Why K-Pop Is A Global Phenomenon

This blogpost is to commemorate EXO's new special album "Don't Fight The Feeling" as well as to truly understand why and how K-Pop managed to successfully become a global sensation.

The Korean entertainment industry handles art differently from other industries. They harness a very pure perspective on what it means to create meaningful art and media and it definitely shows. What does a pure perspective exactly mean? I would define a 'pure perspective' as one which uses the primitive definition of 'art' and builds on it. They understand what beauty within the realm in art is and build structures on that foundation. Korean art is conservative which makes it thought-provoking, but that's for another blogpost.

This blog post is all about K-Pop (Korean Pop Music); K-Pop doesn't just comprise of only what is seen 'pop' music in its conventional sense, rather it encompasses of an array of genres - Hip-Hop, R&B, EDM. K-Pop is simply the term for the entire art form.

This blogpost is directed at exploring what makes K-Pop so attractive to people all around the globe. There are two broad answers:

1. They involve our senses and successfully harmonise elements within their art form to appeal to all of them. K-Pop isn't just music; it's music videos, aesthetic value, production value and at its core, emotionally-driven.

2. K-Pop idols' (musicians, bands) primary motives are to cater to their fanbase. In K-Pop, the fans hold a sovereignty unlike no other industry in the world. Idols work to please their fans and create content especially for them. In this way, a profound connection is established between the two parties without an intermediary.

   
   

I am a huge fan of a boy-band "EXO", a 9-member South Korean-Chinese group who are very prominent within the K-Pop industry, often seen as the "Kings of K-pop". EXO was one of the "hallyu" stars - Korean personalities who globalised the K-Wave (all Korean art forms: movies, k-dramas, k-pop) and brought it to a recognisable and reputed level at the world stage. I will be expressing my views with EXO as my primary example as there's barely an incomplete or incorrect knowledge I will able to spread that way.

As I mentioned earlier, K-Pop isn't just music, it's a million things more. Music is just the surface of what K-Pop is, despite being its fundamental identity. K-Pop harmonises our senses, for every one of our 5 senses, there is a prominent element embedded within a form of K-Pop which particularly caters to it. Firstly, our auditory senses are the most stimulated. Despite hardly being able to understand the language, there is no doubting that many Korean ballads are innately beautiful to listen to - again, encouraging us to truly modify what good music means to us: is it really the lyrics, firsthand? Then of course, once we do learn the lyrics, the song ascends levels of beauty and becomes closer to us. Secondly, our sense of sight are also greatly stimulated with the production and aesthetic value which K-Pop provides us with. Look at any music video within the K-Pop industry - the effort to be aesthetically pleasing is made obvious. With the same aesthetic value, our other senses of smell, touch and taste are triggered. The various textures, colours and art styles used manage to merge our senses and provide a heavenly packaged form of art, keeping us engaged. The journey of watching an EXO music video is highly exciting and an experience on its own: the story-telling accompanied by the harmony of music, dance, character-driven storylines, production quality and aesthetic beauty makes for a good mood after consumption.

Stills from EXO's Music Videos (left to right: "Monster", "Tempo", "Universe"

Despite all of this being very wonderful, K-Pop is able to completely have us invested fundamentally owing to another of our senses being absolutely involved. It's our emotions. Our heart and mind.

This brings me to the second answer to the question "Why is K-Pop a revolution?". K-Pop successfully involves our heart and mind. It evokes emotion. How? Not just through the art itself but also through the platform K-Pop is which emphasises on a lot of interaction between the artist and the fanbase. This is why K-Pop is different from other music industries - not only does it bring a fantastic, stimulating experience for our senses, it focuses on providing as much to the fans as possible through reality shows and content specifically curated towards fans. This leaves fans feeling as though they are (and they are) an integral part of the idols' lives which goes on to establish a very profound connection between the artist and their fans.

Despite all of this being very wonderful, K-Pop is able to completely have us invested fundamentally owing to another of our senses being absolutely involved. It's our emotions. Our heart and mind.

This brings me to the second answer to the question "Why is K-Pop a revolution?". K-Pop successfully involves our heart and mind. It evokes emotion. How? Not just through the art itself but also through the platform K-Pop is which emphasises on a lot of interaction between the artist and the fanbase. This is why K-Pop is different from other music industries - not only does it bring a fantastic, stimulating experience for our senses, it focuses on providing as much to the fans as possible through reality shows and content specifically curated towards fans. This leaves fans feeling as though they are (and they are) an integral part of the idols' lives which goes on to establish a very profound connection between the artist and their fans.

EXO merchandise; includes the CD, photobooks/cards (pictures from photoshoots), lightsticks (to show support during a concert).

The degree of effort the K-Pop industry directs to please their fans is particularly commendable; teams of people are involved in the production process of whatever content it is that is created, geared towards fans, whether it be an interview, game show, photoshoot, etc. The attention to detail and quality shows the dedication to fans, from the artists and this is what keeps the entire system so intact and connected. Fans are able to interact and understand their artists as people and not just musicians, idols aren't just 'perfect angels, they are very much living, breathing human beings with feelings. This is often overlooked in other industries where celebrities are seen as perfection and devoid of personalities or feelings. The entire concept of giving fans sovereignty and having a massive focus of catering to them allows connections to be made - this is so powerful and establishes a very deep bond between two parties who couldn't be more apart.

And this is the power of the K-Pop revolution. Physically apart yet leaving artists and fans alike feeling emotionally proximal, bonded and nurtured.