My first experiences with music are ones that I can’t really remember, but they have definitely shaped me. I grew up in the Catholic Church, and my mother would drag my brother and I to mass every Sunday. I hated church. I found it boring and tedious, but the one thing I did enjoy was singing. I shouted every hymn, and that has led to me knowing every single word to “One Bread, One Body” despite not hearing it in years. 

Along with the church, I also grew up surrounded by Irish folk music. My grandparents immigrated from Ireland, and they still listen to the music of their homeland to this day. They played it all throughout my mom’s childhood, and then played it for mine too while they drove me to and from school. When I started playing clarinet, one of the first songs I learned was “Danny Boy” so I could play it for my grandparents.  

My mom reminded me of other music from my childhood in the form of movies and TV shows. She told me of how I would sing along with her to the themes of Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Barney. We also sang to Disney movies, but perhaps not the ones you’re imagining. They were these videos of people vibing at the parks and singing songs like “Grim-Grinning Ghosts”, “Whistle While You Work”, and “Rumbly in my Tumbly”. 

On long car trips upstate to Lake George for our summer vacation, my father controlled the radio, which meant endlessly listening to Bon Jovi and the Beastie Boys. I know way too many words to “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” for my own mental sanity. 

From my brother, Austin, I gained my dislike for rap music. He would blast Eminem and Tupac at all hours of the day, keeping me up late into the night. I couldn’t really stand to listen to rap music after that, and I still hold a bit of disdain for it to this day. 

As I grew up a bit, I still couldn’t quite listen to my own music. My family got me an iPod to listen to music, but they only got a few songs, resulting in my knowledge of every Pitbull rap to ever exist. They also got some Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry, and later on the My Everything (Deluxe) album by Ariana Grande.  

It was not until late middle school that I started forming my own musical tastes. I was a theatre kid, and fell in love with songs like “Breathe” from In the Heights and “I’d Give My Life for You” from Miss Saigon. I gradually entered an emo faze from there, where I listened to a lot of Fall Out Boy, especially “The Mighty Fall.” From there I fell into an ‘I’m not like other girls’ faze where I listened to a lot more indie artists. My friend was starting to post her own music to Spotify, and it created a natural gateway into listening to smaller artists. In between this faze, I started watching anime, which led me to listening to j-pop and anime openings. My favorite anime is Death Note, and I absolutely love both openings it has: “the WORLD” and “What’s up people?!” as well as “SAVIOR OF SONG” by Nano, featuring MY FIRST STORY. 

A few months before the pandemic started, I reached the place I am at now: the time when I started listening to k-pop. I was a senior in high school and in a really dark place at the time and kpop became a crutch to help me out of it. I fell in love with BTS and Stray Kids and Twice and Iz*One and listened to all of them as if the world was ending. Nowadays I mainly just listen to Twice and Iz*One. In fact, I just went to a Twice concert over the summer! It would be really hard for me to list only some of the songs that have been impactful for me (since it has been most) but some of my favorites are “Obliviate” from Lovelyz, “Panorama” by Iz*One and “Breakthrough” by Twice.  

Throughout my life, my music tastes have evolved along with me. They followed me, held my hand, and made me feel heard. Music has always been a large part of my identity, and that is what led to me becoming a music major. I was not sure what I wanted to do with it at the time, I just knew that I had to have music in my life. 

           The musical era beginning in 2020 has been drastically influenced by the continuously rising popularity of a social media heavily reliant on music: TikTok. An abundance of new artists have emerged through TikTok, especially in the past three years. With everyone stuck in their homes quarantining due to COVID-19, we found connection and community through a social media app, distracting ourselves from the reality of a virus threatening our health and safety. The TikTok Self is an article expressing this effect saying, "The increased opportunities to select into agreeable interactions during quarantine has potentially brought about profound effects on our identities" (Jeffery Sachs et al).1 This experience has certainly contributed to this generations identity in the most influential era of our lives. 

           During the worst of the coronavirus, the return of live music was out of sight. There have been many studies done considering the impact the virus has had on society and, by extension, our music tastes.  From an article discussing this impact on music, "We find that COVID-19 is accelerating the continuous trend towards digitalization of the music landscape with premium streaming being the biggest beneficiary" (Janis Denk et al).2 TikTok is a massive part of this digitalization. It distributes music further, expanding global music tastes and exposing individuals to genres that they might not have listened to otherwise. The trends that emerged through quarantine also united a generation through the hardship of missing out on important experiences for their development, especially in adolescence. TikTok is Gen Z's version of a newspaper where news of celebrities passing away or being 'cancelled' passes around quickly keeping all up to date. TikTok and Instagram reels have also shortened viewers' attention spans impacting the music industry and the length of songs they are willing to produce. 

           Additionally, TikTok has been used as a form of self-expression especially in the past few years since COVID-19. Though social distancing was intended to cause physical distance, it inadvertently created an emotional disconnect within society causing many to suffer mentally. This is part of what made TikTok so impactful for this generation as it gave us a way to connect and share our lives with each other. Songs were used in TikToks to create trends that shared important life events such as coming out to family and friends. Songs such as Ken & Barbie by Kate Gill, Girls by Girl in Red, and Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood became greatly influential during this time. "These songs are used to signal gender identity or sexual orientation, and are integral to a 'coming out' genre of videos on TikTok" (Jeffery Sachs et al).3 

         TikTok has defined the musical era of 2020 to the present, as shown by how it has defined what is popular in music today. If a song goes viral on TikTok, it is instantly popular and a hit, even if only ten seconds are played on the app. On top of this, Gen Z used TikTok as a form of self-expression and a way to cement their identity in an era where we were separated from one another and unable to communicate in person, using music to signal their personal identity, such as their sexual orientation in coming out videos. 

1 Jeffery Sachs et al, "The TikTok Self: Music, Signaling, and Identity on Social Media", 2021. 

2 Janis Denk et al, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Music Consumption and Music Spending”, PLOS ONE, 2022.  

3 Sachs et al, 4. 

My own musical landscape from 2020 until now is one that does not really encompass the American pop industry at all, instead, it covers the entirety of the k-pop scene from that time period. If a song from a group came out from that period, I heard it, whether I wanted to or not, largely due to the pandemic increasing sharing of music over social media and how heavily intertwined the k-pop fandoms are. Even if you don’t necessarily follow a group, you still know their business, from their successes to their failures. This is because being a k-pop stan becomes a part of someone's identity. It is a collective identity that feeds into the self, giving one access to a world others have never seen.1 To give an idea of the k-pop industry during this time period, I am going to start off going over the tone relationships of the time: what groups were most popular, and who fell to the depths of anonymity.  

2020 started out as an amazing year for boy groups. The future of them seemed bright, from the debut of Enhypen and Treasure and Stray Kids and Ateez releasing albums that absolutely destroyed the charts. BTS also released their album, Map of the Soul 7, and broke several records with it. The music was very in your face, loud, and all about rebelling. From Itzy’s “Wannabe” to Stray Kids’ “God’s Menu” k-pop was more boisterous than ever. However, there are some notable exceptions to this, such as the rise of Oh My Girl’s “Dolphin” and the return of Brave Girl’s “Rollin.” By the end of 2020, the reign of boy groups was nearing its end. From 2021 onwards, there is a steady decline in the popularity of boy groups, and a steady rise in the popularity of girl groups and their smaller companies. 

2021 is notable for the rise of several smaller girl groups, such as StayC with the release of “ASAP”, Weeekly with “Afterschool”, and, most prominently, IVE with “Eleven.” IVE’s  prominence is shown not only through earning “Rookie of the Year”, but also becoming the fastest group to ever get their first music show win at 7 days, beating out industry juggernauts Itzy, Blackpink, and Winner for the title.2 The songs of this time period were bright and upbeat, as if we were trying to hide from the pandemic that was swirling around and get back to a “normal” life.  

2022 continued with the decline of boy groups with the debut of one of the largest (and most controversial) girl groups today, New Jeans. The debut of New Jeans and Le Sserafim not only cemented the fall of boy groups, but also the fall of the “Big 3” companies in k-pop. In the industry, there were previously three companies that consistently produced all of the top groups: JYP, YG, and S.M. Entertainment. However, the top groups in 2022 were all from smaller companies, most notably, Starship Entertainment and HYBE. With New Jeans also came a return of 2000’s aesthetic, not only in styling the idols, but also in the music. The music had a much more lowkey, stripped back sound with more electronics than instruments. Other groups quickly followed this trend, eager to reminisce about the 2000s and wish for a return to “easier” times. IVE continued to be a leader in the industry, releasing “Love Dive” and winning Song of the Year with it (as they should). 2022 also saw the return of survival show groups after Kep1er semisuccessfully debuted the year before, with Baby Monster, CLASS:Y, TNX, and more.  

So far, 2023 has continued the previous trends of the downfall of boy groups and the “Big 3” companies, with (G)-Idle now joining the top ranks of girl groups with their release “Queencard.” Kpop of 2023 continued with the 2000s trend, but also had a lot more upbeat, fun songs that don’t really make sense, but are just fun to bop to. Itzy finally started to regain ground for JYP after falling deeper and deeper into anonymity the previous years, although one could argue it was simply because anything would look impressive after “Sneakers.” New Jeans continued to be one of the key players with “Super Shy” and the release of a new album, despite all of the controversy surrounding it. Le Sserafim further cemented their spot in the top girl groups with the release of “Unforgiven” and IVE continued to slay with “I AM” and “Wave.” 2023 is truly the era of girl groups, as shown by how music show wins are largely dominated by girl groups.3 The only boy groups that have managed to get a win are those who already had pre-established fanbases: Ateez, Stray Kids, Seventeen, Enhyphen, and NCT. All of the other boy groups have effectively fallen off the map, and these few are clinging to the edge of the cliff with the dedicated fan bases they have had for years. Compare this to the wide breadth of girl groups that are thriving, from Billie to Twice to Red Velvet to StayC to New Jeans to Aespa to (G)-Idle to WJSN to Le Sserafim to Everglow to IVE, and that’s not even all of them. All of these k-pop groups have started to be able to influence America, Japan, and China, especially with TikTok.  

K-pop has a widespread influence on TikTok, whether people realize it or not, from the songs to the dances. Songs like “Colors” by Stella Jang and “Cupid” by FiftyFifty have gone viral on TikTok and had trends created to go along with the songs. Many American users listen to these songs and create TikToks to them, not knowing they are k-pop songs. This situation leads to a gateway for people to fall into k-pop, especially as TikTok eliminates the typical assumptions and stereotypes surrounding the genre, allowing people to just consume the music and appreciate it. On top of this, many of the dance trends on TikTok are also taken from k-pop songs, such as the dance to “Russian Roulette” by Red Velvet and “Any Song” by Zico. These trends are creating more and more k-pop fans, as they investigate the music and fall deeper and deeper down the k-pop rabbit hole. 

Kpop fans have very confusing relationships between each other and the artists they follow. Obsessed fans have serious parasocial relationships, causing them to worship the idols they follow and all of the music they put out, even if it is horrible. The pandemic only heightened this issue, leaving more and more people to fall deeper and deeper into the k-pop sinkhole while being stuck at home. Seriously, I had a friend once that was convinced she was going to marry Jungkook from BTS. This parasocial relationship with the artist and the music itself is a reference to Andsell’s idea of life course, as, in my experience, people often turn to k-pop after some sort of trauma or simply to hide from the real world.4 K-pop creates a safe space where one has friends in the idols and music that reflects their  feelings. Elferen’s ideas of music creating a virtual reality can be seen here as well.5 K-pop is perhaps the greatest example of this, as people often use k-pop as a coping mechanism, they will lay the music and their relationships with the idols on top of their life, making it appear, to them, better than it actually is. On top of this, some people have that sort of loyalty and parasocial relationship with a company, resulting in them worshiping any group that comes out of the company. However, this practice began falling out of style in recent years, as most “company stans” followed the “Big 3” companies, but after many lawsuits and legal issues, as well as the falling off of groups, people have stopped worshiping companies.  

People also do tend to interact with other fans quite often, in fact, many form friendships solely based on loving (or hating) a similar group. Most of this interaction happens online, sitting waiting for an MV to drop, or commenting on k-pop commentary videos, or posting their opinions on Twitter. Especially as k-pop started to become global in recent years, stans turned to the internet to connect with people all over the world that shared their passion for a certain group. Musicking, in this way, is never a solo phenomenon in k-pop.6 Even if one is listening to a song by themselves on Spotify, they can still remember the comments they read about the song or a performance they watched of it. It is also notable that fans tend to fight with one another a lot as well. Whether that be from warring factions, or simply disagreements on opinions, k-pop fans can fight about literally anything and everything. Being in the fandom and interacting with others is not necessarily a pleasant experience all of the time, especially if you want to voice any opinion whatsoever because you will definitely offend someone with whatever you say. 

In terms of situational relationships, I already started to touch on how kpop became very internet-focused over the pandemic, including holding concerts online, which results in the places that we consume music to be literally anywhere. However, since the pandemic has lightened up, kpop has opened up a bit, which can lead to a discussion of k-pop concerts. K-pop concerts are really fun, beautiful events. Each group has a lightstick that fans usually buy for the concert that lights up and syncs with all of the other lightsticks in the audience, the colors matching the beat and vibe of the songs. Lightsticks make everyone feel a lot more connected to one another, and also make a visual component to the music itself. K-pop concerts are usually held in large stadiums, and depending upon where you go to watch, you can get very different vibes. In South Korea, fans follow the fan chants and sit for the entire duration. America has more of a “I am going to scream every single lyric even if I do not know Korean” vibe and everyone is standing up and dancing the whole time.  

In terms of similarities to the collective 2020 to present music ecology, k-pop has similarity in the situations and the people, although not to the same extent. The U.S. also saw a large increase of online concerts and communicating with fans online as a result of the pandemic. On top of that, people often form parasocial connections with their favorite Western artists as well, although not as often and usually not as strong as in k-pop. K-pop markets specifically towards forming these relationships, whereas in the Western market, it is simply a side effect of the performer becoming famous. In terms of differences, they lie in the tone relationships. Although k-pop and Western artists often take inspiration from one another, and so sometimes contain similar sounds, they are still completely different genres with different vibes and artists that create the music. Overall, k-pop is just the slightest bit more crazy than the Western scene, but I feel like that’s part of what makes it so interesting. It spans between the possible and the actual, giving people hope in hard times, and that’s what makes k-pop so special.7 

1Vivan L. Vignoles et. al, “Introduction: Toward an Integrative View of Identity”, Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, 2011, 3. 

2 All k-pop, “K-Pop Groups who Achieved their First Music Show Win Within a Week of their Debut”, 2023, https://www.allkpop.com/article/2023/01/k-pop-groups-who-achieved-their-first-music-show-win-within-a-week-of-their-debut  

3 Gaon Music Chart wins, 2023, https://imbbs.imbc.com/v2/view.aspx?bid=chart_ranking&list_id=7105558&pre_list_id=7105976&next_list_id=7104293&page=1&list_use=1  

4 Gary Andsell, “Core Musicality”, How Music Helps in Music Therapy and Everyday Life, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2014, 101. 

5 Isabella Van Elferen, “Virtual Worlds from Recording to Video Games”, Cambridge University Press: 2019, 224.  

6 Andsell, 110. 

7Thomas Turino, “Why Music Matters”, Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation, The University of Chicago Press, 2008, 20.