Kpop: A Lifestyle and Culture of it’s own

This genre of music has taken over the world. The genre is originally from South Korea. It’s called K-pop also known as Korean popular music. It took years for Kpop to become as huge as it is today. With the help of the internet, Kpop and Kpop fans are able to share this specific genre of music. It all started with the one and only, Psy. His song “Gangman Style” blew up worldwide. K-pop has helped South Korea showcase their culture to the world. K-pop is not only a genre of music but a lifestyle. It comes with skincare, make-up, clothing, and more. When people see Kpop music videos, they notice all of the points I pointed out.

Red Velvet, Big Bang, Twice are great examples. Red Velvet style is more bold, eye-catching chic. Big Bang has a classic bad boy style. Twice has a bubbly, cute, bright concept. With different styles comes along with different type of music.

Dean is a great example of American pop influencing Kpop. His music sounds like it was produced in the United States. If you can listen to his song “Sorry not Sorry,” you can hear the influences. A classic example and also the default example that people have about Kpop will be Girls’ Generation, specifically their mega-hit “Gee.” This is the foundation of Kpop. Most female trainees (people who train to become Kpop idols) learn Girls’ Generation and wish to become as big and successful as them. Super Junior and Big Bang are the equivalents for male trainees.

Kpop has already been in American entertainment. The most well-known example be Family Guy’s episode “Candy, Quahog Marshmallow.” They showed the actual music video of Kpop’s summer queens (sadly they are disbanded), Sistar, and their song “Touch My Body.” Later in the episode, they made a parody of Kpop’s most famous female solo artist, Hyuna music video, “Bubble Pop!” Hyuna was also in a band, now disbanded, called 4minute.

The episode garnered a lot of attention from Kpop fans. One thing that makes Kpop stand out from the other music genre is the type of fans they have. Kpop fans are the most loyal and dedicated fans. Many of them buy all the versions of the same album to support the group they stan. The word “stan” is Kpop slanging for favorite. Kpop has its own lingo.

Here is a crash course for Kpop slanging.

• Bias- Your favorite member of a group
  • Ultimate Bias- Your favorite Kpop idol in the Kpop industry
  • Bias Wrecker- Idols who are on the brink of stealing number one form you bias or ultimate bias
• Visual- The most beautiful/handsomest member of a group, the “face” of their group
• Netizens- A citizen of the internet
• Maknae- The youngest member of their group
• Aegyo- The action of overly acting cute and charm, mainly to please fans

Like I said before, Kpop is not just music but a lifestyle.

I mentioned before that there are trainees. Trainees are under entertainment companies or self-train. Many starts at a very young age with the dream of debut someday. Many groups debut, but many do not make it after a year. Trainees train day and night with the hope of debuting in a group, which can take years. Twice’s Jihyo trained for ten years before debuting in Twice. She debuted at the age of eighteen, which mean she started training at the age of eight.

One factor that helps Twice become super popular since their debut is because they are from one of the three big companies, JYP Entertainment. The other two are SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment. If you debut in one of these companies, you are guaranteed to become huge, and successful. Nevertheless, other companies have famous groups too.

Here are the top ten Kpop companies.

1. SM Entertainment

Artists: Red Velvet, EXO

2. YG Entertainment

Artists: BlackPink, Big Bang

3. JYP Entertainment

Artists: Twice, Got7

4. FNC Entertainment

Artists: AOA, FT Island

5. Cube Entertainment

Artists: CLC, Pentagon, (*4minute)

6. Starship Entertainment

Artists: Cosmic Girls(WSJN), Monsta X (*Sistar)

7. BigHit Entertainment

Artists: BTS

8. Pledis Entertainment

Artists: Prinstin, Seventeen

9. Woollim Entertainment

Artists: Lovelyz, Infinite

10. Star Empire Entertainment

Artists: 9MUSES, Imfact

There are many more artists under these companies and I encourage you to check them out.

A thing that Kpop has become is a weapon for South Korea. South Korea’s neighbor, North Korea, is a country that restricts everything, including foreign entertainment. At the border, the South Korean Army blast Kpop music into North Korea. Kpop helps South Korea citizen forget about the state their country is in. Kpop can be a type of a getaway from the reality for many people.

Overall, Kpop is a lot of things for many people. Kpop has become South Korea’s way of sharing and spread their culture. It made it accessible for the world to get interesting. Kpop has music for everyone. STOP thinking that Kpop is just a bubblegum pop music. It more than that. You just need to type in Kpop onto youtube and your journey into Kpop will begin.