The South Korean girls group Girls' Generation beat the likes of Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and its compatriot Psy to win the top award for video of the year at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards.
The K-pop group, which is one of Asia's biggest musical acts, won for the video "I Got a Boy."
While massively popular in Asia, the reaction to its win from the American audience was muted -- with scattered applause, but mostly a long, deafening silence.
While Girls' Generation
may be unknown to an American audience, the pop group is a national
phenomenon in Korea. The group's record releases are a national event
with every news outlet running stories and inciting fans to
near-hysteria.
'
K-pop' goes global
The rise of 'K-Pop'
The group might be
likened to an Asian version of Spice Girls, with pop sounds, costumes
and synchronized dancing. The members sing and also rap.
The YouTube Music Awards
nominees were based on views, likes and comments and subscriptions over
the last 12 months and fans voted for the winners.
The "I Got a Boy" video
features the nine members in a pink house and then moves to the girls
gyrating in front of random settings. They intermittently have random
English lyrics, but mostly sing in Korean.
It's not the group's
first foray into the United States, as the ladies appeared on the "Late
Show with David Letterman" and also "Live! With Kelly" last year.
Artist of the Year went
to rapper Eminem and the award ceremony, which was streamed live online,
was hosted by actor Jason Schwartzman and musician Reggie Watts. The
awards reflect the growing tendency for people to turn to the internet,
rather than television or radio, for music and video.
However, according to Variety
magazine, at most 220,000 people watched the event online, a fraction
of the 10.1 million who tuned in for the MTV Video and Music Awards in
August.
Link to: http://edition.cnn.com
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