Sandara Park shared her thoughts regarding the secret to the popularity of K-pop overseas.

On April 2, Sandara Park attended the press conference for new variety show “Stage K” along with producing directors Kim No Eun and Kim Hak Min, as well as Jun Hyun Moo, g.o.d’s Park Joon Hyung, SECHSKIES’s Eun Ji Won, and former Wonder Girls member Yubin.

“Stage K” is a K-pop challenge variety show about people around the world competing for a chance to be on the same stage with their K-pop stars for the performance of their dreams.

Sandara Park said, “I think that the biggest reason behind K-pop’s popularity are the skills and abilities Korean idols possess. To reach that level of ability, they’ve practiced and prepared before debuting through a rigorous program set by their agencies. I think [fans] notice those efforts.”

As the second reason behind K-pop’s popularity, she mentioned, “the synergy that K-pop creates with the popularity of K-beauty and K-fashion.” She added, “When you get a chance to get to know overseas fans, you may realize that they not only take great interest in [Korean] music, but also in Korean beauty [products] and fashion. Koreans are quite skilled when it comes to hairstyling and makeup. K-pop is the result of the combination of all these artistic components and is probably why it is loved by so many people.”

When asked about her time as a member of 2NE1, she commented, “The overseas K-pop market was not as big as it is today.” She added, “I debuted in 2009. During that time, several senior artists were spreading K-pop overseas starting in Japan. I was mostly active in Korea, but I noticed the popularity of K-pop growing overseas with the increase of overseas activities.”

She pointed out, “At the time, songs were geared towards the Korean market, but nowadays [artists] seem to produce songs that are easy for overseas fans to sing along to and understand.” She continued, “Idol groups today have a lot more world tours and frequent overseas activities that they jokingly say that it feels like they’re having a nehan performance.” The literal Korean meaning of nehan is ‘in Korea.’ The term nehan performance is usually used to refer to concerts held in Korea by foreign artists. So the joke is that Korean idol groups are overseas more often than they are in Korea as if they are foreign artists.

She stated, “I’m glad to be a part of this fast-growing K-pop market, and I continue to be thankful and proud the more I think about it.” She also mentioned her hopes for a 2NE1 reunion through this show.

“Stage K” will premiere on April 7 at 9 p.m. KST. Are you interested in the show?

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