KPOP ISNT A GENRE AND SHOULDN’T BE USED TO DESCRIBE ALL POPULAR KOREAN MUSIC

'K-POP' ISN'T A GENRE, AND SHOULDN'T BE USED

TO DESCRIBE ALL POPULAR KOREAN MUSIC In recent years, k-pop has taken the world by storm. UK had been called ‘b-pop’, despite the obvious The first band that will probably come to mind is shifts from rock n roll, to pop-rock, to psychedelia, BTS, and it’s no wonder; the seven-member boy to drum and bass, and so on. It would be a band have achieved three number 1 albums in less definition based upon country, opposed to musical than a year, performed at numerous sold out arenas style, which doesn’t make sense. across the US and UK, and recently (August 2020) got their first US number 1 single with ‘Dynamite’, In their Netflix documentary Blackpink: Light their first song entirely in English. Another huge Up The Sky, the band and their music producers k-pop band currently taking over the globe is the discuss this topic. They delve into the limitations of all-female group BLACKPINK, made up of four the all-purpose label ‘k-pop’, and argue that it takes members. They’re the first ever k-pop band to join away from their creativity and individuality. Even the ‘billion views club’ on YouTube, with their in the context of BLACKPINK, their members, single ‘Ddu-Du Ddu-Du’. However, labelling BTS, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, come from a mix of BLACKPINK, and all other popular artists from countries - Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Korea as ‘k-pop’ is narrow and restrictive - imagine Australia. This alone shows that, despite the band if Stormzy, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran and The Beatles creating popular Korean music, their influences were all labelled ‘b-pop’ simply because they range from a mixture of cultures and should not be make/made popular music in the UK. It wouldn’t defined by this one label. In a 2018 interview with even begin to touch upon the diversity between Goldman, Suga from BTS stated similarly “I’m a these four artists. This is the issue that arises from little careful to talk about Kpop as a genre because labelling all popular Korean music and artists as I don’t want to be defining Kpop as a genre”, ‘k-pop’, and is why we should define these artists by arguing that k-pop is more an “integrated content” genre, not nationality. of genres, fashion, visuals, and more, opposed to As put on Ask a Korean, the bands BTS (hip-hop), IU (pop) and FT Island (light rock) have very little Although it’s easy to fall into the trap of calling in common musically, but are all labelled ‘k-pop’. popular Korean music ‘k-pop’, this is far from the They continue, stating “the commonality among all-purpose label that it claims to be. Instead, call IU, BTS and FT Island is not, and cannot be, music. BTS a hip-hop band as you would Brockhampton, Their only commonality is that they all perform and call IU an R&B artist - when you really think popular music of Korea” which sums up this over- about it, ‘k-pop’ doesn’t make sense as a genre, and simplification perfectly. Similarly, as these current shouldn’t really be considered one. Rather than bands are simply given the same generalised label, call these artists by their musical country of origin, each wave of music that has come from Korea into refer to them and their genre as you would if they the mainstream has been labelled ‘k-pop’ - again, were an English or American band/artist. imagine if every wave of popular music from the simply a style of music.