introduction to K-POP
Culture Impact
what is K-POP ?
Korean Popular Music,
commonly known as KPOP Music is the music type which has emerged from South Korea. KPOP Music, has its roots from the early 1950s and the sort of KPOP Music we listen came into existence around 1990s.
Artists within the world of K-pop are commonly referred to as K-pop idols, meticulously trained by entertainment companies.
These idols undergo rigorous training in singing, dancing, language acquisition, and sometimes acting before making their debut as part of a group.
K-pop’s cultural influence extends globally, shaping music, fashion, and entertainment trends. Its catchy tunes, captivating performances, and visuals introduce Korean culture worldwide.
The “K-pop community,” united across borders by fandom, actively engages with content on social media and streaming platforms, amplifying the genre’s popularity. Moreover, K-pop has challenged traditional notions of masculinity and femininity, with artists often pushing boundaries in terms of fashion, beauty standards, and gender expression.
about the MUSIC
The music features catchy beats, hooks, rapping, and instrumentals for dance breaks. The lyrics are often in Korean, though groups like Blackpink and BTS have a slew of songs that feature English and Korean lyrics. Different groups release various types of music: Some are known for their upbeat, bubblegum melodies, while others are known for their jazzy ballads or heavy hip-hop influences. Some groups will have a hybrid of many types of music at once, and others will change their sound with every album.
Certain idol groups do write their own lyrics and produce the songs personally. The lyrics are usually written with their personal experience and hardships in mind so fans can relate and find comfort in the song.
how it helps K-POP FANS
Stress Relief
Whenever we are tired or stressed out from studying or working the whole day/week, by watching our favorite K-pop idols videos, it gives us stress relief.
And it also heal us from having a long day at school/university/ workplace.
It gives some kind of comfort when we watch their videos and we feel happy and less stressed after watching.
A source of courage
By listening to the music our idols come out with, it gives fans the courage to go through the day or week whenever we go through challenges. And not just by listening to the music, but also looking through their lyrics and understanding it also gives a source of courage. And each time we listen to their music, we will be reminded of the message of the song.
Escaping from harsh reality
Every fan has their own hardships and challenges in daily life that sometimes we want to escape from even it just for a while. This is called a form of escapism. As students and working adults , we would get burned out or super stressed from time to time. But by watching our favorite idols videos or content on different social media platforms, it gives us the escape from our stresses and whatever we are going through.
Motivation
Seeing K-pop idols work so hard and push through so many obstacles and challenges, it will motivate the fans to work hard too either as students or working adult. Every idol has their own background story and how they have achieved their goals of becoming an idol.
Nowadays, the idols that are recently debuted most of them either at high school or part time university students. All idols have such busy schedules every now and then, but then they still go to school /university or take online courses.
Weekly Idol
Weekly Idol is a South Korean variety show that began in 2011 and currently airs Wednesdays at 7:20 PM KST on MBC M, and 12:00 AM KST on MBC Every1.
It is one of the longest-running variety shows to air on satellite TV in Japan.
For all K-POP fans around the world, Weekly Idol invites a different K-POP idol group every week to its studio to know all about them through a variety of games and special talks sessions.
When I first started liking K-Pop, Weekly idol was and is still one of the most popular variety show.
In my opinion, I would say that it is a really good way to showcase the idols talent and have better engangement with the fans.
VARIETY SHOW
K-POP FANS COMMUNITY
In the K-POP world, there a lot of idols out there and we as fans we would have a community among ourselves.
The most common platform that fans uses to have a community together and talk to each other over our favourite idols is X or formally known as Twitter.
Each idol group has their own f andom. So naturally if you look at the searches by the fandom name on X, there will be a lot of posts and from there you can connect with other fans all around the world.
Besides X, fans would also use platforms like Instagram to form a community among each other online. But it is more common to have a community on X rather than Instagram.
Through X and Instagram, the community we have there, sometimes we would want to arrange to meet in person too!
Through meeting in person, we will slowly become close friends as liking the same groups can make us grow closer together.
As a K-pop fan since I was in high school, I would say that it definitely helped me even until in university now.
To start off, I have personally dealt with having really bad thoughts and overthinking too much. And getting to know K-pop has helped me during my worst times.
In the beginning of getting into K-pop, I liked a lot of groups and they have been with me throughout my life and in my school journey too.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
EXO,BTS and GOT7 were my first 3 groups that I loved.
But as time goes on, I grew up with them and slowly I would move on to liking other groups.
The 3 groups I mentioned above were my support system throughout my high school journey, their presence itself and their songs are the ones that made me feel better whenever I was down.
By watching their videos on social media and listening to their songs, it has helped me during my worst times and whenever I have really bad overthinking thoughts. They’ve not only helped me in my university life but in everyday life too ! To summarize everything above, I would just want to say K-pop has made a big impact in my life and it has helped me in my worst times and also created many happy memories too !! One last thing I am hoping for is to have K-pop throughout my whole life even after graduating from university ,because I genuinely love it a lot and it gives me so much happiness and a support system during my worst times.
But recently these past few years, I have narrowed down to liking just a handful of groups. And I have been feeling a little out of the loop sometimes and not so in touch as last time. But I do still love it ! Some examples of groups that I currently like are NCT, Stray Kids, The Boyz and etc. They are my support system throughout my college to university life even until now.
canon
As a kpop fan, I definitely have lots of moment where kpop gave me a reason to survive or even live longer during the darkest periods of my life. Different groups were there alongside me during different stages of my life such as Shinee during my elementary school, EXO & BTS during my secondary school, TXT & ENHYPEN during my Uni life and the list goes on. It always feels like they are all growing together with me & giving me hope and something to look forward to everyday. Definitely, during times when I'm down, listening to their music or even scrolling social media and looking through their pictures can help with relieving those stress and unhappiness. People might think all these is ridiculous but only I, the person who have experienced all these know how much kpop in general have helped me throughout my 23 years of living.
lisa
my friend(s) personal experiences with mental health
As she mentioned to me, she is not in touch with K-pop as much as last time, so she has not elaborated much.
Last time i would watch variety shows to pass the time cause they were entertaining and funny, so it’s sort of a stress reliever
Even now, small clips of their shows that are funny also does the same cause they’re funny and entertaining; so gives a good laugh
Disclaimer:
This magazine is created exclusively for academic purposes as part of an assignment at Sunway University. All images and content used within this publication are sourced from online platforms and are intended solely for educational use. This magazine is not for commercial use, and it is not intended to be sold or purchased.
