“K-Pop” a word that many of us are familiar with now but that wasn’t the case 30 years ago. K-pop is an abbreviation used for Korean pop or Korean popular music. It is a musical genre consisting of electronic, hip hop, pop, rock, and R&B music originated in South Korea. K-pop has now even spread outside of Korea through Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and BTS, more and more people are starting to learn about K-Pop. K-Pop is not just Korean pop music but there are other genres too. It all started in 1989 when Lee Soo Man founded SM Entertainment which later became one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea. In 1992, a group called Seo Taiji and Boys debuted and changed the Korean music industry. They fused the English language in their lyrics and dance moves into their music videos which were the beginning of modern K-Pop. In 1997, Park Jin Young founded JYP Entertainment. In 1998, Yang Hyun-suk, a former member of Seo Taiji and Boys founded YG Entertainment. These three entertainment companies are also known as the “Big 3” in South Korea because of how big and popular they are.
In 1996, SM Entertainment created a boy group called H.O.T (Highfive Of Teenagers) and they are one of the first idol groups. They are also one of the pioneers of the Hallyu/Korean Wave. Korean Wave is an increase in the global popularity of Korea’s entertainment in other countries. H.O.T ventured into the Chinese market with its Chinese album and made K-Pop known in China. There were also other K-Pop groups along with H.O.T which are S.E.S, SechsKies, Fin.K.L, g.o.d., Shinhwa, etc. Kwon Bo-ah also known as BoA, also from SM Entertainment, broke into the Japanese market with her Japanese album in 2002 further increasing the Korean Wave. In the early 2000s, groups that debuted in the late 1990s began to disband like H.O.T and then came along TVXQ. TVXQ, a five-member group, debuted in 2003 and was another group that was created by SM Entertainment. TVXQ became successfully and increased the awareness for K-Pop. They were a hit and became popular in Japan and China. At this point, the Korean Wave is aimed at the Asian market so far.
Many more K-pop groups began to debut after TVXQ. Super Junior (2005), Big Bang (2005), Kara (2007), SNSD (2007), 2NE1 (2007) are just a few of the groups that debuted after the disbandment of the K-pop groups in the late 1990s. The groups further increased the popularity of K-Pop and the Korean Wave into other Asian countries. “Gangnam Style” by Psy was the fastest video to reach 1 billion views on Youtube in 2012. K-Pop became widely known because of Psy especially the horse dance in Gangnam Style and further increased the Korean Wave. BTS, one of the most popular K-Pop groups at this moment, was the first K-Pop group to perform at the BBMA in 2017 and made K-Pop more well known in the American market.
All About South Korea (한국에 관한 모든 것) 