Popular Music in Korea

Recently Korea's popular music has been loved by people worldwide. In particular, Hallyu is known as the Korean Wave or Korean Fever. It has swept the continent at an incredulous rate, and it continues to influence every aspect of pop culture in Asia. So, let me talk about Popular Music in South Korea. There are many different music genre such as korean pop(so called K-pop), trot, rock, R&B, punk, hiphop etc. Three of the more successful style are trot, hiphop and K-pop.

One successful style of popular music is trot. Trot, pronounced as "teuroteu" in Korean (sometimes called ppong-jjak, due to its distinctive background rhythm), which is the oldest form of Korean pop music. Then trot developed in the years before and during World War II around the early 1900s. Next, famous interpreters of this genre are South Korean singers Tae Jin-ah and Song Dae-gwan. Also, rock musicians such as Cho Yong-pil performed this type of music. And the name derives from a shortening of "foxtrot", a ballroom dance which influenced the simple two-beat of elements of the genre. More over, trot music is described as two-beat rhythm or duple rhythm, and unique vocal style called Gagok. Similarity, between trot and the Japanese music genre of Enka has led many to believe that Trot has developed from or in parallel with the Enka. However, the popularity of trot music declined seriously in 1990s due to the great hit of "Hayeoga" by Seo Tai-ji and Boys. After that, dance music was the main stream of Korean pop music and trot was pushed into minor genre in Korean pop music scene. But this style of music has recovered its popularity due to the emergence of "semi-trot" singers such as Jang Yoon-jeong, who had great crossover success with her first single ("Eomeona!" - an similar to "Oh my goodness!").

A second successful style of popular music is hiphop, which was expanded into a form of cultural phenomenon. Although the movement has been growing since the mid-90's, Korean hiphop scene has been gaining a great amount of attention on an international level, since their exposure of b-boys who have won various championships around the world since the early 2000's. Aside from K-pop infused rap scene on the overground scene. Also, there is a huge underground scene that has developed extremely throughout South Korea. Early artists included Seo Tai-ji and Boys, and DJ DOC. Furthermore, the Korean language was used almost exclusively. Seo Tai-ji, coming from a heavy metal music background, often featured heavy metal guitars in his mixes, and other artists also incorporated techno influences. However, a few artists, such as Seo Tai-ji and Yuk Kak-soo, also incorporated influences from traditional Korean music such as pansori or nong-ak (farmers' music). The first "rap" album that featured rap in every track was Kim Jin-pyo's first album in 1997. Also, first Hip-Hop song in South Korea was kim sat-gat by Hong seo-bum. And then, according to Epik High's rapper Tablo, "The form (of Korean Hip Hop), at least, has definitely been mastered now — the beats, the rhymes, the performances, the look — it’s indistinguishable from the United States scene. As a result, many rap artists have been successful in the mainstream of Korean music. For example, these include rappers such as Jinusean, Tempo (T.O.P), Outsider, MC Sniper, PSY, Cho PD, Dynamic Duo, Drunken Tiger, Supreme Team and Epik High.

Finally, successful style of popular music is K-pop. Especially k-pop is the most popular music genre in korean music industry. K-pop has grown into a popular subculture among teenagers and young adults around the world. As a result, widespread interest in the fashion and style of Korean idol groups and singers. First of all, the whole "idol group" evolution started with it's legendary idole group "Suh Tae-ji with kids" After that, many other legendary idol group has formed such as H.O.T, S.E.S, FINKLE, G.O.D, BABY VOX, etc in korean k-pop history. Consequently, K-pop is steadily gaining influence in foreign markets outside of Asia, most notably in the United States, Canada, and Australia. For instance, in 2009, the Wonder Girls became the first Korean singers to place on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with their single, "Nobody". Then in 2010, solo artist Tae-yang and 2ne1 began topping various music charts throughout the United States and Canada with the release of various albums and hit songs. Afer that, in 2011, Big Bang's album Tonight became the first K-pop album to reach the top 10 on US iTunes chart and is the only non-English language album in the top 100. Therefore, in a push to further globalize the genre, K-pop artists are increasingly working with talent outside of Korea.

In conclusion, youth from all over Asia have been inspired by Korean popular music throughout the last decades. Especially K-pop music has become more famous than anyone would have thought about it. However, popular music is constantly changing. Also, South Korea's most popular music has been required, constant change and new styles. Thus, artists try to cater to all the different listeners out there. Music will always continue to change.