I’M NOT THAT KIND OF K-POP FAN?: HOW UNDERGRADUATES IN SINGAPORE NEGOTIATE IDENTITIES

Abstract

The popularity of South Korean entertainment has led to a phenomenon, hallyu, or the Korean Wave. In recent years, the focus of the Korean Wave is now on South Korean popular music, or K-pop. K-pop is a genre of South Korean popular music that is known to be performed by idol groups, who are young men and women who have undergone many years of training to attain a polished outer appearance and skills to be all-rounded entertainers. These K-pop idols command a large audience of fans, who exhibits fervour for these idols. Their behaviour is portrayed to be irrational, emotional, and appear to be uncontrollable. On the other hand, university students in Singapore are expected to be quite different from the fans- they are thought to be rational, disciplined individuals. In Singapore, a university education is an indication of the individual’s accrued hard work, merit in the education system, and a sign of potential success in his or her future. The state-endorsed national ideologies involve expectations that Singaporeans should be pragmatic and be in active pursuit for a clearly defined standard of economic merit. The national ideologies are motivated by the nation’s desire to succeed in a world dominated by Western capitalism. As a result, university students who are also K-pop fans face conflicts in their identities, and they engage in a process of identity negotiation. In this process, they try to find the balance between pursing their desires and performing what is expected of them.