English for Cultural and Creative Industries
 What is pop music? The most famous pop stars throughout
history – Elvis Presley, The Beatles, ABBA, Michael
Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga – seem to have nothing in
common. However, a closer look reveals that their songs
share three characteristics:
 They appeal to a wide audience.
 They are short, memorable and usually follow a verse-
chorus structure.
 They borrow ideas from other musical genres such as jazz and
hip-hop.
 There is one more characteristic which applies to many pop
songs, but not to those by legends like Elvis and Gaga:
 They follow current fashions, rather than innovate.
 All of the artists mentioned above have pushed the
boundaries of music as an art form, but most
contemporary pop is a product to be sold – after all, the
industry is worth around $30 billion a year. Nowhere is this
commercialization seen more clearly than in reality TV
shows such as American’s Next Top Model and American
Idol which search for the latest star. This kind of
manufactured pop often comes under fire from serious
music critics, but young people all over the world seem to
adore it.
 What is it about pop music that attracts children and
teenagers? As well as catchy tunes and lyrics, the singers
often become idols to young people because of their
appearance or personal views. The Beatles, for instance,
had a distinctive and much-copied look – their “moptop”
hairstyles, their Indian-influenced shirts, their anklelength boots – but they also represented countercultural
ideals such as free love which were popular in the 1960s.
Today, although not many people would be crazy enough to
copy Lady Gaga’s outfits, she is widely looked up to for
supporting lesbian and gay rights. In 2010, she played a
charity concert for victims of the Haiti earthquake and
raised half a million dollars in one night.
 Concerts are an important way for pop stars to make money
and raise their profiles. Most bands go on tour once a year,
coinciding with the release of a new album, and play
smaller gigs in between. Tour concerts are expected to be
extravagant, theatrical performances; Katy Perry promised
fans in 2011 that her California Dreams tour would ‘engage
all of your senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch’ and it
did, with its magical candy land theme and countless
costume changes. Although the tour received positive
reviews, and Perry donated some of its profits to charity,
the singer was also criticized for setting high prices. Tickets
for her 2014 Prismatic world tour cost up to $140, putting
them out of reach for most young people.
 Pop music will always have its detractors. It is common to
hear the older generation complain that all of the songs
sound the same, or that stars these days lip-sync instead of
singing live. But pop has been a teenage obsession since
Elvis burst onto the scene in 1953, and it doesn’t look to be
going away any time soon.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaqokusDbbs
Dialogue 1
 Two students are talking about going to a pop concert on the weekend.
 Dean:
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Clare! I’ve got some good news for you!
Clare:
Oh yeah? What is it?
Dean:
These arrived in the mail today.
Clare:
Oooooh! The tickets for the 2PM concert!
Dean:
Yeah, I thought you’d be pleased.
Clare:
Only six days to wait. I’m so excited.
Dean:
Me too. They’ve been my favorite band since they started.
Clare:
What are you going to wear to the concert?
Dean: Well I’ve got a 2PM tee-shirt, so I guess I’ll wear that. It’s old, though. I hope
they’ll be selling some new ones on the tour.
Clare: I’m sure they will be. I want one too!
Dean: Have you been on the tour website? It has loads of details about the costumes
they wear, the songs they play …
Clare: No, I haven’t. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Dean: Ha ha, OK. But it looks amazing. Shall we go listen to some of their music now?
Dialogue 2
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Two students are taking with excitement about the news that an international pop star is
coming to Taiwan. The star is known for her controversial and bizarre style of stage
performance.
Penny: Guess what I heard on the news last night?
Will: What?
Penny: Lady Gaga is playing a gig in Taipei in summer.
Will: No way. Lady Gaga? I love her!
Penny: So do I. We have to go! The tickets go on sale Friday.
Will: How much are they?
Penny: Um … this is the problem. The cheapest ticket is $3,000.
Will: What?! That’s so expensive. I don’t have that much money.
Penny: We have to find a way. We can’t miss this concert. Could you borrow some from your parents?
Will: I don’t think they would lend me the money. They hate Lady Gaga.
Penny: Seriously? Why?
Will: Oh, you know my parents. They’re pretty conservative. They think she’s kind of crazy, I guess.
Penny: But that’s just how she dresses. She’s a good person.
Will: I know that, and you know that. But they’re from a different generation. They don’t
understand.
Penny: Well, ask them anyway, and I’ll ask my mom too. It has to be worth a try!
Note 1
 Before the 1990s, the world did not pay much attention to South
Korean pop music. These days, K-pop has a global audience and is
worth around $3.4 billion a year. What happened?
 In 1992, the group Seo Taiji and Boys released Nan Arayo, which
borrowed elements of foreign hip-hop music and caught the public’s
imagination. A few years later, the first “idol bands” – groups of young
people who had been trained in music and dance since childhood –
started to appear. And from there K-pop just grew and grew, peaking
in 2012 with Psy’s Gangnam Style.
 The distinctive features of K-pop, compared to music from other
countries, are its tightly choreographed dance routines and matching
costumes for band members. Fans of K-pop are said to be the most
loyal in the world; perhaps even members of the Korean government
are fans, since they partly fund the industry – or perhaps they just
recognise what a valuable export K-pop is.