Top 5 K-Pop Facts

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Script written by George Pacheco

Top 5 Facts about K-Pop

These aren't your daddy's girl and boy bands. Welcome to WatchMojo's Top 5Facts. In this installment, we're counting down our picks for the Top 5 Facts About K-Pop.

For this list, we'll be looking at the wild world of the Korean pop music industry, including but not limited to its business practices, cultural impact and influential profile upon the international music world. The K-Pop industry is a big time business, earning over $5 billion a year in revenue between salaries, sales, advertising and appearances, so let's dive right in, shall we?

#5: K-Pop Candidates Undergo an Intense Training System

When potential K-Pop performers are first discovered by talent agencies, whether it be via head shots or early performance footage, they are often sent to live in dorms with other candidates to undergo strict training. During this time, they are given lessons in behavior and manners, and are encouraged to diet or otherwise lose weight in order to mold them into the idealized K-Pop beauty. Some performers have even been known to go under the knife in order to better express that classic look of K-Pop glitz and glamour, like by getting double eyelid surgeries or even having their faces reshaped. Singing and dancing lessons are also offered in these dorms, and the process isn’t cheap–The Wall Street Journal reported in 2012 that the cost of training just one member of Girls’ Generation was $3 million. Considering the years of required training, as the candidate fits that aforementioned fantasy mold for life in the public eye as a K-Pop star, the bare minimum artistic talents of performance can be taught and learned.

#4: Plagiarism Is a Big Problem in K-Pop

Songwriting is hard. There are only a finite number of chords to play and keys in which to sing, with the true trick being how one can structure and arrange those ideas in a manner that is fresh, original or at the very least memorable. As a result, many K-Pop songwriters have endured numerous copyright claims over the years when it comes to plagiarism. This has not been lost on fans, either, who themselves have noticed a remarkable amount of similarities in some of their favorite songs. Add to this the fact that many K-Pop tunes tend to dwell within the modern electronic end of the spectrum, as opposed to a band or singer-songwriter dynamic with multiple voices chiming in on the songwriting process, and you have a problem which could get worse before it gets better.

#3: K-Pop Fan Clubs Have Designated Colors

Live music has long been defined by energetic and entertaining concert performances, but the K-Pop industry turns this idea on its head by creating some of the most colorful shows you’ll ever see. Oftentimes, there's a specific color associated with a particular K-Pop group, with that group's fan club shining out a brightly colored light stick in support as they watch the concert. This can prove disastrous, however, should fans harbor a grudge against a particular group, as evidenced by the infamous Girls Generation "Black Ocean" incident in 2008. This was where a large segment of the stadium show known as "Dream Concert" turned OFF their light sticks in defiance of the group, with the girls being forced to continue to perform in front of a silent crowd. With only a small section of supporters waving their pink colored light sticks in support, the normally kaleidoscopic Dream Concert was left in comparative darkness.

#2: Audiences Have a Lot of Power over K-Pop Groups

K-Pop performers are said to belong to the audience. They’re encouraged to present an outward appearance that is "open and unattached," in order to fulfill what is often a very young audience's image of fantasy. If an audience turns away from a KPop group for any perceived slight, such as a rookie group not deferring enough respect to an older, more established one, the results can be PR disaster. Connecting with the idea of basically being controlled by their public perception, dating could also get a bit...weird. Many K-Pop superstars are known to have dating embargos placed upon them until they’re as old as 29, driving many to secretively go on dates in parked cars, away from the public and K-Poparazzi eye.

#1: The K-Poparazzi Have Standards and Morals

The idea of a Korean paparazzi, or K-Poparazzi, if you will, is a fairly new one, with a recent example being an online media outlet called Dispatch. The folks behind Dispatch actually got their start working with the Korean newspaper Sports Seoul, but quickly earned a reputation of their own after publishing candid photos of a male K-Pop star and a famous Korean actress out on a quiet date early in the morning. Fans ate up this first taste of celebrity news and gossip, although the photographers and writers who work at Dispatch–in an attempt to distance themselves from their American counterparts–abide by a strict code of ethics when taking their photos, including not reporting on adultery and not paying for outsourced, compromising photos which might be considered a personal attack towards a performer. Basically, they’re considerably more thoughtful than American paparazzi, since they refuse to run any stories that could cause serious damage to the careers of K-Pop stars.

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