K-pop: a beginner's guide

Ahead of the genre’s showcase at this year’s South By Southwest, here’s a bit of Korea advice on the fluorescent hairstyles and multiple artists of K-pop!

K-pop’s explosion of colour, crazy fashion and elaborate pyrotechnics looks set to light up Austin’s South by Southwest festival this March. Last year, the festival’s K-pop Night Out event was such a hit that this year’s incarnation promises to be even bigger, showcasing some of the most influential acts from the genre such as HyunA, whose solo career has rocketed with hits such as Bubble Pop.

The interest in Korean pop isn’t new and the genre has had a solid fan base ever since the 1990s when the music was included on exported Korean dramas such as First Love. But after years of being considered both alternative and cutesy, K-pop is currently bubbling into the mainstream. For those of you with no clue where to start, here’s a handy beginner’s guide…

Get to know K-pop’s biggest star: G-Dragon

The 25 year old genre-masher, songwriter, producer and frontman of group Big Bang is a K-pop juggernaut.

G-Dragon shows off some serious swagger (Gif: jiyongenius on tumblr)

His recent video, Crooked, was filmed in London’s Brick Lane.

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch G-Dragon perform Crooked

G Dragon stands out in K-pop for his more in-depth themes including self-destruction and narcissism: perhaps he wants to be the voice of Korean millennials? He teamed up with Diplo and Baauer for his recent dark album Coup d’etat, so it’s little wonder that other US artists – such as Missy Elliott – are collaborating with him.

For all his musical skills it’s probably his hair and fashion-sense that’s most influential – the androgynous star recently graced the front cover of Italian Vogue and had a front row seat at the YSL show at Paris fashion week last month.

G-Dragon with musician and producer Missy Elliott. Photo: G Dragon instagram

Groups are big in both numbers and bucks

K-pop groups are fond of names full of acronyms – take 2NE1 (New Evolution of the 21st Century), B.A.P (Best Absolute Perfect) and BTOB (Born to Beat). They stand apart from the rest of the world’s pop groups for many reasons, but one of the key differences is that there are so many members in each group.

Exhibit A:

EXO have more members than a football team (just). Photograph: static on tumblr

There are 12 members of EXO, but then they are split into EXO-K who perform in Korean and EXO-M who perform in Mandarin.

Then there’s Girls’ Generation. Again, they have band members in abundance…

Photo: 2.bp.blogspot.com

As well as clocking up big numbers band member-wise, the K-pop industry is worth billions. The biggest labels are currently SM Entertainment – who kicked off K-pop in the 1990s and have a market capitalisation of $660mn. They’re home to SHINee and Girl’s Generation. There’s also YG Entertainment, who take care of Psy, Big Bang and 1TYM. Groups are often put together when their members are young: G-Dragon and Taeyang both started receiving training from their label YG Entertainment at the age of 11. The journey can be long: Jokwon of 2AM was a trainee at JYP Entertainment for seven years before his debut

K-pop music videos are more like movies

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch BIGBANG perform Fantastic Baby

Where else can you see owls, choreographed Streetfighter moves and bopping furry monsters? There’s a huge fusion of genres going on in most K-pop videos, but part of the fun is surrendering to the fact that you may never properly understand them.

K-pop stars can often sing and dance. SHINee, who were in some ways the Korean One Direction, have some pretty awesome choreography and a ridiculous number of outfit changes:

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch SHINee perform Everybody

Get to know your terminologies

Before you become a proper K-pop fan, there are some words you need to know:

Aegyo: refers to super-cuteness. Puppy eyes/pouty lips/posing with a peace sign/ kitty paws – that kind of thing. In essence, Aeygo is faux innocence.

Sasaeng: an obsessive fan who goes way over the top.

Oppa/unnie/hyung/noona/sunbae/hoobae: age differences are important in South Korea. It stems from the Confucian concept of filial piety and respecting your elders. As a result, a woman would call an older man “oppa”, and an older woman “unnie”. A man calls an older man “hyung” and an older woman “noona”. This translates to K-pop too: they’ll refer to their fellow band-mates as “sunbae” if they are senior or “hoobae” if they are junior.

K-pop is bigger than Bieber in terms of social media

You can’t escape the presence of K-pop on social media. Although the stars have otherworldly images that are heavily crafted, the fans still feel that they know them intimately thanks to Twitter and Instagram.

Here’s a rundown how K-pop fans are taking over the internet:

Twitter: EXO won MTV’s social buzz competition, beating Beliebers and Directioners with the most loyal fans.

#EXO fans and #Directioners are blowing up Social Buzz right now! Which artist do you think is the most #EMAzing? http://t.co/6d3RMiVBqv

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) November 9, 2013

YouTube: After Psy broke records for the most watched YouTube video with Gangnam Style, K-pop is still leading the way. Girls’ Generation won YouTube’s best video award last year, for their hyper-energised hit I Got a Boy.

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch Girls’ Generation perform I Got a Boy

Blogs: K-pop videos provide so many Gif opportunities, so it’s hardly surprising that Tumblr has created a list of the most reblogged Korean pop blogs of the year. Although allkpop.com has been around since 2007 and feeds you with the latest K-pop news, the best site (at least for English speakers) is probably Eat your Kimchi. The people behind it, Simon and Martina Stawski, are captivating on screen, mixing silly faces, cute pets and funny sketches. They do great music reviews and vlogs and have a Music Monday K-pop chart on their website, where fans can vote for their top track of the week. They also boast an international community of fans, who they call their “Nasties”.

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch Eat your kimchi

Where next for K-pop?

K-pop looks set to become more important with increased exposure at events like SXSW. But will the genre be forced to accommodate its growing English-speaking fan-base? I suspect that will leave loyal fans, who have enjoyed indulging in the quirky and alternative side of things, feeling a bit bitter.

• This article was amended on 4 March 2014 to remove incorrect lyrics of the song I Got a Boy.

Contributor

Aisha Gani

The GuardianTramp

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