Theoretically Speaking, S4:E11:

What Makes K-Pop, K-Pop ? – Part 2

As we saw with city pop,a nation’s economy has a lot to do with a musical genre’s success.

City pop was about Japan’s shining cities in the 1980s, and it came to an end with the economic collapse of the 90s.

A similar phenomenon happened, and is still happening, in Korea.

Following the Korean War, Korea had a baby boom similar to the west’s.

The country had to rebuild its infrastructure and businesses, and anyone who wanted a job could easily find one. As the decades rolled on, a college degree in any field guaranteed a position in that field.

The same financial crisis that hit Japan in the 90s hit Korea. The value of the hwan dropped by 50% and companies weren’t hiring. That college diploma wasn’t a golden ticket anymore.

The economy recovered soon enough but not for everyone, especially young people. The unemployment rate for those under 25 hovered around 10% for the few years prior to the pandemic, while housing costs skyrocketed.

Young South Koreans can’t afford kids, so the country has the lowest birth rate in the world.

TThe marriage rate is down. The divorce rate is up. Meanwhile, the number of suicides continues to drop all over the world – but nearly doubled in Korea over the last 20 years.

A 2019 survey of people under 30 showed that 74% didn’t believe the phrase, “Hard work pays off.” They feel betrayed. They often live with their parents, but their parents think the kids just aren’t trying hard enough. That adds family stress on top of financial stress..

They’re called the n-po generation.

“Po” is short for “pogi,” which means “given up.” Initially, it was the 3-po generation, because they had given up on three things: dating, marrying, and having children.

It’s now been updated to n-po, where n is an undefined number. They’ve given up on as many things as you care to name.

This makes Korea sound like a terrible place.

It’s not.

That’s the backdrop for K-pop’s rise. From Seo Taiji and Boys’ songs about the harsh educational system and government corruption to BTS becoming the biggest band in the world with songs about stress and mental health, K-pop is entertainment – with the occasional supportive message.

Musically, K-pop combines pop melodies over simple chord structures and strong beats with American hip hop raps. There are often a few English phrases here and there.

Once entertainment companies realized there was money to be made marketing music to teenagers, they set up idol training systems modeled after the ones in Japan.

It’s a rigorous, and some say abusive, routine of 12-or-more-hour days learning to dance, sing, rap, act, diet, and sometimes study regular middle and high school subjects.

The diet part is important. Trainees are often underfed while exercising relentlessly. At least one entertainment company weighs their trainees, boys and girls alike, in the same room and announces the results. Plastic surgery to create the classic K-pop look of pointed noses and sharp jawlines isn’t unheard of.

Trainees have limited contact with their parents or the outside world.

In K-pop, “debut” means to move from training to a career. If a trainee doesn’t debut, because they quit or just don’t make the cut, they still owe the company for those living expenses.

The South Korean government is currently considering a law colloquially known as the Lee Seung-Gi Crisis Prevention Act.

If instituted, the act will enforce fair payment of trainees, reduce the number of hours they can work per day, ban underaged trainees from dropping out of school, and stop painful techniques for honing physical appearance.

Out of all the kids who audition, only 1% make it into training. Of those, 0.1% will debut. 

That means only 1 out of 100,000 auditioners will record a song.

So, you’re asking, why do kids want to go through that training?

And why would parents allow it?

Some entertainment companies have better reputations than others, and K-pop fans are invested enough to know which company idols trained with.

Entertainment companies decide whether a trainee should be a solo act or part of a group. When they put groups together, they want at least one good lead singer. K-pop, remember, comes from Seo Taiji and Boys’ take on American hip hop, so having a good rapper is also crucial.

It’s also important that at least one member of the group speaks English to make overseas marketing easier. Spanish helps sales in South America.

The entertainment companies are, obviously, rivals. They’re businesses, and they follow trends.

It’s very much like hair care companies all deciding to put out Lilac Breeze fragrance shampoos within months of each other.

Which makes BTS all the more interesting.

They came from the much smaller Big Hit Entertainment, now known as the Hybe Corporation, started by Bang Si-hyuk. He was called “Hitman” because, while working at JYP Entertainment, he wrote or produced hits for Wonder Girls, Teen Top, 2AM, and more. He wrote g.o.d.’s “One Candle” which was in Part 1’s Suggested Listening.

Bang left JYP in 2005 to start his own company. He debuted a few pop acts and wanted to add a hip hop group.

Their dance moves are fast and sharp and precise. Sometimes they use the Michael Jackson technique of quickly moving to a position, freezing in it for a millisecond, and then moving to the next one.

BTS, which stands for “Bangtan Sonyeondan” and translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts,” works very hard. Over their ten years together, they’ve taken only two breaks. At first, they were only moderately successful, but they keep getting bigger. Every release outperforms the previous one.

The video for their 2021 song “Butter” received 10 million YouTube views in its first 13 minutes online. It set a record on Spotify by getting 11 million streams in its first 24 hours.

The song that held these records previously?

What’s most different about them is they’ve gotten good at writing their own songs. “Hitman” Bang was a successful songwriter so he could have written all their material, but he recognized the band’s talents and their connection to fans. As time went on, the band wrote more and more of its music.

Even their early material dealt with more than romance.

2013’s “Nope” was a commentary on Korea’s harsh educational system. They did a three album series under the title, “Love Yourself,” something a lot of young Koreans, and the rest of us, needed to hear.

Their success at reaching people with messages of compassion and support earned them two invitations to speak at the United Nations.

These are messages the world needs.

Young people in particular want to hear unironic takes on what it means to be good global citizens, and good local citizens, and to learn how to speak out against corruption, inequality, and oppression.

BTS, with their dyed hair and dangly earrings, help redefine ideas about masculinity without setting out to do so.

Part of accepting yourself as you are is accepting others as they are.

Both are signs of strength.

That drowned out the hateful messages in a sea of Korean videos and pictures. 

I’ve left out all sorts of major K-pop acts: BigBang, Super Junior, Exo, BlackPink, and a hundred others.

And not all Korean music is K-pop. There are thriving jazz, punk, and metal scenes there. They deserve shout outs, too.

But K-pop is a massive export.

BTS alone, through downloads, streaming, records, and merchandise sales, bring $5 billion into South Korea each year.

All seven members received postponements from their mandatory two year stint in the military because they’re just too important to the country as goodwill ambassadors and an economic engine.

BTS is the biggest band in the world, maybe in the history of the world.

In some ways, they’ve transcended K-pop and become their own thing.

It’s like how there’s rock and then there’s The Beatles: There’s K-pop, and then there’s BTS.

Suggested Listening – Full YouTube Playlist

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