Music / Styles A–Z / Africa, Europe and Asia · 30 of 35
K-pop
K-pop emerged in South Korea in the 1990s as a youth culture drawing on Western dance music, hip-hop, R&B and rock. Most songs are fast, with the choreography written to the tempo.
- Where and when
- South Korea, 1990s
- Tempo
- Mostly fast-paced, built for dancing
- Played on
- Synthesized pop, hip-hop, R&B and electronic production, voice
What it is
K-pop, short for Korean popular music, emerged in the 1990s as a youth culture, with Korean musicians drawing on Western dance music, hip-hop, R&B and rock. Today it mostly means teen idol acts, girl groups and boy bands, with as much weight on visuals and performance as on sound.
For the producer. Songs mix pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B and electronic music, often in one track; most are fast with a strong rhythm, because the choreography is written to the tempo.
The records that made it
From the lesson Africa, Europe and Asia, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- 1992I KnowSeo Taiji and Boys · Their debut, bringing rap and American hip-hop into Korean pop.
- 2012Gangnam StylePsy · Carried the Korean Wave around the world.
K-pop in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged k-pop on MusicBrainz · updated with every build
No new record in the press we read is tagged k-pop this month. The list fills as records come out.