K-Pop as the Most Popular South Korean Pop Music

For my paper, I have chosen to focus on South Korean popular music. The genre of South Korean music I am very interested in learning more about is the K-pop genre, primarily because I noticed how big it has become in recent years. Interestingly, I discovered that you can actually trail and follow the origin of the K-pop genre all the way back to the late 19th century, more specifically around the year 1885. This is when Henry Appenzeller, known to be a missionary, started educating kids on American and British folk music, and changing the words in the songs from English to Korean words. This kind of music is known as ‘changga’ (Mersereau). Popular music from Korea originally came from environments of invasion and war. Initially, the Japanese took control from the years 1910 until 1945, and after World War II, the United States invaded South Korea. Then, the great destruction because of the Korean War happened, and last but not least, the reconstruction and restoration controlled by the rule of Park Chung-hee. The ‘changga’ songs were actually prohibited by the Japanese when they were in control because the words in the songs had criticized Korea’s attackers. With Japan taking control and dominating, Korea quickly began to grow in technology, business, trade, and overall, the region began to metropolitanize. The advanced equipment that made documenting, taping, and transmitting allowed for a variety of music to be obtainable (Thorman). When Korea was finally set free from the rule of the Japanese in 1945, the region separated in North and South Korea. This is also when Korean and Western lifestyle, customs, and traditions came in contact. At this time, popular American music was also able to make its way into the region because of the U.S. soldiers that actually stayed put in the land even after the Korean War (Mersereau). As time went on, the American customs and traditions began to be adopted and welcomed in the land. One result from this was that ‘trot’ music, known to be the earliest and the older kind of Korean music that actually came from the old ‘changga’ music, began to incorporate a noticeably more American (Mersereau).

The genre of K-pop is actually known to be a component of the early 1990’s Korean cultural wave, also referred to as the ‘Hallyu’. This happened when South Korea went through a very significant and notable financial growth. For some period of time after the Korean War, South Korea had a reputation for being the most impoverished region in the world. But they eventually started being a significant participant in certain aspects like commerce, production, and finance. In 1988, the Olympics were even held in the city of Seoul, and this particular event advanced South Korea to worldwide fame (Thorman). In 2012, a very popular and well-known song called ‘Gangnam Style’, by PSY, took the world by storm. PSY was known to have the most watched video on YouTube, and was even the first person to have a billion views, then even 2 billion views, and while this was happening, YouTube’s view count feature broke down unintentionally (Michel). As of today, the YouTube video has over 3.5 billion views. After this, many boy bands and girl groups started emerging and started gaining attention. In 2017, The K-pop genre took over America, specifically when a boy group, by the name of BTS, climbed and lead the U.S. pop charts (Thorman).

As previously mentioned, one specific branch of South Korean popular music is the K-pop genre. The K-pop genre might actually be the most popular of the South Korean popular music, but other styles include trot, rock, hip-hop, folk, hybrid, ballad, and classical music. The genre of K-pop employs the use of many instruments. The main would be the vocals of the artists performing. Then some additional instruments that may be used include bass and acoustic guitar, electronic drums, synthesizer, percussion, groove-box, a sampler, a keyboard, and also a drum machine. Many of the conventional and customary instruments that have been used in Korea for musical purposes, have been since combined and merged with a lot of western and American musical instruments. This can also be thought of as having significance for the new and modern genre of K-pop that took over American culture.

In recent years, K-pop has become so big and so popular, and I personally didn’t really understand how many fans of these K-pop groups were listening and singing to songs recorded in a language most of them did not know and speak. I thought, ‘Do the fans understand what they are singing about or are they just singing to the music because it’s catchy?’. These groups heavily took over the American and Western culture in the blink of an eye. One boy band that I noticed has gotten a lot of recognition has been the band BTS. I searched up one of their popular songs, called ‘Fake Love’, and watched the video for it. I have to say, it was very catchy and the video was very well made. While these boys are singing their songs mostly in Korean, they have implemented just a couple of the lyrics in English. According to a Rolling Stone article titled, ‘How K-Pop Conquered the West’, it says that “BTS, meanwhile, have continued singing in Korean while embracing Western pop in other ways” (Wang). It’s music that you can dance to and is more upbeat and this kind of music is part of the American culture. So, it would only make sense for American culture to accept and welcome K-pop Music if they will deliver the same. K-Pop has influenced American culture in a very positive way, and fans are here for it.

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K-pop is filled with so much action, in both the music and choreography, that it keeps your attention at all times. One big way how K-pop has truly impacted American culture is it has gained recognition and became “the most popular foreign genres of pop music in the United States” (Zheng). Another big way in which K-pop has dominated American style is by incorporating the American and western style of music, choreography, and apparel (Zheng). The genre has implemented many styles of American genres into their own. In K-pop groups, we can also see how the members are in sync with their clothing, choreography, and how they are all of one gender (Zheng). This can be traced back to aspects of musical groups back in the early 1990’s, an example being NSYNC.

As mentioned, one very known K-pop boy band is BTS. They have made clearly influenced the Western culture in the many ways I have listed previously. Additionally, they even won the award ‘Top Social Artist’ at the American Music Awards (Zheng). They broke the record for the first ever South Korean group to ever win and perform at a main awards show in America (Zheng). Their win just goes to show how much of an impact they have made in America. They have also made appearances and sang at several different talk shows like ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’. This was a great way to reveal them to many American viewers of the show who haven’t listened to K-pop before.

As I touched on briefly before, the song ‘Fake Love’ by BTS has been a big hit in the U.S. Listening to it at first, I noticed that the lyrics were notably foreign, and how catchy the tune is. Since I didn’t know what the lyrics meant, I just noticed the tune of the song and how different and interesting it sounded. Then I discovered the lyrics of the song, and it revealed how passionate and emotional the song really is. From the title, I assume that one can guess what the song may be about, but doing more research, I found that the band explained the meaning of their song. They explained that it’s literally a song about love that isn’t authentic. The leader of the group expanded on that and stated that when a person finds themselves in a love and isn’t true to themselves, then the love won’t last very long (Gemmill). Some lyrics of the song include, “For you, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad/ For you, I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt” and “I wish love was perfect as love itself/ I wish all my weaknesses could be hidden”. Basically, their message behind the song is that we have to love ourselves first. The mood of the song is a little frightening, in combination with their music video. Their choreography matches up and adds extra depth and definition to the song. For example, in one of the scenes, the leader of the group is just staring into the mirror at himself, portraying that he can’t grasp himself and the person he is. Another part of the video shows how the band dances to the song, and they look very in sync and almost puppet-like motions, emphasizing that they can’t identify their own selves and voices and have changed themselves. Overall, this song and video conveys a message of encouraging positive reflection and promoting understanding of one’s self.

In conclusion, Americans have really welcomed the K-pop genre, and the genre has, for the most part, impacted the Western style and culture. From lyrics, to dance, to outfits, and looks, K-pop has adapted many of the American styles and has received great feedback from fans. Sometimes, people don’t want to give a second thought to foreign music, especially if it’s hard to understand and sounds different from what you usually listen to. But K-pop has overturned that for many listeners and has proven to be successful in their music and have been accepted by American culture.