The K-pop world has been set abuzz since the August 19 debut of the girl group, Swing Girls. The scrutiny has inevitably focused on one asset — or should we say, a pair of assets — in particular: why yes, each of the five women boasts a pair of ample D-cup breasts.[1]

The bosom is by no means a new marketing gimmick, but it also isn’t one that’s just pointed out from the get-go. Two oversexualized mounds of milk-bearing fat have suddenly started to read like some high-concept idea that will be winning the Swing Girls music awards — or at the very least, approving nods from marketing executives.

We’re skeptical, to say the least. According to the Swing Girls themselves, a big bust wasn’t the requirement in the call for talent, but height was:

We joined our company after we saw a notice saying they’re looking for tall singers. Once all of the members came together, we all averaged 170 cm in height, and all had D-cup breasts as well. We’ll be using that as our differentiating factor, and thus debut with our sexiness.

Let’s be frank: That “differentiating factor” of sexiness is not differentiating at all. In fact, it’s a perfect fit for the Korean entertainment machine, often said to package its pop stars under coy head tilts, dark makeup, and plastic reconstruction — Frankenstein’s sexualized monster band. K-pop group 2NE1 has sang about this, perhaps somewhat self-ironically, in their recent pop hit “Ugly”. So while we might pretend to appreciate how taller, large-breasted Korean women are pushing back against standards of beauty for a fleeting moment, the truth is that we’re stuck with the same old package.

And packages are exactly what the K-pop industry traffic in. Just last month, the Chosunilbo quoted a “well-known surgeon,” who guessed that “maybe 99 percent of all female entertainers went under the knife.” An exaggeration, clearly, but the point still stands: these entertainers have certain shoes to fill. And it’s probably not even entirely up to them. Aged 23 to 27 — considered old for an industry known to groom performers from the cradle — the Swing Girls need to demonstrate that they’re at once different but the same. The result: we’re presented some aspect to fixate on, as if it’s considerably different. The reality: it’s not.

In any case, the Swing Girls’ first single is titled “Run X3“. On August 19, the track reached #6 on the major live music charts, ranking the group above veterans like Rain and Kim Tae Woo. As the experts at allkpop.com note:

It’s difficult for even senior artists to land in the top 10 upon release, so the girls are definitely off to a positive start with their debut. One industry representative commented, “Their record is surprising, especially since they’re a rookie girl group who has yet to even start music program promotions.  It seems their addictive song and sexy concept is working with the male fanbase.

We’ve embedded the music video for “Run X3″ below. The cleavage isn’t as rampant as you’d expect.

[1] A D-cup in Korea is equivalent to a C-cup in the US. This isn’t necessarily common among female Korean performers, but it isn’t unheard of, either: see G.NA, who claims she is a natural D-cup.

(via allkpop)

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