Kpop music or Korean popular music is music that comes from Korea, also famous in other parts of Asia such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Honk Kong and some South Eastern Asian countries. The rise of Kpop music is considered part of the rise of the Korean Wave (“Hallyu”). Korean music was challenged in 1992 when a Korean popular music group called Seo Taiji and Boys mixed traditional Korean music with American rap, rock and techno influences.



Their success, followed by other experimental groups (line panic) is what contributed to the present day's popularity of Kpop. Korean popular music scene met afterwards the influence of dance-oriented acts such as the famous hip-hop duo Deux, followed by teen idol groups such as Baby V.O.X., Fin.K.L., g.o.d, H.O.T., Shinhwa, Sechs Kies, and S.E.S who were highly popular in the mid 90s.

Today, pop groups are still fashionable, despite the current emergence of R&B and hip-hop in Korean music. MC MONG, 1TYM, Rain, Big Bang and Epik High are some of the bands that have made hip-hop popular, together with other underground artists such as Drunken Tiger, Tasha and Dynamic Duo. Rock music has also gained recognition lately, represented by artists such as Yoon Do-Hyun Band and Seo Taiji. For techno/dance Korean music lovers, Lee Jung Hyun and Kim Hyun Jung, two of the veteran artists in the industry, are the favorites. Kpop music has become famous worldwide, thanks to artists such as BoA, who has become Korea's highest-selling international artist.

Apart from BoA, other artists as well have contributed to the popularity of Korean music outside their country's borders. Rain and Se7en are some of the artists who sold their albums in other countries from eastern Asia. However, the greatest challenge for Korean artists (in fact, for all Asian artists) is to enter the profitable English-language music market.

As English has become an international language, the only way for a singer to achieve international recognition is to sing in English, so that everyone should be able to understand the lyrics. Korean singers are aware of that and a few of them (Rain, Se7en, Skull, a reggae artist and Min form JYP Entertainment) are planning to make a debut on the USA music market soon. Once they have managed to conquer the American listeners, the door to worldwide fame will stay open for them.

R&B, hip-hop and dance are the popular music styles today in Kpop music, which one can compare, from this point of view, with English pop music. Boy bands, girl groups, pop singers and R&B stars, currently dominate the Korean music scene. Ballads are also very popular. Some people argue that more diversity is necessary in Kpop music, but perhaps the rock industry will also develop in the future and everyone will be satisfied. The future looks bright for Korean singers and it is probably just a matter of time until they will conquer the US charts and the rest of the world. Kpop is gaining more and more fans every day and Korean artists are gaining popularity in US and Europe.