The whole world is fascinated by K-pop – these are 15 of the best Korean pop bands you should know
Korean pop music is catchy, fun and full of energy so if you're not on board yet, literally what are you waiting for? Thanks to toe-tapping techno beats, crazy-colourful aesthetic, trend-defining fashion and perfectly choreographed videos, K-pop has become something of a global phenomenon and its stars are going global (hello, G Friend, we see you).
It's part of what is called 'Hallyu' – literally meaning 'Korean wave' – used to refer to the colossal and ever-growing impact of South Korean culture, shown in the popularity of everything from K-dramas on Netflix to the meteoric rise of K-beauty.
SKINCARE
This K-Pop star just shared her entire skincare routine on Twitter and we want it all
Yet K-pop is one cultural export you may not know as much about, despite the fact it's an industry worth $5 billion. In fact, one of the K-pop's most successful bands, BTS, sold more albums than Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande last year. So, we say it's time to get to know all about them because they're getting bigger by the second.
K BEAUTY
How K-pop group GFriend reinvented themselves through beauty
But sadly, it's impossible to learn about K-pop without being met with stories of tragedy. There have been a number of suicides by high-profile K-pop icons, including 25-year-old Sulli in October last year, a former member of the girl group f(x). A month later, Sulli's friend Goo Hara, 28, who used to perform in the group Kara, also took her own life. In 2017, 27-year-old Kim Jong-hyun took his own life, after revealing the immense pressure that came with the success of his group SHINee. It seems that with the fame of K-pop comes an impossible standard; that of being perfectly polished, perfectly synchronised and simply perpetually perfect.
"From an early age, they live a mechanical life, going through a spartan training regimen,” said Lee Hark-joon, a South Korean journalist. "They seldom have a chance to develop a normal school life or normal social relationships."
K BEAUTY
The beauty kings and queens of K-pop you need to be following
Hark-joon also added that K-pop stars are subjected to torrents of online abuse, as theirs is a line of work so inextricably linked to social media. It's why the South Korean government has discussed introducing cyber-bullying education in schools.
It's clear there's a lot more to K-pop than its synthesised music and dance routines, and it's easy to see why the fascination with this immense genre is ever-growing. But for now, what better way to get acquainted with the K-pop phenomenon than with its music? Here, we round up the best K-pop bands to know if you want to jump on the burgeoning bandwagon. Get that Spotify playlist on and prepare to tap those toes..
1. BTSThis seven-member boy band has taken the world by storm and are definitely the biggest name in K-pop. BTS have performed sell-out arena shows across the US and UK, have achieved two No. 1 albums in the US, boast 16 million monthly listeners on Spotify, have sold 16 million albums (Map of Soul is the best-selling album in Korean history), and were the best-selling artist to debut in the 2010s. According to the IFPI's Global Artist Chart, BTS were the second best-selling artists of 2018 (behind Drake), as well as the only non-English speaking artist to enter the chart. The seven members are rappers Suga, RM and J-hope, and vocalists Jimin, V, Jin and Jungkook.
2. SuperMSuperM is the latest K-pop super group, formed only last year, and features some of the genre's most iconic performers. The seven members are from four hugely successful – and still active – K-pop bands: EXO, WayV, NCT 127 and SHINee.
3. BIGBANGBig Bang was formed in 2016 and fast became one of the biggest-selling and most popular boy bands in the world. In March 2019, member Seungri announced his retirement from the industry due to sex scandals surrounding the Burning Sun nightclub, which saw the singer charged with arranging prostitution, illicit gambling and embezzlement.
4. Girls' GenerationKnown as 'The Nation's Girl Group' in South Korea, Girls' Generation's albums are full of fun electro pop tracks, and in 2017, Billboard crowned them the 'Top K-pop Girl Group of the Past Decade'. The group has eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun.
5. BlackpinkConsisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, Blackpink is another hugely successful Seoul-born girl group. In November 2019, they became the first ever K-pop band to join YouTube's 'billion views club', when their single Ddu-Du Ddu-Du was played more than a billion times on the site. The only other Korean act to join the club is Psy with Gangnam Style (remember that?). Blackpink also recently finished their In Your Area tour, which saw them perform to a total audience of around 205,000 people. There's also rumours that the group will be collaborating with Lady Gaga on her new album, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
6. EXOAnother wildly popular K-pop ground with the accolades to boot – EXO have scored four No. 1s on Billboard's World Albums chart. Formed in 2012, the group performed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and their music is a bright, upbeat mix of rap, hip-hop, R&B and rock.
7. Drunken TigerKnown as one of the pioneers of Korean hip-hop, Drunken Tiger formed in 1999 and won several music awards for their numerous albums. Their first album, Year of the Tiger, was controversial at the time given its explicit lyrics and diversion from pop-culture norms.
8. Fly To The SkyAlso debuting in 1999, Fly to the Sky are an R&B duo consisting of Brian Joo and Hwanhee.
9. Miss AActive between 2010 and 2017, Miss A consisted of members Fei, Jia, Min, and Suzy. Their debut track Bad Girl Good Girl topped the Gaon Digital Chart, making them the first-ever band to have a number one debut song on the chart. The track later became the best-performing track of 2010 on the chart.
10. Super JuniorSuper Junior or SJ shot to fame with the release of their best-selling single Sorry, Sorry in 2009, from their most successful album of the same name. Their popularity has seen them dubbed the 'King of Hallyu Wave'.
11. NCT 127This 10-member group is based in Seoul (hence the 127, the longitudinal coordinate of the city) and released their latest album, 'Neo Zone', last month. They're one of the most popular current K-pop groups, with 7.1 million Instagram followers and over 2.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
12. SeventeenDespite what the group's name suggests, Seventeen consists of 13 members who are each assigned to a specific sub-unit: 'Hip-Hop Unit', 'Vocal Unit', and 'Performance Unit'. Seventeen released their sixth EP You Made My Dawn in January 2019, from which the song Home is considered one of their best tracks. Their latest track, Fallin' Flower, was released on April 1st 2020 and is the group's second Japanese single.
13. T-araPronounced 'tiara', this girl group was active between 2009 and 2017. Their second mini album John Travolta Wannabe (2011) had the lead single Roly-Poly which became the top grossing and most downloaded song of 2011 in South Korea.
14. Monsta XThis group debuted in 2015 with their first EP, Trespass, and have been making waves with English-language tracks such as Someone’s Someone and Who Do U Love? Last year, singer-songwriter Wonho announced he was leaving the band with Monsta X continuing as a seven-member group. An online petition to keep Wonho in the band has gathered over 480,000 signatures.
15. Wonder GirlsWonder Girls ran for 10 years, between 2007 and 2017, and are known as 'South Korea's Retro Queens' because of their songs inspired by the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Their most famous song is probably hit single Nobody, released in 2008, which gained them international recognition.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten