POPPIN' Music

Kpop ( Korean pop or Korean popular music) is a music genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. Although it includes all genres of "popular music" within South Korea, the term is often used in a narrower sense to describe a modern form of South Korean pop music drawing inspiration on a range of styles and genres incorporated from the rest of the world such as Western pop music, rock, experimental, jazz, gospel, Latin, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, electronic dance, folk, country and classical on top of its uniquely traditional Korean music roots.

Kpop’s popularity is mainly due to the fact that listeners can enjoy its different

genres, dancing, music videos, and stories on the about their art. One Korean singer known to have covered almost all the genres of music is the singer “IU”. Billboard gave her the title of “The Queen of Music” because she covered the majority of genres of music.

The first K-pop group was Seo Taiji and Boys which formed in 1992 and dissolved in 1996. Their experimentation with different styles and genres of music and integration of foreign musical elements helped reshape and modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene. The first Kpop “Idol” culture began with the boy band H.O.T in 1996. After the first generation of “Idols” finished TVXQ and BoA started the “new generation” and the idols who contributed to “Hallyu or Korean Wave” TVXQ is one of the majors contributors of the “Korean Wave” for their international success in other countries like in Japan, who are still the number one group for their hit “Billboard” which gave them the title of “K-pop royalty” and BoA is referred as the “Queen of K-pop.”

In South Korea, there are multiple entertainment companies that debut Kpop groups every year, but there are 3 entertainment companies that are the dream of a trainees. These companies give training in singing, dancing, acting, and languages. If a trainee is lucky, he/she can debut in less than a year, if not they can train for up to 5 years or more. JiHyo from Twice trained for ten years! A lot of groups debut every year and because of their fierce competition they are dissolved for lack of popularity.

Trainees leave their houses and live in dormitories and rarely see their parents. The contracts from companies before were known to slave Idols there was one case of an Idol called Yoona whose contract lasted 13 years but fans found about this and, the company changed the contract.

Although the new generation of Kpop can enjoy fame because of the help of a lot of groups, a lot of groups are breaking barriers internationally like BTS who was nominated for a Billboard award and won “Top Social Artist”. The first Korean to ever win an American award was Psy and the first group is BTS. BTS made their debut on American television at the “American Music Awards” with their song “DNA”. Other Kpop groups have already debuted on American television like Wonder Girls, Rain, TVXQ, SNSD, and Psy.

The new generation of groups are helping K-pop to become more famous. Not only is BTS a part of the new generation, but so is Twice, an girl group who’s enjoying success in Japan. Other groups such as Exo, who are known for the sells of their album physical and digital, and Red Velvet are also enjoying success in Korea.