In previous installments of this series, we’ve discussed different aspects of capitalizing on a zeitgeist - clout chasing being one of the biggest, most obvious ones.
But is there a step beyond capitalizing on a zeitgeist? Is there a point when it becomes questionable?
It turns out that the answer to that question is “yes.”
A recent article promoting the “debut” of Kaachi, a UK-based pop girl group, stated that the group was founded on the premise that K-pop is “universal” and is now open to artists from all over the globe.
Very rarely have all the K-pop fandoms united in such a way, but in this moment, the voice is virtually unanimous: this is not acceptable.
A quick disclaimer: the idea behind a multinational group is not the problem - it’s the claim that K-pop is “universal” now and belongs to artists everywhere; so that is what we’ll be addressing.
It’s important to note that the idea of K-pop and a lot of other Asian pop genres, including J-pop and C-pop, sprang from the fact that it was difficult (by which we mean “nearly impossible”) for foreign acts to break into the Western market - a subject Borasaek Vision has mentioned before and will likely mention again, as it is closely tied to BTS and their achievements worldwide. This topic will consistently reemerge every time BTS is denied their place in a Western market due to the fact that they are based in Korea.
Attempting - and it should be noted that the operative word is attempting - to wrest the K-pop genre out of their hands and now take it into “global” ownership seems greedy, seizing on an item now because it is popular. It says that they are not allowed to have their own genre, because now the West wants in on the action.
Saying that a group’s direction was influenced by K-pop would have been acceptable because K-pop itself draws on a lot of different genres; as an example, we have seen influences from hip-hop, R&B, pop, and even hints of rock-and-roll within BTS’s body of work. To have a group that is influenced by the style or sound of K-pop seems like a natural next step, a part of the give-and-take of artistic creation where one artist inspires another. This could have been a good way to approach the situation, albeit an imperfect solution.
To state that the group is a K-pop group essentially “because they say so” does not have the same authenticity and genuineness, especially when the group is composed primarily of Westerners.
This is not to imply that Westerners can have no part in the K-pop industry - on the contrary, it is not uncommon for members of groups to come from different places. For example, TXT’s Huening Kai, BTS’ junior, is Korean-American, born in Hawaii. A number of other groups also have multinational makeups, such as GOT7, a peer of BTS, which has Jackson Wang, Mark Tuan, and Bam Bam on its roster, of Chinese, American, and Thai descent, respectively. NU’EST, whose parent agency was recently purchased by Big Hit Labels, has Aron, who was born in the US and moved to Korea to become a K-pop idol. The list goes on - and there are many, many examples.
The chief difference here is that these particular idols started as recruits, went through rigorous training for several years, and emerged as idols, debuting alongside their bandmates and carving their place in the Korean and/or global market with their own talents and style. BTS’ members trained for half a decade or more before they were ready to emerge from the studio and set foot on the stage.
It was an exhaustive effort - hard work - to become the idols they are today. For those members of the various groups who were foreign-born or foreign-raised, becoming a K-pop idol required relocation entirely, which can’t have been an easy decision, especially at a young age.
In addition to all this hard work, there’s one additional distinction between true K-pop groups and others which may be the most important one of all: language.
One of the biggest things in K-pop music is language - namely, Korean. In interviews where the interviewer asked (in poor taste) when BTS was going to start doing all-English albums (implying that they would do English albums instead of Korean ones), Namjoon has historically said that that wasn’t going to happen because that isn’t what they do. They have emphasized strongly on multiple occasions that they are a Korean group and are very supportive of their country and culture - referencing the MMA performance in traditional Korean hanboks. While they may do work as a group or outside the group in English (or whatever language they might choose), they are a K-pop group, and that means primarily using Korean as the base for their lyrics.
Can a K-pop group release an all-English song or album and still be a K-pop group? Yes, because their primary base is still Korean. The same cannot necessarily be said of the opposite - especially if the mastery of Korean is not there. There is a big difference between learning to mimic the sounds and actually learning the language. Foreign-born K-pop idols are often bilingual and are fluent or mostly fluent in Korean, and many native-born K-pop idols are at least able to speak basic English. Can a group that doesn’t have mastery of even basic Korean be considered a K-pop group?
To say that they can sound hollow - again, it lacks authenticity. There’s something inherently missing from K-pop if it doesn’t have the Korean in it as its base.
Which brings us to the final point: we already have a “global” pop genre - it’s called pop. It’s been around for years and has a number of notable artists in it stretching across the decades - The Beatles, to whom BTS has been compared, is one of the earliest groups to be included in the modern pop music genre, and it also has other artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Katy Perry, and Beyonce among its ranks...the list could stretch on for ages. It has dozens of sub-genres and fusion genres to cover each and every unique sound that a musical instrument or synthesizer can make.
It’s worth mentioning that K-pop is, as of this writing, not listed as an official sub-genre or fusion genre of pop. Nor are J-pop, C-pop, or other Asian pop genres. K-pop groups, as well as other foreign acts, have also historically been overlooked completely or almost completely when it comes to award shows, lumped in with awards which are based on something other than the music, as BTS has been, or thrown in one mass “foreign music” category.
Would adding K-pop as a sub-genre in the officially recognized list help to get K-pop acts the nominations they deserve in Western award shows? It’s difficult to say, since it’s never been done before. It should, in theory, level the playing field and make K-pop acts such as BTS just as eligible for any pop music award as a Western act would be.
That being said, each sub-genre of pop music has at least one characteristic that makes it distinct from all the other sub-genres. It has that “one thing” which sets it apart from all the others. We’ve listed a few here for K-pop, though this is by no means an all-inclusive list.
K-pop is undeniably pop music, but it is unique. These traits which set K-pop apart from the rest of its peers cannot be set aside at a whim or because it is convenient to an agenda - when that’s done, the remnants that are left are just elements of pop. So call it a pop group, because that’s what it is - but don’t call it K-pop. Because it’s not.
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Written By: Anna Moon
Edit By: Mheer
Checked by Aury
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