Showing a glimpse of the lives of K-pop trainees, the first episode introduces K-pop as a multi-billion global phenomenon, stating: “Six of the top 20 best-selling artists in the world were K-pop and 90 billion streams were by K-pop idols.”
K-pop is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. Girl group Aespa and boy group BTS have sold out shows in the country’s largest arenas.
In 2023, the group Blackpink became the first Korean band to headline a UK festival at BST Hyde Park, where they played to an audience of 65,000. They were also awarded honorary MBEs by the king for their role in encouraging young people to engage with the global UN climate change conference at COP26 in Glasgow 2021.
There is certainly an appetite for shows about K-pop for western audiences. Netflix have released their own version of Made in Korea, Pop Star Academy: Katseye.
The docuseries follows 20 girls from Japan, South Korea, Australia and the UK going through a year of K-pop training to become the group Kasteye. It’s a collaboration between the K-pop label Hybe and US label Geffen (a subsidiary of Universal).
Generally speaking, K-pop is characterised by catchy and lively melodies and highly choreographed dance routines in perfect unison and fancy outfits. Inspired by various pop music genres – including but not limited to electronic dance, hip hop, and R&B – the genre became distinctive from the nation’s traditional music, especially after a handful of pioneers began producing idol groups in the 1990s.
I’m South Korean and I’m studying cultural industries, so it’s interesting for me to see westernerss becoming K-pop-inspired idol groups. It’s a famously competitive industry, which is already oversaturated with hopeful K-idols. Considering that the domestic market is small and highly saturated, their success will be a breakthrough for SM Entertainment and HYBE, as well as other K-pop companies, proving whether they can continue to grow beyond east Asia.
The production and delivery of this popular music genre have become more international than ever in recent years, with hundreds of choreographers, composers and producers worldwide contribute to creating K-pop songs and performances. In contrast, K-pop performers have until recently been predominantly Korean. But as the new shows demonstrate, this too is changing.
K-pop companies have hosted auditions outside the country to recruit foreign trainees to make their idols appeal to global audiences. Huge global music corporations like Sony, Universal Music Group and Virgin Records have also got in on the game, signing distribution contracts with major K-pop idols to promote their music in foreign markets.
This search isn’t because there is a lack of willing hopefuls in Korea. There were around an estimated 800 trainees waiting to debut in 2022. But Korea’s population is only around 50 million and record companies want to appeal beyond the domestic market, so they are hoping recruiting non-Korean stars will help do that.
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For the full article by Dr Taeyoung Kim visit the Conversation.
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