K-pop is a genre of popular music originated from South Korea. It is basically a musical genre that consists of an assortment of other genres such as electronic, hip-hop, rock and R&B music. First and foremost, in this essay I'm going to talk about the birth of K-pop and how K-pop has been steadily building into a global phenomenon. In addition, to talk about what goes behind the scenes in the K-pop industry. And finally, to talk about people’s perspective on K-pop.
The Birth of K-Pop and Its Transformation into a Global Phenomenon
The history of Korean popular music can be dated all the way back to 1885, when an American missionary named Henry Appenzeller began to teach American and British folk songs to schoolchildren, by changing the original English lyrics to Korean. The songs, known as ‘changga’, were gathered and banned by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation in Korea from 1910 to 1945. K-pop has become globally known because of Hallyu (Korean culture wave). K-pop is increasingly gaining popularity due to its catchy melodies and choreography, personality, storytelling and the help of social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. K-pop is not just known for its music, it is also known for its visuals like their looks, colorful attire and eye-catching choreograph thus K-pop are catching many people’s interests around the globe.
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After the liberation from the Japanese in 1945, America established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea in 1949. This is the first time Korea has experienced Western culture. After the Korea War the U.S. troops that remained in the country had caused Western culture to spread in South Korea. Over time, American pop culture slowly became more accepted, the oldest type of Korean pop music derived from the old changga songs, started to take a distinctly Americanized form. Hence, the Korean pop stars started to appear. For example, The Kim Sister, Add4, and Han Dae-soo.
Songs that opened up the international recognition are ‘Nobody’ by Wonder Girl, ‘Gee’ by SNSD, ‘Fantastic Baby’ by Big Bang. Next, ‘Gangnam Style’ by PSY, this is the song that had truly opened up the recognition of the K-pop industry all over the world, also the first video that had over 1 billion views on YouTube and it stayed for five years of highest viewed video. Finally, BTS, the boy band group, who is dominating the music industry by storm by winning awards and breaking records.
The Dark Side of K-Pop Music Industry
K-pop idols are not allowed to date, the only major reason why most K-pop agencies have dating bans is because of the fans. Idols are expected to be near-perfect role models for their fans by following strict rules by the music executives to avoid any problematic issue. There some fans will feel betrayed and hurt if their favorite K-pop idols are involved in a relationship. Thus, to make fans feel secure and loyal, K-pop idols cannot be in a relationship even though they want to. For example, in 2014 dating rumors leaked about an idol from EXO and a member of Girls' Generation. The two apologized to their fans, publicly stating their sorrow for how they 'hurt'' them.
Many agencies force idols to undergo surgery and sometimes multiple times to achieve a ‘perfect’ look by fixing some features on their faces, such as their jaw, eyes, or nose. This is to ensure they are able to attract more fans and promote more merchandise. Some common procedures are: double eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, jaw reduction surgery and chin augmentation. One of the examples of idols who had undergone plastic surgery is Kai from EXO has a flat nose and wider jawline before debut, now has a narrower jawline, pointed nose and clearly defined double eyelids. Next, JooE from Momoland had a flat nose before debut but a more pointed nose and defined septum now.
Lack of privacy is no surprise when you become a K-pop idol. Due to the busy schedules, idols do not have enough time to spend on themselves and they are always on the camera. For instance, K-pop Idols have to perform five times a week, attend interviews as well as fan meetings. Next, fans are willing to watch what they are doing in their personal lives because of their obsessiveness for the K-pop idols thus agencies will take advantage of this by recording K-pop idol personal lives and develop it into TV shows, YouTube vlogs and more as this could be a great way to promote them and make money out of it. As a K-pop stars you’re constantly in the public eye with no privacy.
Idols have to go through strict diets to achieve a ‘perfect’ body image. Idols have to follow strict diet plans and limit their food intake in order to maintain a certain weight, especially before a comeback. The ‘Banana Diet’ and the ‘Watermelon Diet’ and the extreme ‘Paper Cup Diet’ are some of the food specific regimens, K-pop idols follow to maintain a slender figure. Some idols even starve themselves. Achieving a ‘perfect’ body image is important because it avoids judgmental criticism from people, especially haters. A few examples of Idols who went through extreme diets, are Nine Muses’ members who took on the extreme ‘Paper Cup Diet’ and Xiumin from EXO. He only ate once every two days and only drank coffee.
People’s Perspective on the K-Pop Music Entertainment
People feel that K-pop music entertainment lacks creativity and originality. This is because every song sounds the same, every concept has been done before and every new group is just a repackage of a legacy group as well as copying American music, heavily reliance on samples and plagiarizing from other artists.
People think that K-pop music entertainment is full of talented stars because they can sing and dance really well. The reason why they are skilled singers and dancers is because they were trained by trainers since they were young about five to eight years thus the K-pop idols are able to perform difficult choreography and sing well.
K-pop music produced often has an unoriginal structure which is copied from other artists. It is created not out of creativity, but out of a need for commercialization. Due to the insane budget, it could be risky to make something unique and different. There will obviously be a high-end production team working on it, which will make sure the song is catchy and well-mixed. For example, Shinsadong Tiger and Beomi Nangi, the producers of MOMOLAND’s latest hit ‘BBoom BBoom’ are facing accusations of plagiarizing the song ‘Mi Mi Mi’ by Russian girl group Serebro.
K-pop idols are just not about singing and dancing, it also can involve acting. Even though not every celebrity can act well usually a true K-pop idol is just as skilled as a professional actor. Some idols are able to get into tv shows and movies. One of the examples of idols who involved in acting are Daesung from Big Bang made many appearances in the tv show ‘What’s Up?’ and Suho from EXO who had starred in various television dramas and movies such as ‘One Way Trip’ and ‘The Universe's Star’.
Conclusion
To summarize, the ‘once local, now global phenomenon’ has an interesting background and how did K-pop rise to fame around the world. Next, the dark side of the K-pop music industry such as idols don’t have control over their personal lives and have to achieve a perfect image. Finally, people’s perspective about K-pop music entertainment such as the diverse talent of K-pop idols and the uncreativeness in the K-pop music industry.
References
- https://www.hellokpop.com/featured/7-reasons-why-people-hate-k-pop-and-how-to-respond-to-them/
- https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/16/16915672/what-is-kpop-history-explained
- https://www.grunge.com/8965/music-secrets-well-never-know-answers/
- https://www.kpopmap.com/10-shocking-korean-idols-plastic-surgery-transformations/
- https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/11-idols-attempt-dangerous-starvation-diets/
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