Written By Laura Marie
Hi! It's Laura from the Shop. I am writing these blogs in preparation for the 'K-pop Roller skating disco' on the 1st of July to give everyone a little more insight into what K-pop actually is. I hope you find these helpful in some way!
K-pop (Also known as 'Korean Pop') is a genre of music that originates from South Korea. There is a wide range of music styles, performances, fashion and visuals that makes K-pop such a unique brand. One of the most well known and influential groups within K-pop is BTS )(Also known as Bangtan Sonyeondan). BTS's success has had a huge role in spreading the Hallyu wave ''Global popularity and cultural influence of Korean entertainment''.
<- BTS Speech at the United Nations
Black Swan - BTS ->
<-BTS at the White House Press Briefing discussing Asian hate crimes, approaches to combat racism, promotion of respect, inclusion & representation.
RM of BTS appointed as Public relations ambassador for 2023 Ministry of National Defense ->
The K-pop fan base has very distinct lingo terms when talking about their favourite idols. For example, the word 'Bias' refers to a fans favourite idol in a group. The word 'Ult' refers to a fans favourite idol overall. For example, my ult is Kim Namjoon, of BTS. A 'Comeback' is when a group or solo artist released new music, or return to make more music. An example of this would be Stray Kids, they have recently had a comeback with their new album '5 Star'. The meaning of 'Fan chant' is when a group has a specific chant that is said before, during, or sometimes after a song. Another very unique fact about K-pop is that all albums come with inclusions.
Each album may (as all groups are different) come with a minimum of 1 Photo card of a member, Sub-unit (2 members) or whole group (These are either collected, traded or sold), a poster, stickers, postcards, album specific items such as bookmarks or frames, a photobook, a lyric book and CD/s.
<-BTS Fanchants
There are countless K-pop groups. A few just to name are:
Stray Kids
Ateez
TWICE
Itzy
Monsta-X
Seventeen
TXT (Tomorrow by together)
IVE
Enhypen
Treasure
New Jeans
etc...there truly is someone for everyone in k-pop
Here are some music videos of various other artists...
Stray Kids - S-Class
2. Ateez - Guerrilla
3. Treasure - JikJin
4. Seventeen - Super
5. SuperM - One (Monster and Infinity)
6. Itzy - Cheshire
7. LE SERRAFIM - Antifragile
8.TWICE - Set me free
9. New Jeans - Hype Boy
10. (G)I-DLE - Queencard Fun Fact: This song is about embracing and loving yourself exactly the way you are
Please keep a look out for the next blog where I will be talking about K-pop Fashion and Make-up with some of my own examples to hopefully get you all excited and ready for the K-pop roller disco!!! :) <3