Kpop a Growing Industry

Symone Ah Ching, Reporter

 

With the click and flash of a camera, exposure to social media outlets like Snapchat and Instagram are making almost anyone and anything popular. Every “new” idea seeming like a “been there done that.”  It’s hard to stand out in the vast sea of interest.

However, during recent years there has been an evident and steady growth of a music genre that has been shaking things up globally, that is Kpop.

Most people are familiar with Psy’s “Gangnam Style” which debuted in 2012 and according to Billboard was the first video on Youtube to reach one billion views. The problem is one song cannot do enough to define such a diverse genre.

The term Kpop is commonly defined as a musical genre or industry with the Korean language originating from, you guessed it, South Korea. Yet with such a broad term others define it as more.

“Kpop in a nutshell of madness can be defined as music videos that are aesthetically pleasing, it is precise choreography, it is something that can easily turn into obsession”, says junior Diamond Aiono.  

The exponential growth of the internet has also boosted the popularity of this genre. Music videos of the general kpop song easily racking in a million views. Fans obsess over the talented idols through their vocals, choreographies, and fawning over the looks and outfits the idols wear.

Each group having an average of 5 or more members, with some members from countries such as Thailand, Japan, and China. Fans choose their favorites or “bias” of the group having everything for everyone.

Astonishingly this music genre rooted with a foreign language strives globally. Junior Mormon Vaituu says, “I feel like there’s something for everyone whether it be the beat/melody, the visuals, and of course, we can’t forget the translation of lyrics.” As BTS’s leader RM says, “Music transcends language.”

Music is a universal thing that connects all people of any gender, race, or sexuality; this is especially evident in the growing popularity in not only the U.S but other places such as South America and Japan.

Using the marketing strategies of the social world, and often times using subtitles of their lyrics in different languages to reach every audience.

With the exponential interest of Kpop comes the growth of fan bases or “fandoms”; as Justin Bieber had his Beliebers, groups like Exo have “Exols”, Twice have “Onces”, and iKON with their “iKONICS”. These fandoms find their strength in numbers. With a strength in numbers, that can only lead to success, right?

In recent years, kpop groups have been shattering records left and right. As boy group, BTS broke the Youtube record of most views in 24 hours with a whopping 45 million views with their latest single “Idol” and their gender counterparts girl group Blackpink just behind them holding number 3 with 33.7 million views.

But the success is not only shared on Youtube, these groups have dominated music charts as well. In 2017 and 2018 group BTS won “Top Social Artist” two years in a row with more than 300 million votes worldwide and Got7 winning  MTV’s award for the best worldwide act in 2016 there are much more.

Sophomore Kamora says,“It’s a genre that should definitely be recognized, it’s just a matter of when.”