Vietnamese compete in a K-pop dance cover competition in Hanoi in 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
A new branch of South Korea’s World K-POP Center will provide classes to local artists looking to become Asia’s next pop sensations.
Vietnam Television Cable Corporation (VTVcab) is working with World K-POP Center in order to open the institution next year.
Bui Huy Nam, general director of VTVcab, said this is the first time South Korean experts would be directly training Vietnamese musicians in the ways of pop music. The school’s instructors will also play a direct role in discovering and introducing local talent to the world, he said.
Nam added that the center’s mission was to help the K-Pop and V-Pop culture industries thrive and grow both locally and internationally.
One program slated for next year after the center’s inauguration is “Click The Star.” This reality TV show produced by the center will aim to find, train and manage young Vietnamese talent according to a uniquely K-pop model.
World K-POP Center has collaborated with international broadcasters and entertainment/production companies to train professional performers and other players in the music industry. It currently has branches in China and Japan, as well as other international localities.
K-pop is a genre of popular music originating in South Korea, featuring catchy music and dance performances. Many K-pop artists have come to perform in Vietnam in recent years.
K-pop fever hit Vietnam in the early 2000s when Korean TV shows and pop songs achieved an unusually high level of popularity, long before Psy’s “Gangnam Style” took the world by storm.
According to a May 2019 survey by HCMC-based market research firm Q&Me, 51 percent of Vietnamese like South Korean pop music and 68 percent like South Korean TV serials.