Korean pop rides "Gangnam Style" into U.S. music scene

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - 'Gangnam Style,' the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn't horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer's phenomenal U.S. success.

With 'Gangnam Style' topping the current Billboard Digital Songs chart and becoming the most-watched video on YouTube ever with more than 800 million views, fellow Korean pop, or K-pop, artists are positioning themselves for similar U.S. breakthroughs.

Korea's pop music industry is thriving. Over the past two years, a handful of K-pop acts including girl group 2NE1, boy band Super Junior and nine-piece band Girls Generation have embarked on mini-promotional tours around the United States to build their audience.

'Psy has opened doors and is shining a spotlight on K-pop. People are paying attention to what's being done there,' Alina Moffat, general manager at YG Entertainment group, which manages Psy, told a recent entertainment industry conference in Los Angeles.

Psy's vibrant music video, featuring his invisible pony-riding dance, also featured K-pop artists Kim Hyun-a of girl band 4Minute, and Deasung and Seungri of boy band Big Bang, all of whom are attempting to crack the U.S. market.

'YouTube has really changed the awareness of K-pop. Both American kids and second-generation Korean American kids are discovering it,' Kye Kyoungbon Koo, director of the Korea Creative Content Agency, told a panel at a Billboard and Hollywood Reporter conference in Los Angeles in October.

MARKETING THE NEXT BIG THING

For U.S. companies looking to invest, K-pop is being marketed as the next big thing, boasting young, stylish and influential artists who command devoted fan followings.

Moffat said car companies and mobile phone brands were among those being courted at KCON, a convention held in October in Irvine in Southern California that showcased K-pop artists.

'Kids are coming, they're engaged, they want to spend money and sponsors saw that,' Moffat said.

Whether Psy or other K-pop artists can command a global following to rival Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or Rihanna remains to be seen, but John Shim, senior producer at MTV World, believes it is the right genre to compete with pop music's biggest names.

'K-pop admittedly is a very niche genre but I also think it's the best equipped of Asian pop to cater to the U.S. audience,' Shim told Reuters.

Psy has helped to break down language barriers, keeping 'Gangnam Style' in its original Korean form instead of adapting it to English when it became an international hit.

The singer told Reuters he was persuaded to keep it that way by his manager Scooter Braun, the talent scout responsible for Justin Bieber's success, who signed Psy to his record label.

'I thought, 'Should I translate this or not?' because (the fans) have got to know what I'm talking about, and lyrics are a huge part,' Psy said.

CHATTING IN ENGLISH

But industry executives say at least one member of each K-Pop group is usually taught to be fluent in conversational English.

'The investment in language is costly, but effective,' said Ted Kim, president of South Korean music television channel Mnet. 'It really matters that Psy can go on the Ellen DeGeneres TV show and have a conversation.'

Psy said he was proud his song succeeded in Korean, but he now wants to branch out into English.

''Gangnam Style' is not the sort of thing that's going to happen twice. I've definitely got to make something in English so I can communicate with my fans right now,' the singer said.

In Korea, bands such as SM Entertainment's Super Junior and Girls Generation have became branding powerhouses, scoring endorsements ranging from cosmetics, fashion, video games, electronics and beverages.

In the United States, companies such as Samsung have already jumped on the K-pop train, sponsoring Korean boy band Big Bang's U.S. tour.

But while the genre is gaining steam in the charts, it has yet to spill into ticket sales for tours, according to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief at Pollstar.com, which tracks concert sales.

'Psy may be able to sell out arenas in Asia, but not yet here. For the American audience, he has to prove that he's more than a novelty act,' Bongiovanni said.

'K-pop has to prove itself before large companies spend money on it,' he added.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)



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R&B star Mary J. Blige sued for defaulting on $2.2 million loan

(Reuters) - R&B star Mary J. Blige was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the Grammy winner and her husband defaulted on a $2.2 million bank loan.

According to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Signature Bank is seeking to recoup the original loan plus $58,000 in interest.

Blige, 41, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and her husband Martin Isaacs took out the loan in October 2011 and defaulted in July 2012, the suit alleges.

Blige's publicist declined comment on the lawsuit. The singer's attorney did not immediately return a request to comment.

The lawsuit also names Blige's production company, Mary Jane Productions Inc.

The lawsuit is the latest financial headache for the New York City native. The 'Family Affair' singer's charity, The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now Inc, was accused earlier in this year of mishandling funds and cheating scholarship students.

Blige acknowledged the problems in a June interview.

'The lives of young women are at stake,' the singer told Reuters when asked about the allegations. 'I feel what they feel. I don't want them to suffer. I promised them something and I'm gonna deliver. Period.'

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)



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Adele's "21" sells 10 million, Rihanna leads Billboard

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British singer and Grammy darling Adele reached the 10 million sales mark in the United States on Wednesday with her heartbreak album '21' becoming the first by British woman to reach the milestone, Nielsen SoundScan said.

'21,' released in February 2011, produced the hits 'Someone Like You' and 'Rolling In The Deep' and became the top-selling album of 2011. Earlier this year, Adele swept the Grammy Awards with six, including song, record and album of the year.

'21' became the third album to cross 10 million in 2012, along with Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory' and Usher's 'Confessions.' But it is the only album to reach the milestone in less than two years in the last decade, Nielsen said.

'What an incredible honor,' Adele said in a statement. 'A huge, huge thank you to my American fans for embracing this record on such a massive level.'

'21' will receive the diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, marking its 10 million milestone, joining the ranks of albums by artists such as Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Madonna.

'Adele's unique talent is a gift to music fans, and her success is certainly cause for a celebration of Diamond magnitude,' Cary Sherman, RIAA's chairman & CEO, said in a statement.

Adele, 24, is enjoying the success of her latest single 'Skyfall,' the official theme song for the James Bond film of the same name. It has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. The singer also gave birth to her first child earlier this year.

On the Billboard 200 chart this week, R&B star Rihanna scored her first No. 1 album with 'Unapologetic,' selling 238,000 copies.

She held off new entries from 'American Idol' winner Phillip Phillips, who landed at No. 4 with his debut album 'The World From the Side of the Moon,' and country-rock singer Kid Rock, who rounded out the top five with his latest album 'Rebel Soul.'

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy Editing by Jill Serjeant, Grant McCool and Andre Grenon)



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A Minute With: Pop star Ke$ha on new album "Warrior"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Ke$ha made a name for herself with infectious dance-pop hits but the singer-songwriter is stepping out of her Auto-Tune comfort zone on 'Warrior', out this week.

Ke$ha, 25, stormed the charts with hit songs about drinking, partying and having a good time, such as 'TiK ToK' and 'Your Love is my Drug' from her 2010 platinum-selling album 'Animal'.

Ke$ha talked with Reuters about the pressures of following up the success of her first album and responding to her critics.

Q: Did you feel additional pressure while working on this album after the success of your debut, 'Animal'?

A: 'Everybody keeps asking me about pressure, and I think a lot of other people maybe are feeling pressure about this record, but I just want to make a good record. If I sat around trying to make a number one record, I'd just be too consumed with that. I just want to make an awesome, kick-ass record that I love and that my fans love.'

Q: Was there anything that you weren't happy with on the first album and that you wanted to change for the second?

A: 'I just wanted to make sure my entire personality was presented more accurately. I feel like people really got to know the super-wild side of me but then sometimes a more vulnerable side. I didn't really feel comfortable expressing it. So this time I kind of forced myself to express a little bit more vulnerability, less Auto-Tune, less vocal trickery. It's a little more raw.'

Q: You received a lot of criticism for your use of Auto-Tune, masking your true singing voice. Was that a valid criticism for you, when many others use it?

A: 'I remember having this conversation with my producer, and him saying, 'We're using a lot of vocal tricks,' and I said, 'People will get to know me as my career goes on, I just want it to sound really weird and cool and clubby right now, and super electronic.' I made a conscious decision to use Auto-Tune for effect, as ear candy, and vocoders and chop up my words.

'This time around, I have heard so many different people say I can't sing, it's quite frankly irritating, so I ... made a five-song acoustic EP ('Deconstructed', out on December 4) that's kind of like my middle finger to all those people that said I couldn't sing, and there's more of my voice on this record. You know, haters are going to hate, you just have to do what you want to do.'

Q: Talk us through some of the collaborations on 'Warrior'. There's quite a variety, such as with Iggy Pop and Ben Folds.

A: 'Ben Folds is a friend of mine. He gave me a giant glitter grand piano that's in my house, so that one was natural. The Flaming Lips was probably surprising for a lot of people because we're two super-different genres of music but we had the most fun and we made so many songs, it was super insane. We're like best friends, we text everyday now, so that kind of came naturally. The one that I really have been working on for years was a collaboration with Iggy Pop. He's one of my favorite musicians and artists of all time, so that was super exciting for me, because I respect him so much.'

Q: You've written tracks for Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears, and you've written all the songs for 'Warrior'. What did you want to bring out in your lyrics this time round?

A: 'I definitely wanted to maintain the irreverence, because that's why my fans like me. It's because I'm super honest, not always PG rated ... but I didn't want to let the haters somehow cramp my style or get the best of me, so I maintain my irreverence ... I also really wanted to show the other side of my personality, which kind of is more nerve-wracking to show people, being a real person and the vulnerable side of my personality and voice. So there are tracks on this record that are super vulnerable and were hard even to write. I had to force myself to sit down and write these songs.'

Q: You've carved a distinctive image and also just launched your latest collaboration with Baby-G watches. How do you want to evolve your career in the future?

A: 'I think that with this record, I really wanted to show that there are no rules or boundaries in art, at all, like I sing and I can use crazy Auto-Tune vocoders and I can rap and I can do a song with Iggy Pop. You can do all these things that make sense. You don't have to just be one thing, like, you don't adhere to any sort of stereotype or any boundaries or any rules, so for me it's really fun to break down these boundaries.'

Q: You came in at the forefront of the electronic dance music explosion in the pop charts two years ago. Why do you think EDM is doing so well?

A: 'Dancing is one of the ways we, as adult human beings, still get to play and it's socially acceptable. Little kids play all the time, but as we grow up, we're supposed to just not play anymore, so our version of that is going out and dancing, and I think it's one way people are still visceral and animal-like.'

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Dale Hudson)



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Rihanna's "Unapologetic" tops Billboard album chart

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Rihanna shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Tuesday with her seventh record 'Unapologetic,' scoring her first No. 1 album despite mixed reviews.

'Unapologetic,' which topped iTunes charts in 43 countries just hours after its release on November19, sold 238,000 copies according to Billboard, scoring the 24-year-old singer from Barbados her best opening sales week to date.

The album's lead single 'Diamonds' landed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week, giving Rihanna her 12th No. 1 single and tying her with Madonna and The Supremes for the fourth-most chart-topping singles in Billboard history.

'Unapologetic' left some critics unsettled by the singer's harder sound and close-to-home lyrics. One track in particular that had everyone talking is 'Nobody's Business,' Rihanna's collaboration with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who was charged with assaulting her three years ago.

The album has been promoted extensively by Rihanna, who embarked on a seven day tour across seven cities around the world, accompanied by a plane full of fans and journalists.

The full Billboard charts will be released on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)



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Rolling Stones turn back clock with hit-filled comeback

LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones turned back the clock in style on Sunday with their first concert in five years, strutting and swaggering their way through hit after familiar hit to celebrate 50 years in business.

Before a packed crowd of 20,000 at London's O2 Arena, they banished doubts that age may have slowed down one of the world's greatest rock and roll bands, as lead singer Mick Jagger launched into 'I Wanna Be Your Man'.

More than two hours of high-octane, blues-infused rock later, and they were still going strong with an impressive encore comprising 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' and 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'.

In between there were guest appearances from American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, who delivered a rousing duet with Jagger on 'Gimme Shelter' and guitarist Jeff Beck who provided the power chords for 'I'm Going Down'.

Former Rolling Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were also back in the fold, performing with the regular quartet of Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on guitar and Charlie Watts on drums for the first time in 20 years.

'It took us 50 years to get from Dartford to Greenwich!' said Jagger, referring to their roots just a few miles from the venue in southeast London. 'But you know, we made it. What's even more amazing is that you're still coming to see us...we can't thank you enough.'

The Sunday night gig was the first of two at the O2 Arena before the band crosses the Atlantic to play three dates in the United States.

The mini-tour is the culmination of a busy few months of events, rehearsals and recordings to mark 50 years since the rockers first took to the stage at the Marquee Club on London's Oxford Street in July, 1962.

There has been a photo album, two new songs, a music video, a documentary film, a blitz of media appearances and a handful of warm-up gigs in Paris.

'STYLE AND PANACHE'

The reunion nearly did not happen. One factor behind the long break since their record-breaking 'A Bigger Bang' tour in 2007 has been Wood's struggle with alcohol addiction, while Jagger and Richards also fell out over comments the guitarist made about the singer in a 2010 autobiography.

But they eventually buried the hatchet, and Richards joked in a recent interview: 'We can't get divorced - we're doing it for the kids!'

Critics were fulsome in their praise of the first comeback gig.

'Keith Richards has said that the beauty of rock and roll is that every night a different band might be the world's greatest. Well, last night at the O2 Arena, it was the turn of the Rolling Stones themselves to lay claim to the title they invented,' wrote Neil McCormick of the Daily Telegraph.

'And they did it with some style and panache.'

The big question on every fan's lips is whether the five concerts lead to a world tour and even new material. The Stones sang their two new tracks 'Doom and Gloom' and 'One More Shot', which appeared on their latest greatest hits album 'GRRR!'.

Richards has hinted that the five concerts ending at the Newark Prudential Center in the United States on December 15 would not be the last.

'Once the juggernaut starts rolling, it ain't gonna stop,' he told Rolling Stone magazine. 'So without sort of saying definitely yes - yeah. We ain't doing all this for four gigs!'

The band has come in for criticism from fans about the high price of tickets to the shows - they ranged from around 95 pounds ($150) to up to 950 pounds for a VIP seat.

The flamboyant veterans, whose average age is 68, have defended the costs, saying the shows were expensive to put on, although specialist music publication Billboard reported the band would earn $25 million from the four shows initially announced. A fifth was added later.

'Everybody all right there in the cheap seats,' Jagger asked pointedly as he looked high to his left at the arena. 'They're not really cheap though are they? That's the trouble.'

Among the biggest cheers on the night were for classics including 'Wild Horses', 'It's Only Rock and Roll' and 'Start Me Up'.

There was even time for the odd reference to their advancing years.

'Good to see you all,' said Richards with a mischievous grin. 'Good to see anybody.'

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)



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U.S. musician Marcus Miller hurt in Swiss bus crash

ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S. jazz musician Marcus Miller was injured on Sunday along with members of his band when their bus crashed in Switzerland, killing the driver, police said.

The two-time Grammy winner was travelling with 10 members of his band from Monte Carlo in Monaco to Hengelo in the Netherlands when the bus crashed on the highway near the town of Schattdorf in central Switzerland.

A Swiss police spokesman said the driver died from his injuries. The reserve driver, Miller and the members of his band were all injured but not seriously, he said, declining to give further details.

Miller, who plays keyboard and clarinet as well as electric bass, has collaborated with Miles Davis and Luther Vandross and was on tour to promote his album Renaissance.

Earlier this year, 22 children and six adults returning from on a ski trip organized by a Belgian school were killed in a bus crash in Switzerland.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Jon Hemming)



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