Crazy About K Pop? But How Did This Unique Music Become So Viral Internationally??

One of the most trending music industries, K-pop has reached out to millions of people throughout the world. K-pop, as we all know, is a South Korean music class that has made its mark internationally by the way it stands out of the lot. Korean Pop is not a genre of music but includes a range of styles and genres from all over the world. From Western pop to rock, country to rock many other genres along with Korea’s own unique traditional Korean music.

K-pop is very popular not only in the Asian countries but also around the world. BTS (Bangtan Boys) becoming the first K-pop group that performed at the American Music Awards.

Source: Time

But how did K-pop become a trend?

Touching millions of hearts today and with increasing fandom every moment, K-pop has its own history to tell.

In 1992, Seo Taiji and Boys gave an iconic performance in a musical contest show in South Korea. The performance was not much appreciated by the judges but those three boys, Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun Suk and Lee Juno had already set the stage for what was to follow next. Seo Taiji and Boys changed the way music was made in South Korea during that time. They experimented with different genres and styles and inculcated foreign musical elements which were not what South Korea was expecting. With mostly patriotic songs and love ballads being sung, Seo Taiji and Boys introduced a new trend to South Korea.

Source: Billboard

The way they styled themselves with baggy pants and B-boy look became another topic of discussion in South Korea. They were the ‘new kids’ who introduced a new dimension of music to South Korea. The group retired in 1996 with their music album Goodbye, leaving their fans in tears.

Soon H.O.T, who got their inspiration from Seo Taiji & Boys, debuted in 1996. H.O.T had amazing choreography, amazing music, hip hop style which gave them success and their success was followed by other idol bands like Sechs Kies, Fin.K.L, Shinhwa, G.O.D and others.

How did K Pop go viral worldwide -

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 made South Korea look over their entertainment industry as export industry. H.O.T came up with a Mandarin- language album, Diva with an English-language album in Taiwan. The new markets gave immense success to K-pop and it grew in no time.

Source: New Straits Times

Today South Korea has a number of both girl group bands and boy group bands which are under different entertainment agencies.

The top three entertainment agencies of South Korea being SM Entertainment under Lee Soo Man, YG under former Seo Taiji and Boys member, Yang Hyun Suk and JYP under Park Jin Young.

The number of entertainment agencies cater number of young talents who work hard as trainees, get polished by these agencies before they debut as a K-pop idol. It may as well take years of training and hard work and also competitions for one to debut as an idol.

The catchy music, amazing music videos and art makes K-pop popular. The idols not just work on one aspect of music but are shaped to become over all performers. With crazy choreography, awesome music ideas and breath taking visuals make the music more interesting and different from what others follow.

The Korean pop extends beyond boundaries and cultural differences and connects to the people. Even though the song is in Korean language, it still includes some English words or lyrics which adds a catch to the song.

‘Bigbang’ a boy group formed by Yang Hyun Suk under YG entertainment is one of the most influential group that gave direction to the K-pop industry and also provided international recognition to the K-pop and so are also referred to as ‘Kings of K-pop’. Their song ‘Lies’ that gave them immense success start with English lyrics and then moves on to Korean and beautifully blends up both Korean and English throughout the song.

Source: Top of the Kpops - WordPress.com

Super Junior,SNSD (Girls’ Generation), Red Velvet, Shinee, Winner, Twice, ikon, F.T.Island, Blackpink, BTOB, Seventeen and a number of other groups that have an international fan base work hard to keep up the standards of K-pop.

Source: Open Spotify

K-pop not just caters the South Korean public but works really hard to strengthen its roots across the globe. The K-pop groups make their songs not only in Korean but also in different versions like Japanese and Mandarin. EXO, a boy band formed by Lee Soo Man was formed with two sub group : EXO-K that promoted songs in Korean and EXO-M that promoted songs in Mandarin. Not just the promotion but various K-pop groups also included foreign members like Bambam from Thailand in GOT7 under JYP, Yuta from Japan and  Ten from Thailand in NCT under SM and many more that can be listed down.

The K-pop stars referred to as the idols set a class of celebrities. They are supposed to be focused on their career and are completely meant for their fans which somehow means that they should not do something that tarnishes their image even if its not a big deal in other words.

Source: Billboard

Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ surpassed everything and became the first Youtube video to gain 1 billion views and got widespread attention of the world. With K-pop receiving more and more support and appreciation, their international performances outside Asia have become more and more frequent.

Source: YouTube

Red Velvet’s 'Red Flavor' hooks up the listener right from the strong intro of the song and then moving to a softer melody and then to a different rhythm and the attractive music video makes it interesting dance-pop and a summer vibe song.

Not sticking to one style of music and working on a different class makes K-pop attractive and popular which sets it apart from the usual form of music.