What is K-pop

Unlike the term J-pop, the term K-pop was not coined by the domestic industry but was first used and widely circulated by the international media and fans. In this case, K-pop is an othered imagination created by outsiders. However, if we think of K-pop as a culture that includes the fandom rather than a type […]

In most Korean academic articles, K-pop is defined as Korean idol pop music that emerged in the late 1990s. Korean pop music other than idol music is called  “Gayo,” in general — even though there are more sophisticated and detailed sub-genres within it.  Meanwhile, the articles also define K-pop as 1) “a fictitious concept that […]

My definition of K-pop has always been “Korean Idol pop heavily influenced by Western pop music and Japanese idol subculture targeting the youth population.” I came up with this conclusion throughout my experience as a contributing writer of Idology (idology.kr), a K-poptimistic webzine which has been covering idols and idol-like musicians since the mid-2010s. (I […]

K-pop is “pop” — it is a form of popular entertainment that is based on how the music is produced, how the performances are staged, what kinds of business interests label companies have, how the content from these companies is distributed, and the means by which the audience can consume this content. So it is […]

It’s almost impossible to say since everyone’s definition of the term varies. To me, the safest bet is just to break it down etymologically. K-pop is short for “Korean pop” — so that’s what K-pop is. Pop music, of course, has no real musical definition; a pop song by Billie Eilish and a pop song […]

K-pop is not a genre of music. It’s simply popular music from Korea. The term itself was coined by Koreans because people were classifying Korean music as J-pop in online spaces (such as iTunes), and Koreans were, understandably, upset. Koreans use the term K-pop pretty loosely. It’s most often a synonym for daejung gayo. But […]