K-Pop rapidly becomes the face of South Korea in many countries

 

In just 2018 alone, South Korea took in over 15 million overseas tourists, ranking them 9th in the Asia-Pacific. As an American peering into the Korean culture, it’s easy to list out things that encapsulate the general audience on what attracts them to the country. However, one of the biggest wave in recent years has to be music. Known as Korean pop (K-Pop), it has recently taken over the world as one of the mainstream music genres and potentially the face of South Korea.

 

One of the biggest music festival in the United States, Coachella Valley Music Festival, brings in approximately 250,000 fans per weekend during the month of April every year. In 2019, a K-Pop girl band called BLACKPINK was one of the main performers. This was a huge breakthrough for the K-Pop migrating into the western world of music. It brought in mainstream media channels from all over the world and gave exposure to a genre that many did not know about.

 

Rose, a member from BLACKPINK, said, "Coming all the way from South Korea, we didn’t know what to expect… Obviously, we, you guys and us, are totally from different worlds, but tonight, I think [that] music brings us as one." The reception for BLACKPINK was very positive and gave mainstream exposure to K-Pop. However, there are always challenges when entering a new market.

 

One of the main challenges K-Pop currently faces in the western world is the difference in musical culture. While K-Pop focuses on catchy beats and synchronized dancing, western culture focuses on story-telling and being personable.

 

BTS, a popular K-Pop group, overcame this obstacle by creating and maintaining a relationship with their fan-base through social media via such as YouTube and Twitter. They post daily tweets on Twitter and YouTube videos of behind the scene choreography. In short, they market themselves by being genuine and use their fan-base to propel themselves into mainstream media. Since the average American audience prefers artists that are relatable and can be humanized, it’s no wonder that BTS has gained the popularity of many western fans.

 

Steve Aoki, a world-renowned DJ, spoke about BTS in an interview, "With streaming, fans now have such a large voice, and that’s how BTs really became a phenomenon – because the fans made it a phenomenon, like with the underground culture of punk and hardcore… These guys crush it. And I think because the fans are making such a big deal, it’s not going anywhere."

 

Streaming allows fans to not only communicate with the band but communicate with each other. This enables them to create their own community and find like-minded people all together to be able to network.

 

Rolling Stones released an article called "How K-Pop conquered the West". In this article, they talk about the recent success of K-Pop in the U.S., from selling out auditoriums to forming festivals like Kcon that is specific to K-Pop. The community of followers for K-Pop bands has grown at an exponential rate.

 

K-Pop is rapidly becoming the face of South Korea for many countries. If the industry as a whole can continue to create a relationship with fans all over the world, K-Pop will be able to become a household genre for everyone throughout the world.