Nirmal Dhimal, 19, was lazily scrolling through the YouTube recommendation list when he stumbled upon a song. So intrigued he was by this song called Growl by EXO and its music video that he immediately clicked on the band’s next recommended song. One song led to another and, by the end of the hour, Dhimal claims that he was hooked onto K-pop (Korean pop music). That was four years ago. Before that, Dhimal’s understanding of K-pop was limited to Psy’s Gangnam Style that he admits he didn’t like. Now, he confesses, he can’t imagine his life without Korean entertainment.

Dhimal’s narrative is a common one. Many people who now consider themselves staunch fans of K-pop started out similarly. In the last five years, K-pop has become quite popular among international music lovers. In their annual report in 2017, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has listed South Korea as the eighth biggest music market in the world, with a retail value of US $281 million.

18-year-old Seema Gurung, who is currently interning at a bank, says that what she particularly likes about K-pop is how the songs are not limited to just a single genre. Gurung, an iKonic (a fan of the boy group iKon), claims that most K-pop songs include everything from rap breaks to dance breaks with soulful vocals in a single track. “The artists are also not confined to just one kind of sound,” she adds.

Another charm of K-pop seems to be the fact that it stands out from other genres of music in terms of the visual aspect. The Korean music industry puts in a lot of effort to make everything visually appealing. The artists and the production team give a lot of emphasis to dance choreographies and style. Every time a group comes back with a new track at least one (if not most) of the members dyes his/her hair a different color. 

“I also like how artists stick to a different concept every comeback. You don’t get bored even if you have been following the same artist for years,” says Gurung. Although the word ‘comeback’, in western music, means an artist releasing music after a long hiatus, the way this term is used in K-pop is quite different. Every time an artist comes back with new music, it’s considered a comeback – even if their last release was less than a month ago.

Another factor that distinguishes K-pop from the music industries of other countries is its preference of groups over solo artists. 21-year-old journalism student Shruti Thapa believes this might be the case because, during its starting phase, only groups reached heights of success in the Korean music industry. Another fan said that this factor reflects the contrasting values of Korea and western countries. In the west, individuality is greatly valued but in the Korean culture, community and sense of togetherness are prized above all else. 

According to Thapa, one has to learn how K-pop started to understand how it works today. Lee Soo-man is credited for the launch of SM Entertainment – the first entertainment agency in South Korea – in 1995. Soo-man was fascinated with the success of artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson when he was studying at the California State University. When he returned to his home country, he devised a model to train and market artists that would bypass the strict censorship laws of South Korea at that time. Every other entertainment company established after SM followed this model with minor alterations. So, K-pop has been heavily influenced by western music since its conception. Today, any trends seen in western music will appear in K-pop a year or two later. 

Bhawana Rai, who studies in grade 11 at Trinity College, says that she can see how some songs are heavily influenced by western mainstream music before adding, “I don’t mind that. K-pop literally stands for pop music in Korean language and there have always been parallels between K-pop and western pop.”

However, there are fans who don’t consider K-pop to be a particular genre since it comprises a lot of different genres including rock, experimental, jazz, gospel, Latin, hip hop, R&B, reggae, and electronic dance music. They think coining this whole spectrum of Korean music as K-pop is a bit misleading. The Korean entertainment universe also includes Korean dramas (K-dramas), movies, fashion, and beauty and skin care. Rai actually believes that, more than just music, it’s all of these aspects combined that’s attracting international fans.

31-year-old Sanam Shrestha, who is a fashion designer, claims that she enjoys K-dramas. She reveals that she first got into K-dramas last year because of her then seven-year-old daughter, Abha. One of Abha’s friends had recently watched a popular K-drama – Boys Over Flowers – with her older sister and had lent the DVD to Abha. Shrestha wanted to make sure the content was kid friendly so the mother-daughter duo watched the whole drama together. Now Shrestha claims that Korean dramas are the only kinds of series she watches and adds that even her husband is slowly getting into K-dramas and K-pop.

When questioned if the language barrier is a problem while watching videos of Korean artists, both mother and daughter say it is not as English subtitles of most videos are available within a day or two of their release. In fact, every K-pop fan that this scribe spoke to admitted that he/she is able to understand spoken Korean language to some extent. They seem to have picked up quite a few Korean words and phrases just by listening to K-pop.  

However, for some people not understanding the language also has its plus points. For instance, Thapa, who has been a fan of K-pop for four years, reveals that she was getting tired of meaningless lyrics of popular western songs when she discovered K-pop, and that she actually enjoyed not being able to understand the lyrics of K-pop songs. Even now, she says she doesn’t actively search for the English translated lyrics of most of the songs she likes. 

“I don’t think music needs a language. How some of these K-pop artists deliver their performance is amazing. That is what I really enjoy about K-pop – the emotion they put behind every performance through their vocals, visuals, and dance choreographies,” says Thapa who is a Shawol, an avid fan of the group SHINee.

Korean artists are also very active on social media. Most of the K-pop groups actually use a joint Twitter or Instagram account to connect with their fans. Rai claims that this constant interaction between the Korean idols and their fans helps both the sides to connect on a deeper level. Thapa suspects that since Korean entertainment companies have always intended to spread K-pop across the world, their artist having a constant presence in different social networking sites goes a long way to create a loyal fan base beyond their own country. 

Rachita Shrestha*, who runs a popular K-pop Instagram store, mentions she was surprised to learn that many people in Nepal follow the Korean entertainment industry when she first opened her store. She has been a fan of K-pop for more than five years now and lists Red Velvet, NCT, EXO and Girls Day as her favorite groups. She reveals that EXO, GOT7, NCT, Red Velvet, Twice and BLACKPINK are some popular groups among her customers. “But BTS is definitely the most popular and bestselling group. I get asked to restock their merchandise so often that some of my followers on Instagram actually think I only sell BTS merchandise,” she adds.  

19-year-old Arya Pokharel says that the boy group BTS is arguably the most successful K-pop group. Pokharel thinks the reason behind BTS’ unparalleled global success is because of how distinct and authentic they are as compared to other K-pop acts. She states that most idol groups in K-pop are completely manufactured by their entertainment companies and the members of the groups have no control over any aspect of their careers. Korean entertainment companies act as the training facility, record label, talent agency, music and concert production company as well as music publishing house for their artists.

“BTS has never succumbed to the confines of what K-pop should be like. Instead of releasing love songs with a pop soundtrack, they mostly focus on portraying important societal issues. They produce their own music and every single member is very relatable and sincere and ARMYs (fans of BTS) appreciate that,” says Pokharel adding that all K-pop fans have their own unique reasons for being in love with it. “K-pop will enthrall you by its creativity. You just have to give it a chance,” she concludes. 

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• K-pop