K-Pop (Korean Pop) has had a long history in Korean Media. Though, it really became what we know it today in the 1990s with Seo Taji and Boys. They were bringing western music (rap, r&b) into the Korean music market. The once "safe" Korean music market (all thanks to government censorship), was now free. Seo Taji and Boys really talked a lot about their society and allowed teens to feel empowered. Once they disbanded and an Asian Financial Crisis happened, the Korean government decided to put 1% of the country's budget into culture and arts. This allowed for Korean entertainment companies to go wild with their artists and allow them to go global.
Now after 30 years, we're living in a society that's almost impossible to escape from the madness of K-pop pandemonium. BTS are the biggest boyband to ever happen, groups are being shot out like crazy (in 2012, there were about 80+ groups that debuted a year), and other bands like EXO, Monsta X, and others, are breaking new grounds and records.
With K-pop finally exploding into the western market, there have been many misconceptions about the genre that aren't necessarily true. It can really give a negative effect to someone listening to K-Pop for the first time when there all these negative attributes associated with it. I used to hold some these ideas too but once I let myself enjoy the music and get immersed in it, I realized that a lot of these ideas aren't true at all. So I'm going to break down some misconceptions or popular reasons why people don't listen to K-Pop and hopefully change your mind about the genre.
"But you can't even understand what they're saying."
This is probably the most common reason why people don't listen to K-pop. It's understandable that music in another language is intimidating but don't let that stop you from enjoying the music. Music is it's own language and can transcend spoken language barriers. You often can tell the feeling of the song by instrumental and so therefore you don't need to understand the language to know what the song should make you feel.
Plus, with K-Pop taking over western markets, groups have been releasing all English songs for a while now. Like Monsta X released their all English album, All About Luv, earlier this year, and BTS just dropped their all English song, Dynamite (just a few examples). Also, if you want to know what the lyrics are saying just look up translations on Google.
K-pop is manufactured and idols are just products being sold.
This is another popular misconception about K-pop and it's not necessarily wrong. What this fails to recognize is that literally every person that is signed to a record label is a product. A record label in any country will not sign anyone if they don't believe in some market value. It's a company's job to make money. Western musicians are just as much as products as Korean ones.
There's also a common misconception that idols are just robots and factory-like but that isn't true at all. Idols can be just as genuine as any other musician. Sure, there's some companies who treat their idols like objects, but that isn't the case for all of them. Idols are not void of rights like Western media presents them to be. Which brings me to my next misconception:
Idols have no rights and are slaves to their company.
I'm sure you've heard horror stories of idols not being allowed to have cell phones to call home or that they're stuck in obnoxiously long contracts but that isn't necessarily the case anymore. In 2009, the Korean Free Trade Commission passed a law that banned companies from giving excessively long and restrictive contracts to idols. There's definitely some ways to go in the industry but, the idea that Idols are essentially puppets with no rights isn't as true as it once was.
K-Pop groups/idols have no artistic integrity and all their music is made for them.
Nope. Not true. And it hasn't been true for a long time. YG kind of started this with Bigbang and allowing them to write their own music and it really just went wild from there. There's so many groups now that produce and write their own music that I'm almost shocked when I don't see a member name listed under writing credits. Groups now like, boy group, Stray Kids and girl group, G-idle being named "self-produced." These groups write and produce their own music. And those aren't the only two.
Also, by saying a K-pop group/idol has no artistic integrity, you're downplaying all the years of training it took to debut. Idols have to skilled in dancing, singing, rapping and they have to know how to perform. They have to pass test after test to even get a slim chance of debuting. They work very hard to get these skills and quite frankly they have more talent than I could even wish for.
K-Pop all sounds the same.
Not necessarily. Just like in Western music, there's trends that people follow to get played on the radio and make money. It's the same in K-pop. They're following the trends because they have to make money. Music is a job and they have to get paid somehow. But, no song sounds similar to another at least from what I've heard (and I've heard way too much K-pop). Sure, they're following a musical trend, but every group and idol puts their own unique style to it. Every K-pop song sounds different from the next.
There's also many different types of genres that fall under K-pop. A group like Day6 which are a rock band aren't going to be making hard noise that NCT is making for example. There's so many niche genres that you can find something you like.
"Everyone looks the same to me."/"I can't tell them apart."
Piggybacking off the last one, there is this statement or variations that I hear often. And it's not racist like some people claim. It's just ignorant. An article by the New York Times published the science behind these statements. As infants, we get accustomed to common features to those we are exposed to often (ex. a white child will find differences in eye color and hair color, African Americans will look for subtle shadings in skin, etc). This can make it difficult for people to distinguish two people of a race different than ours but not impossible.
I don't know why this would stop you from listening to K-pop unless you wanted to dig into fandom. Don't let something like this stop you from the enjoyment of K-pop music. Learning members can come later.
"The boys just look like girls."
Again, don't let this stop you from enjoying some great music. Also, check your toxic masculinity. If you're letting boys who wear (incredible) make up stop you from enjoying k-pop then you have some other problems on your hand.
K-Pop fans are crazy/deluded/obsessed/scary/Koreaboos/Asian fetishists/???.
No they aren't. This is a very misogynistic way of thinking because the majority of K-pop fans especially in Western society are women and girls and this kind of thinking only stems from when fangirls are the subject. Men who scream at the TV for their favorite sports team or punch a wall when their team loses aren't called crazy. But suddenly when a girl is passionate about something she likes, she's suddenly crazy? Doesn't make sense to me. There's this incredible TED Talk given by Yve Blake about fangirls that I would urge anyone who thinks this way to watch.
And while, yes, there are some fans who are mean or rude, that's not a majority of them. When I joined the K-pop side of twitter, I was very scared at first because I had heard so many horror stories. But everyone just wants to talk about their love for their favorite group.
Also just because a K-pop fan wants to go to Korea or is learning the language, does not mean she is a Koreaboo and only wants to date Korean men/women. A lot of fans who are learning the language only want to connect with their favorite artists more. There's nothing wrong with the passion of a fan.
And again, if you're letting this stop you from enjoying great music. Don't.
"Okay, K-pop isn't as bad as I thought. But, where do I start?"
--Did I just hear you ask? Well luckily for you, I have my K-Pop starter pack for those looking to get into the K-pop world. I conveniently broke it down by genre preference so you can have a jumping off point. I firmly believe there's something for everyone in K-pop and if you get over these misconceptions above, you'll open yourself up to a whole new world full of different culture and fun!
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