Anyone who watches the music video for "Wrap Me In Plastic" immerses themselves in a fantasy world full of glitter, flashy outfits and beautiful women. Momoland dances a choreography to fast beats that should stick in your head. English lines of text alternate with Korean ones. Nancy, Ahin, JooE, Hyebin, Nayun and Jane, who seem to be brimming with confidence, sing "Treat Me Well and Buy Me Shoes" in English.
The band is hardly recognizable in front of a white wall and on black folding chairs. The logo of MLD Entertainments is emblazoned in the background. As everyone waits for the interview to begin, the band members smile and wave at the camera. Almost in sync. Each of them is dressed simply, wears chucks and pullovers – very simple, yet with perfect make-up and hairdos.
The answer to the first question should be easy and lighten the mood a bit. What exactly is K-Pop and how does Momoland embody this genre? Ahin doesn't want to answer and hands the mic over to Nancy, who looks in the direction of the managers for help. It is unclear whether she did not understand the question or does not know the answer. Male voices can be heard. Korean words fall. "K-pop is pop music, Korean pop music. It's our own genre of music," Nancy replied.
At least since Psy's worldwide success "Gangnam Style" most people have heard the word K-Pop at least once. The music is a wild mix of different genres like rap, rock and techno. Trademarks are the elaborately produced music videos and dance choreographies. With millions of views on platforms like YouTube, K-pop bands are leaving megastars like Justin Bieber behind.
Momoland is considered an underdog in the scene because it is not one of the top three talent agencies in the country. SM Entertainment, YG and JYP dominate the scene and have signed bands like BLACKPINK. Still, in 2018, Momoland hit the ground running with their hit mini-album GREAT! a nerve. The title track, "BBoom BBoom," garnered critical acclaim from local and global listeners with more than 480 million views on YouTube, and jumped into the top 5 on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart in its second week. Shortly after, Forbes magazine wrote about Momoland as having the most watched K-pop videos YouTube released in 2018 along with Blackpink and BTS.
When asked how much pressure it is to have to top the success of "Bboom Bboom", the girl group looks at each other questioningly. Nancy hands the mic back to Ahin, who doesn't seem happy about it. Her smile slips a bit from her face. Male voices and Korean words can be heard again. The pressure is always great, says Nancy then. But that's okay. "Wrap Me In Plastic" only has 4 million clicks to date.
It's funny that the song wasn't written in South Korea, but in Kreuzberg. Two Berliners whose real names are Johannes Becker and Marcus Layton invented it for fun. And that was already in 2017. The hype was a long time coming, but it is now all the greater. Several official and unofficial versions of the song have gone viral. Especially on TikTok he became a catchy tune and choreographies became dance challenges. Because Layton and Becker could identify so little with the song, they released it under the synonym "Chromance". And this silver masked fictional character has now teamed up with Momoland to release a K-pop version of the song. Nancy, Ahin, JooE, Hyebin, Nayun and Jane are proud of "Wrap Me In Plastic". Nancy and Ahin in particular rave about the collaboration.
But K-Pop doesn't just have fans. In the music scene there is always talk of slave contracts, there is hardly any artistic freedom. Talent agencies sign young hopefuls and train them to become idols. Ahin explains: "It's our dream to be an idol. Of course we always have to be super slim and look beautiful, but that's the way it is in the business."
In addition to several hours of dance and singing lessons every day, foreign languages are learned and how to deal with fans and journalists impeccably. Impeccable in this case means always smiling and being friendly. The band members often earn little money for years because the education, the dance training, the choreographers, the assistants, the songwriters and the dorm are deducted from the salary of the stars.
A well-known example of this is the band TVXQ, which sued their agency SM Entertainment in 2009 because the 13-year contracts were too long and they hardly received any money for their success. The court ruled in favor of TVXQ, after which three of the members left SM Entertainment and started their own agency.
Lines of lyrics in "Wrap Me in Plastic" like "I call you master, you can call me your property" are breeding grounds for critics of K-pop. In the context of the curtailed artistic and personal freedom of K-pop stars, such lines seem grotesque. "Chromance" doesn't want to get involved in this discussion. They said to the "Spiegel": "We will not explain whether the lines are supposed to mean anything in particular, but the superficiality of our society is beautifully reflected in it." Even Momoland has no answer to the question what the statement of "Wrap Me In Plastic" is. A next question is asked.
The discrepancy between the women in "Wrap Me In Plastic" and those on the black folding chairs could hardly be greater. Nancy and Ahin are the only ones talking. At 20 and 21, they may be the youngest members of the band, but they seem to be the leaders. The microphone is only passed on to the rest of the band when they are repeatedly asked to at least reveal their own musical role model. Hyebin seems reluctant to hold the microphone. She looks uncertainly from left to right, whispers to Jane, who is sitting next to her, and then breathes into the microphone: "Avril Lavigne".
