Everybody by now has already heard about K-POP at some point in their life. As the normal definition goes, it is South Korean Pop music culture that has massively grown in the world, gaining huge popularity and fans. Everywhere you go, you will find a K-POP Stan and they are very vivid while showing their love for their favorites. But don’t you think this massive KPOP movement happened right under our noses before we could even realize what was happening. How has K-POP reached its current peak? And what makes it so unique? These are some of the questions that we will be answering today.
What Exactly is K-POP?
K-POP stands for Korean pop music, whereas pop stands for popular. It was around the ’90s when the name for the genre was first recorded in English. Modern K-POP is heavily influenced by western pop music and it has incorporated different forms of styles like rap and rock among many others. It originated in South Korea as a part of South Korean culture. Most K-POP songs are in the Korean language with a mix of English every now and then. But it is not just about its songs, a far lot more of the paper goes into defining what K-POP really is.
The Obsession with Perfection
When talking about K-POP, we get the picture of perfect faces, flawless skin, catchy melodies, beautiful western outfits, big-budget production, interesting music videos, and obviously, perfectly synchronized dance routines. Everything that is associated with K-POP is the meaning of textbook perfection. And this is what fans across the borders and cultures have fallen in love with.
But this is not a negative thing. In K-POP, not only girls but guys wear makeup, dress in a feminine style, and dye their hair out of many things. This gives an idea of a progressive way of society. The idols bend the cultural and gender norms in various ways which is just another of many reasons why everybody loves it. Just bending around the idea of men being ‘Macho’ just shows there is more side to masculinity than what it is believed to have.
Was K-POP Always This Famous?
It has always been a popular thing and people failed to catch its drift earlier. Remember the Gangnam Style by PSY? It is a song that made it into the mainstream world of music and people have enjoyed the song so much without even understanding its lyrics. This is the crazy power of K-POP, it is music beyond any barriers, which connects people.
The Making of a K-POP Artist
A massive fan following of K-POP has various solo artists on their list but one true core group. In this genre of music, group music is much more famous than solo artists. Musical groups like BTS, TWICE, BLACK PINK, EXO, Seventeen, and many more are just some of the popular names. But they are not just famous by luck as everything happens in an organized manner.
The majority of idols had to take intensive professional training to become what they are now. They study how to sing, rap, perform on stage and behave under fame and popularity from as early as middle school. Every day, an artist spends the majority of their time perfecting dancing and singing as they are the most vital aspects of being an idol. The competition is also as crowded as it sounds. If an artist makes the cut then some organization signs them up to their group or gets a solo launch.
South Korean Government’s Take on K-POP
The government has backed K-POP and tagged it as a national priority. Around the ’90s, the president of South Korea decided to invest money to promote their culture to the parts of the world, and what more efficient way than music. The current state of Korean POP has a lot to thank their government.
Do People Truly Understand the Lyrics?
As we talked about earlier, most Korean POP songs are written and performed in the Korean language. But every now and then they use some familiar language to appeal to the outside crowd. English is a widely spoken language thus it makes sense to use it, other than that, they also use Japanese to appeal to the population of Japan. Every massive group in this genre has at least a single artist that can perform in English and handle their interviews outside of Korea.
As for people understanding Korean, it is like watching Anime in sub. With the use of English songs and artists’ names to appeal to the outside, Korean POP has successfully blended English and Japanese with Korean for worldwide fans.
K-POP is much more than just a scheme or popular music, it is about a lifestyle, a different approach to thinking, and social norms. That is why it has grown so much so quickly and that’s what makes it special.
