What are K-Pop and J-Pop
One similar event at Two separate events. The cheering of the fans increases as the music starts and a group of people takes the stage. In unison, the group starts dancing each move like clockwork as they sing and dance together. The fans scream, with their lights sticks, fans, and posters creating an ocean of light in the audience that bounces along with the beat of the music. Your idols keep going you’ve never experienced anything quite like this. Welcome to an East Asian pop concept, mainly a kpop or jpop concert. The idol brand of pop, and East Asian pop in general has come to become a world phenomenon, but why is it that kpop is the most popular of them even though jpop is older? For now, let’s answer the simple question: what are J-pop and K-pop? What are their roots? What are they like now?
J-pop and K-pop, in the simplest of definitions, are pop music from Japan and South Korea respectively. The two are also used as general blanket terms for the majority of music that comes out of each nation but for now simplicity its pop music from soloists, to bands, and to the idol groups the region is known for. The history of the genres of music is surprising similar when you look at them, but why is Kpop and the Hallyu Wave considered the more popular of the two, despite Jpop having seen great international success in the early 2000s? First thought, the history.
The origins of J-pop can be found in post-World War II Japan under American occupation. The influx of American media started to integrate itself with Japanese media and thus started the creation of Kayokyoku. Kayokyoku was the love child of Japanese and western music systems creating a style of singing that used traditional Japanese intonation and lyrics but that used western chords and rhythms. This genre eventually lead into Enka and J-pop. Enka was fairly akin to kayokyoku except it wanted the singer to show the raw emotion of the piece and display their vocal ability. J-pop started to form off of American rock bands such as the Beatles, thus making the genre very western tand rock oriented at the time. As time went on, however, the genre expanded into disco, funk, electronic, and other genres which diversified the genre as a whole. (Toshinobu)
K-pop went through a fairly similar process after World War II and the Korean War, American and Japanese music influenced the development of early Korean pop. The first major genre is Korea was the Ppongjjak (뽕짝) genre also known simply as trot, which grew in prominence during the Japanese colonization era of Korea. Early 뽕짝 as Shim Doobo writes,“Is what Koreans similarly call the Japanese enka-influenced musical style, assimilated into Korea around the turn of the 20th century.” However the genre grew during the mid twentieth century and started to take influences from outside traditional Korean music and enka, and started to take after music from Europe, more modern Japanese music, and music from the United States.
The two genres continued to grow and adapt into a plethora of genres, eventually leading to the countries adaptation of idol groups. Japan started the idol group trend in the 70s and 80s, during a time called “the Golden Age of Idols” where idols and idol groups were a dime a dozen. (Matsutani) Korean started to follow the trend in the mid 90s with the create of the boy group H.O.T (Highfive of Teenagers) which is when the trend really picked up.During the early 2000s both started outward expansion from their native countries, with kpop focusing in on Japan and the rest of Asian and Japan focusing on the beast of music industries (parallelism), the west. But has hard as the east asian dragon could, Japanese music lacked western appeal and so labels and artists focused primarily on supporting the now waning japanese economy and market. Korean however flourished in Asian and started to become a dominant force of east asian music in the 2000s with artists such as BoA who gained popularity in Korea and in nations such as japan. (Oh and Park) However the two nations started down different paths during the 2010s with Japan staying at home, developing genres and artists unique to japan, and lack of focus on digital resources such as music streaming. Korea took its surfboard and has rode the Hallyu Wave as far as it can with artists such as BTS, Twice, and EXO making massive strides for K-pop both in east asian and the west.
J-pop and K-pop have gone down different paths to create musicians not found anywhere else, and while one has become more western and popular, there’s two questions left to be asked, “How much longer will this fame last? And will its rival ever overtake it?”
Bibliography
Fukuya, Toshinobu. “The History of J-Pop.” T-Fukuya, www.t-fukuya.net/j-pop.pdf.
Although once used interchangeably with ryuukouka, kayoukyoku (lit. "Lyrical singing music") officially refers to the fusion of Japanese compositions with Western elements, and is what's considered the true origin of modern J-pop. During the 60s kayoukyoku ruled alongside the more traditional style of enka.
Oh, Ingyu, and Park, Gil-Sung. “From B2C to B2B: Selling Korean Pop Music in the Age of
New Social Media.” From B2C to B2B: Selling Korean Pop Music in the Age of New Social Media, 2012, pp. 365–397., www.tobiashubinette.se/hallyu_2.pdf.
BoA, SM’s first girl singer who made an astounding success in Japan (380)
Matsutani, Minoru. “Pop 'Idol' Phenomenon Fades into Dispersion.” The Japan Times, 25 Sept.
The 1980s is considered the golden age of idols
Shim, Doobo. “Hybridity and the Rise of Korean Popular Culture in Asia.” Media, Culture &
Society, vol. 28, no. 1, 2006, pp. 25–44., doi:10.1177/0163443706059278.