[Sung to “I Got a Boy”] Oh Ohh eh oh! Here come the winners!
Congratulations to Girls’ Generation’s “I Got a Boy” for winning Video of the Year at the first annual YouTube Music Awards! Our girls faced tough competition in this category that included videos from Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Lady Gaga and fellow Korean artist Psy. Representing Korean pop music, this gave viewers across the globe a glimpse of what K-pop has to offer.
The YouTube Music Awards was held in New York City and streamed worldwide to feature performances from Seoul, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Moscow. The concert in Seoul included performances from popular idol groups SHINee, SISTAR, Miss A, 4Minute, Trouble Maker, and guitarist Sungha Jung.
Girls’ Generation member, Tiffany, was present at the live event in New York and graciously accepted the award. Even though the audience was unfamiliar with the popular K-pop group, K-pop fans around the world were celebrating together. As for most of the audience and Tiffany, the win was unexpected. Upon winning Video of the Year, Tiffany expressed her gratitude to the fans for their support and mentioned that it would not have been possible without them. The winners for each award were determined solely by the amount of shares their respected video had.
Even though Girls’ Generation is still relatively unknown to most people worldwide, the YouTube Music Awards displayed the power, determination and dedication of fans from all over the world uniting to help Girls’ Generation win. The exposure and popularity of K-pop on YouTube is a uniting ground for international fans across the world and for newcomers of K-pop to discover new music. With every exposure of K-pop to international audiences, comes the realization that music is really a universal language. As informal ambassadors to Korean entertainment, the recognition of Girls’ Generation as winners that night is just one step closer to drawing more people into the world of K-pop!
Within the last decade, Korean pop music and dramas have become widely popular. The Korean Wave (Hallyu) has been surging worldwide. Hallyu is a term that describes the rising interest in Korean culture and entertainment worldwide. What started as a growing interest in Asia, has now reached overseas to North America and even to Europe and South America. Just a few years ago, no one would have guessed that Korean entertainment would have risen to this level of world recognition. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years, Korean entertainment will soon rival that of the Western market.
