What is Kpop?

Did you know that 50 to 100 K-pop groups debut each year? According to 90 Day Korean, only a few of them on average are successful enough to continue their careers for over a year or two. Now, you may be wondering, what is K-pop? Well, you’re in luck, because you are about to find out.

To start, K-pop is a genre of music that is popular in Korea. K-pop means Korean pop, as it is popular music that was created in Korea. K-pop music that is listened to today was formed in the 1990s, while its roots stretch back to the 1950s. It consists of different types of Korean music: rock, hip hop, and electronic. 

It includes soloists and groups, which are usually split by gender (girl groups and boy groups). There are some groups that have different gendered members, like Checkmate and KARD, but those aren’t as common as one-gendered groups, such as TXT and (G)I-DLE. Groups are put together to create catchy songs and entertain young audiences. Each group is made up of idols who are talented in singing, rapping, and dancing. These idols train for many years and then are chosen to form a group.

What are K-pop companies? They choose potential idols to train and then create groups when the trainees are ready. Companies are in charge of managing idols’ lives and work, as groups sign contracts that tie them to a company.

How do K-pop companies make sure their groups’ songs are popular? Once a single/album is released, idols perform their lead single on music shows for one to two months. This is how groups promote their songs. Also, a lot of care is put into styling the idols, creating high-quality music videos, and choreographing performances that sync well with the songs. Because of this, agencies are sometimes seen as manufacturers that create the best group outlook and style for performing and promoting music.

As I mentioned earlier, many groups struggle to stay together for over a year. Why is this? The main reason is because groups aren’t popular enough. Bands can’t be successful if they don’t have enough popularity, so they disband and try something different, like becoming soloists or actors. Some other important reasons are because the members dislike each other, disagree on contract renewals (which are documents that continue their career with a company), or want to create music as soloists.

To continue, I will introduce some groups that are popular right now. These groups have different music genres, number of members, appearance, and style; regardless, they all produce quality music. Here are some more things you should know about them.

BTS

A seven-member boy group that debuted in 2013, BTS is one of the most popular K-pop bands in the world. The group is currently on hiatus for army service and to pursue solo work. The members of this group are Suga, Jin, V, Jungkook, RM, J-Hope, and Jimin. A few of their famous songs are Fake Love, Butter, Boy with Luv, Dynamite, and MIC Drop.

NewJeans

NewJeans is a girl group and consists of four members. They debuted in 2022 and the members are Hanni, Haerin, Minji, and Danielle. Additionally, their fandom name is Bunnies, which means that NewJeans fans are called Bunnies. Some popular songs are Hype Boy, Ditto, Attention, Cookie, and OMG.

Le Sserafim

Le Sserafim is a five-member girl group that consists of Sakura, Chaewon, Yunjin, Kazuha, and Eunchae. This girl group used to have a sixth member, Garam, who left the group in 2022 after terminating her contract. Le Sserafim debuted in 2022 with the song Fearless. A few of their famed songs are Antifragile, Fearless, Blue Flame, Sour Grapes, and The Great Mermaid.

Seventeen

Seventeen is a thirteen-member boy group that debuted in 2015. However, it is uncommon to have a group with this many members. Their leader is S. Coups, who is the oldest of the group, also called the “oldest hyung.” Here are some of their well-known songs: Don’t Wanna Cry, Very Nice, Mansae, Adore U, and Oh My!

Blackpink

A four-member girl group, Blackpink is another one of the most popular K-pop bands . Blackpink debuted in 2016 and its members are Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa. All of their members have debuted as soloists as well. Some of their notable songs are Pink Venom, Kill This Love, DDU-DU DDU-DU, Boombayah, and How You Like That.

To summarize, K-pop is a music genre that is gradually taking over the world and consists of many high-quality songs and performances. So now if someone asks you about K-pop, you have a lot of things to tell them. Well, why are you still here? Go listen to some K-Pop (maybe some of the songs listed above)!