[sa547]

This is getting way too off-topic, so I have a little issue to get off my chest.

In my country, k-pop has become so widespread that it even has its own cable TV channel. My problem with that is they're too perfect yet so overwhelming, constrained and safe, all the while pressurized by their companies and management to maintain world dominance, hence making AKB's multimedia saturation (geared for domestic consumption) look tiny in comparison.

Hence I can't find even one k-pop artist that I can easily connect, identify and relate with; I can relate with Sayaka Akimoto because her mother is a Filipino (and therefore in a sense she's an ambassador representing my country), and identify with Minami Takahashi by virtue of her personal life and the ability to overcome family issues.

On the other hand, my beef with Western pop music is that some of its performers are paid several times bigger than the entire AKB membership, but tend to have too much ego, and often they're unapproachable and surrounded by bodyguards, all the while trying to have the whole universe revolve around them (think about Sheryl Nome just before her downfall).