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1950 BCE
1950-60: Post Korean war
The Korean War ended after 3 years of fighting, and life became more peaceful despite being hard for Korea. It’s an era where they will discover songs like trot and Korean rock, and their music style will be influenced by Eastern pop due to the presence of American troops performing there. (Some known icons: the Kim sisters, Lee Mija, and Shin Jung-hyeon) -
1970s-80s
The rise of song genres like Trot, along with many K-pop song predecessors such as rock bands like Sanullim and Deulgukhwa, brought the vibrant vibes to the music scene, while other artists exploring genres like pop, funk, and album-oriented rock contributed to the popularity of these genres (Cho Young-pil and Sim Soo-bong). -
1992
The birth of official kpop, the group Seo Taiji and Boys debut gaining popularity for their mixed Western genres (rap, hip-hop, techno), they gain fame with the debut song” Nan arayo (I know)” leading the roads of kpop. -
Late 1990
Lots of K-pop groups begin to rise to fame in K-pop. Groups like H.O.T, S.E.S, g.o.d, etc, are introduced by companies like SM, JYP, and YG (the big 3 companies). Especially H.O.T played a major role in shaping the K-pop fan culture, choreographies, and the styling so well known to K-pop today, making groups like those first generation (or shorter first gen). -
Early 2000s
First-gen solo artists like BoA and Lee Hyori are also getting popular along with K-pop groups. BoA, titled the queen of K-pop because she’s one of the first soloists to visit Japan and take K-pop with her, paving the way for overseas promotions. -
2003- 2009
Second-gen groups like TVXQ debut and bring K-pop to China and Japan, along with many other well-known groups like Big Bang, Girls Generation, 2NE1, Shinee, etc, are popular in Asia. -
2012
K-pop goes viral and international for the first time with Gangnam Style by PSY, gaining over 1 billion views. -
2013 - 2018
Kpop groups like BTS, coming from a small rookie company, have become global with their hip-hop and rap-inspired debut songs like “No More Dreams”. Blackpink, another famous girl group introduced by SM, became internationally known with their debut song “Boombayah”. Kpop also became global and gained more international fans, performing at the Grammys and Billboard. These groups are known as 3rd generation groups. -
2020- now
4th gen groups (Enhypen, TXT, ATEEZ, etc), along with some 5th gen groups (NewJeans, illit, BOYNEXTDOOR, etc), change the aesthetics in K-pop, bringing lore, tech, and performances like never before. 5th gen, meanwhile, concentrated on bringing a softer aesthetic. Both genres are gaining more fame with social media like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter (X).