@article{ART003386032},
author={Kim Minsun},
title={The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE},
journal={The Journal of Korean drama and theatre},
issn={1225-7729},
year={2026},
number={89},
pages={11-50},
doi={10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim Minsun
TI - The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE
JO - The Journal of Korean drama and theatre
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 89
PB - The Learned Society Of Korean Drama And Theatre
SP - 11
EP - 50
SN - 1225-7729
AB - This paper examines how the Netflix documentary Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE represents and explains the K-Pop production system. Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE constructs the formation process of the global girl group KATSEYE as a narrative of training, competition, and growth. Throughout this process, contestants learn not only dance and vocal skills but also how to regulate their emotions, maintain a professional yet deferential demeanor, and cultivate intimacy through communication with fandom.
In particular, the contestants' ethnic and cultural diversity is commodified as a resource constituting the global girl group's identity, and the competition and hierarchy surrounding representation are reproduced in the documentary following the introduction of fan voting. Behind this project lies an industrial condition: a joint venture between a Korean entertainment company seeking to export the K-Pop system and an American major label seeking to acquire that system. Rather than expanding into a critique of the system, the fissures in relationships caused by competition, along with diversity ornamentalized for commercial success, are packaged as a narrative of growth in which contestants regulate their emotions, accept reality, and renew themselves. Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE represents moments of conflict and training as a process of growth toward becoming a star, thereby persuading audiences—through an emotional narrative—of a K-Pop production system that manufactures highly commodified subjects. The narrative and representation of this girl group project reveal a desire to position K-Pop as a new universal standard of professionalism within the global cultural industry: the desire for a 'K-Pop Standard.‘
KW - Commodification;Diversity;Global idol;KATSEYE;K-Pop;Netflix;Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE
DO - 10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
ER -
Kim Minsun. (2026). The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, 89, 11-50.
Kim Minsun. 2026, "The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE", The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, no.89, pp.11-50. Available from: doi:10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun "The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre 89 pp.11-50 (2026) : 11.
Kim Minsun. The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. 2026; 89 : 11-50. Available from: doi:10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun. "The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre no.89(2026) : 11-50.doi: 10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun. The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre, 89, 11-50. doi: 10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun. The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. The Journal of Korean drama and theatre. 2026; 89 11-50. doi: 10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun. The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. 2026; 89 : 11-50. Available from: doi:10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
Kim Minsun. "The Desire for a ‘K-Pop Standard’: Narratives of Growth and Diversity in Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE" The Journal of Korean drama and theatre no.89(2026) : 11-50.doi: 10.17938/tjkdat.2026..89.11
