always with a simle in her face" and blablabla

so, I can't take the portuguese concept for idol, and I'm taking the asian/international one:

an idol is that person who's in the media doing everything he/she was built of to enjoy (and extend) his/her 15 minutes of fame: they act, model, sing, have their one program in cable tv, do dozen of photoshoots for any kind of magazine, music releated or not etc.

one day, they'll be forgotten.

it's hard to think of it now, but one day a LOT of those idol groups in Korea and Japan will be forgotten. just think of nowadays almost no new kpop fan knows Shinwa. heard of H.O.T. and S.ES., but never really got to listen their music. and they weren't idols, imo. they were musicians.

in fact, every star starts their career being an idol. a way to promote them. they go to tv, speak themselves out, show their abilities, take photoshoots, gather popularity.

BoA herself had one small row in a korean drama, remember? a LOOOONG time ago.

actually, she appeared in some korean dramas, when she was starting. playing sub-rows, to promote her.

but some of them, after solidify their careers, don't show up that much, don't expose themselves anymore.

on the other hand there are those who, if stop modeling, speaking for a brand, don't air their tv shows anymore, simply disappear and are forgotten.

But when it comes to HyoRi is hard to say, I mean, she is a Diva, K-Pop Queen. Hardly will be forgotten. still, acts like an idol.

BoA, disappeared for 5 years. When there were that rumor about BoA and Jin dating, she went straight to the top on yahoo korea and japan searches. It was because of Jin in Japan and because of her, in Korea? I don't know. still, a fact she will hardly be forgotten. and doesn't act like an idol.

If she wants to act, what's the problem? if she wants to write a book, what about it?

I think when an idol stops being simply an idol they become entertainers.

Madonna still goes to some tv shows, even when she's not promoting an album/tour. she acts, she writes books. is she an idol or an entertainer? the same with GaGa. same with BoA. in different intensities, but the same.

You mean some stars eventually build their careers to become idols. You don't just start as an idol, you have to have some kind of foundation already built.

A singer is a vocalist, a composer creates musical compositions, a songwriter writes lyrics, and an artist makes recorded music. These all fit into the category of musician.

BoA is a singer, which makes her a musician.

An idol is a figure that appears in the media, on television shows, in magazines and advertisements, in movies, and promotes for companies such as modeling for clothing or promoting an item in a commercial. An idol is also something/someone that is worshipped by people (it doesn't have to be religious worshipping) and is very well-known. They are admired, symbolic and represent something that is in our lives (in the case of a musician, it would be the music we listen to.)

BoA is very well-known, has modelled for magazines, has promoted certain items from companies on television commercials, appears on television shows, and has many devoted worshipers fans. BoA is an idol.

Though BoA was very well-known during her popular times, I wouldn't consider her a legend. A legend is someone who is known worldwide for doing something phenomenal. Michael Jackson is the legend of pop, Elvis Presley is the legend of Rock&Roll, 2pac Shakur is the legend of Hiphop, The Beatles are legends of Rock, Marvin Gaye is the legend of R&B...I can't think of anymore, but all these people have done something to define and influence the music that we listen to today. Just because an individual doesn't know them, doesn't not make them a legend...for those who don't know them.

She isn't an icon either because an icon represents a specific thing, and she represents multiple things such as various genres and types of dancing.

All with the help of my lil webster dictioinary lol.

Idol in the sense of everyone knowing her, I have to say she is. Because of the people that I know that have been with kpop for some time, most of them are connected to BoA in some way (being the first kpop star they heard, being the first kpop star they bought the CD of, etc.). I am not sure about jpop people because I only listen to BoA in jpop.

I think BoA has earned her right to be called an idol. She might not be well known anymore in korea, however there are plenty of older stars that I don't know of that people have called "idol".

Also, even if someone hasn't made it big on the list of musical charts, you can still call them YOUR idol. BoA is my idol, has been since I was 12. As crazy as it may sound, I plan to get a korean tattoo of a line of one of her lyrics. All written in hangul. The line is meaningful in not only the BoA sense but also the general sense of life to me. Two meanings in one tattoo.

^OH MY!

I want to tattoo my skin with a line of one of her songs in hangul too lol

the posts in here are getting more and more epic lol

simply put from my point of view,

From Entertainment companies point of view, they classified their singer/artist as artist/musicians.

From fans point of view, whoever they grew to love and respect, is called an idol.
that is how the term "idolize" came by isn't it?

all from my point of view anyway.

i had a problem with U Go Girl... but everything else was great, especially the "Lady-Gaga" thing= =