The World May Be Too Fast, but K-Pop Is Here to Stay

Have you ever felt like the world is spinning too fast? You wake up one morning, check your phone, log into your social media accounts, and see all these trends simultaneously crashing down on you. From lifestyle, health, love, politics, and everyday life, the world has adapted to the fast changes of cultural trends. However, the boom of an overnight trend can also be its downfall. One day, a trend may sensationalize the whole world, and the next, it may vanish into thin air as if it never existed. Fortunately, this is not the case for K-pop.

K-pop, or Korean pop music as we all know it, can actually be traced back to the 1950s. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s or the “First Generation,” as we call it, that it started to gain traction in South Korea and around its neighboring countries. Since then up until the status quo, K-pop has made a name for itself through its distinct music features, dance crazes, fashion statements, tenors, and even personas. K-pop, despite the rapid change of trends in the world, has proved itself to be immune from this phenomena. Instead of being the one to follow trends, K-pop IS the trend. Aside from this, it is safe to say that the industry, at this point, has mastered how to be indestructible with how it has marketed itself starting from the Asian region and out into the world.

One-of-a-Kind Performance

The boom of K-pop has been going steady for decades now. If not steady, its reach has been at an all-time high for years. As a fan of some groups and a casual listener for others, I noticed why K-pop has been so consistent and continuously catching the eyes and hearts of fans from all walks of life. The industry, including its artists, has seemingly mastered the craft of creating a one-of-a-kind performance. If you compare them, you can immediately note the difference between acts performed by Western artists and those from K-pop. While there is nothing entirely wrong with this, it can be noted that Western acts focus more on music and lyricism alone. However, if you compare it to K-pop, one of its charms is their ability to be jacks-of-all-trades. From songwriting, producing, singing, choreographing, and performing—they got it all.

Before a K-pop group or idol is even given the chance to debut, these idols become trainees under different companies and train for months or even years. Some even train for half a decade or more as early as in their preteens. While this is no known secret, I feel like it has to be emphasized as no one does performances like K-pop artists do. I believe it is only in K-pop that I see idols pushing into their 30s still full of energy, as if they are still in their teens while performing. To be able to see that kind of energy and charisma is no joke and even means that thousands of hours of practice and hard work have been put behind the scenes.

Not to mention, it can also be noted how, despite having a huge team behind one group who help create their performances, some idols are hands-on with the whole creative process. Groups like SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, BTOB, and Block B, among others, have notable members who can be seen to be very involved with the creation of their albums and performances. This level of dedication can be seen as rewarding and comforting for fans. The more apparent it is to everyone how involved their idols are in their line of work, the more authentic it feels—garnering a huge respect and an even bigger fan base for artists.

More and more groups are debuting

For outsiders, they might think that having copious amounts of idol groups would be confusing and overwhelming. However, the K-pop industry thinks otherwise. The more groups there are, the more chances there are for the world to see the talents these idols have to offer. Relying on the sensationalized media of survival shows, these platforms have become a breeding ground not just for idols to showcase what they have to offer but also for fans, especially with how far they are willing to go to support these trainees just for them to debut.

In fact, because of how these shows would go viral all over the internet and all the drama between fans and the trainees themselves, the K-pop industry seemingly knows that this is one of the best ways to keep them afloat.  Notwithstanding the drama during the show itself, a huge telling of why the K-pop industry can and will stand on its feet is because of the amount of positive reviews and entertainment these shows have brought to the screens of our laptops, phones, and tablets. Groups like TWICE came from the show SIXTEEN, Stray Kids from the same name, ENHYPEN from I-LAND, ZEROBASEONE from Boys Planet are among the few groups notable for coming from idol survival shows. Looking at their track record, these groups have proved themselves to be consistent and one of the best in the industry. Because of the success, these trainees who would get picked and debut in a group would achieve early on in their career up until the years passed, it is safe to say that we will see a lot of these shows in the coming years.

The 2nd Generation is making a comeback

Another reason why I believe K-pop is not going to lose its shine anytime soon is because of how the earlier generations of the industry have proved to the world that they are not past their prime. “2nd Gen” or Second Generation idols, as we call them, are those who debuted in the early 2000s up until 2010. Notable groups like Super Junior, 2PM, 2NE1, Girls’ Generation, BIGBANG, SHINee, After School, Miss A, etc. are those who have dominated the charts back then. However, despite the rise and steadiness of 3rd and 4th generations, these second-generation idols are not showing signs of stopping anytime soon.

In fact, aside from their hiatuses over the years, idols like 2NE1, Taeyang from BIGBANG, Daesung from BIGBANG, G-DRAGON from BIGBANG, Minho from SHINee, and many more are seen making consecutive comebacks and performances inside and outside of South Korea. A few months ago, the group BIGBANG made a surprise show that shocked various idols like Hoshi from SEVENTEEN at the 2024 MAMA Awards. Following this, one of its members, Taeyang, kicked off his “The Light Year Tour” in South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other Southeast Asian countries. Another BIGBANG member, G-DRAGON, is also known to be starting his tour entitled “Übermensch,” which is reported to have two leg tours, one in South Korea and another in Southeast Asia. Girl groups like 2NE1 have also made their way back to the stage with their “Welcome Back” Tour, which consisted of more than 20 shows. Taeyeon from Girls’ Generation has also surprised fans with her upcoming shows from her tour “The TENSE,” which will be held in multiple countries as well.

The continuous rise and comebacks of acts even from the second generation only prove that these idols can put on a show anytime, anywhere, and definitely at any point in their lives. If these idols who have been in the industry for two decades or more now are still putting up shows, then we can definitely expect the same for those in the third and fourth generations and all generations to come. For the rest of the world, they prove that some things get even better with time.

International Love

Gone were the days when K-pop seemingly felt fitting only for Asian fans. With the one-of-a-kind performances, catchy music, and idol personas the K-pop industry has been producing, not only has it reached fans from neighboring countries, but it has also created a fandom of its own internationally, especially in the West. With the increasing number of fans paired with online protests from fans to bring these acts to America and Europe, the industry has started to catch up and realized that the only way to be on top is to be out there in the world. This has led companies and managements to start catering and marketing themselves internationally, which created an amazing turnout for the groups.

With the liberating and carefree culture of the West, this also meant that idols were given the chance to explore different concepts, cultures, and other norms which they can take inspiration from and incorporate in their own performances.

Not only that, but the number of K-pop groups and idols headlining and performing in huge and renowned festivals and concerts abroad is a testament that K-pop is here to stay. In 2022, fans and people all over the world were shocked as the group 2NE1 made a surprise performance filled with their hit songs over the years. The following year, the dominating girl group BLACKPINK headlined the show at Coachella 2023. Just last year, one of the 4th Generation leaders, ATEEZ, also performed at Coachella, which earned them praise and even newer fans. This year, we are expecting ENHYPEN to perform at the 2025 Coachella, bringing the rich and captivating culture of K-pop to the world. Other notable shows can be backtracked from when BTS member J-HOPE was the first K-pop act to headline Lollapalooza and SEVENTEEN being the first K-pop act to headline the ever-famous Glastonbury Festival.

At this rate, despite its existence for decades, K-pop does not show any signs of slowing down even more now that more “firsts” are being achieved, both locally and internationally. At this rate, we might as well just sit back, relax, and let them surprise us with what they have to offer and perform.

Standing the Test of Time

Lastly, the main reason why K-pop is here to stay despite the erratic change in trends is its versatility. As shown above, K-pop never fails to put on a one-of-a-kind performance. From the castings, training, selection, and debuting onwards, the industry has shown us how idols and even the management themselves are willing to put in more work no matter what it takes to make sure that they get to be out there and, above all, on top. One would think that after the boom of BTS internationally, people would think of K-pop as dull and repetitive. However, time and time again, they always think of new ways to surprise and incorporate niche and distinct features—always something that we have never seen before. Just when we thought that K-pop is just a phase that we developed over the pandemic, we are continuously being proven wrong. And how good does it feel to be proven wrong?

In a world where everything is temporary, K-pop has proven the opposite.

In a world where everything is fast and changing, one thing remains for sure, and that is K-pop is here to stay.