Japanese scholar says K-pop’s roots lie in Korea’s 1990s yearning for freedom

The global success of K-pop can be traced back to Korea’s turbulent social atmosphere of the 1990s — a time when young people ...
PopSugar

Fin.K.L Forever: The Pioneering Girl Group That Paved the Way For Future K-Pop Idols

K-pop is undeniably a global phenomenon. Its music videos regularly rack up millions of YouTube views, concerts often sell out within minutes, and tweets about K-pop stars frequently go viral. Once a ...
Rolling Stone

The 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music

The birth of modern K-pop is often dated to 1992, when Seo Taiji and Boys, a dance-oriented trio led by an ex-metalhead, performed their song “I Know” on the South Korean network MBC. Not only did the ...
NPR

New podcast looks at one of the biggest genres in the world: K-Pop

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Vivian Yoon. Her new podcast K-Pop Dreaming is a personal and historical journey through Korean pop music. When Vivian Yoon was growing up in LA's Koreatown during the ...
LAist

What Does A Century-Old Musical Genre Have To Do With K-Pop?

If you’re caught up in the Korean Wave like the rest of the globe, you know a thing or two about K-pop idols like BTS, BLACKPINK, and NewJeans who are dominating YouTube. Maybe you’re even a true stan ...

CJ ENM Celebrates 30 Years by Doubling Down on Its Asian Storytelling Bet

By Pious Jung As CJ ENM enters its fourth decade, we are once again betting big on Asian storytelling. CJ ENM is the ...
Rolling Stone

G.o.d Were K-Pop Pioneers — and They’re Still Going Strong. To Them, It’s ‘Destiny’

Back in June, KCON LA — the world’s largest annual Korean pop culture festival — announced that the first-generation K-pop group g.o.d would be performing at its event in July. When KCON USA’s ...