What is the phenomenon of the k-pop genre?

K— popor, to put it in simple language, Korean popular music. The verses of famous Korean performers are rapidly sweeping the world. After resounding successPSYEveryone, including Russia, paid attention to South Korean pop.

What caused such interest in Korean groups, and whatK— popthe performers are popular in Russia, we will tell you in our top.

BigBang, YG Entertainment

The group officially debuted in 2006 and immediately became a huge success. The group consists of five members: T.O.P, G-Dragon, Taeyang, Seungri Daesung. Two rappers and three vocalists.

BigBang captivates primarily with its unique style - this applies to both music and image. The lyrics always include deep meaning, closely related to their personal lives. The band is fully involved in the creation of their music - from songwriting to producing albums and projects.

The group turned 10 last year; in honor of this anniversary, they organized a large-scale Would Tour - “0 to 10”. BigBang is currently on hiatus for indefinite time, as all participants are required to serve in the Korean Army. However, fans can enjoy the BigBang members' solo projects.

To date, the group’s most popular video clip is “FANTASTIC BABY” - more than 325 million views.

BTS, Big Hit Entertainment

For the first time as BTS group performed 4 years ago and immediately attracted attention. The lineup consists of seven members: RM, Jin, Suga, V, JongKook, Jimin. J-Hope. Three rappers, four vocalists.

The guys position themselves as a dance and music group. It is with their energetic, complex, and sometimes even funny dances that they have captivated fans of the K-pop industry.

Now the guys’ most popular video clip is “Dope” with more than 229 million views.

EXO, SM Entertainment

EXO first performed in 2012 as a group of 12 members. On this moment The group has eight members: Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Suho, Chen, Xiumin, Baekhyun, Sehun. Two rappers and 6 vocalists.

Initially, the group was promoted as a South Korean-Chinese boy band, since it also included Chinese members, and was divided into two subgroups - EXO-K (Korean) and EXO-M (Chinese). Now there is no such division, since members from China left the group and began performing solo.

First studio album"XOXO" received good critical acclaim and became a commercial success. The guys write the lyrics and music of the songs themselves. They also take part in creating choreography.

The most popular video right now is “Overdose” - more than 153 million views.

Monsta X, Starship Entertainment

The group debuted in early 2015 as a result of the survival show "NO.MERCY". The group consists of seven members: Shownu, Minhyuk, KiHyun, Jooheon, WonHo, HyunWon, I.M. Two rappers and four vocalists.

Photo removed from the site:

This is a list of the 11 most popular Korean boy groups based on MV views and social media followers.

It's only been four months into 2017, but groups of guys are already leading active work, with many of them soaring to the top of both music and video charts. Based on music video views, fans on V-Live and their fan cafes, these are the most successful groups of the first half of 2017!

BTS Incredibly popular both in Korea and abroad, it's no surprise that the group's fan cafe now boasts 489,077 fans, with the figure reaching 4.6 million on V-Live. Their videos also have millions of views. Their "Dope" video has over 150 million views!

BIGBANG is definitely one of the most popular and famous groups in the world of K-pop. They have amassed 222,944 fans on their fan cafe and 3.6 million followers on V-Live. Their most popular music video is "Fantastic Baby", which currently has 285 million views.

Popularity EXO It's no joke either, as the group has amassed 124,080 fans on their fan cafe, as well as amassing 3.5 million subscribers on V-Live and an impressive 133 million views on their most popular music video, "Growl."

Although they recently re-debuted as Highlight, BEAST was among the most popular groups. In total, they had 259,702 fans in their fan cafe and over 1 million subscribers on V-Live. Their most popular music video, "Fiction", currently has 50 million views.

One of YG Entertainment's popular groups , iKON has 40,261 fans in its fan cafe and almost 2 million subscribers on V-Live. The video for "Rythm Ta" has received 36 million views.

INFINITE has 205,817 fans in the fan cafe and over 1.5 million subscribers on V-Live. They also amassed approximately 27 million views for their music video for "Bad", making it their most popular song.

BTOB have become incredibly popular in Lately both in Korea and around the world. The group has a fan cafe of 151,387 fans, 1.4 million subscribers on V-Live, and 27 million views on their most popular music video, "WOW".

WINNER are rapidly gaining popularity. The third YG group on this list has amassed a total of 28 million views for their "Empty" music video, over 1.5 million subscribers on V-Live, and 86,563 fans in their fan cafe.

Since debut in 2015, SEVENTEEN quickly became one of the most popular groups in Korea. The group collected 22.6 million views of its music video for the song “Mansae”, 1.4 million subscribers on V-Live and almost 100,000 (97,933) fans in his fan cafe.

Music video VIXX"Chained Up" is their most popular video with 16 million views. Apart from this, they are also popular in in social networks: About 1.2 million subscribers on V-Live and 142,354 fans in the fan cafe.

Hi all! Hi! 안녕! As I promised in my previous article dedicated to, today I will write a few good words about men's groups and recommend them to you the best songs, in my opinion.

When I started making the list men's groups, then, firstly, the process was delayed, because I was inevitably drawn into watching the clips for several hours. Well, secondly, I realized how many groups I want to recommend, and that it would be better to divide them into the genres to which they belong, and write 3 separate articles: about pop groups (k-pop ), rock groups (k-rock), and write about the hip-hop (k-hiphop) direction in general (that is, include guys performing solo).

This post will be about the style that is richest in its representatives - k— pop(popular music). When I started getting interested in Korean music, at first I only listened to women's groups and solo performers. For some reason I couldn’t listen to Korean guys at all: their songs seemed a little monotonous to me, and in the videos I was scared off by the huge amount of makeup and style of clothing. But gradually everything changed. At first I was attracted to dance styles(largely thanks to the excellent choreography in the clips and dance practice videos, which are a pleasure to watch, and in general, I love energetic music). Then little by little I began to discover lyrical songs and ballads (actually, then I began to listen to Korean rap, hip-hop, and rock, but more on that next time). As a result, I discovered a lot of male pop groups, some of which have been my favorites for a long time.

For me, k-music of the last few years has become the most attractive and closest to my preferences. If you look at several clips from the period 2014-2016 and then, for contrast, include something from five years ago (or more), the difference between the modern Korean pop industry will be obvious: the amazing quality of video and music, the originality of the clips, the careful work of the stylists that deserves respect. All this does modern k-pop attractive to get to know and, to some extent, explains the explosive popularity of Korean performers not only in their country, but throughout the world. Although, without any doubt, old K-pop was also of high quality, in terms of music and vocal abilities of groups (TVXQ, MBLAQ - bright ones examples).

I hope you enjoy these bands if you're not already familiar with them and that you find a lot to enjoy good songs that will be added to your playlist special atmosphere, can energize you or, conversely, help you relax and dream.

Bands and their best compositions:

1. BTS (Bangtan Boys)

They are by far my favorite band. The first song I heard performed by them was Dope. They hooked me so much that I immediately started looking for information about BTS and their other songs. Honestly, I can count on one hand the times when I added so many songs from one artist to a playlist at once. And this is probably the first korean group, all the names of the participants of which I remember. I associate their music and voices with youth (don’t get me wrong, I’m not old yet=): they convey rebellion, carelessness, lightness, and the experiences of youth. Of course, not all songs are equally good, but many are, and that makes me happy.

If you want to get to know them better, then you have this opportunity, since Korean television and music agencies are, of course, great in this regard: a variety of shows and simply excerpts from their lives on YouTube, which are available with subtitles, will help you. And this doesn't just apply to BTS. At first, I watched quite a lot of these videos, and they really lift my spirits, because the guys are incredibly positive, friendly and cheerful. And here are their best songs:

• War of hormone (every time I hear it I want to dance and fool around)
• Let me know (very tender and emotional, I recommend watching the lyrics =))
• Blood Sweat & Tears
• Never mind (even though the entire song is sung by Suga, I can't help but include it because it's my favorite)
• Fake love
• Not today
• EPILOGUE: Young Forever
• I need you
• Danger
• Save me
• We Are Bulletproof
• Boy In Love
• Euphoria<3
• Coffee
• 21 century girls (To be honest, I was a little disappointed with their album “Wings”, despite its enormous popularity - although this is a matter of my taste. After the second listen, I still added 2-3 songs to my playlist, including this one)

1. GOT7

My love is not the first time. When I watched their video for the song “Just right”, I was very cool with the “cute” style among guys, so I didn’t like either the song or the video. But then, when their song “If you do” came out, it blew my mind. In this spirit, my passion for GOT7 continues: I am ready to listen to some compositions endlessly, while others are so annoying that they cannot be expressed in words. But in general, I follow them with great interest, because the guys are very talented and give 100%, and the voices of the two main vocals are admirable.

• If you do
• Good tonight
• Like oh
• Hard carry
• Can't
• Moonlight
• Mayday
• Boom x3
• Tomorrow, today (JJ Project)
• Icarus (JJ Project)
• Beggin on my knees
• Just right (after all, I changed my attitude towards this song)
• You are
• Thank you
• The reason
• Moon U
• Firework
• Paradise
• Never ever
• Find you (JJ Project - I highly recommend listening to the entire album of this sub unit - VERSE’2 - it is very melodic and pleasant)

1. Monsta X

They debuted not long ago, but from the very first song they won my heart (from a musical point of view). I really love dynamic tracks that you can dance to, and Monsta X are good at that. I hope that they will continue to delight with great music and colorful videos

• Trespass
• Stuck
• Fighter
• I'll be there
• Steal your heart
• Beautiful
• Crazy in love
• Lost in the dream
• Special
• Miss you
• Gone bad
• All in
• From zero
• Shine forever
• Jealousy
• Ready or not
• Need U
• In time
• Dramarama

I became actively interested in K-pop music 1.5-2 years after EXO’s debut, so when I discovered them after watching the video for the song “Growl,” they had already gained enormous popularity and lost three of their members. First of all, I was pleasantly shocked by the choreography and dancing skills of the ripples, and then by the music. I didn’t listen to all their songs at once, as in the case of BTS, but discovered their good songs gradually, and in the end, among my favorite and most frequently listened songs there was a decent number of compositions by this wonderful group.

• Power
• Black pearl
• Let out the beast
• Monster
• Heart attack
• Ko Ko Bop
• The eve
• Electric kiss
• Lucky one
• Moonlight
• Monster
• Overdose
• Promise
• Don't go
• Peter Pan
• Miracles in December
• Girl x friend
• The one and only
• First snow
• Growl
• Light saber
• Angel
• Lucky
• It’s still a dark night (although this is not their song, I really like the way they performed it on Immortal Song)
• Drop That
• Ka-CHING (EXO-CBX) (another song to fool around with=)

1. B.A.P

This group is not as popular as all the previous ones, which makes me sad because B.A.P are really very good. I'm not a fan of most of their older songs, but the later ones are a real treat to my ears. I became interested in them when I listened to them live performance in the studio with the song “1004” and since then I have been following their successes with great interest. Enjoy:

• Wake me up
• Hands up
• Skydive
• Killer
• Young, wild & free
• Kingdom
• Honeymoon
• Think hole
• All the way up
• ONE SHOT
• DISTOPIA
• Fly high
• I guess I need you
• With you

1. Infinite

Even though this group is not as active as it used to be, I still consider it one of the best. I like that Infinite maintain their style and the special gentle romantic atmosphere of their music.

• Last Romeo (check out the dance video below because it's awesome)
• Be mine
• Paradise
• Man in love
• One day

1. Seventeen

I'm not usually into very young bands with a "cute" boyish style, but Seventeen really stands out from the crowd of similar bands, so I recommend a lot of songs that are nice to listen to:

• Simple (solo by one of the members of the band Woozi from the latest album Love Letter, a very gentle song and a magical voice)
• Adore U
• Don't wanna cry
• Mansae
• Fronting
• Pretty U
• Pinwheel
• Thinkin' about you
• I'm Going to Find You Now
• Habit
• Highlight
• Jam Jam
• When I grow up
• Change up
• Campfire
• Smile Flower

1. BigBang

They are kind of legends in the world of the k-pop industry, but I have never been an ardent fan of their music, although I still liked some of the songs. But their album “MADE” is great, it made me have a lot of respect for them. Here are my favorite songs, including several tracks from this album.

• Let's not fall in love
• Loser
• Bae Bae
• FXXK IT
• Good Boy (G-Dragon and Taeyang)
• Last dance
• Tonight
• Monster
• Flower road
• Haru Haru
• Sober

1. Winner(I really like the style of their music: a little melancholic, relaxed, but at the same time emotional. I love this group!)

• Pricked (Mino & Taehyun)
• Empty
• Baby baby
• Have a good day
• Sentimental
• We were
• Don't flirt
• Immature
• Really Really
• Love me Love me
• Island
• Raining

1. BTOB

I didn’t pay much attention to this band before, because the music wasn’t catchy, but their latest album “New Men” pleasantly surprised me: very good voices and emotional, romantic, but not at all sad songs. Therefore, I recommend listening to it in full! I think I will now follow their work with great interest.

1. SHINee

An experienced group with many fans of their talent. Very strong vocal abilities of the participants combined with attractive appearance. However, the style of their songs is not at all what I usually like, and out of all their variety, there are only a few compositions on my playlist. Their last song “Tell me what to do” is especially good: it just gave me a storm of feelings: it is so tender, and their voices sound truly magnificent.

• Tell me what to do
• 1 of 1
• Everybody
• Hello
• Get the treasure
• Spoiler
• Symptoms
• Dazzling girl
• Like a fire
• Dream girl
• Hitchhiking
• Farewell My love
• Don't let me go

• Uneasy (the best song of their latest album, it’s a pity they didn’t make a video)
• A.D.T.O.Y.

1. VIXX

• Eternity
• Chained up
• Error
• Beautiful liar

1. Madtown

• Emptiness

1. Cross gene

• Noona, you
• I am not a boy not yet a man

1. Boyfriend

• Bounce
• I yah

1. Beast (now HIGHLIGHT)

• Fiction
• Good luck

1. ASTRO(they are a bit like Seventeen and very positive)

• Spring up
• Cat's eye
• Crazy sexy cool

• Rhythm Ta
• DUMB & DUMBER
• Just go
• Apology
• Climax
• What's wrong

Block B(I didn’t listen to the group’s songs so much - completely in vain)) I’m slowly improving. But I follow ZICO’s work, he is an incredibly talented rapper and producer, one of the top 3 hip-hop artists in Korea for me!)

• Toy<3
• Be the light
• Conduct zero
• No joke
• Nice day
• Battle royal
• Burn out
• A few years later
• Yesterday
• Bingle Bingle
• Nobody but you

I rarely like old K-pop, as you probably already realized, but I still want to highlight a few songs from groups that were popular a few years ago:

1. MBLAQ

• Mona Lisa
• Oh yeah

1. TVXQ+JYJ

• Back seat
• Empty
• In heaven
• Mirotic
• Catch me

Like last time, I’m adding a small playlist of songs that caught my attention. These bands don’t occupy much space in my musical heart yet, but I still can’t help but highlight them. Who knows, maybe in the future they will delight you with many good songs and arouse genuine interest in their creative successes.

• • U-kiss“Te amo”
  • MYNAME Adrenaline
  • History“Might just die”
  • Hotshot“Watch out”
  • Double S 301"Pain"
  • PENTAGON“Young” (terribly annoying)
  • NU'EST "Face"

• HALO“Feel so good”
• ToppDogg"Say it"
• AFOS“How are you doing”
• NCT U“Without you”
• B.I.G. "Aphrodite"
• 24k"Superfly"
• High4“Dead or alive”

As is the case with girl groups, there are many examples of excellent solo work by male group members. This is a separate topic, so this article did not pay attention to it. I promise that I will try to cover this topic soon.

It would be great to know about your favorite boy groups)) Please write in the comments below your favorite song in the style k — pop .

P.S. Next time I'll introduce you to or hip-hop. What would you be interested in first?)

New shocking groups from Asia began to appear frequently on music channels and on the Internet. Possessing a unique style of clothing, excellent choreography and incomparable songs, they are winning more and more fans around the world. The name of this phenomenon is K-pop.

The early nineties can be considered the starting point of the march of k-pop in its modern form. In 1992, a trio called Seo Taiji & Boys performed on a local television talent show, performing a hip-hop song with a distinctive Western sound. Nowadays such groups as “Girls Generation”, “Super Junior”, “Big Bang” perform in this genre, which have become widely known not only in Asia, but throughout the world.

Russians are familiar with K-pop only thanks to the famous video by PSY “Gangnam style”, which has received more than two billion views on YouTube. But in reality, this video is just a small tip of the iceberg of Korean popular music.

K-pop and its features

K-pop is a music genre that originated in South Korea. The melodic part incorporates many other styles, such as electronic and dance music, rock, hip-hop, and may even contain elements of classical and country.

It is being performed idols (eng. Idol)- teenagers who, from childhood, production centers specially teach vocals and dances. K-pop groups consist of either only girls or only boys, and their group size varies from five to nine people. So what is so special about this popular music that makes it so fascinating?

Of course, these are the songs themselves - simple melodies, mostly with a strong bias towards electronic dance music, which “clings” to the ear. The tracks are sometimes so mesmerizing that it no longer matters that they are performed in an unfamiliar language. Although recently there has been a tendency to insert English words into the song in order to attract listeners from all over the globe and let them understand what the story is about.

The themes of the songs are very diverse: from food and lifestyle to romantic relationships, and some songs can be full-fledged stories containing deep thoughts. It is worth noting that such music not only looks at Korean culture, but also includes many references associated with other countries and peoples.

Idols: "fake idols"

These are Korean performers who have signed a contract with some agency involved in music promotion. Before becoming popular and recognizable, young guys undergo complex training courses in vocal, dance and acting skills, and thanks to this, they not only perform songs on stage, but also star in various TV series.

Also, K-pop performers are taught foreign languages, and producers bring their appearance to perfection, and in the most literal sense. Almost all idols have undergone plastic surgery and keep themselves in shape by following strict diets and actively engaging in grueling exercises. As a rule, the private life of such guys is not made public, which adds a certain aura of mystery and enigma to their personality.

Images and dances are cooler than Michael Jackson's

One of the main attractive factors of this genre is the visual content and the image of the performers. Asia has long been famous for its artistry and subtle artistic approach, which has played a significant role in the local entertainment industry.

In all their videos, K-pop stars are professionally made up and have an individual style, expressed not only in flashy hairstyles, but also in extravagant clothes. There is an opinion that the image of the performers outshines many Western stars in its effectiveness and originality.

Idols are not at all shy about bringing something new and interpreting modern trends in their own way. A good example is rapper G-Dragon and singer CL, who became style icons by introducing new trends among young people, be it clothing items or new hairstyles.

Korean groups are famous not only for their vocal abilities, but also for their carefully crafted dances, which require professional training. It takes an insane amount of time and effort to prove that artists dance no worse live than in their videos. Men's dances are based on hip-hop, while women's dances are more sophisticated and simple.

Analogues of the genre in the world

K-pop is by no means a unique genre, but all similar analogues are located in the Asian part of our planet. The big and main competitor of the Koreans is J-pop, which, as you might guess, comes from the land of the rising sun - Japan. It also features music performed by idols, and you can see the similarity in concept. But there are differences between them, and this affects the popularity of Japanese and Korean music abroad:

J-pop music videos do not have such powerful visualization and impact, what happens on the screen is almost static, there is no such strong choreography, everything is based on its own identity, and because of this, the music videos seem strange;

K-pop places a strong emphasis on social portals. Each group has its own YouTube channel, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, where they constantly post photos of themselves, talk about their shows and even hold competitions. The Japanese do not strive for such aggressive propaganda, preferring to work for their “home” audience;

K-pop works according to its own well-established scheme, trying not to deviate from existing canons, focusing on the West and electronic music. J-pop experiments more, which is reflected in the sound, number and variations of instruments, and also mixes more styles, using guitar music more often;

Fans of Japanese music abroad, as a rule, are fans of Japanese cartoons - anime. Korean popular music is independent from other media arts.

K-pop is taking over the world

The K-pop fan base is becoming wider, becoming a separate subculture. This is especially noticeable in Latin America, the USA, Europe - and is only beginning to develop in Russia. In our country, fans organize dance competitions among themselves, copying the choreography of their favorite Korean performers, and also perform at events dedicated to Asian culture.

Various festivals are organized annually, including the K-Pop World Festival, the largest of all. Every year it is held in different countries, but the finale of the festival always ends in South Korea, in the city of Changwon. Both young talents from all over the world and famous Korean singers take part in it. It is worth noting that the South Korean government financially supports the entire infrastructure of musical activities, which helps them strengthen relations with Western countries.

K-pop is a powerful conveyor belt for the creation of media products, aimed not only at the audience of its country, but also at the whole world. Like Hollywood, it throws more and more new projects onto the market, the number of which can reach up to 90 groups per year, without losing the quality of the content.
This genre of music leaves a positive impression on its listeners: pleasant songs with interesting lyrics, excellent visual content.

All this is very eye-catching. Many teenagers want to be like idols who always look great, have their own sophisticated, impeccable style and have the magic of attractiveness. The desire to come into contact with something ideal and beautiful has made k-pop not just a passing trend, but a part of the lives of its many fans, whose numbers are growing every year.

K-pop groups and artists

Seo Taiji & Boys - a group that existed from 1992 to 1996, which popularized Western hip-hop in Korean music. After the group's disbandment, founder Seo Taeji began a solo career and became famous outside of Korea playing heavy alternative rock music.

Girls' Generation- a very famous and world-famous female octet, founded in 2007. In Korea, it is better known as So Nyeo Shi Dae (Sonyo Side). The songs use styles such as electro-pop and bubblegum pop. They have recorded 6 studio albums in Korean and Japanese. They are famous for their videos, for which they received the “Best Video of the Year” award at the YouTube Music Awards in 2013, beating out Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.

G-dragon (G-Dragon) - singer, actor, model. In addition to his solo career, he participates in the k-pop project Big Bang. He gained particular popularity because of his extraordinary style of clothing. He writes songs in the hip-hop genre and has released 2 studio albums.

ARTEM SOLOPAEV

Although the name "k-pop" comes from an abbreviation of the English words "pop-music" ("popular music") and "Korean", the difference between it and any other pop music is not simply a matter of nationality. K-pop initially appeared as a musical genre with its own characteristic differences, and only then turned into a musical subculture.

Features of k-pop as a genre of music

Songs in this genre are quite short, on average about 3.5 minutes. The song structure is standard pop music: alternating two verses with a chorus and then a bridge chorus. But k-pop is distinguished by a special eclecticism: it contains elements of many musical genres at the same time. It includes hip-hop, electropop, R’n’B, sometimes dubstep, EDM, deep house and other dance music genres.

What else is especially characteristic of k-pop: almost all songs, even calm and lyrical ones, have elements of rap. Raps can consist of entire verses that are combined with vocal verses and a bridge.

The songs are sung in Korean, but the lyrics almost always contain English. Usually these are simple phrases that are often repeated and attract listeners, especially foreign ones. The main theme of the songs, like most pop music, is love and relationships.

Now the situation is changing, but previously, when creating K-pop, not live, but electronic musical instruments were more often used.

Visual culture of k-pop

However, a significant part of the K-pop genre is visual culture. Therefore, a mandatory element is choreography. Almost every song, if it is not a ballad, is accompanied by a dance created for it, which focuses attention on certain moments of the song and makes it brighter, and the performance more interesting.

The appearance of the artists is very important. These are always slender and well-groomed girls or guys, with perfect makeup and hairstyles, dressed in the latest Korean fashion. Most often, their hair is dyed different colors, sometimes extremely bright. The guys' stage outfits are also very colorful, with a lot of accessories. The same applies to music videos - they are bright, dynamic, with expensive scenery and costumes.

Usually, young K-pop singers are officially called idols (from the English “idol”), because almost everyone wants to be like such ideal, young and successful artists. The number of participants in groups varies: sometimes there are groups of 10-13 people, and sometimes 3-4, but the most popular composition is from 5 to 9 people. Debuting idols are usually between 16 and 21 years old.

Each member plays a role in the group. There are main and lead vocalists, dancers, rappers. The oldest or most experienced member is designated as the group leader. There is also the maknae, the youngest member, who maintains a cute image. Focusing on the strengths of each idol, the agency writes hits for them and selects a repertoire in which all participants can show themselves favorably. As a result, viewers get the opportunity to watch such a supergroup that can do everything.

Components of the k-pop industry

K-pop artists begin their journey under the wing of one of the many South Korean music agencies that take young talents under their full control. The most influential agencies in South Korea are the so-called “big three”: SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment.

Every year, such agencies recruit hundreds of trainees - interns who undergo professional training to become show business stars. You can get trainee status by auditioning with an agency, but this does not mean that every trainee will eventually debut.

A K-pop debut is an artist's first performance on stage with a new song and the release of a music video - the first time that artists declare themselves as full-fledged newcomers to the music business. However, trainees wait years to debut, and only a few actually manage to make it onto the stage. Whether a trainee debuts or not is decided by the music producers.

Trainees often find themselves in agencies at school age, so they continue to study at school during the day, and in the evening they go to train: they practice vocals, rap, learn to dance, pay attention to physical training and acting, study foreign languages ​​- in general, they do everything to become "universal soldiers" in the Korean music scene.

It is not surprising that such an overloaded regime is accompanied by overwork, nervous breakdowns, and physical injuries, so debuting idols are truly the best of the best, the most resilient and persistent guys.

Promotion of k-pop artists

Immediately after the debut performance (Debut Stage), promotion begins - promoting artists through performances with the title song on such Korean TV music programs as Music Bank, Inkigayo, M! Countdown, Show Champion, Show! Music Core and The Show. Almost all of these programs have a rating system for rewarding the best artists, who receive an award if they win.

The last performance of the promotion is called the Goodbye stage, on this day the artists do not participate in the race for the award, but simply perform the song once again for their fans, saying goodbye to them before their comeback. A comeback, in turn, is the return of artists and promotion with new material, and the performance is the Comeback Stage.

Almost all Korean groups and solo artists give a special name to their fans. For example, Super Junior's fandom name is E.L.F., which stands for "Everlasting friends", Infinite's fans are Inspirit, etc.

When a group has just debuted, its task is to be remembered by the viewer as an ideal, whole organism, but subsequently a music agency can create so-called sub-units - duets or trios, which are formed from individual participants in order to demonstrate their talents or show material in a new, unusual genre for main group.

But more often, individual members debut as solo artists and perform alone with new songs. At the same time, the idols continue to be members of the group at the same time.

The younger and newer the group, the more often it returns to the stage: newcomers can make several comebacks per year, more experienced groups - at least once a year, but already famous, mature groups can appear on stage with new material every two or three times. years or less.

The most popular k-pop groups

The most famous South Korean group around the world is Big Bang from YG Entertainment, which debuted in 2006. The group received the title of "Artist of the Year" in Korea, became the best newcomer in Japan, and in 2011 they represented the Pacific region of Asia at the famous MTV EMA awards in Belfast and received the title of best international artist. Big Bang consists of 5 guys, three of whom are successfully engaged in solo activities. In particular, the name of the participant under the pseudonym G-Dragon is known even to many American celebrities.

Also famous outside of Asia is the girl group SNSD, or Girls' Generation, from SM Entertainment. These idols have already proven their worth, occupying the top of the charts in both South Korea and Japan in their early years. In addition, Girls' Generation There are also English-language versions of some songs - the girls even performed with one of them in the USA on David Letterman's evening show. The group also peaked at number 126 on the international Billboard 200 chart.

These are the most famous male and female K-pop groups in the world. In addition to them, quite popular girl groups are 2NE1, 4minute and Wonder Girls (upd.: all disbanded in 2017), Twice, Blackpink, Red Velvet, Gfriend, as well as Korean male groups DBSK (TVXQ), EXO, Bangtan Boys (BTS) and Super Junior - the latter celebrated 10 years on stage in 2015. Confidently following on their heels are other groups that have received the support of both Korean fandoms and a huge number of international fans thanks to the Internet - such as Seventeen, Winner, GOT7, B.A.P., Mamamoo, giving concerts around the world.

It is worth mentioning the solo singer named PSY, who raised the ears of the entire Internet in 2012 with the release of the video for the song “Gangnam Style”, which broke all records as the most viewed video on YouTube, and in 2017 still holds good positions with more than 2.9 billion views, second only to two other music videos. In many ways, it was he who gave a new impetus to the growth of interest in South Korean music and culture in general.

However, trends in K-pop change very quickly: some artists lose popularity, while others achieve unprecedented success, so only those who at least occasionally follow the news of the K-pop industry receive up-to-date information.

Which Korean groups and solo artists are your favorite, and why? Tell us in the comments!