monmon

South Korea has a unique culture, from foods to fashion, and one of the most noteably thing is their music. Hallyu wave or Korean wave has a wide spread of influence that showcased different things from Korea. People likes to watch korean dramas, use korean cosmetics, eat korean foods, follow korean fashion, and listen to korean pop music. And at the heart of Hallyu is the ever-growing popularity of K-pop.

Kpop or Korean pop music has become a huge global phenomenon because of its distinct and creative blend of melodies, unique choreography, and idols who spend years training how to sing and dance in synchronized perfection. Hallyu has been building for two decades, but K-pop in particular has become increasingly visible to global audiences in the past five to 10 years. And K-pop has become the international face of South Korea, from different countries like Asia and America, korean pop has been known and widely liked by a lot of people. All started in the year 1992, Before the liberalization of South Korean media in the late ‘80s, the music produced by broadcast networks was primarily either slow ballads or "trot" a Lawrence Welk-ish fusion of traditional music with old pop standards. After 1987, though, the country’s radio broadcasting expanded rapidly, and South Koreans became more regularly exposed to more varieties of music from outside the country, including contemporary American music. Between 1995 and 1998, three powerhouse music studios appeared: SM Entertainment (often referred to as SM Town) in 1995; JYP Entertainment in 1997; and YG Entertainment in 1998, created by one of the members of Seo Taiji and Boys, Yang Hyun-suk. Together, these studios began deliberately cultivating what would become known as idol groups. The first idol group in South Korea appeared on the scene in 1996, when SM founder Lee Soo-man created a group called H.O.T by assembling five singers and dancers who represented what he believed teens wanted to see from a modern pop group. 1st generation groups are formed and until now the industry is still forming K-pop groups to spread korean pop music in the world.

Korean pop is really a global phenemonenon. As a fan myself, I am aware of their culture. Before being an idol, they should train for how many years to be able to debut in a group or solo. And still, it doesn't give the assurance of 100% success. Nevertheless, korean pop is very popular right now especially with the success of different K-pop groups like BTS, EXO, Seventeen, etc. Groups that paved the way towards a new path. With their catchy and meaningful music to their different styles and cool dance, sharing their talents and tellings us that whatever your gender, sex, color, or language, they would put all their emotion and effort for us and give us beautiful music.