Blog Posts by Catherine Deen

K-Pop is all around us! From music to dramas up to cosmetics and fashion, the K-Pop phenomenon cannot be ignored. In fact, Yahoo! Philippines OMG! has just launched Korean Wave a page devoted to nothing but K-Pop!

About a year ago, I wrote an article titled "Signs of a K-Pop Addict."  As more and more newbies join the fandom, I feel it is time to take another test to determine the level of your K-Pop addiction.

Take the test I developed and find out now!

Warning! Some images might make you cringe.

1. You know the names of ALL the members of the following groups: 2NE1, 2AM, 2PM, Big Bang, f(X), Girls Generation, KARA, SHINee, Super Junior, T-ara, TVXQ/JYJ and Wonder Girls.

a. I know the names of ALL members of 1 to 3 groups on the list

b. I know the names of ALL members of 4 to 6 groups on the list

c. I know the names of ALL members of 7 to 9 groups on the list

d. I know the names of ALL members of 10 or more groups on the list

2. You spend approximately ____ hour(s) every day on the

BIGBANG shake app (Publicity shot available through dooub, the developer and Apple store)A series of iPad/iPod/iPhone games called Shake has taken the K-Pop fandom by storm. Starting with the release of the award winning Super Junior Shake in October 2011, the series of finger-tapping Shake games won the hearts of K-Pop lovers and gamers alike. You can check out the list of Shake games featuring K-Pop artists in this Yahoo! Philippines OMG! ok Pop! post entitled "K-Pop Meets iPad."

On May 9, Big Bang Shake,  the most awaited version of the Shake games, was launched.

Big Bang, considered one of the top (if not the top) K-Pop artists today, offers unique electro-hip hop inspired music that has influenced a musical revolution worldwide. Their last mini album, "Alive," featured the crossover hits "Blue," "Fantastic Baby" and "Bad Boy." The release of "Alive" not only strengthened Big Bang's fan following but won them new admirers as well.

The game named after the K-Pop group offers a new way for VIPs (Big Bang fans) to enjoy the artists' music.  Like other Shake games, Big

Taetiseo (Publicity photo)Girls' Generation sub-unit Taetiseo composed of members Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun, recently sold 3,000 copies of its debut mini-album, "Twinkle," on iTunes. This sales figure was high enough to land the trio at 126 on the Billboard 200 chart, the highest-ever debut for a Korean act to date.

"Twinkle" also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard's World Albums chart, as well as No. 2 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart, held back from the top spot by Australian vocal group Human Nature.

Girls' Generation fans will no doubt be thrilled by this news, given the rather lackluster sales of the group's first U.S.-released album,  The Boys." It failed to dent the Billboard 200 chart, missing out by a thousand copies from landing on the list during its first week of release.

Digital strategy to boost sales

In contrast, the impressive sales performance of Taetiseo, listed on Billboard as "Girls' Generation — TTS," was fueled by an interesting digital strategy. If fans bought "Twinkle" in its