“中国失去的正是我们得到的”：韩国歌星转战美国市场 [美国媒体]

Locked out of China, South Korea's K-popstars are heading to the US

被中国封杀，韩国K-pop歌星转战美国

By Marian Liu,CNN
Updated 0734 GMT (1534 HKT) May 22, 2017

作者：玛丽安·刘，CNN
发表时间：0734GMT（1534HKT）2017年5月22日


 
Photos:
SHINee performed at the Verizon Theater at Grand Prairie in Dallas on March 24

图片：
SHINee在3月24日在达拉斯的大草原城的Verizon剧场演出

(CNN) China's loss is America's gain.

（CNN）中国失去的正是美国得到的。

At least that's according to the legions ofKorean pop music fans in the US, who are proving to be unlikely beneficiariesin a long-running diplomatic spat between China and South Korea.

至少对美国的韩国流行乐粉丝们来说，这句话是非常恰当的。中韩之间长期的外交纷争使他们成为了意想不到的受益者。

"China is South Korea's biggesttrading partner and many Chinese are big fans of Korean pop culture," saidEllen Kong, CEO of Elf Asia, a Hong Kong promotion company specializing inK-pop.

“中国是韩国最大的贸易伙伴，不少中国人都是韩国流行乐的大粉丝，”艾伦·孔，香港Elf Asia文化推广公司的CEO，该公司主要推广韩国流行乐。

"But the impact of THAAD has beensubstantial," she added, referencing China's staunch opposition to the USbacked missile shield now housed in South Korea. "It's meant China is nolonger a viable market for K-pop touring acts."

“但是萨德入韩带来的冲击是实质性的，”她说，意指中国对美国控制的导弹防御系统落户韩国的强烈反对。“这意味着中国不再是韩国歌星巡演的可靠市场。”

The result according to industry insiders,has been a marked upswing in K-pop acts touring in the US.

根据业内人士的消息，萨德入韩带来的结果之一就是韩国歌星美国巡演的数量的显着上升。

"Around 8 years ago or so, it was veryrare for K-pop artists to tour in the US, but now it has become quitecommon," said Paul Han, co-founder of allkpop, a site for K-pop gossip andnews, which has 10 million monthly readers worldwide.

“大概在差不多8年前，韩国歌星很少到美国巡演，但现在已经是很常见的了，”保罗·韩，allkpop网站的共同创立人。这个网站发布韩国歌星的小道消息和新闻，在全世界每个月都有将近一千万人访问。

"Back then, K-pop fans in the US usedto say, 'I wish I could go to Korea to attend their concert,' but now since alot of K-pop artists are now having concerts in New York and LA, it's more like'I wish I lived closer to those cities' or 'I wish they would come to my city,instead of the same cities all the time'" added Han.

“那个时候，美国的韩国歌星粉丝会说，‘我希望能去韩国听他们的演唱会，’但是现在大量韩国歌星在纽约和洛杉矶都有演唱会，这句话就变成了‘我希望我住的离这些城市近一点’或者‘我希望他们能来我的城市演出，而不是总在那几个城市巡演’，”韩说。

In 2013, there were seven concert tours inthe US, 14 in 2014 and 2015, then 20 in 2016. So far, there have been 14 in2017 alone, including the recent tour announced by K-pop icon G-Dragon, fromthe extremely popular boy band Big Bang. And, for the first time a K-pop bandhas won a Billboard Music Award. BTS won the Top Social Artist Award on May 21.The seven-member band toured three cities in the U.S. in March and April andfinish off their sold-out world tour in Japan this July.

在2013年，美国有7场韩国歌星巡演，2014年和2015年各有14场，2016年有20场。到目前为止，2017年已举办了14场，包括来自大热的男星组合Big Bang的G-Dragon最近宣布的一场演唱会。而且，韩国流行乐组合第一次获得了公告牌音乐奖。BTS在5月21日获得了最高社会艺术家奖。这个七人组合在三月和四月间在美国三个城市举办了巡演，并将在七月在日本结束他们门票大卖的世界巡演。

"With groups unable to tour in Chinadue to the fallout relating to the THAAD crisis, I believe we're going to seeanother record year for groups touring across the US this year," said CEOof Koreaboo, Flowsion Shekar, a popular content platform specializing in K-popwith a reach of over 50 million.

“由于萨德危机的影响，这些组合无法去中国巡演，所以我相信今年会是另一个韩星在美国演出创纪录的年份，” Flowsion Shekar，Koreaboo公司的CEO。该公司经营的K-pop流行内容平台的访问次数超过了5000万次。

K-pop diplomacy

K-pop外交

Despite China's foreign ministry repeatedlydenying that the country has placed restrictions on South Korea, the topic wasoutlined as an agenda item in diplomatic talks between the two countries duringa visit to Beijing on Friday and Saturday by Lee Hae-chan, South Korea'sspecial envoy.

尽管中国一再否认有“限韩令”的存在，在韩国特使李海瓒星期五和星期六对北京的访问中，这个问题成为了议程事项之一。

"The relationship between South Koreaand China is quite strained," said Lee on Thursday before his departure."I believe the discussion will be focused to resolve economic, Koreanwave, tourism interactions." Korean wave is a phrase commonly used todescribe popular Korean culture and music.

“目前韩国和中国的关系十分紧张，”李海瓒星期四临行前发表讲话说。“我相信讨论会聚焦在经济、韩流和旅游互动几个问题上。”韩流这个词通常用来指代韩国流行文化和音乐。

Not that North American K-pop fans arecomplaining. North Carolina teenager Kylie Grant is just one of thousands offans for whom the arrival of mainstream K-pop acts couldn't have come sooner.

并不是说K-pop的北美粉丝在抱怨。北卡罗来纳州的一名青少年，凯莉·格兰特就是几千名觉得主流K-pop演出来得越早越好的粉丝之一。

"It was a once in a life-timeopportunity I knew I would regret if I didn't take," said Grant, 19, whorecently purchased tickets to K-pop boy band SHINee in Dallas. "My friendsand family thought it was crazy at first, but after some convincing they allsaid it was kind of amazing that I would fly across the country just to see aconcert."

“这是一生只有一次的机会，我知道我如果不去的话一定会抱憾终生，”格兰特，19岁，刚买了韩国男星组合SHINee在达拉斯的演唱会门票。“我的朋友们和家人一开始都觉得我疯了，但是经过几次说服之后他们都觉得我横跨整个国家飞到达拉斯去看现场演出是件大好事。”

The tour was SHINee's first in NorthAmerica, taking in Dallas, Los Angeles and Canada. At the weekend, the K-poppowerhouse performed in Hong Kong, and on June 11 in Taipei.

这是SHINee第一次在北美演出，巡演选址在达拉斯、洛杉矶和加拿大。在上周末，这个K-pop发动机在香港举办了一场演出，6月11日在台北还有一场。

"'The thought of going to see our fansthat have been supporting us from so far away made my heart flutter abit," said band member Lee Tae-min, 23, known as "Taemin."

“去看看在如此遥远的地方支持我们的歌迷的想法让我的心脏有点加速跳动，”李泰民，23岁，组合成员之一，大家都叫他“泰民”。



Fans at the SHINee concert in Dallas

粉丝们在SHINee的达拉斯演唱会

Finding and appreciating K-pop fans

寻找并感谢K-pop粉丝

In Dallas and Los Angeles, Lee and the restof SHINee band members spoke English between the songs, sharing how much theyappreciated fans learning Korean and their own love for American food, likeIn-N-Out burgers.

在达拉斯和洛杉矶，李和其他SHINee成员在演唱间隙说英语，对歌迷们学习韩语的行为表示欣赏，并表示他们对美国食物的热爱，例如In-N-Out汉堡速食连锁。

Unlike the now typical mercurial K-popbands, SHINee has been around for almost a decade, constantly evolving theirlook and sound. Fans, known as "Shawols," are drawn to SHINee fortheir dance choreography, along with their unique mix of R&B, electronica,rap and rock.

不像其他多变的韩国组合，SHINee已经存在了大约十年，一直在改变他们的外形和声音。被称为“Shawols”的粉丝们被他们的编舞和混合了R&B、电子、rap和摇滚的独特演唱风格所吸引。



Key sings in the front of the rest of theSHINee band in Dallas.

Key在SHINee达拉斯演唱会上站在其他成员前面演唱。

In the lastyear, several K-pop bands disbanded for various reasons, including scandal.But, one of the reasons for SHINee's longevity, said Shekar, is the group's"zero controversy ... Every member has held a pristine reputation and haveearned themselves an incredible reputation with Korean and internationalfans."

去年，一些K-pop组合由于各种原因解散，包括丑闻。但是，Shekar说SHINee之所以能够长寿的原因之一是该组合的“零争议……每个成员都有很好的名声，并得到了韩国和世界粉丝极高的评价。”

Los Angeles-based production company SubKultureEntertainment was able to almost sell out SHINee's US concerts by targetingfans online, like Grant who discovered SHINee through YouTube.

洛杉矶的制作公司“亚文化娱乐”几乎把SHINee美国演唱会的门票都卖出去了，这得益于该公司瞄准网上粉丝，例如格兰特就是在youtube上看到的SHINee的视频。

"Our customer base, like mostmillennials are very Internet savvy and acquire most of their information aboutK-pop via social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.), which iswhere we like to focus the majority of our marketing efforts," saidSubkulture Entertainment CEO Derek Lee.

“我们的顾客像大部分新千年一代一样非常善于利用互联网，并且主要从社交媒体（Twitter,Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat等）获得关于K-pop的信息，我们也在这些媒体上投入了主要的营销努力，”亚文化娱乐的CEO德莱克·李说。

But now in their 20s, SHINee members aregrowing out of their "boy band" and "Princes of K-pop"monikers. They are also near the age of military enlistment for South Koreanmales, a destiny that threatens to tear other bands like Big Bang apart.

但现在SHINee成员们已经二十多岁了，他们很快就要不能被称为“男孩组合”和“K-pop王子”了。他们也接近了韩国男子服役年龄，这是拆散歌唱组合的主要威胁，例如BigBang就是这么解散的。

And while SHINee declined to talk about themilitary, they do plan to perform in the US again sometime soon.

在SHINee谢绝谈论关于入伍的问题的同时，他们也在计划在不久的未来再次举办美国巡演。

"We hope that through our tour, K-popand K-pop concerts will continue to leave a mark on a market as big as theUS," said Taemin.

“我们希望通过我们的演出，K-pop和K-pop演唱会能持续在像美国这么大的市场上留下记号，”泰民说。