Alpha Girl, Ivy

It has basically been Ivy’s victory. Ivy, who returned with “Seductive Sonata,” the title song of her second album, early this year amidst intense competition among female singers, has successfully stolen the limelight of K-pop. The song recorded 1,423,500 hits at the online music site Bugs Music for streamline listening in a month and topped both online and offline music charts, translating into album sales of 35,000 copies.

The only female singer who topped the music charts was Baek Ji-young in 2006. What was more surprising was that Ivy won the competition with Lee Hyo-lee, one of the most popular female singers with strong sex appeal. Ivy’s name was the most searched singer on Korea’s No.1 search engine Naver throughout March and the hidden camera scene of Ivy is now prevalent on online portal sites. As seen from the “Lee Hyo-lee syndrome,” every single detail of Ivy has become the center of the public interest.

Of course, there have also been unfavorable factors, but what is certain is that she has created the so-called “Ivyholic” syndrome in two years since her debut. So what is the secret behind Ivy’s success?

“Although I am meticulous on stage, I am actually more like an elementary school boy. I am clumsy and easygoing. Sometime I act foolishly as well,” Ivy said.

Although Ivy said she is an easygoing girl, she is often referred to as an “alpha girl” by music industry experts. “Ivy’s sex appeal that the young generation pursues represents an alpha girl who is both daring and confident,” said Gong Hee-cheol, the producer of the SBS Music Chart. Alpha girls are self-confident and daring young women, according to Dan Kindlon, a child psychologist at Harvard University. “The secret of her success is changing her image to a charismatic singer by refraining from her sexy choreographic moves, sexy body, and make-up,” Kim Heon-sik, a culture critic, said.

Efforts to refrain from sex appeal are also seen on “Seductive Sonata.” “In order for Ivy to exploit her potential as a vocalist, she focused on producing a sharp voice in place of moaning or provocative sounds,” said Park Geun-tae, composer of “Seductive Sonata.”

“It is too obvious to say, but I think my rival is myself. These days I get so exhausted that I often let things slide. So I am constantly battling myself psychologically,” Ivy said.

However, what made her become the top artist is “her rival.” “While Lee Hyo-lee was getting unfavorable reviews due to a plagiarism scandal and a drama appearance, the public discovered Ivy as a new sexy star. She got great reviews thanks to her live performance and critics who have said that she is an ‘alternative to Lee Hyo-lee’ in terms of her singing skills, dance, and age,” said Seong Woo-jin, a music critic.

Ivy has transcended her sex appeal. Unlike the image she developed through her first album, she does not expose her body at all when she performs “Seductive Sonata” on stage, often wearing long pants, a blouse, and a jacket. The cover of her second album also emphasizes her innocent image. “Due to the fierce competition between sexy stars, exposure has become so common. So she has followed the opposite of the trend,” said Lee Si-yeon, Ivy’s personal stylist.

“The upcoming challenges? Life is not easy for a female singer in Korea. If you make one mistake, it is often difficult to recover from it. So you have to be always cautious. And there is also constant pressure on transformation,” Ivy said.

There are certainly hurdles that she has to overcome to secure her popularity. Recently, the ‘Seductive Sonata’ music video was banned as the court rule that it plagiarized the Japanese feature animation “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.” Although the director of the music video said, “I made the music video out of my respect to the director,” the verdict was clear that it was plagiarism. Some people also speculate that the “Ivyholic” phenomenon comes from the influence of her management agency, one of the biggest of its kind in the country.

Above all, music industry personnel point out that the key word to her continuing success will be her vocal talent. “She has taken her share as a female singer with the second album. However, she will have to focus on her music and differentiate herself from other female signers of her age in the future,” Seong said.

bsism@donga.com