The Rise of K-Pop!

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A certain mainstream music has swept the world with its colorful, catchy lyrics, reaching 41 billion streams on Spotify last year alone. It’s a genre that originated in East Asia but has led to the formation of powerful online communities and connected people from all over the world. This, of course, is the Korean music genre, K-Pop!

K-Pop is a music genre that truly became popular in the ’90s, where groups took Western-style pop music and added Korean lyrics, thoroughly challenging the norm of the time. Icons like Deux, DJ Doc, and H.O.T. helped to define the genre and establish a following. Over the years, new artists have risen to prominence; groups like BTS, SuperM, and Blackpink have continued to develop the genre and add their own creative ideas. Their songs focus on relationship and societal issues, bringing depth to catchy rhythms. K-Pop is undoubtedly a unique, exciting genre of music unlike anything else and its current numbers prove it’s here for a while. Its exponential rise in recent years has led many to wonder, what has been the effect of these thrilling tunes? K-Pop has been a great way to spread Korean culture to Asian Americans and everyone across the world.

The newfound popularity of K-Pop has led to widespread cultural assimilation for K-Pop fans. For example, many devoted fans have increasingly wanted to know more about their idols’ beliefs and what they do. This, mixed with their love for K-Pop, has often led to an interest in other areas of Korean culture and entertainment such as K-Dramas, Korean food, festivals, pop culture, and the language itself.

Through their shared love for K-Pop and their interest in Korean culture, many fans have come together to form huge online communities, sharing their cultures and stories from all over the world. K-Pop has enabled many to make connections with others, connections that have overcome various cultural boundaries. These online communities are important because they unite those separated by any kind of boundary, and they unify these people. They unite completely different people across the world under the love of K-Pop. The creation of these communities create a space for many to forge deep bonds of friendship or simply share their feelings with one another. It’s important for everyone to have a place where they can go to talk about how they feel, and for some people these K-pop communities are that place.

K-Pop has undeniably changed the music industry into more than just words and instruments. It has introduced many Americans to Korean culture and currently offers a new venue for cultural accumulation. It has also enabled many people who aren’t Asian to assimilate to Korean culture, helping many Asian Americans to feel more comfortable and confident in their identities and cultures, allowing them to feel more included. K-Pop has and continues to shape the Asian youth to be more culture-oriented and even has the power to draw in Americans halfway around the world.