As Asia embraces Thailand's 'T-wave', is the tide turning against K-pop?

At a shopping centre in Bangkok's old town, every few days an unlikely clientele of young Chinese tourists voraciously pick through the rows of pale blue or white Thai school uniforms for sale.

The link between Chinese visitors and an obscure Southeast Asian school uniform - disliked by many Thai pupils who have to wear boy scout shorts or knee-length skirts - is a 2010 romcom, A Little Thing Called Love, which was picked up by Chinese streaming giant Bilibili.

Also helping the viral craze is Chinese singer Ju Jingyi, who posed in the US$8-US$10 uniform made famous in the film earlier this year and posted the photos to her Weibo page.

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Since then the "Sri Pan School Uniform Shop" and its peers have welcomed a handful of Chinese tourists who make the pilgrimage across Bangkok to buy the clothes, have their names embroidered in Thai on the shirt pocket, and then pose for a photo - which is now part of many Chinese influencer's Thai bucket-list.

In one Facebook post entitled "China boys and China girls", six young Chinese visitors pose in school uniform, the boys with the knots of their ties low and the three women in complete uniform, including the 300 baht (US$8.50) school shoes and white socks combo common to many public schools.

Thai media has picked up on the trend as a reflection of Thailand's growing 'T-Wave' of music, idols, film and TV series - some new, many recycled - churned out by the country's relentless content creators and shared across Asia through a flurry of new platforms.

Many of the new fans are frequent travellers to a kingdom that is cheaper and more accessible than South Korea, which remains the region's dominant pop-culture leader.

Thailand's tourist authorities are desperate to cash in on the "soft power" allure of global stars like Lalisa Manobal - Lisa from Blackpink - as well as a growing list of local talents making their way onto a larger stage, such as 20-year-old rapper Milli.

Thailand has attracted 12.5 million tourists so far this year as it looks to appeal to young, high-spending Asians, with Western visitors - not including Russians - falling behind Malaysians, Chinese and Singaporeans.

Brand Thailand is shining as Chinese mega-platforms such as Viu, IQiyi and Bilibili hoover up content such as 2022 series Cutie Pie and KinnPorsche.

New fans can attend concerts or meet their idols for far less than their Korean equivalents, as K-pop becomes increasingly unaffordable and oversubscribed.

Thailand's appeal extends well beyond China.

Thai "boy's love" (BL) dramas, a genre in which the kingdom now leads with its handsome stars, romantic plot lines and hazy sexuality, are gaining popularity in China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Singaporean Rae Chua, 23, became interested in Thai pop culture when she first saw 2020 BL smash hit 2gether on Netflix. In the code of Asian pop culture, the genre is otherwise known as Y Series, derived from the Japanese term yaoi, which refers to fictional male characters involved in homoerotic relationships.

Chua says her favourite Thai idols are Jumpol Adulkittiporn and Atthaphan Phunsawat - nicknamed Off and Gun, respectively.

Over time, her love for Thai pop culture has expanded to include learning the language and Thai music, which she finds less "repetitive" than K-pop.

"I want to go to Thai music festivals because whenever I see them, it really feels like the singers are genuinely having fun singing their music," Chua said. "As for dramas, I cannot deny it's because of how good-looking the actors are, but they're also really talented and the scriptwriters are really creative with their plots."

She says that the pool of overseas fans like herself has been growing, noting a move away from K-pop and K-culture.

"Getting tickets is always a struggle," she said. "Whenever I go to fan meets, the common trait among fans is that most of them are shifting from K-pop to the Thai entertainment space."

Thai singer-songwriter Jeff Satur's two-night show in February in Singapore was sold out. Event organisers added the second date due to overwhelming demand.

"Thai pop culture has been very effective in using the internet to be seen," Singaporean Nicholas Lim, 25, an architectural designer, told This Week in Asia.

"They are capitalising on the ubiquity of the internet in Southeast Asia," he said.

Anuphan Phanthong, founder of Random Dance Bangkok, a fortnightly dance-off in the Thai capital that pulls in hundreds of young T-, K- and J-pop devotees, says T-Wave still has a long way to go to upstage its Korean forebear.

"T-Pop has become a lot more popular this year with new platforms and channels picking up the music," the Korean-speaking emcee said. "But our choreography and music composition is weak compared to K-pop. We're probably around 50 per cent below the K-pop standard right now."

Random Dance Bangkok events have offered young people a chance to showcase moves honed over TikTok during the pandemic to the public stage. Some take their choreography very seriously, hoping to get spotted by the Thai, Korean and Japanese agents who sometimes patrol the plaza outside, while others are in cosplay or just enjoying an evening out under the blaring speakers.

Still, the standard has been set by K-pop: the once state-backed juggernaut; maker and breaker of dreams; and provider of the mega-bands, peerless choreography and jaw-dropping concerts that have taken the world by storm.

Until Thailand backs its talent pool with money and a matching level of ruthless commercialism, the handbrake will always be on the industry, Anuphan says.

"K-pop dominates Asia, so to get there we have to match them. If agencies in Thailand start to train kids with the same level of intensity of K-pop, then maybe T-pop has that chance to hit the global market."

For some, the tide has already turned - and it started during the pandemic.

Former K-pop fan, Singaporean Puteri Amira Binte Mansor, 25, started watching Thai remakes of popular Korean dramas - like Full House and Boys Over Flowers - before getting drawn into Thai pop culture.

"During Covid, I came across new dramas that I found appealing. Recently, I found a new friend in Thailand who introduced me to Thai songs," she said.

Since her conversion, Puteri Amira has flown to Thailand twice to catch her favourite stars, spending about S$900 (US$665) for a four-day trip in May to catch a Beluca concert, featuring Thai BL actors Jumpol, Atthaphan, Thitipoom Techaapaikhun and Tawan Wihakarat.

While she concedes the pool of T-pop fans is still "small", Puteri Amira has seen the numbers climbing steadily in the last two years, adding that the showmanship of Thai stars is a step up from their Korean counterparts.

"For Beluca's performance, there was a concert segment where they sang, then they had a musical, fashion show and invited guests," she said. "That's the difference between K-pop; the actors are more well-rounded."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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