K-POP(?) What is it?

Hello everyone, and welcome back to K to the POP.

For my last blog, I talked about how they became so popular and well-known by people from around the world. However, some people might wonder what K-pop actually is? What is it abbreviation from? Or when did it even start? 

To honest with you, I was actually wondering about those questions myself too. So, for this blog, I am going to tell you about the origin of K-pop and how it developed to be K-pop that we know nowadays. 

K-pop or Korean popular music, to trace back to the original of K-pop music, it would be in 1885 or 30 years ago. However, the K-pop back then is not similar to K-pop music nowadays. It started in 1989 when Lee Soo-man established an entertainment company, after exploring the trends in American music, SM Studio or SM entertainment (rename in 1995), which later became one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea. 

However, the real revolutionary moment in the history of K-pop is actually in 1992 when the group call Seo Taiji & Boys emerged. Seo Taiji & Boys is the first boyband group that combined another language into the lyrics, as well as created the dance moves in their music. After their debut, they completely change the focus of the Korean music industry to teen-centered pop music. Furthermore, it was the beginning of modern K-pop. 

After the disband of Seo Taiji & Boys, in 1996, the former Seo Taiji & Boys’ member Yang Hyun-suk founded YG Entertainment. Also, Park Jin-Young established JYP Entertainment in 1997. YG, JYP, and SM Entertainment companies are the three most prominent entertainment companies in South Korea. 

In 1996, SM Entertainment created the boy group called “H.O.T.,” which was one of the first idol boybands. For their training, they are not only practice singing and dancing skills, but they also etiquette, attitude, language, and the ability to deal with the media. After H.O.T.’s succeeds, other young boys and girls groups like Sechs Kies, S.E.S., Fin, K.L, NRG, Baby Vox, Diva, Shinhwa, and g.o.d, followed H.O.T.’s steps and became popular among the younger generation as well. 

Furthermore, they further increased the popularity of K-pop and the Korean Wave into other Asian countries. Some of the artists were able to broke into the other counties’ markets. For example, Kwon Bo-ah, or BoA, broke into the Japanese market with her Japanese album in 2002, which also helped increase the Korean Wave. Another example is an idol boyband group call “TVXQ,” which debuted in 2003. They became very successful and increased the awareness for K-pop. They were able to broke into both Japan’s and China’s markets. The primary target market of the Korean Wave is the Asian markets. 

After K-pop successfully break into all the other Asian countries' music industries, they started making appearances on Western charts (e.g., Billboard). Besides, social media is another tool that the K-pop industry uses to reach wider audiences. Furthermore, after Psy's "Gangnam Style" music video was the first YouTube video to reach one million views, the K-pop music industries were achieving the coverage in the mainstream media and the awareness for K-pop in Western Country. Not only "Psy" helped create the awareness for K-pop in Western countries, but "BTS" also help spread awareness of K-pop by being the first idol boyband group to win the Top Social Artist at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards in 2017.

As you can see, K-pop has stated around 30 years ago and has been expanding remarkably. I think it is impressive to see how much they have grown over the years. Furthermore, nowadays, more K-pop groups can break into Western charts and be well known by people from other countries outside Asia. I hope you enjoy reading about K-pop's evolution and how it shifted to be K-pop that we know nowadays. Lastly, I want to share one of my favorites K-pop songs with you, EXO - Ko Ko Bop. Let me know what you think about the song and share your favorite K-pop groups or songs with me.

Thank you for reading! See you again in my next blog. 

Stay tuned!! 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-pop#Origins_of_Korean_popular_music

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/lee-soo-man-taking-korean-pop-culture-global

http://www.moonrok.com/history-k-pop-chapter-3-seo-taiji-and-boys/