Korean Pop vs. American Pop

Author: Brian Lee

Backstreet Boys (Source: http://wweb.uta.edu)

       K-pop is becoming more globally recognized ever since Korean artist Psy has taken the world by storm with his single "Gangnam Style". Many people are new to the genre "K-pop" and try to compare it to American pop music. Although there are some similarities, there are major difference between the two. In K-pop, kids are trained at a young age and audition for a record label. In American pop, you need to make your own music and constantly promote yourself, no record label chooses to train you, you are on your own. Having a manager is very important in American pop, they will know the ins and outs of the music industry, and book gigs for you. Another difference is that English is pretty much a second language in most countries so understanding and relating to American pop is easier than K-pop. American pop artists generally will only release their songs or albums in English whereas K-pop groups or artists will release theirs in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese, to appeal to a broader audience. 

2PM Dance (Source: crunchyroll.com)

      The era of the boy bands for American pop was back in the 90's and has slowly faded away. Today we barely see any American pop boy bands, whereas in K-pop it primarily consists of boy bands and girl 

bands. Having dance choreography a major part of K-pop. If you watch a K-pop video you will almost always see some kind of dancing. Another major difference between the two genre's are the messages in the songs and videos. Many K-pop fans say that American music is about "sex, drugs, and money", but ironically K-pop videos have girls in short skirts and men with no shirts.    Music programs are a big part of the K-pop industry.   They have multiple programs such as M.Countdown, Inkigayo, and Music Core, where K-pop groups or artists promote their new singles. American pop used to have the music program TRL to promote new singles but it has disappeared.

    The differences between K-pop and American Pop make each genre unique, for those who do not know K-pop I highly suggest that you give it a try.





Sources:

   Choi, Christine. "K-Pop:A What Are Some Major Differences between the K-pop Industry and the American Pop Industry?" K-Pop. Quora, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://www.quora.com/K-Pop/What-are-some-major-differences-between-the-K-pop-industry-and-the-American-pop-industry>.
Abrams, Emily. "K-pop Invades U.S." K-Pop Invades U.S. The Daily Collegian, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://dailycollegian.com/2012/10/10/k-pop-invades-u-s/>.