Before 9am every morning are my busiest hours. I wake my two daughters up at 8am. They never seem to get out of their beds unless I tell them, “Daddy loves you more than anyone in the universe.” This magic sentence, whispered to my daughters, awakens their ears and hearts. As soon as they hop off of their beds, they run straight to their closets.
An Italian friend once told me that Italians let kids pick their clothes on their own from an early age. Following his advice, I let my daughters select their outfits by themselves every day, even socks, no matter how little they are. My oldest daughter was born in 2016 and the youngest in 2018. I believe they need to develop their own styles early on. I hope we have a chance to talk more about this later.
What’s next after dress-up? Breakfast. “Daddy, please spread strawberry jelly only on the half of the bread and fold it. I don’t want the crust. Could you cut it off so I can eat the soft part only?” “Daddy, please heat up the mushroom soup, but not too much so my spoon doesn’t feel hot when I put it into the soup.” A lot of detailed requests come to Daddy Chef every morning from my two children. I do my best to accommodate the requests as much as I can.
Now it’s time to go to their preschools. I pack utensils and lunch plates into their backpacks and we walk out of the house together. Ballet shoes are added to the packing list when they have ballet classes. My kids go to different preschools. So, I first get my oldest on a school bus near my place and then walk the younger one to her preschool. It’s usually around 9:30am as I say goodbye to my youngest.
What I do every day as a dad are my most important responsibilities. Being a dad is my primary character, called a Bon Kae in Korea. That is the role I have to do the absolute best at and cannot delegate to anyone else despite the hectic, and sometimes even exhausting, mornings.
There is one thing I never miss in the midst of the hour-long fire drill every morning–choosing my clothes in a consistent style and color with my daughters’. It’s way more challenging than you could ever imagine. What clothes do you think a three-year old and four-year old girl pick every day? One-piece dresses or skirts in pink, yellow and a light sky-blue color. Almost every day.
Now you probably get why it’s so hard for me to pick clothes daily that go along well with my daughters’. I eventually filled my closets with many pinks and yellows. Despite the difficulty, there is a reason why I do it every day. That’s because I take photos of my children and myself every morning on our way to the preschools, in front of a stone wall right outside of my front door.
The routine is for myself as I post my daily style on social media as a fashion influencer and YouTuber. There are followers waiting for my daily posts. I post the photos with a few sentences around the brands I wear and why I chose that style. I have been doing so for almost ten years since when I started my blog in 2013. So, me posting the daily photos as a fashion influencer is my Boo Kae, which denotes an alter ego in Korean.
Figure 1. Detailance, a fashion influencer and YouTuber, is my Boo Kae.
Besides that, there’s another Instagram account I manage exclusively focused on my travel photos. On this account, I gave myself a new identity as a photographer. People don’t know that the account is run by me. So, I am sort of working as a photographer online without disclosing my Bon Kae (primary character). A travel photographer is another Boo Kae.
Figure 2. Here’s an Instagram account of another Boo Kae of mine, a travel photographer posting the photos I took while traveling countries like India, Mongolia and Syria.
Bon Kae and Boo Kae are probably one the most widely used words in Korea right now. Many people think these words are fun. It’s not too much to say that we are in the heyday of Boo Kae. You can create new alter egos for yourself, just like you create characters in video games, well beyond the roles traditionally awarded by society, like dads, husbands, employees or friends. Boo Kae is not only about what you do, but about who you are.
One of the reasons that this trend is spreading like crazy is because of the state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and the high smartphone penetration rate across generations, from small kids to old grandpas, in Korea. The fad could also be attributed to the active use of social media and YouTube by Koreans for sharing their daily lives and finding information. They use these platforms even more actively than search engines like Google or Naver. Most importantly, Korea has a history of actively adopting Cy World, one of the world’s first social media platforms, in the early 2000s, well ahead of Facebook or Instagram.
Figure 3. This is Cy World, one of the world’s first social network services launched in 1999 well ahead of Facebook or Myspace. You can do much more than share photos and write posts, like setting up your own background music playlist for your mini home, decorating it with tons of cute items. There’s even a guest book. Cy World was really ahead of its time.
The Boo Kae buzz was initially started by a TV show, “Show Me the Money,” a hip hop music competition. In season 7 of the show, a famous Korean rapper called Mad Clown and one of the judges, joined the competition with a pink, latex balaclava over his face. He introduced himself as Mommy Son. Just so you know, Mommy Son is a household name for latex kitchen gloves in Korea.
Everyone in the show, including other judges, was 99.999% sure about Mommy Son’s real identity under the red, latex balaclava. He could hide his face, but couldn’t hide his unique voice and singing style no matter how hard he tried. It was obviously Mad Clown. Only one person in the show, Mommy Son, denied that he is Mad Clown.
People enjoyed watching the whole situation knowing who Mommy Son really is. And they didn’t dig deeper to debunk Mommy Son’s true identity, nor asked Mommy Son to acknowledge that he is Mad Clown. They just accepted Mommy Son as a new singer and loved him. People did ask Mommy Son this question though: “how’s Mad Clown doing?”
Three years after the show, Mommy Son is still popular. His song “Boy Jump” attracted 43 million views on YouTube. Moreover, Mommy Son recently released a new album and performs as an independent rapper, totally independent of Mad Clown.
Wait, then what happened to Mad Clown? Wasn’t he the Bon Kae (primary character)? Unfortunately, Mad Clown is not as active as Mommy Son. I guess these two musicians cannot actively stage their performances around the same time?
Figure 4. “Okay, everything goes as planned.” Like the lyrics of this song, he is still living a life as Mommy Son.
Following Mommy Son, another TV show actually opened a great era of Boo Kae and positioned it as a major entertainment genre in Korea. The TV show is “Hangout with Yoo.” Since “Infinite Challenge,” one of the all-time most popular TV shows in Korea with a maniac fandom, ended in March 2018, many fans that missed the show looked forward to its comeback. Infinite Challenge is the TV show also known for Mooyaho, the popular cheer. Check this article to learn more about Mooyaho.
But Taeho Kim, lead producer for Infinite Challenge, came back with a new TV show called “Hang out with Yoo” with Jaeseok Yoo in July, 2019, rather than a new season of Infinite Challenge.
They got the title from what Jaeseok Yoo frequently told Taeho Kim on the phone: “What are you up to, Taeho? Hang out with me.” The show started with an ambiguous theme where Jaeseok was given a camera and told to do whatever he wanted to with it.
Several months into the show, it completely changed its theme and created a series of Boo Kaes for Jaeseok Yoo. The TV show has been ultra popular since then and become a source for tons of memes.
Jaeseok Yoo has tried 13+ different Boo Kaes over the last two years. He became a drummer, Yugo Star (a parody of Ringo Star), a trot singer, Yoo San Seul, and a ramen restaurant manager, Yoo Rasek.
Last summer, Jaeseok Yoo introduced his new Boo Kae, U-Dragon, which parodized G-Dragon, and shook the pop music industry with two other Boo Kaes of K-pop singers, Rain and Hyori Lee. They made an ad-hoc dance music group called “Ssak 3” and released a light, upbeat dance pop filled with summer vibes.
Recently, Jaeseok Yoo became a music producer, Jimmy Yoo. Jimmy Yoo produced a girl group of four members. It was a sensational hit again. Playing another Boo Kae, he even played a harp as part of the Korean Symphony at Seoul Art Center.
“Hang out with Yoo” sometimes seems to be a “be whatever you want to be ” project for Jaeseok Yoo.
Figure 5. Official music video – Beach again by Ssak3, an ad-hoc dance group made of three Boo Kaes of celebrities, U-Dragon (Jaeseok Yoo), Linda Lee (Hyori Lee) and B. Ryong (Rain). The song swept all pop music ranks in Korea and drew more than 13 million views.
“Hi aitch (H) ai (I)!” Have you ever said “hi” like this? If yes, you must be a master of pop culture. This is how the hottest boy band in the world says “hi.” Am I talking about BTS? No, this boy band is on another level. It’s Mad Monster.
Mad Monster, which consists of Tan and J-Ho, debuted in 2017 and primarily worked globally outside Korea until April, 2020 when they came back to Korea with their new single “My Rudolph.” Mad Monster have about six billion fans around the world, who are called “Pocket Monsters.” Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber asked Mad Monster to feature on their albums. Mad Monster also released an album based on blockchain technologies for the first time in Korea. The album was sold out upon releasing and is currently trading at ~$4,500 on an exclusive reselling platform.
Figure 6. Official music video–My Rudolph by Mad Monster, the hottest boy group in the world.
You might wonder “Wait, who is Mad Monster? How could I have never heard of them?” That’s OK. All of these Mad Monster things I talked about are in a fictional universe created by two comedians, Beom Kwak and Changho Lee, on their YouTube Channel Bbangsongguk. The universe is built around Mad Monster, which is the Boo Kae of the comedians.
Touched up by an application, their faces are absurdly narrow and shiny. Mad Monster dances more seriously than anyone ever thought they would and actively communicate with their fans on the YouTube channel. The comedians started the Boo Kae play for fun at the beginning, but it has become quite serious over time. Their songs got top ranked on actual music streaming platforms, not fictional ones, and Mad Monster have played some of the most prestigious live music shows in Korea.
Here’s the even more surprising news–Mad Monster starred in a commercial for one of the most iconic snacks in Korea, “Ggo Ggal Corn,” which is like Bugles. Lotte snacks, the manufacturer, made a serious press release as follows: “It is a great honor for Lotte to work with Mad Monster, one of the greatest artists in our time. We will closely work with Mad Monster and actively interact with its worldwide fans in various ways going forward.” What an interesting phenomenon!
Figure 7.“Believe in yourself and move forward. Let’s eat Ggo Ggal Corn.”
All of these Boo Kae fevers are like fun plays or games which everyone enjoys together. Boo Kae is not one-way content led by creators trying to push Boo Kae content to the public. Fans and audiences already deeply into these fictional universes play these games together, more than happily in on the joke. Even celebrities and popular YouTubers play the games together and acknowledge Mad Monster as a musician. You can check it out from some comments from celebrities on Mad Monster music videos on YouTube.
Figure 8. Popular singers like Jay Park and Lee Young-ji joined other folks in playing via comments. Even mainstream media left a comment about casting Mad Monster for their TV shows. What the hell?
Figure 9. This video collaged Mad Monster’s live performance on M-Countdown, one of the most popular music programs on TV, with comments to the original video. It has more than 1.3 million views.
Changho Lee, who has J-ho of Mad Monster as his Boo Kae, has several other Boo Kaes as well. One of them is Hochang Lee, who is Head of Strategy of a gigantic food company called “Grandma Gobsaeng Kim’s Seaweed Corp.” It is one of the Chaebols (a large family-owned business conglomerate) in Korea.
Chaebol is a popular theme frequently used in Korean dramas. But this fictional universe sets up a super granular backdrop, including the corporate title, his voice and tone, facial expressions, speaking styles and even the company name. It sounds like an actual food company headquartered somewhere in Korea.
Hochang Lee’s new year message, which tweaks an actual new year message of the SSG Group CEO, one of the largest retailers in Korea, has reached more than 1.6 million views so far. The parody video is way more popular than the original. Even the original video now looks funny as it is overlapped with the parody.
Figure 10. New year’s message from SSG Group CEO, Yongjin Jung (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELwwJp48FgE).
Figure 11. New year’s message from Hochang Lee, Head of Strategy of Grandma Gobsaeng Kim’s Seaweed Corp. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdWDtjMwXYQ). He also emphasized three things like the actual CEO. The original CEO message was visionary and includes key values and strategic directions for 2021 but eventually became a meme. I am not supposed to laugh at the video, but I can’t help it…
His fictional company launched a real product in collaboration with an actual food company called Bible Seaweed, which specializes in seaweed products. There’s a famous line from its founder and chairman, Grandma Gobsaeng, on the packaging of the actual product: “it is only a piece of crunchy seaweed that could embrace a spoon of steamed white rice with too much seasoning.” Let’s not try to understand what it means…
Hochang Lee, a Boo Kae of Changho Lee, was recently picked for a commercial for a global alcohol company. Even major newspapers covered this news seriously. There is no fine line anymore between Bon Kae (a primary character in real life) and Boo Kae (the alter ego in a fictional setting).
Figure 12. You can actually buy it online. Isn’t it crazy?
Let me introduce you to one more Boo Kae who cannot be missed out on when talking about the Boo Kae syndrome. It’s Jun Choi. With comma-shaped long hair covering his eye, Jun Choi drops off cheesy lines so naturally. There are a lot of memes based on his videos and buzzwords, like “I was so immature that I flew to Ethiopia on impulse to study coffee just because I love it.”
Jun Choi selected virtual blinding dates as the theme of his Boo Kae universe. On his virtual blind dates, Jun Choi tells his stories regardless of the other side’s reactions, a lot of cheesy and cheugy lines and even sometimes sings songs all of a sudden.
Surprisingly enough, these weird characteristics of Jun Choi attracted many people online, who have a lot of fun leaving witty comments on Jun Choi videos on YouTube. They coined a new expression, “Jull in love,” which means “fall in love with Jun.”
Like other Boo Kaes, Jun Choi has featured in a lot of commercials in the real world and appeared in TV shows as Jun Choi, not as the comedian, Haejun Kim, which is his actual identity. There is a spin-off where Jun Choi sings songs with top singers.
Figure 13. One of the virtual blind dates of Jun Choi. There are countless more videos like it and aggregated views probably add up to the tens of millions.
The Boo Kae syndrome represented by Mad Monster and Jun Choi created a new genre and solidified its position in the entertainment industry. Boo Kae is one of the guaranteed success formulas now. The Boo Kae syndrome has spread rapidly on YouTube. There are many comedians in the middle of the syndrome, whose real identities are finally being uncovered.
These comedians didn’t have much exposure to the public on traditional TV shows, but YouTube enabled them to show their excellent acting skills and sense of humor to the masses.
In an episode of Hangout with Yoo, a TV show I mentioned earlier, Jaeseok Yoo played another Boo Kae, “Canola Yoo” (which means canola oil in Korean), who is an entertainment event producer from the US. Canola Yoo organized a stand-up comedy show where young and unknown comedians could show their talents.
There was a time when open comedy shows like Gag Concert were super popular, but all of them have gone for good except for Comedy Big League. There are inevitably less opportunities for new comedians now than there used to be.
The advent of the new comedy genre of Boo Kae was enabled thanks to YouTube and has finally become a sweeping pop culture trend in Korea. It’s been well accepted by mainstream media and TV shows. Of course, the success of the Boo Kae syndrome should be primarily attributed to active participation from the audience via comments and content recreation such as memes and parody videos, and to their easygoing attitude in enjoying these fictional universes.
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1. Mad Clown: He actually looks quite dandy and sings good songs as in the music video below. He was born in Chicago and went to Colorado State University. He debuted in 2011 and found fame from featuring songs of various artists.
2. Mommy Son: A household name for latex kitchen gloves in Korea. These gloves have the same color as the facial covering of Mommy Son.
3. Jaeseok Yoo: One of the most popular comedians and TV show hosts in Korea. He won 17 Grand Prize Awards as a TV show host in three different entertainment awards (something like an Emmy) in Korea. It took a while for him to take off after his debut, but he has been a top-notch comedian for the last 20 years without a scandal or slump. If you are interested in Korean TV shows, you must have seen him.
4. Trot music: One of the most popular music genres in Korea. Its name comes from Foxtrot music in the US. Trot music has been perceived as a genre for the old, but recently expanded its fanbase to younger generations driven by popular trot competitions on TV, including Mr. and Ms. Trot. Participants of Mr. Trot got a lot of insane fans.
Here’s a video of A Cup of Makgeolli (rice wine) by Young Tark, one of the participants of Mr. Trot. This video got 26mm views.
