These days South Korean POP music is getting more attention and recognition from America and Europe than ever before. Many fans around the globe shares their favorite songs and choreography followed by famous South Korean performers.
Many people believe that South Korean music began its popularity in 2012 when PSY released an entertaining “Gangnam Style” music video which people reviewed on Youtube over three billion times. The truth is that South Korean music‘s debut began at the end of the 1990s and at the beginning of 2000s. Artists as H.O.T, Baby Vox and Boa (2002) became popular in China, Japan and in other countries of Asia. At 2008-2011 K-Pop music received attention from the West, and only a few years later PSY and BTS artists became a global phenomenon in the West.
The South Korean music world has a huge number of bands and performers. Here we introduce at least some of them and offer the most spectacular shows to look at:
10. BewhY
BewhY is a South Korean rapper who won the musical reality show called “Show Me The Money” in 2016 and started his career in the 2014 with the “Waltz”single, which did not take any place in Korean music top charts. The most successful album “The Blind Star”, which in Gaon top albums‘ holded 13th place. Last year, the rapper performed in New York city and for now is planning to make his own record company. Despite the rapper’s image, he believes that music is a huge power which is controlled by the angels.
9. Hyolyn
Hyolyn is a member of the former girls band SISTAR which was famous for its great body shapes and entertaining summer songs with extremely bright and colorful music videos. Hyolyn started her solo career in 2013 releasing her first album “Love & Hate”, which was ranked as No.5 in Gaon’s top albums.
8. NCT (Neo-Cultural Technology)
South Korean music record company‘s SM formed band that started its carrer in 2016 with the release of two singles “The 7th sense” and “Without U”. Lee Soo Man founder of SM, said that this group will have a large number of members who connects as a teams which represents unity, their own city or country. Today, the group consists of 18 members divided into four groups: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dreams and NCT China.
7. GFriend
GFriend is a group of six girls that is famous for its sophisticated dance choreography and beautiful musical clips which highlights nature and friendship amongst group members. The band started its activities in 2015 with the song “Glass Bead” and became very popular in South Korea.
6. Jeon soyeon
The South Korean rapper known as the G-idle band leader, started her career in 2016 with musical reality show called “Produce 101” and took 20th place. At the same year she took a apart in the third season of reality show “Unpretty Rapstar”, where she went through to the semifinals but didn‘t win.
5. Chungha
Chungha is a South Korean performer known as a former member of girls’ group IOI who won “Produce 101” musical reality show. Girls competed for the opportunity to enter a band of 12 members and sign a contract with YMC Music Company for 10 months. In this reality show she become famous for her fluent body movements. One of the finest Chungha clips is “Roller Coaster”.
4. Dreamcatcher
It is a band of girls from the HappyFace company. Dreamcather consists of seven girls who in 2014, made their debut with “Minx” name. Later renamed themselves as Dreamcatcher, famous for their horrific music clips and rock music style. On January 17th last year they released their debut single and music video “Chase Me”, in which they are hotel’s phantoms which disagrees with the recently arrived ghost hunter. The interesting part of this video is that each member makes a different nightmare, which gives an exceptional story.
3. Jo Woochan, Park Hyunjin and Achillo
Jo Woochan, Park Hyunjin and Achillo are three rapers from the Cube and Starship project of OG School. They are known as the 13-year-old rap genius, releasing the single “OGZ” in this January. The group’s members have participated in various rap competitions like Show Me The Money, in which Jo Woochan competed with more older rappers. Another member Park Hyunjin won the K-Pop Star contest. The most interesting fact of the band is that they all were born in 2005.
2. Red Velvet
The group of five girls from the SM company stands out not only for musical clips but also for the original album and song titles. In 2017 they released a music video “Peekaboo” in which the girls invited pizza delivery boy and played with him various games which turned into violence. At the beginning of this April the band performed in North Korea with other South Korean artists.
1. BTS
Five years ago a group of seven boys made their debut which was formed by the Big Hit company. They have been trying to get into the music industry for many years, but since 2016 BTS became very popular in South Korea and later on around the world. Also, this band has won numerous music awards such as Asian Artists Awards: 2017 Best Actor Award; 2018 MTV Millenials Awards: K-Pop Revolutionand Awards for the Fan Club of the Year. They also became first South Korean band which was ranked in the highest American and European Billboard music tops. One of the most famous songs is “Blood, Sweat, Tears”.
