K-pop Generation
Look Out, World: K-pop Acts Worth Watching
Years ago, when a K-pop artist released a new song, it was deemed a success if fans at home received the song with open arms. That is not the case anymore. As the clock struck midnight on KApril 12 worldwide, the song “Gentleman,” rapper PSY’s follow-up single to “Gangnam Style,” was released in 119 countries. Within minutes of the single’s release, people began to debate whether PSY would be a “one-hit wonder” in the Western Hemisphere.
K-pop and Social Media
The K-pop phenomenon has been in the works for quite some time, and it is impossible to dismiss either the expansive business strategies created to elevate the popularity of artists or the creative genius behind the craft of composing addictive tunes. However, it’s hard to imagine that the genre’s universal domination would have fully come to fruition without the parallel rise of social media.
The Breaking Point
To a certain extent, it’s a symbiotic relationship between the artist and the fandom. Even if an artist desires to create music for the sake of creating something beautiful, without the fans, the artist essentially lacks an audience. Without the consumption of products, there is no funding for the future opportunities to continue producing work. A good artist deserves a respectful fan following so that he or she can gain recognition. But is there a breaking point when fandom edges on insane?
Old-School K-pop
It may come as a surprise that modern-day K-pop started in a country that once lacked its own pop culture. Hallmarks of the K-pop culture now include live concerts that sell out in minutes, platinum status digital and physical album sales, appearances of artists on television miniseries and talk shows, and glamorous magazine photo shoots. However, music was not always a commercial phenomenon or commodity.
B-List Star to Worldwide Phenomenon
However, despite the catchy tune and addictive dance moves of “Gangnam Style,” the song is in no way K-pop’s first formal greeting to the world. Rather, the highly successful song came at the peak of the “Hallyu” Korean Wave that has been sweeping across East Asia for nearly two decades. In fact, according to some music critics, Hallyu itself is the product of nearly a century’s development of Korean music.
