MANILA, Philippines - They’ve always been there, monopolizing Internet discussions, whispering about their not-so-guilty pleasures, recording their own music videos. But this year, the country’s invisible K-pop army emerged in full force, backed by their idols no less. Big Bang, Super Junior, even Boys Over Flowers star Lee Min Ho — one by one, they arrived and their army delivered, filling up the SM MOA Arena, stalking them through their mall tours, waiting in hotel lobbies for a chance to see them. It certainly gave retail giant Bench (which both Super Junior and Lee Min Ho endorse) something to be happy about. And it certainly gave local K-pop bible Sparkling magazine something to write about. K-pop? It’s a burgeoning industry.
It might explain, for example, the soon-to-be-launched Kore Agency, a modeling firm catering to the K-pop market. Stylist RJ Roque is currently putting together the agency — with two poster-worthy lads already on the bill, Min Joon So and Haejin Kim.
Of course, the K-pop craze has seeped into all kinds of industries. Stylist Eldzs Mejia, Geeky Nights member Mark Lim, designer Ziggy Savella, graphic designer Toff Tiozon, and friends from other creative fields comprise B-Tribe. “We judged a dance competition with kids covering CO-ED School, a Korean group with boys and girls,” Eldzs explains. “(We) started meeting in Korean groceries, rehearsing in dance studios.” After more than a year, the video still hasn’t been shot but in B-Tribe’s case at least, it’s since become a barkada of collaboration, with the members working with each other on their different projects.