K-pop refers to popular music that is gaining popularity in Korea. It is commonly called K-pop in Korea and pop in the Anglo-American region. So when Korean pop becomes popular overseas, it is called K-pop.
K-pop, which has been spreading around the world since Psy's Gangnam Style, can be seen as the center and beginning of K content.
The beginning of K-pop that we know is Sechskies, HOT, Seo Taiji, and children. Among them, we need to focus on Seo Taiji and Yang Hyunsuk, a former member of (G)I-DLE. Yang Hyun Suk founded YG Entertainment after Seo Tae Jae and (G)I-DLE broke up
It is no exaggeration to say that YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, which are the three major entertainment companies in Korea, opened the Renaissance period of K-Pop.
The peculiar thing was that although the times were a little different, it felt a little special that all three representatives were singers. As a singer, not a professional manager, I think K-pop can expand into the world by combining the results of the research with what fans want and how to communicate.
For your information, YG is President Yang Hyun-suk, SM is President Lee Soo-man, JYP is President Park Jin-young, and although the fields of dance and ballad are different, famous singers who know their songs or dances have established the Entertainment company.
There have been many changes in Korea since the 2000s. As the illegal music market grew, the music market gradually shrank, and the Korean music market until 2004 was really difficult, but the three major entertainment companies continued to prepare from the difficult times
The trainee and producer system was introduced to create a systematic and divided labor system rather than the existing fist-ball system, and through systematic practice, evaluation, and competition, synergy between trainees was created
We have prepared so that there will be more singers who are good at singing and dancing, not just pretty, rap, dance, or singing.
Before the 2000s, singers were pretty, good at singing, and lip-sync when they danced, but they changed all of this.
K-pop was not just created, but was prepared and prepared through long preparation and trial and error, and it is still continuously accepting and developing various forms of music.
After a long preparation period and a lot of trial and error, in 2013, the group EXO's first album surpassed 1 million copies, revitalizing the music market.
Since then, it has sold 1 million copies of each album, setting an unprecedented record as a Quintuple Million Seller, and EXO's cumulative album sales are now over 10 million, the first singer to debut in the 21st century.
Of course, EXO is not the first K-pop singer, but I think EXO was the trigger to knock on the door of K-pop.
After JYP Wonder Girls announced their entry into the U.S. with "Nobody," they became the first Korean to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at 76th place (President Park Jin-young worked with Wonder Girls in the U.S. at that time and suffered a lot)
In the 2010s, many groups entered Japan, and Girls' Generation topped the Japanese Oricon single chart daily with "Gee," and Kara also made the Korean Wave by making it on the Oricon chart.
And in 2012, when K-pop was finally globalized, Psy, a singer, began to publicize the popularity of global K-pop to the world by ranking second on the Hot 100 chart, a single chart on the U.S. Billboard for seven consecutive weeks.
Among K-POP groups, Girls' Generation's Gee YouTube music video has surpassed 100 million views for the first time
G-Dragon: Crooked, Who You?, Untitled, 2014, Taeyang: Eyes, Nose, Mouth, RINGA LINGA, Hyuna: Bubble Pop!, Ice Cream, IU: Palette, Pippi, Jenny: SOLO, etc. achieved 100 million views
For the first time, BIGBANG's FANTASTIC BABY YouTube music video achieved 300 million views, and he resigned to become globally famous for K-pop.
Among the girl groups, TWICE was the first K-pop idol to hit 100 million views on their debut song, 400 million views on their music video, sold 10 million cumulative albums, and won first place on music shows
BLACKPINK also raised the status of K-pop by setting several records, including 1 billion views of the girl group's first music video and No. 1 cumulative views of music videos.
From 2020, the direction of globalization of k-pop has changed a little. That's the part where I put a lot of English in the lyrics. It seems to have set a direction to facilitate accessibility in the English-speaking world by adding a lot of English.
Typically, most of the lyrics are written in English, such as "MY BAG" by K-pop (G)I-DLE and "Dream Comes True" by aespa, or a song called the K-pop genre but without a single Korean sentence
As new attempts such as BTS's "Dynamite," "Butter," and "Permission to Dance" began to emerge, it showed that songs belonging to the K-pop genre could be made without Korean, only in English.
Three Success Factors of K-pop
First: The music video
It is no exaggeration to say that K-Pop began to become famous because of YouTube views in music videos. K-pop's music video breaks the framework of the existing two-dimensional video
The concept that fits the song, the use of props, the combination of costumes that utilize individual characteristics and various special effects maximizes the beauty of the video, and the camera composition and story that you can only see in the movie
It's not just about watching, it's about getting closer to the viewers. It's about a series of stories
It made me feel the identity of a K-pop singer, instilling fans with the expectation that the singer would release a new song and return soon with just the music video.
Second: Group Dance
Group Dance is an indispensable element of K-pop. It's a concept that didn't exist in the existing Dance Pop, and especially K-pop's Group Dance emphasizes the group's personality and dances like one person, so K-pop Group Dance is
It has such a symbolic meaning in K-pop that it is called sharp group dance.
Third: Fashion
The style of K-pop singers has a lot of influence on Asia, the Americas, and Europe. And as work fashion (music shows), show programs, and airport fashion, which are only available in Korea, have been published and known in many articles, K-pop singers have become famous in many overseas fashion industries
G-Dragon of Big Bang and 2NE1 CL are famous as the representative singers. These days, Jenny of BLACKPINK is Chanel's representative embers, and she is also in fashion shows, and she is also an emberser of Burry and Dior
In addition to the 4th girl group New Jin's, there are more K-pop singers who are active as Ambassador.
K-pop has become increasingly global and is now recognized anywhere in the world. However, competition is fierce and the life span of hit songs is short, hook songs (repeated phrases), excessive use of foreign languages, and release first in foreign countries or perform in Korea after activities
It is also true that there are many problems. Perhaps the globalization of K-pop is showing uniform and printed music and dance. K-pop where you can express your individuality, K-pop that lasts for a long time, and K-pop in various genres
I hope that it can be popular for a long time and be known around the world, not for a short time.