Rain-The magic feet from Korea
Rain
The Magic Feet from Korea
By BRYAN WALSH
Posted Tuesday, Apr. 25, 2006
Rain is big—big!—in Japan. The South Korean king of pop also fills seats
in Beijing, Pusan and Bangkok. In Hong Kong his concerts sell out in 10
minutes, and across much of Asia, fans snap up pirated videos of his soap
operas. Thanks to his angelic face, killer bod and Justin Timber— like
dance moves, Rain, 23, has ridden the crest of hallyu, or the Korean wave,
the Asia-wide obsession for that country's pop culture. But the ambition
that lifted Rain (real name: Ji Hoon Jung) out of a one-room house in Seoul
won't be sated by simply conquering the biggest continent on earth.
Rain is looking east to the U.S., studying English day and night. He sold
out two shows at Madison Square Garden's smaller venue in February, and
that could be just a few drops of the deluge that some think will follow
the release of his English-language debut album this fall. Yet even if Rain,
whose style virtually clones American pop, fails to make it in the U.S.,
the trend he represents is here to stay. Rain is the face—and well-muscled
torso—of pop globalism. Before he visited the U.S., Rain already had a fan
base, thanks to Internet music sites, satellite TV and DVDs of his soap operas.
Those are the same media that make it easier than ever for growing numbers of
Americans to get their fix of Japanese anime, Bollywood films and Korean music
—and vice versa. Pop culture no longer moves simply in a single direction,
from the West to the rest of the world. Instead, it's a global swirl, no more
constrained by borders than the weather.
Rain, after all, falls on everyone.
來源:TIME Magzine
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