Thoughts on Dream High, or…K-Pop Stars Are More Credible Than You Think

This was another drama recommended to me by a friend, and I guess I chose to watch it because I felt the other options I was considering were a bit iffy. This seems to be an extremely popular drama, as I’ve heard it referenced frequently throughout my years of engagement with Korean pop culture.

Plot

Spoilers ahead, in case you couldn’t have surmised it.

The main character we’re introduced to is Go Hye-Mi, a rich girl who is somewhat spoiled and also a classically-trained vocalist. Her talent is so highly-regarded that she gets accepted to Julliard. She also has a frumpy best friend named Yoon Baek-Hee who is nicknamed “Hye-Mi’s Slipper,” due to the fact that she follows Hye-Mi everywhere. Hye-Mi tends to take Baek-Hee for granted, though she finds her useful for various things she needs done.

Unbeknownst to everyone, including Baek-Hee, Hye-Mi isn’t really rich anymore. Her father’s business failed, and she’s only putting up a front. Early on, she gets a phone call from her father telling her that he’s fled the country due to his debts, and that he’s hiding overseas until he can get the money he needs. Due to lack of funds, Hye-Mi has to give up Julliard.

When they lose their house, it means that Hye-Mi and her younger sister have only one place to turn: Music teacher Kang Oh-Hyeok, a man who had had an affair with their mother just before she died. She hates Mr. Kang due to what he did, but she has nowhere else to go. Kang works at Kirin Art School, a training ground for potential pop stars, where he is struggling as the lowest-rated member of the faculty and receives little respect from his colleagues.

To make matters worse, the loan shark who her father owes money to is after Hye-Mi, because he believes he can get his repayment out of her. Hye-Mi ends up agreeing to attend Kirin Art School so that she can become a pop star and pay back the loan shark with the royalties she makes from her singing career. It’s not what she wants, but she has no choice. Of course, in order to maintain her front, she can’t tell anyone about this situation, not even her friend Baek-Hee.

When Baek-Hee and Hye-Mi go to audition for Kirin, they sing a song together. Hye-Mi, sure that her classical training makes this audition a mere formality, doesn’t take it very seriously, while Baek-Hee puts her heart and soul into her singing. She’s in for a surprise though, when Baek-Hee is accepted and she isn’t. Out of desperation (since she has a loan shark to repay) and arrogance, she belittles Baek-Hee in front of the judges and insists that she be accepted instead. It doesn’t work, and along with being rejected, she loses Baek-Hee’s friendship.

After the auditions are over, 97 new students are accepted, including Jason, a Korean-American, and Pil-Sook, an overweight girl with an incredible voice but decidedly non-pop star looks. However, the principal of Kirin plans to fill the remaining three admission slots with three specially-recruited students, including Hye-Mi, who he believes can still learn despite her shortcomings, Jin-Gook, a guy who had come to the auditions but had to forgo his place in line to help a friend, and Sam-Dong, a diamond in the rough who lives out in the countryside. He leaves Mr. Kang in charge of these three special recruits.

Shortly thereafter, the principal of Kirin goes on the road, and leaves one of the other administrators in his position. This administrator, however, doesn’t share his vision for the school, and intramural politics result in conflict between the special recruits and the regularly-accepted students. When the special recruits are banished to the college prep class, the place where students who don’t make the grade as performers are sent, it starts them on a mission to make their dreams come true despite the opposition they face from their peers and the administration.

Writing and Acting

When you consider that most of the actors in this drama are singers by trade, I’d say the acting was pretty darn good. The standard for acting in these dramas generally isn’t very high, but the stars here were up to the task. I thought that Miss A’s Suzy, who played Hye-Mi, was probably the weakest of the bunch. The actress who played one of the teachers was also a little weak sometimes, but other than those two, I thought they all generally did a good job.

The writing must have been good too, because I found myself really invested in these characters, moreso than I often am with these dramas. They must’ve either given great performances, or the writers did a good job of making them sympathetic and relatable.

There was one part that I felt left "suspend your disbelief" territory and entered "plot hole" territory. One of the characters is scheduled to perform in a showcase for various talent agencies, but he decides to blow it off. He ends up getting chosen by an agency anyway. I guess we're supposed to believe that because he's such a star pupil, he's in such high demand that it doesn't matter. I couldn't help but think that even the most talented people have to fight for every "in" they can get before they hit it big, and that it was too unrealistic not to get annoyed by it.

I felt that the ending, while nice, was a little anticlimactic. Don’t take that to mean it ruined the story in any way, just that they jumped into the future at the end and tried to navigate through so many changes in the characters’ lives that it was sort of hard for it all to sink in quickly enough. That’s a common gripe I have with these dramas, if you’ve noticed.

Music

Here are the songs I was able to identify. Since this drama was sort of a musical, there was lots of classic K-Pop referenced or performed. Because I love music so much, it really resonated with me. In some cases, these were songs the performers sang, in other cases, they were recordings:

Turtles – Bingo (Assa)
이장희 – 그건 너
Regina Spektor – On the Radio
“Music is my life”
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”
“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”
“거위의 꿈”
“Summertime”
심수봉 – 사랑 밖에 난 몰라
Ne-Yo – One in a Million
IU - Someday
Billy Mack – Christmas is All Around
현진영 – 흐린기억속의 그대
Mandy Moore – Only Hope
선예 - Maybe
Miley Cyrus – Fly on the Wall
Miss A – Bad Girl, Good Girl
부활 – 마지막 콘서트
Kelly Clarkson – Because of You
Usher feat. Nicki Minaj – Lil Freak
After School – Love Love Love
박진영 – 날 떠나지마
박미경 – 이브의 경고
김동률 – 다시 사랑한다 말할까
유재하 – 사랑하기 때문에
2AM – 죽어도 못 보내
소녀시대 – 소원을 말해봐 (지니)
이종용 – 겨울 아이
김건모 – 잘못된 만난
나비 – 마음이 다쳐서
하수영? – 아내에게 바치는 노래
T-ara – 왜 이러니
T-Max – Paradise
예성 – 너 아니면 안돼
봄.여른.가을.겨울 – 어떤이의 꿈
Madcon – Beggin’
윤종신 – 본능적으로
이적 – 하늘을 달린다
2PM – Heartbeat
이지연? – 난 사랑을 아직 몰라
박진영 – Honey
“Once Upon a Dream”
박진영 – 그녀는 예뻤다
긱스 – 짝사랑
The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star
Herbie Hancock – Rockit
A ringtone that sounded like “Temptation Eyes”
Europe – The Final Countdown
Enigma – I Love You, I’ll Kill You (The Cross of Changes)
Frontliner – Weekend Warriors
김세레나 – 새타령
Lil Wayne – 6 Foot 7 Foot
Fatboy Slim – Right Here Right Now
Cliff Richard – Congratulations
패닉 – 기다리다
Hammer – 2 Legit 2 Quit
Japanese rendering of the Mission: Impossible theme
이문세 – 붉은 노을
Arthur Baker – Breaker’s Revenge
A ringtone that sounded like “Heart and Soul”
달빛요정역전만루홈런 – 절룩거리네
IU – 좋은 날
2 PM – I’ll Be Back
Dal*Shabet – Supa Dupa Diva
Radiohead – Creep
폴라로이드 – 함께 했던 시간들은 영원 할 수 없다
Super Junior – U
신승훈 – 보이지 않는 사랑
이종국 – 사랑스러워
박진영 – 너의 뒤에서
현철 – 봉선화 연정
김건모 – 스피드
룰라 - 날개잃은천사
클론 – 꿍따라샤바라
“My Valentine”
Irene Cara – Flashdance (What a Feeling)
IU – Marshmallow
임정희? – 가지마
창민? – 사랑하면 안될까
Mighty Mouth feat. Soya – 톡톡
Ashlee Simpson – Rule Breaker
Minnie Riperton – Loving You
2 PM – Electricity
“Star Wars” theme
IU – Dreaming
Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Jay-Z – D.O.A.
Tim – 자장가

English

Since the character of Jason was a Korean-American (though it was clear the actor didn’t really speak English), many of the phrases in quotes are things he said.

“One minute to start the show. Ready? Standby…” world star, break shot, poster, slipper, focus, reception, system, “bingo!”, “is it my turn already?” “Sorry” “I said, is it my turn?” “I am sorry!” “it’s going to be a while for you, number 1200 just went in,” “Thanks, Miss Sushi, will you let me know when it’s my turn, please?”, unique, miniskirt, cover, only one, “just a moment,” gentle, “I’m just saying that mine is mine. Do you have any problem with it?”, “speak slow,” pendant, D flat, D natural, stretch, step by step, showcase, fashion terrorist, chord, money chord, feeling, “lady first,” data, “it’s undecided,” terror, Cinderella, wave, unison, “this is where the real stuff is,” big size, high five, flat, total, multi-player, “yo, what’s up?”, complex, kilogram, “long time no see,” “dance of the year,” “bye,” “welcome home,” country boy, dynamic, top class, “are you trying to teach me?”, “you really bug me!”, angry young man, “Love High,” so-so, “Dry and High,” “Hey you! What’s your name?”, “Come on!”, “Sing together!”, “present for you,” total package, “my friend,” girlfriend, triple A plus, market, “all A,” back dancer, “I’m here,” mission, “thanks to,” carnation, fan service, “yes sir,” “that’s enough, shut up now,” “oh, Julie…I gotta go now…yeah, I have a test…I miss you too…I love you, bye,” gentleman, native, music video, top 6, latex, title, albatross, congratulations, chic, language course, “I’m ready,” Star Today, stewardess, flash mob, escort, “Are you sure? Are you ready to go?”, “I always am,” family restaurant

Hey, I Know That Person

One of the villains from City Hunter played Jin-Gook’s father. Interestingly enough, that was the only person I recognized from a previous drama I’d watched.

Other Observations

I never know what to make of Koreans and their relationship with poop. When I was in Korea, it seemed like it was something they openly talked about like it was no big deal, but one time I just alluded to bathroom stuff and a Korean person seemed offended, so I dunno. There were two defecation jokes in this drama though. During the auditions, they show a guy in a toilet stall, complete with pooping sound effects. Yeah, it was gross. Later, when Hye-Mi goes to the country to meet Sam-Dong, there’s a scene where he takes her to use the outhouse, and she has to sing a song so he doesn’t hear her pooping. A little bizarre for my tastes, but that seems to be a common thing in Korea.

The legendary Park Jin-Yeong, aka JYP, appears in this as a teacher. Apparently he had a lot of creative input too, such as selecting the songs and even writing the original songs for the characters. While watching this, I noticed that he looks kind of like Dee Dee Ramone. It’s funny how he doesn’t exactly have a typical Korean face, and they made references to it at various points in the drama. In one case he was told he looked like an illegal immigrant.

The noraebang scene is becoming a cliché in these dramas. Still, it’s so much fun, how can you not love it?

In so many of these dramas there are references to Asian comics. I’ve now seen it so many times that I sense it’s a prominent piece of Korean pop culture. My lack of knowledge in that area leaves me outside the loop.

I had actually seen a scene from this drama on YouTube a long time ago and forgotten about it. I translated the song “붉은 노을” (Red Sunset Glow) by Lee Moon-Se, and in the comments for the YouTube video people were saying that they knew the song from Dream High. I looked it up and saw the scene where Hye-Mi and Sam-Dong sing the song for money on the streets. The name of the drama it was from didn’t stick with me, so when I saw that scene I suddenly realized I’d seen it before.

Pil-Sook, the overweight girl played by IU, was my favorite character. She was so cute! She and Jason were a rare couple I was strongly pulling for to end up together. I mean, you figured they probably would, but you never can be sure. I was disappointed when they flashed to the future and it seemed that in the long run they ended up just being friends. I was hoping they’d get married.

Final Thoughts

Since this drama is popular with K-Pop fans, at first I figured it would be a bit corny. During the first few episodes, I wasn’t dissuaded from that belief. It seemed lightweight and forgettable in many ways, so I figured it probably wouldn’t go down as one of my favorites. Then, a strange thing happened. As I watched it, it gradually drew me in more and more. Suddenly I was getting emotional along with the characters and cheering them on at pivotal moments and I realized, “hey! This drama is really special!” 

I think some of it may be attributable to my love of music, since I was able to feel the characters’ emotions through the songs that accompanied their moments. Like with Beethoven Virus, the music gave it that extra something.

Also, I thought I should note that despite some of the cartoonish comedy, this drama did deal with some serious issues late in the series. Early in the series there’s a minor character who attempts suicide by jumping off a building, but he ends up landing on a car and sustaining some minor injuries. It was almost played for laughs. That made me think this drama was too fluffy at first, but later in the series, there’s a main character who goes to the roof in an apparent contemplation of suicide, and it’s no laughing matter then. We find out that this character was tormented by a very painful secret, and it definitely wasn’t kids’ stuff. I appreciated that they went beyond the fluff and tackled a real issue.

Overall, I would rank this one among my most highly-recommended dramas. I’ve decided to rank it between 49 Days and Unexpected You. It didn’t leave me in awe like 49 Days did, but Unexpected You, as much as I liked it, didn’t have characters who gripped me as much as this one did.

Ranking:

      1.       Beethoven Virus (5)

      2.       City Hunter (7)

      3.       49 Days (9)

      4.       Dream High (13)

      5.       Unexpected You (4)

      6.       Sandglass (11)

      7.       Three Dads, One Mom (2)

      8.       Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang (10)

      9.       Ad Genius Lee Tae-Baek (12)

      10.   Lovers in Paris (1)

      11.   Hwang Jin-Yi (6)

      12.   Spring Day (3)

      13.   Protect the Boss (8)