Well I was introduced to kpop in 6th grade by my asian friend and I fell in love with it because it was just so different from what i'm used to listening to. Once I got more into it I realized I took an interest in korean and the singers and groups. I really think it's a cultural thing as well. Even though I don't understand much what they're saying it encourages me to learn the language. The music is just addicting, beautiful, amazing. You really don't need to know the language just to enjoy music. Kpop is something that can bring people of many races together & share the love. The music videos are also cool and entertaining. Kpop groups & singers are also hard working. They will do anything for their fans and we as fans get worried about their health sometimes.
But overall, people love kpop maybe because it helps them it makes them happy & they are head strong with the language barriers.
1) Overview
K-pop (an abbreviation of Korean pop; Hangul: 케이팝; RR: kei-
In 1992, modern K-pop was ushered in with the formation of Seo Taiji and Boys, whose successful experimentation with different music styles had sparked a paradigm shift in the music industry of South Korea. As a result, the integration of foreign musical elements has now become a common practice in the K-pop industry.
First gaining popularity in East Asia in the late 1990s, K-pop entered the Japanese music market towards the turn of the 21st century. In the late 2000s, it grew from a musical genre into a subculture among teenagers and young adults of East and Southeast Asia. Currently, the spread of K-pop to other regions of the world, via the Korean Wave, is seen in parts of Latin America, Northeast India, North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and immigra
Korean pop culture is becoming an increasingly global phenomenon, caused in part by the K-pop industry's adeptness at tapping into social networking services and the video sharing platform YouTube. Since the mid-2000s, the K-pop music market has experienced double digit growth rates. In the first half of 2012, it grossed nearly US$3.4 billion and was recognized by Time magazine as "South Korea's Greatest Export".
2) The beginnings of Korean popular music
The first known Korean pop album was "Yi Pungjin Sewol" (This Tumultuous Time) by Park Chae-seon and Lee Ryu-saek from 1925 and contained popular songs translated from Japanese. The first pop song written by a Korean composer is thought to be "Nakhwayusu" (낙화유수, Fallen Blossoms on Running Water) sung by Lee Jeong-suk in 1929. In the mid-1920s, Japanese composer Masao Koga mixed traditional Korean music with Gospel music that American Evangelists introduced in the 1870s. This type of music became known as Enka in Japan, and later in Korea as Trot (Korean: "트로트"). These songs became extremely popular. The history of Korean popular music can be traced back to 1885 when an American missionary, Henry Appenzeller started teaching American and British folk songs at a school. These songs were called changga in Korean, and they were typically based on a popular Western melody sung with Korean lyrics. The well-known song "Oh My Darling, Clementine" was for example known as "Simcheongga". During the Japanese rule (1910–1945) popularity of changga songs rose as Koreans tried to express their feelings against Japanese oppression through music. One of the most popular songs was "Huimangga" (희망가, The Song of Hope). The Japanese confiscated the existing changga collections and published lyrics books of their own.
Later, in the 21st century K-pop singers rediscovered the genre of trot, for example singers like Daesung from Big Bang and several members of Super Junior produced trot singles.
3) 1990s: The turning point
In the 1990s, early Korean pop musicians incorporated American popular music styles like rap, rock and techno in their music. In 1992 the emergence of Seo Taiji & Boys brought a true turning point in the history of K-pop. The trio debuted on MBC's talent show with their song "Nan Arayo" (난 알아요, I Know) and got the lowest rating from the jury. However, the song and the album with the same title became so successful that, according to MTV Iggy, "K-pop music would never be the same" again: "Its new jack swing-inspired beats, catchy rap lyrics and memorable choruses took Korean audiences by storm". The lyrics of Seo Taiji & Boys dealt with the problems of Korean society, which other entertainers of the era failed to do.[57] Their sound paved the way for the "success format" of K-pop songs, and their footsteps were followed by a wave of successful hip hop and R&B artists like Yoo Seungjun, Jinusean, Deux, 1TYM and Drunken Tiger.
In 1995 Korean entrepreneur Lee Soo-man founded South Korea's largest talent agency and record label, SM Entertainment. By the late 1990s, YG Entertainment, DSP Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and FNC Musichad burst onto the scene as well and were producing talent as quickly as the public could consume it.
The success of Seo Taiji & Boys brought a new audience to K-pop: teenagers, which led to the emergence of so-called idol bands: young boy and girl bands. H.O.T. is considered as the first K-pop idol boy band, they debuted in 1995. They were followed by bands like Sechs Kies, S.E.S., Fin.K.L, NRG, Ta
The 1990s were also a successful period for underground music clubs, punk rock bands like Pipi Band or Crying Nut managed to gain mainstream popularity.
21st century: Rise of Hallyu (Korean Wave)
Main article: Korean Wave
Towards the turn of the 21st century, the K-pop genre began spreading out to other regions of the world as part of the global Korean Wave. In 2002, Baby V.O.X.'s single "Coincidence" became popular in many Asian countries because it was released and promoted right away during the World Cup in South Korea and BoA became the first K-pop singer to reach No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon music chart. Shortly afterwards, the South Korean music artist Rain gave a sold-out concert to 40,000 fans in Beijing.
In 2003, the girl group Baby V.O.X. topped the Chinese music charts with their Chinese single I'm Still Loving You from their third album Devotion, thus being the first idol group to do so and making a huge fanbase in China and also charted in various music charts in Thailand with singles What Should I Do and I'm Still Loving You. Since the mid-2000s, a huge portion of the East Asian music market has been dominated by K-pop idol groups.
In 2008, South Korea's cultural exports (including television dramas and computer games) rose to US$2 billion for the first time, maintaining an annual growth rate of over 10%. That year, Japan accounted for almost 68% of all K-pop export revenues, ahead of China (11.2%) and the United States (2.1%). The sale of concert tickets proved to be a lucrative business as fans were willing to fork out large sums to see their idols. For example, TVXQ's Tohoshinki Live Tour in Japan sold over 850,000 tickets at an average cost of US$109 each, generating a total of $US92.6 million in revenues.[74] Over 60% of the K-pop industry's export revenue is derived from the sale of concert tickets.[74]
According to Foreign Policy, the K-pop genre subsequently took off in Southeast Asia before reaching out to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South America. In 2012, the number of fans in Turkey surpassed 100,000 for the first time, and reached 150,000 in 2013.That year, there were 70 K-pop fan clubs in Mexico, with at least 60,000 members altogether.
Several singers decided to expand their music careers by releasing English language-studio albums in the hope of bringing over the genre to Western music markets.Such attempts did not yield much success.
In 2012, K-pop's breakthrough in the Western mainstream media occurred through the release of Psy's "Gangnam Style," which racked up over 2 billion views on YouTube as of July 2014, the first ever Internet video to reach one billion views.
| K-pop industry statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Total exports in US$ | YouTube views |
| 2008 | $16.5 million[60] | |
| 2009 | $31.3 million[60] | |
| 2010 | $84.9 million[61] | 800 million[62] |
| 2011 | $180 million[61] | 2.2 billion[63] |
| 2012 | $235 million[64] | 7.0 billion[63] |
| Exports by country (US$) | ||
| Year |  Japan |  China |
| 2008 | $11.2 million[65] | $1.80 million[66] |
| 2009 | $21.6 million[67] | $2.36 million[67] |
| 2010 | $3.60 million[66] | |
| 2012 | $204 million[68] | |
YouTube views
Of the 2.28 billion worldwide K-pop YouTube views in 2011, 240 million came from the United States, which was more than double that of 2010 (94 million).
| Rank | Artist(s) | Title | Year | Notes | Official video(s) | Views (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Psy | Gangnam Style | 2012 | The most viewed video on Youtube and first to reach 1 billion. | YouTube | 2471 |
| 2 | Psy | Gentleman | 2013 | YouTube | 903 | |
| 3 | Psy feat. Hyuna | Oppa Is Just My Style | 2012 | YouTube | 608 | |
| 4 | Psy ft. Snoop Dogg | Hangover | 2014 | YouTube | 230 | |
| 5 | Big Bang | Fantastic Baby | 2012 | YouTube | 189 | |
| 6 | Girls' Generation | Gee | 2009 | First video by a K-pop group to surpass 100 million views on YouTube[263] | YouTube | 151 |
| 7 | Girls' Generation | I Got a Boy | 2013 | YouTube | 148 | |
| 8 | 2NE1 | I Am the Best | 2011 | YouTube | 139 | |
| 9 | Girls' Generation | The Boys | 2011 | Korean Version | YouTube | 129 |
| 10 | Girls' Generation | Mr. Taxi (Dance Ver.) | 2011 | Japanese Version | YouTube | 108 |
| 11 | Hyuna | Bubble Pop | 2011 | YouTube | 102 | |
| 12 | Super Junior | Mr. Simple | 2011 | YouTube | 101 | |
| 13 | f(x) | Electric Shock | 2012 | YouTube | 89 | |
| 14 | Girls' Generation | Oh! | 2010 | YouTube | 88 | |
| 15 | Big Bang | Bang Bang Bang | 2015 | YouTube | 87 | |
| 16 | EXO | Growl | 2013 | Korean Version | YouTube | 85 |
| 17 | EXO | Overdose | 2014 | Promoted as EXO-K | YouTube | 84 |
| 18 | GD X Taeyang | Good Boy | 2014 | Big Bang Sub-unit |
Source: Wikipedia
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