Author : Jennifer Stone
Pop music is a phenomenon in itself, with its increasing reach on global audiences. But this reach has been driven by many factors including growing wealth, changing demographics, and especially the desire to have American culture in the developing countries. However, South Korean pop artists have recently received an unprecedented amount of recognition, in the past decade that turned it into a cultural force, transcending borders and language barriers.
K-pop or Korean Pop music can be defined by addictive melodies, and compelling choreography, perfectly paired with a never-ending line of extremely talented Korean idols, which helped the genre quickly become a global sensation. With music groups like BTS selling out stadiums in seconds, BLACKPINK breaking YouTube records in minutes, having billions and billions of views on all platforms, and hundreds of international awards in the bag, it is clear now that K-Pop is much more than just a fleeting fad. It is rather the reason causing a huge shift in not just pop music, but in culture worldwide.
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But how did Korean Pop music achieve such a stage of global phenomenon today? Let’s see how and what factors contributed to their rise to this sensational stage in the international music industry.
The cultural domination of Korean Pop: where did it all start?
Korean pop culture has always been impacted by its rich history. Once colonized by Japan, the Cold War laboriously influenced the country, leading to a complex, but impactful cultural evolution. The events that led to the country’s cultural identity, further leading to the rise of K-pop include Japan’s colonization ending in 1945, South Korea’s democratization in the 1980s, and the IMF crisis in 1997 leading to the exposure of Hallyu or Korean Wave.
When Korea was colonized by Japan, American music quickly replaced the traditional music of the country. America used its popular culture as a part of its strategy to spread the country’s culture all over the world, after the Cold War. Korea slowly accepted this “Americanization” because the country saw the US as a symbol of modernity and its liberator from Japan. Then the 1997 IMF crisis revived Korean culture again and supported by the government’s “Korean Wave” initiative, it soon took over the world. With its measures to rebuild the country’s economy, Korea aggressively started to promote K-pop music and the culture in Asia and Southeast Asia. This wave gave the country a chance to leave the shadow of being just a neighboring country and made it a cultural superpower. The government also made K-pop stars BoA, Rain, and Se7en cultural ambassadors. They represented a way of modern living that was unknown yet extremely attractive to the Asian audience.
Humble beginnings:
To some people, it might feel like the rise of Korean pop culture happened overnight. In reality, the history of K-pop leads back to the late 1980s, which is closely tied to the loosening of censorship in the country. This modernization and censorship loosening had a solid impact on Korean television, paving the way for the rise of K-pop in not just the country, but in the global scene. This was further fueled by the strong media management, savvy corporatization, and of course, countless supplies of talented Korean idols.
The widespread popularity of talent shows every week that were broadcast on South Korea’s national television networks. Every week, new music groups were introduced by the television network to the country, and most of them focused on typical pop formats and slow ballads. As the world entered the era of the 90s, South Korea became exposed regularly to American music and culture. The K-pop music scene was introduced to American pop, hip-hop, and rock music which later became one of the pillars in producing the unique sound of Korean pop music.
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When we talk about the rise of K-pop and its global dominance in the music industry, we have the internet to thank for. Pop music critic Kim Do-Heon once commented that “K-pop was fast to adapt to the evolution of digital technology and actively promoted music with a variety of self-produced video content, thereby expanding its fanbase in the global market.” He said that Korean pop music is the perfect fit for social media platforms and the secret to making good K-pop music is to lose some of the country’s traditional music sense so that it can stay appealing to the global audience.
SeoTaiji and Boys: the first ever K-pop performance
Before becoming a worldwide phenomenon, the distinctive sound of Korean pop had to be hugely popular in its own country. When the wave first started not everything had faith in this new style of pop music and thought it could succeed amid the traditional Korean music industry. But everything changed greatly in 1992 when SeoTaiji and Boys performed their debut single ‘Nan Arayo (I Know)’ for the first time. The song fused heavy metal guitar riffs and hip-hop beats with traditional melodies of pop music and brought out perfectly synchronized dance choreography. This wooed and impacted the audience heavily and became the country’s first-ever K-pop hit. While the song failed to win the talent show for the group, it went to the top on South Korea’s singles charts, for a record-breaking 17 weeks straight. This fired the pistol for the new generation of K-pop music and talented South Korean performers.
Psy, the YouTube king:
SM Entertainment held the “SM Town World Tour in Paris” in 2011 which was the first ever K-pop concert in Europe. 14,000 fans over two sold-out days, this show helped gain a lot of attention from global music fans. But K-pop barely came onto the radar of Western media until 2012 that is when Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ entered the scene. It quickly rose to popularity and the world was quick to notice. The singer’s mix of comedy and rhythmic pop helped him become an overnight global sensation and the video became the most-viewed content on YouTube, remaining there for the next five years. Now ‘Gangnam Style’ has over 4 billion views on the biggest video streaming platform. Psy’s fame also marked the beginning of Korean Pop’s global takeover, paving the way for thousands more Korean idols to come.
Some of the key K-pop groups:
Over the years since 2012, K-pop has evolved and expanded in new ways than ever imagined. The genre has also successfully penetrated what seemed to be impenetrable walls of the mainstream American music industry, as well as the global music industry. A lot of its credit goes to the phenomenal boy band BTS as it has made history and paved the road for other Korean artists to achieve success in the US industry. In addition to BTS, some other viral K-pop bands and artists that have forced the world to take notice with their exceptional music and choreography are BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE, GOT7, Seventeen, VIXX, NCT, Wanna One, Stray Kids, Monsta X, etc. These groups have also achieved global success like no other with their energetic performances, majestic musical beats, and of course, unique fashion sense.
K-Pop’s Global Domination:
K-pop has evolved into a full-force global movement in the recent couple of years, and a lot of thankfulness for it goes to BTS. Currently known as the biggest boy band in the world, BTS is the first K-pop group to break not only records but also break the internet. Out of its 359 worldwide music award nominations, the group alone has won more than 250 awards. The music video of their English viral hit ‘Dynamite’ has generated more views than any other video in the history of YouTube in 24 hours.
Soon BLACKPINK came to take over, and the all-girl group consisting of four amazingly talented girls became the most subscribed music group on YouTube with 93.5 million subscribers. The group has recently released its documentary, starring themselves ‘Light Up the Sky’ on Netflix. The documentary has also garnered much acclaim from viewers from all around the world. The documentary clearly shows the real world of K-pop and provides a true depiction of the K-pop studio system. To put it simply, Korean pop music and culture is just hitting its stride, and there is so much muchmuch more to come.
- The reason behind K-pop’s revolution: marketing genius
South Korean entertainment corporations have now mastered the art of generating anticipation and hype for every new content produced by Korean artists. K-pop stars are some of the most influential artists on social media, with some of the most dedicated following. This becomes extremely impactful for brands that they collaborate with, as they can reach millions of fans in just minutes through their powerful social media presence.
One such incident is BTS’ collaboration with McDonald’s in 2019, where the brand launched a BTS meal. In the week after the launch, the company saw a 40% increase in sales, making the partnership a huge success. The meal also took credit for attracting a lot of youngsters into the consumer demographic of McDonald’s. To understand how K-pop stars hold influence over the world, let’s understand how the hype around them is created.
- The hype around their releases
Ahead of their new releases, K-pop artists release teaser pictures and videos that slowly build up anticipation and excitement among fans. They also release concept trailers ahead of the release of any new music that shows a glimpse into the overall style and concept of the upcoming release. This further pique the interest of the fans all around the world. The biggest power weapon moreover is social media. Several social media campaigns are released to keep the fans engaged as well as updated on the newest developments on the upcoming releases. This can be giveaways, exclusive content, or even fan contests.
- Garnering curiosity
In the world of K-pop, Korean companies often use puzzling storytelling, generating speculation, curiosity, and anticipation among followers. This is usually done by posting cryptic social media messages or images, teaser images or videos, or sometimes with the music itself. The other very popular way of generating curiosity in the K-pop industry is collaborating with other brands, and even other K-pop artists, and groups that also generate excitement among fans.
- Interactions with fans like never before
Part of the reason why K-pop is so popular in the current world is because the artists bring some sense of comfort and warmth to the lives of listeners. One of the biggest examples of this lies in how K-pop artists and groups interact with fans. V-Live is a live-streaming platform that is pretty popular among K-pop fans. Idols use this streaming service to interact with their fans, communicate with them, and even share some behind-the-scenes content. Other than this, fan cams, which are typically compilations of videos of idols performing on stage or just being themselves are shared on social media platforms, generating millions of views. Although this is comforting footage for K-pop fans, it also generates curiosity and attraction among other social media users, intriguing them into listening to K-pop music.
The cultural impact of Korean Pop culture:
Korean pop’s influence has now extended beyond just the global music industry and has led to the creation of a worldwide category in the movie and television industry. But if we stick to just the music industry, the Korean music industry has altered the global music scene completely, especially when it comes to cultural impact. The visually appealing music videos paired with elaborate dance choreography have impacted the storytelling and visual style all over the world. On top of that, sophisticated and fashion-forward aesthetics have also impacted the fashion sense of the entire world.
Now with the increasing popularity, the Korean-pop industry is facing some real challenges from countries like Japan, and China. But despite all the challenges, the industry is expected to grow as theHallyu seems to be never-ending!
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