Hae-pop

Hae-pop

해팝
Stylistic origins	Haesanite music electronic music Suyang Blues Liberalian orchestral rhythm & blues Sunseong rap
Cultural origins	Haesan, 1980s

Hae-pop is a genre of Haean-language music originating in post-democratization Haesan, which originally combined the traditional sounds of Haesan with contemporary pop music rhythms from nations like Libertas Omnium Maximus and Misumi. Originally comprising melancholy rhythms with heavy improvisation with motifs from traditional Haean folk songs and ballads and orchestral overtures with electronic pop or rhythm and blues fundamentals, the medium was originally highly panned in its late 1980s debut. However, the youth culture that formed around the music would lead to industry standardization and eventually corporatization over the course of the 1990s. By the mid 2010s, many Hae-pop groups had gained a significant international following, driving the form's increased development and global marketing focus.

Hae-pop is now known mainly for its catchy, hooky sound and cleanly choreographed music videos performed by what are commonly referred to as idol groups. These groups, typically trained in government licensed secondary schools affiliated with a music record label, are generally formed of members of ages 18-20 upon their debut. Hae-pop companies have been accused of being overly restrictive of their idols, often with strict restrictions on public appearances and often restricting dating while under their first contract. The industry has also been critical of enforcing irresponsible and unrealistic beauty standards, and has been blamed for higher than average incidences of eating disorders and other forms of mental illness prevalent in Haesan at abnormally high rates.

Hae-pop has been a major contributor to the Haesanite economy, and by some estimates Hae-pop related purchases and tourism have contributed as much of 2 to 3% of Haesan's GDP in recent years. The international tours of popular Hae-pop groups like Enigma and Forever have noticeably increased awareness of Haesanite culture abroad. It is estimated that around 25% of the budget of Haesan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism currently goes to Hae-pop related activities. Hae-pop is also one of the fastest growing music genres in the IDU, as it continues to expand to more foreign markets and achieves higher market penetration in nations where it already has a notable following.

Characteristics

Audiovisual

Hae-pop's rise coincides with the ascent of music television around the IDU, and dynamic, bold visual accompaniments helped the genre stand out in a very crowded post-democratization media landscape. It also mirrored the edgy, bold colors and dynamics of Suyang's youth art scene during the 80s, and originally, many of the visuals alongside Hae-pop tracks were distinctly countercultural, although that has since changed in recent years. The use of visual hooks that directly mirror audio hooks has been identified as a key to the genre's success, and it is nearly impossible to find a major Hae-pop track that does not come packaged with a visual component. These same hooky audiovisual components have also contributed to the genre's accelerated rise in recent years, as it converts seamlessly to short-form video content and is easily clippable for the social-media age.

Corporatized

Virtually all Hae-pop artists, whether a soloist or as part of a group, are associated with a corporation for production, training, and management. The three largest Hae-pop corporations, Heo & Min (HM) Entertainment, YuRa Records, and Seolmi Artists (SA) Inc., are often referred to as the "Hae-pop Triad," collectively account for over 70% of all Hae-pop related revenue and offering the largest contracts and most prestigious training centers. The initial foundation of Hae-pop corporations helped transform the medium from a youthful street-movement into an entertainment juggernaut, led to the standardization of the genre's format and general sound, and established the training systems that are now ubiquitous in the genre. The corporate licensing, training, debut, and production process is often indistinguishable from the genre itself.

Fashion-conscious

Hae-pop, from its inception, has worked hand-in-hand with the fashion industry in Suyang in order to present a unique brand of hip youth culture which is now inseparable from the city. While originally the genre worked with the youth-focused street style labels which helped define the anti-authoritarian counterculture throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s in Haesan, by the late 1990s, the increasingly corporatized idol groups had started signing contracts with Haesanite designer labels for publicity for their fashion. As Hae-pop continued to internationalize, foreign designer labels, notably those in Eiria, Misumi, and Laeral, have signed similar contracts with Hae-pop groups. The struggle between polished designer labels and Hae-pop's countercultural street style origins is still evident today in the fashion choices of idol groups and is often reflected by their lyrical style, and both distinct styles are intertwined in the general understanding of the genre.

"Haean Respectability"

The government of Haesan, especially during the largely conservative administrations leading up to the Monetary Crisis of 2004, has often sought to regulate Hae-pop content so that it conforms with the "morals of society." Since Hae-pop exportation has been a key part of Haesanite cultural policy since the late 1990s, oftentimes Hae-pop corporations would be required to meet certain decency standards if they were to receive government support for their operations in order to "properly represent Haesan's values abroad". As such, Hae-pop has developed into a genre with virtually no profanity, and explicit lyrics or visual components are nearly non-existent. Idols, especially in girl groups, have often been asked to dress modestly, sometimes with the government forcibly overriding the initial inclinations of a producer. Additionally, as groups started to debut younger idols in the mid 2010s, in 2017 the government stepped in and restricted the industry, banning the debut of an idol, defined as the member of a multi-member contracted musical group, younger than the age of 18.

Multilingual

While Hae-pop originally was almost entirely sung in Haean, and it was a key vehicle the National Heritage movement used to help restore the language and culture after decades of neglect and loss of institutional memory, the genre has now become remarkably linguistically international. Starting in the mid 1990s after the Haean Language Administration Act guaranteed the official status and preservation of the Haean language and culture, Hae-pop pivoted to become more of a tool for national reconciliation, increasingly mixing in English lyrics and phrases to match the increasingly international and outward facing culture of Suyang, where the vast majority of the genre's music was produced. In the early 2010s, French Hae-pop groups were first licensed by the Triad, and some like Etoile became incredibly popular across Haesan and gained a large following in Laeral as well. Hae-pop is also noted for having a growing number of foreign trainees and idols, notably, the Slokasian-Haesanite member of Forever, Juwon (Juan Tamayo), and the Pharitayan soloist and former member of TwoDays, Ami (Lamai Kayotna).

Systematically trained

Idols typically enter the training system no later than Year 9, although some start as young as Year 6 or 7. Training is run in specially accredited boarding schools licensed to a specific Hae-pop corporation. Those secondary schools are specially designed to provide a comprehensive education and intensive idol training for their attendees, often with the first part of the day focused on a government standard intensive curriculum with a specific focus on foreign language learning, and the afternoon centered on idol skills, like voice lessons, dance training, general conditioning, and media relations and other people facing skills. The system has been labeled by some media outlets as "the most intense educational system in the world" as the government seeks to ensure that all idol trainees can successfully return to the Haesanite academic ladder in case of contract termination, rejection, or regret, while the corporations seek to maximize training time. The system has been criticized as overly harsh, as an incubator for mental health issues, and as setting an unreasonable standard for Haesanite students to attain.

History

1967-1987: Countercultural origins

While the intellectual origins of Hae-pop are uncertain, with some scholars saying the history stems back to the global styles of the Suyang Blues in the 1920s and 30s, the concept of a modern Haean-language musical style began to emerge as Haesan rebuilt from the destruction of the Great War. During Maximusian administration and the solidification of English language governance, many in charge of reconstructing institutions of knowledge were increasingly dismayed by the destruction of Haean identity, as many of them were old enough to have memory of the First Commonwealth and grew up around stories of the decolonial movement. Maximusian administration, and later Lagarde's insistence on using English, led to the creation of the Haeanization movement from those who desired to have Haean as legally equal and sought to preserve Haean traditions before they became lost to generational turnover.

Throughout the 1970s, a new generation of Haemi youth who grew up with the trauma and destruction of the Great War began to enter universities, where in hushed tones and backrooms became exposed to Haeanization and gradually became increasingly defiant against the regime. As Lagarde continued a singular focus towards the sciences in pursuit of his trinity of "Sky, Space, and Atom," those in the arts were continually marginalized and subject to increasingly restrictive content guidelines to quell dissent against the regime. Many of those students, exposed to bootleg rock and R&B albums from Libertas Omnium Maximus and other nations, sought to mix those styles with traditional Haean melodies and lyrics. .

The Media and National Security Act of 1974 banned "unpatriotic" music and forced the nascent musical scene underground. Albarine University was known to be a particular hotbed of this growing arts movement, and police would regularly sweep dormitories for contraband records and cassettes, and spot checks were frequent in the broader Haeseomun neighborhood. Despite this, many youth continued to mix tapes, and increasingly those from working class backgrounds would lend their own flair, mixing angsty, politically charged rap verses with beats from the university districts. Throughout the late 70s and early 80s, musical innovation happened quietly on the margins of society in order to evade the law, but the introduction of new styles emerging from nations like Slokais at the time continued to transform the genre.

Democratization in 1985 led to the resurfacing of many underground musical currents, as certain provisions of the Media and National Security Act were scarcely enforced. In January 1987, the act was sharply amended and removed virtually all restrictions on music production and distribution. In March 1987, the Foreign Media Consumption Act was repealed, allowing for foreign media to be consumed in Haesan without risk of punishment. In the ensuing months, artists from across Haesan were able to freely transfer and expand their ideas for the first time in over four decades.

1987-1993: Youth-centered genesis

Within the months following liberalization several young acts debuted on live music panel shows, at the time one of the most popular forms of televised entertainment. While for most of the authoritarian period, the programs had largely been dominated by Opthelian operettas and popular propaganda songs, the gradual breakdown of the censorship regime progressively enabled more diverse content to appear on the shows. On March 18, 1987, the up-and-coming band Five Lions appeared on the Suyang Broadcasting Service's show Music Television Weekly, considered to be by many the start of the modern Hae-pop genre. The group was uniformly panned by the panel of judges, receiving the mininum score of 5; however, following the show the judges were pelted with cabbage by the group's loyal fans. In the following weeks, the debuts of more fledgling Hae-pop groups with a rough, urban sound on the flagship music programs of Haesan Broadcasting Systems and Meridian Broadcasting Company's premier music TV shows signaled the start of a revolution, although the other groups also received similar negative reviews from their judges.

Throughout its genesis, Hae-pop was generally unpopular amongst the broader public, and was heavily criticized by popular political and cultural leaders. The first Prime Minister Pak Ye-ju on various occasions called the genre "dangerously disruptive," and "a disgrace to our culture." Celestine leaders of a more conservative ilk called those who listened to Hae-pop "condemned to live life in perpetual darkness and shade." However, Hae-pop itself was also riding the tailwinds of another political movement, Haeanization, which was rapidly gaining momentum in post-democratization Haesan. Haeanization protests driven by Haemi youth often used the Haean lyrics of Hae-pop as protest anthems and rallying cries in order to push for the legal equality of their language and heritage.

When Conservative Henry Bishop was elected in 1990 on a unity platform pledging to push through Haeanization reforms, it seemed like the movement was about to reach a critical victory. Early the next year, the Haean Language Administration Act (HLAA) became law, enshrining Haean as an official language of Haesan and dedicating funding toward Haean arts and culture, ultimately forming the backbone of the government's support for and control of the Hae-pop industry. The HLAA would also provide subsidies for organizations who supported Haean cultural programs and arts, provided that they met certain requirements regarding "Haesanite respectability."

1993-2000: Corporatization and standardization

On May 3, 1993, former government music-propaganda creator turned ad man Heo Seung-hwan saw an unexploited opportunity created by the HLAA, and decided to create a music records studio, Hwanseong Records. Inspired by Mizu pop music which consisted of tightly curated group acts and had received great domestic acclaim but little international fanfare, Heo decided that he could use a similar premise combined with the modern beats of Hae-pop, and not only win over youth support, but also government funding. With an HLAA grant approved in late 1992, Heo quickly assembled a group of talented dancers and debuted the first ever Hae-pop idol group, Believe Our Infinity, better known as B.O.I. The girl group's debut single, "To Infinity", immediately topped domestic charts, with a catchy, modern rhythm, Haean lyrics, and tight, well-rehearsed choreo; it was the first corporate Hae-pop performance and by far the most successful commercially.

Others immediately tried to imitate Heo's success. Min Yu-seong saw a similar opportunity to form a boy band along a similar premise, and launched Min & Sons Studios in mid-1994. Their debut group, Far Apart, relied heavily on traditional ballad styles mixed with electronic beats and a distinctive rap portion, and instantly distinguished itself as a chart-topping artist. In February 1996, Son Yu-ra, a music theory professor at Albarine Univeristy, decided that she was unhappy with the direction of the Hae-pop genre and wanted to direct it more towards the sound that she had experienced as a student during the authoritarian regime. Organizing a mixed-gender group based on hip-hop and R&B samples, she aimed to woo youth with an energetic sound more reminiscent of the original Hae-pop of the 80s. The initial group, SUN, gained a small but devoted following, but the second debut from YuRa Records with a similar concept, the boy band Avarice, was one of the leading groups of the late 1990s and early 2000s. More international was Seolmi Artists, founded in 1998 and devoted to melding Haean culture with the world. Unafraid to use foreigners or immigrants in their idol groups, Seolmi idol groups were some of the earliest to gain a sizeable audience abroad, with girl group BluePower touring the Slokais Islands as early as September 2000.

This era also saw high levels of government oversight and intervention in to the Hae-pop industry. YuRa Records was a particular target of the government, having been the largest Hae-pop corporation to have not received grants from the HLAA in order to maintain its artistic independence. From 1998 to 2000, YuRa Records' Haeseomun headquarters were raided by the National Investigations Office on four separate occasions, on the last of which Son Yu-ra was arrested on charges of embezzlement and tax fraud. The charges were dismissed in November 2000, as the newly elected Lenoir administration asked the Ministry of Justice to drop the suit. However, over the course of the 1990s, it is estimated about a dozen small to medium sized Hae-pop production companies were forced to shut down due to government interference or pressure.

2000-2010: Entering the mainstream

By the early 2000s, Hae-pop had become the predominant form of music in Haesan. In 2001, the HBS Music Chart's top 10 were all songs from Hae-pop groups for the first time, and every single week of SBS Weekly Review was won by a Hae-pop group. The predominant battle became internal, as the four major corporations, Hwanseong, Min, YuRa, and Seolmi all sought to promote their groups and style and seize an ever larger share of the domestic market. During the Lenoir administration, some Hae-pop artists' lyrics returned to their blatantly political origins, beyond even the YuRa Records artists who had long been known for pushing the boundaries of the genre. The Min & Sons boy band No Altitude gained popularity for its ballad like melodies and willingness to talk about issues like overwork, social atomization, and anxiety. In this increasingly socially conscious era of Hae-pop, the emphasis was on the domestic consumer, and plays for international appeal were largely contained to Seolmi Artists' groups, who at this time were regularly touring Eastern Hesperida.

The Monetary Crisis of 2004 caused significant turmoil and upheaval in the Hae-pop industry. Hwanseong Records, having taken out loans on their future growth to invest in a new corporate headquarters and performance spaces, soon found themselves deep in debt at unsustainable interest rates, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in April 2005. The company was then purchased by Min & Sons Studios to become a mega-label rebranded as HM Entertainment, at the time accounting for about 60% of all Hae-pop revenues. As HM Entertainment, the company would combine the Hwanseong drive for popularity with Min & Sons' penchant for societally aware lyrics, and would start to try and breakout internationally. In 2007, the HM Entertainment boy band Modern Spirit became the first Hae-pop group to make an appearance on the internationally acclaimed Novellan music TV show Live! on Culture One. While critics in the nation were largely underwhelmed by the performance, the fan reaction was resoundingly positive as at times it was difficult to hear the music over the broadcast due to the screaming fans in the live audience.