As I step into the arena filled with thousands of ecstatic people of all different shapes, sizes, backgrounds and ages I listen to the loud hum of screaming fans, and my excitement is soaring. My heart beats with quiet anticipation and my eyes immediately focus on the large stage in front of me. In a few minutes, they will take the stage, the seven men that have charmed their way into millions of people’s hearts around the world, including mine. BTS, a seven-member award-winning boy-band from South Korea that sings exclusively in Korean. They will be taking the stage in Hamilton, ON, Canada, with an audience of 30,000 fans. How did I get here? How did BTS manage to break several social and global barriers to get here today? The answer is not easy. Hallyu is a term referred to by academics to describe “The Korean Wave,” and this wave has spread internationally. Many experts and media scholars are fascinated by the K-pop Hallyu phase, as it is a perfect example of cultural globalization. K-pop has become an international phenomenon breaking apart from the borders of South Korea itself. Hallyu is split into two generations, Hallyu 1.0 is often referred to as the age of television and Korean dramas. Whereas now, Korean music has innovatively changed and has witnessed tremendous growth since the 1990s. As a result, it has become the forefront of the new Korean wave or, as others regard it, Hallyu 2.0. For those of you who are K-pop virgins, the success of BTS can easily be misinterpreted as another factory produced boy-band with good vocals, good moves and perfect visuals. However, K-pop has had its own battle getting to where it is now. Following years of oppression and censorship from authoritarian governments in the past, Korea has never had it easy with liberty of artistic expression. Korean popular music in the 1980s and earlier was seen to be trots, ballads and slower, more romantic songs. However, in Hallyu 2.0, we view a totally new type of K-pop that translates to a larger and younger audience. With its upbeat music, catchy lyrics and aesthetically pleasing choreography, it is innovative and exciting to many across Korea and across the world. Artists like Seo Taiji and The Boys, as well as Kim Gun Mo, played a key role in influencing K-pop with new and diverse beats and music genres, and effectively opened up a pathway for K-pop to be hybridized and ready for global consumption. Although many argue that the “global” has erased the “local” in reality, the newfound paradigm shift in South Korea has allowed artists like Seo Taiji and BTS to show Koreans something new. Many also worried about the effects westernization would have on Korean culture. Yet, the new generation of Koreans or “Shinsedae” are often seen to be enjoying westernized music, food and overall culture as opposed to sticking with the traditional. Westernization may have been an outcome of social media; however, South Koreans had been able to use social media to their own advantage as well. BTS had started out as a band from a small company called BigHit Entertainment in South Korea and was almost unheard of for the greater majority of their careers. However, due to the agency of social media, BTS was able to gain a fanbase like no other. K-pop is nothing without the unique fan culture. BTS’ fanbase or otherwise known as ARMY-Adorable Representative MC for Youth, has a huge impact on large social platforms like Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and use their impact to gain recognition and popularity for BTS. Unlike TV and other platforms for popular culture to thrive on, social media is global and mostly unrestricted globally for those who are looking for new things and are open to watching foreign material. Thus allowing more westerners to find out about K-pop online, and furthermore, are then able to enjoy this content online as well. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, have allowed for Korean content creators to reach a larger and more widespread audience with ease. Fanbases are then able to also proclaim their devotion to these creators on these apps, which ultimately results in instant feedback to the original creator. Moreover, this enables them to cater their content accordingly to make it even more appealing to their audience. Social media has inevitably contributed to globalization and intensified the popularity of transnational media culture in a non-western region. K-pop fans enjoy a genre of music and support their favourite artists that come from a small local environment, but with the help of social media and their fans, they are able to become global artists that sell out arenas and stadiums around the world. The market consumption of K-pop is also very fascinating. Neoliberalism plays a key role in the economic prosperity of Korean popular music, as many believe that through globalization, “K-pop” has become a brand of Korea. And thus, without the capitalist mentality, maybe K-pop would not have been able to penetrate various global markets. Arguably, the biggest and most successful aspect of K-pop is the material aspect, as many fans want a variety of merchandise ranging from lightsticks, albums, and clothing to even merchandise that has cartoon versions of their favourite artists. Speaking of economic prosperity, “Chaebol” in Korean translates to a large family-owned conglomerate, and they are mighty within the Korean economy. Chaebols see K-pop as a marketing tactic and use successful groups and K-pop idols to their advantage. An example of a big K-pop influence that the government has turned to profit would be BTS, as they are not only booming globally but also bringing in total revenue of $3.6 billion annually to the country’s economy. As a result of their imminent success, the government and other reputable Chaebols within Korea have launched various advertisement campaigns to bring tourism and added revenue to the country’s national annual income (Lotte, BTS Seoul Tourism AD, Hyundai x BTS, etc.). However, the power of K-pop does not end there, as idols and groups are also used by the government to often create soft-power. An example of this is when they attended the Korea-France friendship summit in Paris back in October 2018 and performed their latest comeback track “Idol” for both Korean and French government officials. Another example of a big K-pop group that has recently been used for soft-power is EXO, during an event after the latest G20 summit in Japan, Trump and his family travelled to Seoul to meet President Moon Jae-in. Fans were shocked to see that alongside President Moon and his wife, the Trump family also met EXO and were gifted with signed albums. On the surface, K-pop may seem very simple and may be viewed to have no depth. However, it is much more than that, as I discussed today. So now, when I view this concert that BTS will be putting on, I appreciate their art even more and am even more proud of them for overcoming years of obstacles to put K-pop on the global market. Thank you, BTS and K-pop, for showing the world that globalization can be used to an advantage and that a country is not always defined by its past, but it’s future, just like South Korea today.
