KPOPPING i dia
nt hrough
MAHAK RAJGARHIA
What are the tweens and the teens listening to these days , we wonder . The answer is , music that is fresh , new and adds a little zing to give aka K-Pop .
K-Pop expands to Korean pop or popular music from South Korean which has picked up in the recent years . A part of Hallyu or the Korean wave , K-Pop began finding its feet in the world in the 21st century after South Korea developed diplomatic relations with China .
This genre of music derives heavily from the American R & B culture given the kind of music , videos and beats it uses . Bands like BTS or the Bangtan boys , EXO , Wonder Girls , Super Junior are the popular bands that have received worldwide fame and recognition . And not just fame , there are many YouTube channels where all that the bloggers do is make covers . Such is the K-Pop rage in the world .
But if you were to find the first K-Pop hit , it was none other than Psy ’ s Gangnam Style which was released in 2012 and stayed in the Top-10 of US billboards for straight 7 weeks .
And India is not far behind . It is as affected by the cute and charming singers and their music . Here , north-east was the first part to be engulfed by K-Pop followed by the metro cities of Delhi , Bangalore , Chennai & Mumbai because of the north eastern population that resides there .
And to prove the madness – India has its own K-Pop singing reality contest which was first held in 2012 in Delhi . But 6 years later in 2017 , the competition is still on – and this time it was called K-Pop India Contest 2017 where there were 898 participants and the turnout was over 2,000 people , all of which were crazy K-pop fans . This contest is no less than Mecca for K-Pop fans in India .
This doesn ’ t end there . There are BTS ’ s ARMY & EXO-L ’ s , the official Indian fandom groups for the bands BTS & EXO . These boy bands are reigning the K-Pop music scene and how ! There are WhatsApp groups based on the region who you live in , Facebook pages , fundraising events and a countless other online methods that keep the buzz and fandom going for the listeners . Even VH-1 started a show called K-Pop ’ d to promote and get the fresh music some new ears .
The Indian ‘ K-Pop crazies ’ have even managed to create a worldwide Twitter trend # IndialovesBTS when the band mentioned India in an interview with a reputed magazine last year .
And all this is love , passion and the ability to relate is a result of staying connected via the internet since all the fandom is online . From their videos to blogs to all the buzz and chatter , all of it can be found on the internet which is where the K-Pop fans thrive .
Their immaculately choreographed dance routines , the bling and the vibrant stage presence makes K-Pop what it is today , an international sensation .
And as most of the fans say , once you fall down the K-Pop rabbit hole , there is no looking back but finding your way to your favorites and sticking to them !
So let ’ s K-Pop maybe ?
The Score Magazine highonscore . com
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