Kpop: The Origin Story

Photo by Mélanie THESE on Unsplash

Everyone knows about the famous Kpop group BTS and how they raised to their fame out of thin air. But what happened before BTS? What was Kpop’s origin story? What even is Kpop?

Kpop or Korean Pop is the internationally popular, aesthetic driven, style-bending, trendsetting, music genre of the 21st century. Kpop is influenced by the range of genres in the music industry, this is how they chose the people to be in a group because of the vast range of genres in the music industry. But the tunes are inspired by traditional Korean music and lyrics are in Korean with the occasional English in throughout the music. 

The Kpop Odyssey:

Kpop was none existent until the 1950s by a hip hop boy group Seo Taiji and The Kim Sisters. Seo Taiji Boys created the new musical genre which is now Kpop, this was mainly a domestic one when in the late 1990s Kpop fans started springing up in the East and Southeast Asia. After the Seo Taiji Boys created Kpop, the genre started off with the Kim Sisters. The sisters were a Korean born pop music trie who spoke no English but won fame in the U.S. by performing soulful renditions of American pop songs. Like Idols today, they were extraordinarily talented and flawless style. The Kim Sisters became icons of Korean culture and laid the groundwork for today’s Kpop superstars after their many achievements. 

Kpop Activism:

In the 1970s, Kpop had to face political activism along with Asian hate creams in the U.S. Kpop fans in America to hijack and completely derail racist trending topics. In most Kpop music, the lyrics range from anti-bullying to social consciousness. This became a attribute to folk-rock singer and composer Kim Min-ki, he wrote a brief but sorrowful song called ‘Morning Dew’. His music was often used as activism and overtime his albums were banned because of it. 

Back to the Odyssey:

 Seo Taiji revolutionized Korean Pop music by merging with American music in the 1990s. By coupling with American music with hip-pop choreography, Kpop was officially born. Then the first generation of Kpop stars ushered in and the group H.O.T is considered to be the very first Kpop Idol group due to their highly manufactured and trained pop stars. Their first song ‘Candy’ became the bubblegum pop hit in Korea. 

 In 1999, the group G.o.d (Groove Over Dose) lead the second generation of Kpop. They followed the same format as H.O.T and became the most popular boy bands in the early 2000s. After that, Kpop continued to grow and gain more fans towards the many groups like BTS and Blackpink. The third generation (BTS and Blackpink) cracked Americas mainstream in a large part due to social media, which became global. 

America is now getting their new attention of new and bigger groups. Their not British gentleman, Hispanic hip swaying groups…their Korean and are not afraid to show what their made of.