The K-pop phenomenon

            In recent years, K-pop, which stands for Korean pop music is becoming so prevalent. It is not just thriving and prosperous in its homeland, but people around the globe, especially in Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan. Here in Hong Kong, K-pop is almost the biggest common topic among youngsters. I could always hear my classmates talking about the new moves of the Korean singers. Although I do not keen on K-pop, yet the question: “Why K-pop could become so popular?” is always in my head. After reading the article “K-pop: how South Korea turned round its music scene”, I have summarized a few possible reasons.

            First of all, the music production houses in Korea have investigated a huge fund on their own singing academies and album generation. These singing academies are where the top agencies and publishers trained teenagers into pop stars. Besides, the companies often invite famous British songwriters to write songs for their artists, which draw attention from the fans.

            Moreover, the marketing strategies of production houses are also a main factor.  Most of the time, the CDs’ packaging have several versions, they are all glossy and luxury, thus some fans will buy more than one version of the CD.  Meanwhile, the production house knows how to promote their artists wisely. For instance, the SM Entertainment cooperated with mobile phone manufacturer LG. While LG launched a new brown phone, SM Entertainment’s biggest girl group, Girl’s Generation and FX appeared in LG’s advertisement singing the song calling Chocolate Love and then the song went straight up on the ranking list. Furthermore, the language mixing lyrics of K-pop has globalized the recipients as a cordial feeling is created when language familiar to them appears in the songs.

             In addition, K-pop music got its unique characters which are attractive to teens. Most of the Korean songs come along with a special dance. The fans love the dance and often imitate the moves.

All in all, K-pop is one of the biggest symbolic capitals of Korean and it boosted the country’s economy and has proved how infectivity a culture can be.