K-pop

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K-pop (Korean: 케이팝; RR: Keipap; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music"^[1]) is a form of popular music originating in South Korea.^[2] It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western dance music, hip-hop, R&B and rock.^[3][4][5] Today, K-pop commonly refers to the musical output of teen idol acts, chiefly girl groups and boy bands, who emphasize visual appeal and performance.^[6] As a pop genre, K-pop is characterized by its melodic quality and cultural hybridity.^[7][8][9]

K-pop can trace its origins to "rap dance", a fusion of hip-hop, techno and rock popularized by the group Seo Taiji and Boys, whose experimentation helped to modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene in the early 1990s.^[10][11][12] Their popularity with teenagers incentivized the music industry to focus on this demographic, with Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment developing the Korean idol system in the late 1990s and creating acts like H.O.T. and S.E.S., which marked the "first generation" of K-pop.^[13] By the early 2000s, TVXQ and BoA achieved success in Japan and gained traction for the genre overseas.^[14][15]

As a component of the Korean Wave, the international popularity of K-pop by the 2010s can be attributed to the rise of social media. In 2019, South Korea ranked sixth among the top ten music markets worldwide, with artists BTS and Blackpink leading the growth.^[16] 2020 was a record-breaking year for South Korea when it experienced a 44.8% growth and became the fastest-growing major market of the year.^[17]

Despite heavy influence from American pop music, some have argued that K-pop maintains a distinctness in mood and energy.^[8] The "Koreanness" of K-pop has been debated in recent years, with an increasing share of Western songwriters, non-Korean artists, songs in English and marketing for a global audience.^[18][19] Some authors have theorized K-pop as a new kind of "transnational culture" with "global dissemination".^[20]

K-pop is known for its tight managerial control. It has been criticized for its commercialism and treatment of artists.^[21][22] The industry is dominated by four major companies—SM, YG, JYP and Hybe. In the 2020s, the genre has been marked by greater artist autonomy and companies localizing their production methods overseas; groups like JO1 and Katseye have resulted from this globalization.