Glocalizing K-Pop: Pinoy Pop and Thai Pop Music as Glocal Expressions of Evolving Cultural Identities in the ASEAN

Abstract

This study examines how today’s in-demand K-Pop-inspired Pinoy Pop (P-Pop) groups Alamat and SB19, Thai-Pop (T-Pop) groups 4MIX and Vyra, and their talent companies approach K-Pop glocalization to reinvent their own doses of pop music that represent glocal cultural identities different from that of K-Pop music idols. Framed after music glocalization, music-and-identity construction, and regionalization concepts, this study uses an ethnographic research design to analyze how P Pop and T-Pop groups and their talent companies glocalize the K-Pop idol formula in producing their selected hit singles; employs contextual analysis to understand how historical, sociocultural, and political drivers shape their glocalization techniques; and, triangulates said drivers with subjects’ music-making experiences to paint a picture of their cultural identities as reflected in their selected P-Pop and T-Pop songs. Findings show that P-Pop and T-Pop groups and their talent companies differently approach K-Pop glocalization from the moment would-be idols were scouted, trained, and groomed down to their debut and participation in the music-making process. Moreover, the experiences and words put together to create subjects’ hit singles speak of the historical, sociocultural, and political shifts the Filipino and Thai societies and their local music industries have gone through. More than just affirming the cultural diverseness of the Philippines and Thailand, subjects’ varying glocalization techniques reinforce P-Pop and T-Pop music as modern-day expressions of local genius rather than mere imitation. With K-Pop glocalization advancing decolonization and regionalization in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), P-Pop and T-Pop music along with other ASEAN member-states’ doses of pop music, if provided with thriving space outside their countries, can serve as catalysts that further facilitate Aseanization and community building in the region.