K-pop

K-pop (Korean pop) is a musical genre that originated in South Korea and incorporated elements of Western electropop, hip-hop, dance music and modern rhythm and blues. Appearing initially as a musical genre, K-pop has become a large-scale musical subculture with millions of fans among young people all over the world.

According to the author of the music magazine Rolling Stone, K-pop is a “mixture of trendy Western music and high-energy Japanese pop” and “hunts down the heads of listeners with the help of repetitive" clinging ", sometimes in English." K-pop "follows the line of mixing styles, combines singing and rap and emphasizes action and powerful visual effects." Although in Korea itself, this term can be understood as almost any direction of Korean pop music, outside the country, kei-pop refers exclusively to music played by so-called idols similar in concept to Japanese idols, performed in a mixture of the above genres.



K-pop is not only music. The genre has grown into a popular subculture among young people from all over the world, driven by an interest in modern South Korean fashion and styles. Thanks to the Internet and the availability of digital content, K-pop reaches a broad audience, previously unthinkable. South Korean pop culture today is one of the driving forces of youth culture in the Asia-Pacific region, with a special focus on China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and much of Southeast Asia.

Overview

K-pop has gone from a little-known outside the Asian region of the music genre to the hugely popular youth culture throughout the world. At the same time, K-pop has always followed the development of the Korean IT industry, making the most of the latest developments in the field of social networks and mobile devices for its popularization. According to the publication The New York Times, although the attempts of Korean groups to penetrate the Western market were quite successful and until the huge expansion of social networks, at the moment, Korean artists created their accounts on such resources as Twitter, Facebook and others, allowed them to share Pop much broader audience and more actively popularize the genre. The growth of fans of the genre is celebrated throughout the world, and according to some experts, key pop is becoming one of the most important parts of South Korean exports, including influencing the popularity of Korean culture in the world.

The BBC describes Korean pop groups Super Junior and Wonder Girls as “superbly produced bands of sweet boys and girls with flexible dances and memorable melodies.” The clips in this genre are always unusually colorful and support the catchy rhythms of the songs, and the vocals are diverse, with a strong influence of hip-hop. All this is emphasized by the bright way of musicians and pomp, theatrical performances at concerts. Dancing is an integral part of K-pop, during the performance of singers and singers often synchronize the dance with singing, making the performance more catchy and resembling in this the western boy bands of the 1990s.

Growing popularity outside of Korea

K-pop is today one of the most popular musical trends in the world.

Fan support

In Korea, there is a tradition according to which fans give bags of rice to their favorite musicians, symbolizing their support and respect. According to Time, for the first BIG BANG show, 12.7 tons of rice were donated to the musicians, the gifts were laid out in one row, calling it the “altar of K-pop-idols”. After that, companies were founded, whose goal is to make sure that the rice gets to your favorite musician. One of them, “Ro Synugu”, has 24 offices in the world and cooperates with farmers, from which it delivers rice by ship to its destination.

Another opportunity to demonstrate support for your favorite artist is to send your idol a dinner. This practice appeared after many fans were concerned that the stars often could not eat because of the busy schedule, after which companies specializing in the delivery of meals appeared.

Many fans go on organized tours to see their favorite bands live, for example, many fans come to Korean concerts with tours from Japan and China. Once, through the K-Pop tour in Seoul, over 7,000 fans flew in to watch the performance of the band JYJ. During another concert of this group, many fans from all over the world spent the night in Barcelona to subsequently get to the show.

Organization and management

Most groups of this genre are in the management of units of music agencies. In order to guarantee success, such companies are trying to fully subsidize and control the professional life and career of the future performer, spending about $ 400,000 on the preparation and launch of a young performer. According to The Wall Street Journal, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and CUBE Entertainment and other South Korean producer centers have developed a process for preparing young singers and singers to participate in the music business. In most cases, future idols enter the "system" at the age of 9-10 years and live together in a house, subject to strict rules. They attend school during the day and study singing and choreography in the evenings.

to be continued