ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with K-pop and organises the discussion into, on the one hand, the songs, music videos, and performers that fans consume and, on the other hand, the gruelling training regimes and selection processes by which talent agencies come to create K-pop stars. Regarding the products, through an examination of how these are marketed and consumed, the chapter shows how this leads to an interest in and further consumption of yet other aspects of Korean culture. In the case of the process, the chapter explains why, despite the very public awareness of the human toll that it extracts, there has so far not been any significant negative impact on Hallyu's soft power. Instead, it is shown that the process has been marketed as a formula to be replicated as part of K-pop's formula for success. In line with the conceptual emphasis on the importance of stancetaking and affect, the chapter makes the point that K-pop is particularly effective in cultivating interest in and fascination with Korean culture because it has been able to encourage in consumers an anthropological stance towards Korea.
