With the world’s biggest boy band band BTS selling out more than 90,000 seats at Wembley Stadium in just 90 minutes, it’s clear to see that BTS has an extremely loyal fanbase.
However, how did popular Korean music come to be? While K-Pop has been around before Western markets adopted Korean pop music, one song in particular arguably put Korean music front and center in the global front stage. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” initially created waves initially for becoming the most viewed video, then becoming the first video to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube back in 2012.
Kyle Tang is a master’s student currently in the Popular Music and Culture program at Western University. She says that though Korean music briefly ‘died down’ after Psy’s single, things really began to blow up for K-Pop when BTS came onto the scene. Tang says that the band’s authenticity compared to other K-Pop bands was undeniable.
Tang says it may also help that global music seems to adopt variations of hip-hop. He says, “from 2000 until now I think the most noticeable shift has been a move into sort of a more blended hip-hop sound. K-Pop also inherits hip-hop styles and we’re seeing a little bit more of a convergence. As Western pop moves towards hip-hop and K-Pop does as well, there becomes a lot more overlap in terms of exactly what the common sounds are.”
He adds that pop music can now be collaborated internationally as “a lot of the music itself happens to be written by overseas artists. Its not as if there’s some barrier between the West and K-Pop. More and more audiences are enjoying the same thing because we’re seeing huge audiences in the West enjoy K-Pop as well now.”
Moe Berg is an artist as part of the band “The Pursuit of Happiness” and a professor for the Media Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College. While he points out that the music industry has shifted from the 80s compared to now, there are similarities between how record labels invest into their artists back when Berg started his band and how Korean entertainment companies ‘manufacture’ their artists. That being said, Berg criticize the Korean music model as he says that “these large entertainment conglomerates recruit young Koreans and spend time grooming them and prepare them for stardom. Basically, they own artists for over a decade.”
Despite potential controversies with recruitment, training, and performances—it’s clear to see fans are increasingly interested in Korean music and culture.
