The Unofficial Guide to KPOP for Dummies!

By Kayleigh Chevrier on April 1, 2015

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When someone mentions KPOP, what is the first thing that comes into your head? Is it confusion? Is it excitement and/or curiosity? Maybe you don’t even know what KPOP is? Well, one thing is for sure, there’s much more to KPOP than just PSY’s “Gangnam Style.”

I, myself, am a HUGE lover of KPOP. Depending on who I’m with, I get a mixed variety of reactions. Some of my friends think I’m extremely weird and say I have terrible taste in music (as they turn up Rebecca Black’s “Friday”), while others vehemently celebrate and dance with me while we binge-watch our favorite KPOP music videos.

It’s interesting to experience popular music in other countries even though there is an obvious language barrier. We all know you don’t need to understand a song completely to enjoy it, or else “Gangnam Style” would have never reached billions of views.

Can you spot your favorite group?
photocred: en.korea.com

Regardless of whether you’re trying to better understand your KPOP-obsessed friend, or you’re looking for a jumping block to start your growing interest in KPOP music, or you’re just one of my family members reading this so I don’t embarrass myself with low reading rates, you’re about to experience and learn the basics of KPOP music.

KPOP, not Korean Pop Music, but rather, Korean Popular Music (music popular at the time), is a musical genre originating in South Korea that is strongly characterized by a wide array of audiovisual features.

The term “KPOP” describes the modern forms of South Korean pop music covering dance-pop, pop ballad, electronic, rock, metal, hip-hop, and R&B. Artists can and have released  some of their albums in either the Korean, Japanese, English, or Chinese languages.

KPOP spawned an entire industry, creating several production and event-management companies. The three biggest agencies in terms of revenue are SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, often referred to as the “Big Three.”

According to Time Magazine, the KPOP music market has experienced double-digit growth rates, grossing nearly US $3.4 billion in the first half of 2012. Click here to read the full article!

Logos of YG, SM, and JYP Entertainment
photocred: kpopstarz.com

With the help of modern technology, KPOP began its spread to other regions of the world as part of the global Korean Wave. Several singers expanded their music careers by releasing English Language studio albums in hopes of bringing the genre over to western music markets.

Finally, as I’m sure you remember, PSY’s global release of “Gangnam Style” on YouTube provided the most successful breakthrough of the KPOP genre in the United States. Since then, many KPOP songs and artists have been featured all over the U.S.

Now that you know just a little bit about the background of KPOP, I’ve compiled a personal list of popular videos and links worth checking out if you’re curious about the KPOP genre.

Starting us off is BoA, an active singer in South Korea, Japan and the United States. She is often referred to as the Queen of Korean Pop. Think the Korean Britney Spears. Check out this video of her performing “Hurricane Venus,” the title song on her sixth Korean album Hurricane Venus.

She’s also released great songs like “No. 1” and her U.S. single “Eat You Up.”

Though BoA reached a lot of success as a KPOP soloist, most of the popular songs come from groups consisting of anywhere from four to 14 members.

When I was in the eighth grade, I listened to my first KPOP song ever: “Replay” from boy group SHINee (pronounced “Shiny”). Who could resist the cute faces of these five boys? I couldn’t! Since their debut in 2009, they’ve released superb additions to the KPOP genre including “Ring Ding Dong,” “Lucky Star” and “Dream Girl.”

Take a look at the awesome choreography of their latest 2015 Japanese release, “Your Number.”

Another classic boy group is Super Junior, which debuted way back in 2005 with “Sorry, Sorry.” Super Junior consisted of 13 members at its peak but has 12 active members as of today. Though some of the members come and go, whether it is to enlist in the army or pursue other interests, they always put out some really great songs like “Sexy, Free, & Single” and “Mamacita.”

This video shows them performing their 2011 comeback single, “Mr. Simple.”

KPOP doesn’t just relish in their successful boy groups. In fact, due to the success of boy groups, entertainment companies have debuted really great girl groups like Girls’ Generation and f(x).

Girls’ Generation, also known as SNSD, is a group consisting of eight girls, originally nine; former member Jessica Jung left to pursue other interests. It was a sad day for SNSD fans. They gained significant popularity with hit single “Gee” in 2009.

The video below shows them performing their other hit number “Genie” to promote the mini-album.

Click the song title links to peek at live performances of their newer songs like “Motorcycle” and “Flyers.”

f(x), pronounced eff-ex, is a five-member multi-national girl group (two from the United States and one from China) known for their eclectic, electro-pop sound. They have released great singles like “Danger (Pinocchio),” “Airplane” and “Dracula.”

In March 2013, f(x) became the first KPOP artist to perform at SXSW, a music festival in Austin, Texas. During this trip to the U.S., they filmed a Funny or Die sketch with Anna Kendrick that you can find here. Check out their song “Rum Pum Pum Pum” below, which Pitchfork listed as part of the best 20 essential KPOP songs in recent years.

If pop techno dance music isn’t your thing, take a look at YG Entertainment groups BIGBANG and 2NE1. BIGBANG, a primarily hip-hop group of five members, officially debuted in 2006 with hit song “Lies.” Many of the members collaborated with each other, forming sub-groups, or produced solo albums like G-Dragon & TOP’s collaboration project “Don’t Go Home” and Taeyang’s popular solo song “Wedding Dress.”

Here’s the music video from BIGBANG’s most popular song “Fantastic Baby.” It’s a party!

2NE1, pronounced “to anyone” or “21,” combining the phrases 21st century and new evolution, is considered the girl group version of BIGBANG, consisting of four members. 2NE1 has a number of great hits like “Crush,” “Scream,” and “I Love You.”

In 2011, they released a single titled “I Am The Best,” which topped all major Korean charts within 48 hours and even played in a U.S. commercial marketing the Samsung Surface Pro 3. Look at their official music video, and prepare yourself for awesome.

Also keep an eye out for leading member of 2NE1 CL’s U.S. solo album coming out sometime this year! It. Will. Kill.

If you’re still interested in KPOP but aren’t really on board with the pop or hip hop/rap style, FNC Entertainment group’s CNBLUE and FTISLAND, perform primarily rock music.

CNBLUE, composed of four members covering vocals, guitar, bass and drums, released their first mini-album in 2010 with their lead single “I’m a Loner.” Here’s my favorite live performance of their song “Can’t Stop” from their fifth mini album released last year.

FTISLAND is a five-member rock group that made their debut in 2007. After a year and four month hiatus in Korea, FNC announced the release date of FTISLAND’s self-composed album “I Will” on March 23 this year.

Check out their newly released song “Pray,” the second single on “I Will.

Although I’ve listed quite a few examples of KPOP groups and songs, it doesn’t even make a dent into the many other groups out there. Hopefully, now you’ll have a better understanding of the KPOP world and discover that, despite the language barrier, YOU can really enjoy it, too.

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