This story is a part of Billboard‘s Ok-Pop Subject.
What precisely is Ok-pop? Internationally — and particularly within the West — the time period has change into synonymous with lady teams and boy bands (“idol teams” in Ok-pop lexicon). However some Korean music business executives argue that the style ought to have a broader definition. “Ok-pop is much less a few particular model and extra a few illustration of what occurs to be sizzling in Korea,” says Bernie Cho, president of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based Korean artist and label providers company. “Proper now, much like the U.S. charts, a variety of genres in Korea is at the moment well-liked and due to this fact, by default, Ok-pop.”
Certainly, South Korean well-liked music encompasses way more than idol teams. The nation’s vibrant scene is filled with artists from totally different genres, lots of whom are backed by smaller labels that lack the assets to closely promote them overseas. The truth is, idol Ok-pop isn’t even the preferred sort of music in South Korea — extra on that beneath, together with the opposite main genres that Koreans are listening to lately.
South Korea’s rock historical past started within the Nineteen Fifties, when American troopers combating within the Korean Conflict performed rock’n’roll on army bases, influencing musicians equivalent to “The Godfather of Korean Rock,” Shin Joong-hyun. Within the ensuing many years, quite a few folk-rockers like Tune Chang-sik and legendary bands like Sanullim, Deulgukhwa, Songgolmae and Sinawe emerged, ushering in a golden age of Korean rock by the ’80s. Punk acts like Pippi Band, Crying Nut and No Mind began Korea’s mid-’90s indie-rock renaissance.
Artists to Know: Jaurim, finest identified internationally for showing on Ok-drama Twenty 5 Twenty One’s soundtrack, is Korea’s longest-performing coed band and a nationwide rock icon. Jannabi’s 2019 basic “for lovers who hesitate” continues to chart domestically.
Often known as “ballad” in Korea, grownup modern is by far probably the most extensively loved style amongst Koreans of all ages. Ballad has been well-liked within the nation because the Eighties and varies in model from R&B to bop to rock.
Artists to Know: Along with his velvety vocals, Sung Si-kyung is Korea’s long-reigning “King of Ballads,” and singer-songwriter YOUNHA is famend for her rock-infused ballads and anthems.
The oldest type of Korean well-liked music — “sort of form of like Korean nation music,” Cho says — borrows its identify from “foxtrot” and blends conventional Korean folks songs, Japanese enka, blues, swing, jazz and different Western genres. Trot had its heyday within the ’60s and ’70s, then declined throughout the ’90s. However in recent times, it has been revived because of TV competitions like Miss Trot and Mr. Trot, which have launched the style to youthful audiences. (Nonetheless, trot stays hottest amongst Koreans over 50.)
Artists to Know: Singer-songwriter Na Hoon-A helped form the style into what it’s at this time, and Younger Tak is thought for catchy trot songs that attraction to Koreans of all ages.
Soundtracks, or “OSTs,” to Korean movies and Ok-dramas are thought-about their very own style, partly so viewers can simply discover music utilized in scenes and partly as a result of many Ok-drama songs are created particularly for sure collection, explains Lim Ha-young, music director for Twenty 5 Twenty One and different hit Ok-dramas. Because the reveals are so well-liked, “OSTs make up not less than 10% of the songs on home Ok-pop charts at any given time,” Lim says.
Artist to Know: 10CM’s contributions to soundtracks for Our Blues, Crash Touchdown on You and plenty of different well-liked Ok-dramas have led some to name him a “one-man OST god.”
Whereas idol teams have carried out a lot of the latest dance hits in Korea, there have been many notable exceptions, equivalent to AKMU’s “NAKKA,” Lee Chanhyuk’s “Panorama” and PSY’s “That That.” And “there are additionally Korean artists who’re positioned as dance/digital artists, much like Tiësto and David Guetta within the Western music business,” says Shin Cho, head of Ok-pop and J-pop, Asia for Warner Music Korea.
Artist to Know: Greatest identified internationally for his 2018 single “Approach Again House,” singer-songwriter, producer and DJ SHAUN was Spotify’s most streamed Ok-pop male solo artist from 2018 to 2020.
Teams like Search engine optimization Taiji and Boys and Deux helped introduce rap to Korea within the early ’90s, and hip-hop pioneers like Drunken Tiger, Jinusean, 1TYM and Epik Excessive subsequently introduced it into the nation’s mainstream. Rap competitors reveals within the 2010s like Present Me the Cash launched the careers of many Korean hip-hop artists and additional popularized the still-influential style. “The outstanding hip-hop musicians in Korea definitely affect the Ok-pop business as a complete, in sound, trend and style,” says Tablo, Epik Excessive’s chief.
Artists to Know: BE’O skyrocketed to fame after showing on Present Me the Cash 10 in 2021 and is now one in every of Korea’s hottest hip-hop stars. Rapper-producer CHANGMO swept the 2022 Korean Hip-Hop Awards.
“R&B blended with soul actually took off in Korea within the mid-to-late Nineties,” famous Korean music critic Woojin Cha explains. Korean American trio Stable is usually credited with introducing the style to Korea. R&B/soul can be sung by Ok-pop idols and ballad singers alike.
Artists to Know: LeeHi is thought for her distinctive husky voice, and different R&B singer-songwriter DEAN has written for Ok-pop idol teams and fellow R&B artists.
This story initially appeared within the April 22, 2023, challenge of Billboard.