Prelude: Globalization

Source: Google

Most of the teens now are being astonished by the Korean-Pop singers. Ages from 7-so on are being addicted to their music; following their styles and looks, the way they talked and many more. They talked about KPOP anywhere, anytime, anyplace. So, I'm going to share to you the "Globalization of KPOP".

KPOP (an abbreviation of Korean pop; Korean: 가요 kayo) is a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. Although it comprises all genres of "popular music" within South Korea, the term is more often used in a narrower sense to describe a modern form of South Korean pop music covering mostly dance-pop, pop ballad, electronic, rock, hip-hop, R&B, etc. (www.wikepedia.com)

KPOP is a new buzz word in the global music industry. Korean pop singers such as TVQX, SNSD, Wonder Girls, Bigbang, Super Junior, and Psy currently attract unprecedented followers in Asia, Europe, and North America. The dominant explanation behind this unique cultural phenomenon rests on the concept of cultural hybridity or Pop Asianism (i.e., continuation and expansion of Japanese, Chinese, and Indian subcultures in the global cultural market) (I.Oh, 2013; G.S. Park, 2013).

(2013 Girls Generation 'Girls and Peace' World Tour')

The globalization of K-POP is a new kind of phenomenon. K-POP is definitely Korean pop music, but it is also a kind of transnational hybrid music that refers to other global popular music in various ways. The history of the development of K-Pop shows how local cultural industries survived in the flow of globalization by building regional international success and then expanding around the world. That is to say, the recent K-Pop phenomenon is ‘globalization of non-hegemonic local culture’, which does not usually happen in overall globalization (G.T Lee, 2013).

One the biggest trend in KPOP was PSY's Gangnam Style who garnered 2 Billion views in YouTube, as of May 31, 2014, and the the first YouTube video who reached billion views after surpassing Justin Bieber's "Baby". 

        

There are about 200+ idol groups were formed since 1990's yet, some of them are still known until now. The following list are the South Korean Groups, this was organized by their year of debut, after the Success of Seo Taeji and the Boys (Hangul; 서태지와 아이들) lead by Seo Taeji with dancer Lee Juno and Yang Hyun-Suk (a.k.a YG; YG Entertainment's CEO).

Click this -> List of South Korean Idol Group (source: wikipedia)