If I told you that three computer nerds from Paypal in their twenties could technically be the most important figures in cultivating the Hallyu wave, some of you might impugn with a Sheldon Cooper-esque temperament. There's no 'Bazinga' here though.

Had it not been for Taiwanese American Steve Chen, American Chad Hurley, and Bangladeshi German American Jawed Karim (the founders of YouTube), most of us may have never stumbled upon our cultural obsession that is K-pop. We might still have our beloved allkpop of course, but would we have been able to see music videos, performances, and interviews of our idols like we do today?

While YouTube has helped in carrying K-pop into world stardom like Cha Tae Hyun piggy backing Jun Ji Hyun through the streets of Seoul, it's also been the launching pad for aspiring musicians. Gone are the days of mass-mailing demos in yellow envelopes and optimistically waiting for callbacks from record executives. In this digital age, artists can now make a name for themselves and develop large followings by showcasing their talents on YouTube and other social media outlets. This holds especially true for Asian artists all over the world seeking the kind of exposure rarely afforded them by the mainstream recording industry.

A few musicians in the K-pop industry you may have heard of have utilized this strategy to earn their current designations.

Ailee highly anticipated debut came as a result from her pre-debut popularity. Before she melted the hearts of ahjussi fans with "Heaven", she was belting out impressive covers from her bedroom, and even collaborating with popular Korean-American rappers Decipher and Johnnyphlo.



Kim Yeo Hee, better known as "Apple Girl", famously used music creation apps on multiple iPhones to provide background music for her covers of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", which currently have close to 8 million views. Her recognition had music producers from Korea, China, and even England racing to have her sign on the dotted line, where she eventually signed with Seoul-based Dreamhigh Entertainment.

Shortly after leaving Korea for his Myspace controversy, Jay Park used YouTube to reconnect with his loyal following. His first cover of "Nothin' On You" went viral, garnering a million hits in less than an hour, and 2 million hits in that day. With the strength to continue given from his fans, Park was soon back on the music scene, regularly uploading videos and performing in small concerts and events across the States, until K-pop welcomed him back like the regretful ex-girlfriend who realized she shouldn't have let him go in the first place.

Some well-known YouTube artists are also working behind the scenes in the K-pop music industry. David Choi, who was YouTube's 15th most subscribed musician and 62nd most subscribed user overall, can be heard on the soundtracks for well known dramas such as Secret Garden, Playful Kiss, All My Love, and My Princess. Lydia Paek, also a member of ABDC's Quest Crew, co-produced and co-wrote "Don't Cry" for Park Bom and continues work for YG Entertainment as a producer / songwriter.

THE BEST K-POP STARS THAT NEVER WERE

There are many talented artists out there on YouTube that could potentially make great K-pop stars. The question is, whether or not they want to be or haven't yet. Regardless, I intend to highlight these musicians one by one with a new series called "The Best K-Pop Stars that never were", and kicking off first is a singer/songwriter some of you may already know as Urban Germany.



Name: Urban Germany

Links: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter



I came across Urban Germany a few weeks ago on my news feed when a friend had shared his YouTube cover of Big Bang's Blue. The velvety acoustics coupled with his soulful voice had me clicking 'like' and 'subscribe' before he even got to the hook. After checking out a few more covers, I was a fan. If I have to compare his sound to a mainstream artist, it would have to be one of my favorite R&B artists, Musiq Soulchild.

UG can write songs like a boss as well, and I'm confident our very own in-house expert rex_music would attest. His original songs, most notably "Got this Girl Pt 2" and "Does He Know" (videos can be seen below), should be chemically dissolved and used on the tips of cupid's arrows.

We're all aware English lyric conversions of K-pop songs often come out forced, nonsensical, and cheesy. In Urban's newest cover of my current favorite song, "Bad Boy", you would have never known the original was a Korean song if you've never heard it before.

Urban Germany was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding his music and his thoughts and experiences with K-pop (there are some interesting notes including a certain boy band).

Check out and enjoy the interview with the first YouTube artist nominated for my "best K-Pop stars that never were", or in UG's case, at least maybe not yet...



1. Can you provide us with a short bio on yourself?

I am half Korean and half Vietnamese and was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. I started pursuing music more seriously about five years ago and have been blessed to share my music all around the world thanks to YouTube and other social media platforms. I am currently trying to finish school and work on entrepreneurial projects, and I am also working as a songwriter for other artists.

2. What are your goals and aspirations as a musician?

A lot of my goals and dreams in regard to music have already become reality for me. I have had the opportunity to play numerous shows in the U.S., Europe and Korea and thereby meet and connect with a lot of my fans and supporters. Doing YouTube videos and sharing music online is a lot of fun but there is nothing that can beat meeting and interacting with people out there in the real world.

Other than that, I certainly have high hopes for my songwriting career. I am currently not able to invest as much time in it as I want to but I am close to finishing school and hope to get a lot more involved in songwriting soon. I also had to cut back on my YouTube video output last year (because of songwriting and other projects), which is also something I really want to change again.

My ultimate goal for 2012 is releasing a new EP with some new fresh music. My team and I are trying to acquire funds for it at the moment. My fans and supporters have been really supportive with my last EP project, the Starting Point EP, and the revenue generated from that project is already invested into the new one.

3. How would you describe your musical style and what current artist would you compare yourself most to?

I think soulful pop music describes what I'm doing as an artist best. A lot of the music out there right now is very club/dance driven which makes it really hard to compare myself to any of these artists.

Even though I love a good club record every now and then I feel like a lot of these tracks have become very generic and therefore boring. In this regard, I'm trying to go a different path with my new EP.

While working on all of these different songwriting projects last year, I have expanded my musical horizon quite a bit during that time and I am very excited to apply all of these influences when I start creating my own material for this new EP.

4. What is your opinion of K-pop and who is your favorite artist(s)?

I think it's absolutely amazing how far K-Pop has come these past few years. From a musical standpoint, K-Pop has evolved so much in such a short time. I remember listening to K-Pop a couple of years ago and not being overly impressed with it. However, nowadays the quality of the music is absolutely up to par with the music of the "western world" and, more importantly, has succeeded in developing its own character. From a cultural standpoint, Korean has started to become the "new English" in certain parts of the world, which is absolutely mind-blowing! The fact that there are so many people out there listening to Korean music even though they do not necessarily understand the language absolutely amazes me. I, myself, started paying more attention to K-Pop about a year ago.

This whole system revolving around traineeship and idols is quite interesting to me and quite different from what we are used to in Europe or the US. I don't really have one particular favorite K-Pop artist at the moment but I truly enjoy finding out more about the K-Pop scene and its artists whenever I have some down time.

5. Have you ever considered pursuing a career in the Korean music industry? If so, have you ever been recruited or auditioned? If not, why not?

I have never auditioned for anything but there are a couple of Korean music companies that have reached out to me in the past. I have been in talks with the legendary Cho PD for instance and if things had gone slightly different I would quite possible be a member of his new group Block B right now. Seeing what this particular project is about now, I have to admit I'm kinda glad that things fell through because it wouldn't have been a good fit in terms of music and style. The guys that are in the group now are absolutely perfect for this project and I am confident that they will be successful in the

K-Pop world. I certainly wish them as well as Cho PD who has been a very gracious host during my last stay in Korea lots of success in their endeavors.

I am trying to get more involved in the Korean music scene because I have received quite a lot of support from people in Korea and K-Pop fans in general for which I am very thankful. Even though I can't talk about any details right now I am optimistic that my path will lead me back to Korea in the near future. Also, I am in the midst of preparing a collabo with one of my favorite Korean singers right now so there's definitely something for people to look forward to.









Image Courtesy of: Patrick Wuestner

You can hit me up on twitter to nominate other future candidates for "The Best K-Pop artists that never were".