21 K-op groups breaking the internet that you should know about
Korean pop music, or ‘K-pop’ as it's better known, is catchy, fun and full of energy, so if you're not on board yet, what are you waiting for?
Thanks to toe-tapping techno beats, crazy-colourful aesthetic, trend-defining fashion and perfectly choreographed videos, K-pop has become something of a global phenomenon, and its stars are smashing records (BTS made history with their AMA win last year).
The group has been at the forefront of pushing K-pop into the mainstream music scene for years, and their efforts were recognised at the 2021 American Music Awards when they won Artist of the Year - the biggest award of the night. But it wasn't just any old win, it's one to go down in history as BTS are now the first Asian act to win in the category at the AMAs. It also marked their third consecutive year winning Favourite Pop Duo or Group - one of many other milestones they've reached in the past couple of years. Impressive.
The hairpin is the most adorable detail.
K-pop is part of what is called 'Hallyu' – literally meaning 'Korean wave' – used to refer to the colossal and ever-growing impact of South Korean culture, shown in the popularity of everything from K-dramas on Netflix to the meteoric rise of K-beauty.
Yet K-pop is one cultural export you may not know as much about, despite the fact it's an industry worth $5 billion. In fact, one of K-pop's most successful bands, BTS, sold more albums than Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande back in 2020. The same year BTS became the first K-pop musicians to receive a Grammy nomination, with 'Dynamite' up for 'Best Pop Duo/Group Performance'.
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But while BTS have achieved inevitable success, it has been announced that members of the group will start their mandatory military service next month, as all able-bodied South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 28 are required to serve in the military for 18-21 months, as the country is still at war with the North.
The band are aiming to reconvene in 2025 following their service - and while fans will obviously welcome them back with open arms, there is a whole host of established and emerging K-pop groups that can keep them occupied in the meantime.
But sadly, it's impossible to learn about K-pop without being met with stories of tragedy. There have been several suicides by high-profile K-pop icons, including 25-year-old Sulli in 2019, a former member of the girl group f(x). A month later, Sulli's friend Goo Hara, 28, who used to perform in the group Kara, also took her own life. In 2017, 27-year-old Kim Jong-hyun took his own life after revealing the immense pressure that came with the success of his group SHINee. It seems that with the fame of K-pop comes an impossible standard; that of being perfectly polished, perfectly synchronised and simply perpetually perfect.
"From an early age, they live a mechanical life, going through a spartan training regimen,” said Lee Hark-joon, a South Korean journalist. "They seldom have a chance to develop a normal school life or normal social relationships."
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Hark-joon also added that K-pop stars are subjected to torrents of online abuse, as theirs is a line of work so inextricably linked to social media. It's why the South Korean government has discussed introducing cyber-bullying education in schools.
It's clear there's a lot more to K-pop than its synthesised music and dance routines, and it's easy to see why the fascination with this immense genre is ever-growing. But for now, what better way to get acquainted with the K-pop phenomenon than with its music? Here, we round up the best K-pop bands to know if you want to jump on the burgeoning bandwagon. Get that Spotify playlist on and prepare to tap those toes…