Music

K-pop

K-pop is an abbreviation for Korean popular music, specifically from South Korea. There are many artists and groups, most notably Shinhwa, BoA, Rain, TVXQ and Super Junior that have branched out of Korea and have become popular in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East Asia. The popularity of K-pop is often considered a part of the rise of the Korean Wave, or "Hallyu'', in the region.

The emergence of the group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992 marked a turning point for Korean popular music, as the group incorporated elements of American popular musical genres of rap, rock, and techno into its music. The tremendous success of Seo Taiji and Boys in Korea and other experimental groups set the trend for the present generation of K-pop groups and artists. Following Seo Taiji and Boys, dance-oriented acts were dominant in the Korean popular music scene of the early 90s including the legendary hip hop duo Deux. By the mid-90s, teen idol groups, which are now often considered "legendary groups" due to their strong popularity during their era, such as Baby V.O.X., Fin.K.L., g.o.d, H.O.T., Shinhwa, Sechs Kies, and S.E.S. were very popular, having strong fanbases and high-selling albums. Starting with the break-up of H.O.T., most of these groups have disbanded, It is often stated that at this stage Korean music became slightly better than noise. Although some have continued their success in the following decade; new groups have since taken their place.

Currently, in the 2000s, pop groups are still very popular, although there has been the emergence of Korean R&B and Hip-Hop. Artists such as MC Mong, 1TYM, Rain , Big Bang and Epik High have proven successful. Underground artists such as Drunken Tiger, Tasa, and Dynamic Duo have also helped Hip-Hop making its way into the mainstream. Recently, rock music has become noticed by the public, with acts like the Yoon Do-Hyun Band and Seo Taiji gaining national recognition. In addition, there are also some very popular techno/dance artists such as Lee Jung Hyun and Kim Hyun Jung, who both have had very long careers while remaining firmly entrenched in their genre of music. Just as well, ballads and R&B have remained popular, as singers like Baek Ji Young and KCM, in addition to SG Wannabe, have continued their success for many years.

There are also many artists who have had international success as well. BoA has become the highest-selling international artist from Korea, due to her strength in the J-pop market; this was in part due to Lee Soo Man's adaptation of the Blue Ocean Strategy. Since then, artists such as Rain have also released albums outside of Korea, becoming well-known throughout Eastern Asia. Rain has also had his international RAINY DAY 2005 Tour, having tour dates at Madison Square Garden, the first Korean star to do so. He also plans to make a U.S. debut. Skull, a Korean reggae artist from YG Entertainment is working on his U.S. debut and was even listed on the Billboard charts. Se7en who is also from YG Entertainment and Min from JYP Entertainment both hope to enter the English-language music market in 2008. They are not the first Asians to do so; Utada Hikaru and CoCo Lee have released English-language albums before. However, there has yet to be an Asian artist breaking the mainstream American music industry successfully.

K-pop is similar to English pop music, with R&B, dance, and hip-hop being very popular genres in the 2000s. However, unlike English pop music, which had most of its boy bands and girl groups either break up or informally disband, bubblegum pop is still very popular in South Korea. Groups such as Shinhwa, TVXQ, and Super Junior continue to be top sellers in K-pop, and artists like Ahyoomee and LPG have released novelty songs, to varying degress of success. However, the 2000s has seen the rise of R&B vocal groups, with SG Wannabe and Big Mama having success with their first albums. In addition, trot music has made a comeback in mainstream K-pop as well, mostly due to the success of Jang Yoon Jung. Ballads are also very popular, as 2006 has seen the release of ballad singles by non-ballad artists, including Shinhwa and Baek Ji Young. 2007 was marked with the release of numerous girl and boy band, though only a few would manage to top the charts. Despite new bands debuting, physical sales for CDs have become increasingly low, due to the stagnation of the K-pop industry. The highest selling album of 2007 did not even reach the 200,000 mark with only 190,998 copies sold. It is notable, however, that as physical record sales continue to decrease, digital sales are growing proportionately at a rapid rate.