Hello readers! Today I am here to talk about a topic in K-pop culture that a lot of people on my Instagram poll voted for, which are the K-pop generations and what makes them different from each other. If you are new to the K-pop world, you may be thinking “What do you mean by Generations? and How are they different? Doesn’t K-pop sound remotely the same in each one?” Well, we are going to answer these questions and talk about each generation of K-pop just so you can see how it has changed over the years.
The first generation we are going to talk about is the 1st Generation, which started in the early 1990s until the 2000s. The first artist you will notice is the hip-hop group “Seo Taiji and Boys”, which debuted in 1992. Their experimentation with different genre styles and music integration of foreign musical elements helped reshape and modernize South Korea’s music scene. The term “K-pop” became popular in the 2000s, especially in the international context. The Korean term for domestic pop music is “Gayo” (가요), which is still a widely used term in today’s contemporary music scene in South Korea.
Modern “K-pop” idol culture began in the 1990s, as K-pop idol music grew into this subculture that massed HUGE fandoms of teenagers and young adults.
Some other artists that you will see from this generation are Shinhwa, S.E.S, Sech Kies, Turbo, G.O.D, Fly to the Sky, H.O.T, Rain, Lee Hyori, and BoA. Even in this era, people could tell that K-pop had the potential for global success.
Next is 2nd Generation, The 2nd generation started in 2003-2012, at the time, K-pop artists started to become bolder and slowly over time developed their own style. The artists started to spread their music and its language and culture more throughout Asia and even beyond sometimes. Korean Idols for example, gave more and more concerts in the United States and European countries like Spain and France.
This generation is often referred to as the “Golden Age of K-Pop” as the artists spread K-pop, released countless timeless hits, and allowed this music scene to flourish. Some artists that you will see in this generation are Big Bang, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, 2NE1, Shinee, TVXQ, Kara, 2AM, 2PM, f(x), 4Minute, Beast, Infinite, MBLAQ, B1A4, etc.
Moving on to the 3rd Generation, The 3rd Generation started in 2011-2019. This generation evolved the K-pop genre from the 1st generation and it was more expressive, brave, and creative in terms of the message of the lyrics. The music became more modern with combinations of different genres such as electronic, rock, ballad, etc, which in turn brought different kinds of fans to k-pop.
This generation was also the first generation to have companies be more open to producing groups of different ethnicities and origins unlike before when groups were purely only Korean. This era continues to spread the infectious charm of K-pop music all over the world with incredible, showstopping choreographies and awesome live performances. Some artists that are in this generation included: Blackpink, BTS, NCT, EXO, Red Velvet, iKON, Winner, Apink, G-friend, CLC, Twice, etc.
Now, to the current generation of K-pop, The 4th Generation. The 4th Generation started in 2019-present, this generation has focused on the strong uses of digital media apps such as Tiktok, Twitter, Weverse, Vlive, and many other apps to help K-pop expand to a global music market. This generation was also more impacted by global health like the COVID-19 pandemic but this led to the development of online promotions and concerts on many platforms that didn’t exist in the previous generations before it.
This generation also has more of a focus on its groups or artists having creative concepts, storylines, very intricate and bold fashion, and bigger opportunities for groups and artists to expand their artistry to the global market. Some groups that you will see in this generation: ATEEZ, Kingdom, Enhypen, ITZY, TXT, Stray Kids, Aespa, MCND, P1harmony, Everglow, Le Sserafim, IVE, etc.
Thanks for reading, I hope you learned a little bit about the history of K-pop and can see the drastic change it has made in the present time. I hope to see you in my next K-pop culture post!
Kpopisforeveryone 