esperterra posted:

The quickest primer on kpop history is that popular Korean music was mostly trot and ballads until artists like Seo Taiji and the Boys and JYP showed up in the 90s with sounds inspired by American hip hop and pop music. From there you see the first generation of kpop as we know it today starting and really blowing up with the formations of SM Ent, JYP Ent and YG Ent. Lee Soo Man of SM in particular was the one who took a lesson from Motown and implemented the idol trainee system that basically every company uses to this day for its groups and soloists; as well as a rise in bringing over Western songwriters and producers to work on tracks. Then you get artists like BoA expanding Korean pop music into Japan and the rest of Asia (and even a brief stint in the US for BoA, though actively promoting her in three different countries at once was a bit much and they backed off on it pretty quickly to focus on Korea and Japan when she didn't blow up immediately) for the first time and opening up doors for everyone who followed her.

SM in general has kind of always been at the forefront of everything, though the Big Three (SM, JYP, YG) are all super influential. Both boy groups and girl groups as we know them today probably wouldn't exist if not for groups like Super Junior and Girls' Generation more or less setting and perfecting the mold for what to expect, though they weren't the first popular boy or girl groups in the industry.

Influential groups and soloists:

not rly idols:
Seo Taiji & the Boys
JYP

some big 1st gen names who inspired 2nd gen:
g.o.d.
H.O.T.
Fin.K.L
Rain
BoA (a queen who transcends generations and is still going 20 years strong)
Lee Hyori
Park Ji Yoon
Sechs Kies
Shinhwa
Chakra

some bigass 2nd gen names who inspired the 3rd gen:
Brown Eyed Girls (very unique for its time and still to this day. the group isn't really a product of a company in the way most idols are, they were brought together by the leader JeA herself and were all grown rear end women when they debuted other than Gain, who at 19 was still on the older side for typical debut in a group. BEG have also been heavily involved in their own songwriting and production from the beginning. BEG owns. They are also still kicking today and return for comebacks whenever they have the inspiration and time)
Super Junior
Girls' Generation
Shinee
TVXQ
f(x)
Wonder Girls
Big Bang
2NE1
4minute
KARA
Sistar
AOA
Lee Hi

Most of those groups have members who have had or still have very successful solo careers as well, either during their groups' heydey or after. Your Taeyeons and Taemins and Sunmis and HyunAs and GDragons and Park Boms and so on.

Then 3rd gen is your BTSes, your Twices, your Blackpinks. 1st and 2nd gen are really the ones you want to focus on if you're curious about the history of kpop itself and who laid the groundwork for what makes a kpop group today. Or even for who really kicked off expansion into the US. If it weren't for people like BoA, Rain, Wonder Girls, 2NE1, Psy/etc you wouldn't see groups like BTS or Blackpink having quite the success they do now in America. Though Blackpink is such a bizarre phenomenon for a group that in their four years have mostly focused on modeling/CFs and only have like 14 songs to their name rn and prob woulda found a way to blow up anyway.

There's a lot of debate around whether or not the 4th gen has started yet, a lot of people would argue it has. But there isn't really a clear difference in sound or any real big shift in general, so people are always arguing about when it started if it has. I don't care enough to rly look into it b/c I'm an old who mostly listens to 1st and 2nd gen music and the stuff coming from the people who debuted back then and are still going today.

Worth noting that kpop as an industry isn't the same as American pop music w/r/t domestic reach. The idol side of popular Korean music (which most people use kpop to refer to) is pretty niche in the grand scheme of the Korean music industry overall, and had its most popular days with the general public during the rise and prime of the 2nd gen imo. Getting into what is and isn't different about just general pop music in Korea and idol pop music is a pain in the rear end but for example, IU wouldn't be considered an idol these days and is more just an incredibly well respected singer-songwriter (and a drat good actress these days, too). But she was definitely an idol at debut.

thx for coming to my ted talk

esperterra posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrsBjYukE8s

JYP just released a duet with Sunmi and it owns thx

bovis posted:

Yeah this is pure cheese but it's so good. I love how JYP can just roll with it and make a bit of a fool of himself. Song slaps and Sunmi is as great as ever

TV Zombie posted:

I was reading through and was wondering where IU fit. Did she come out with the 2nd gens?

bovis posted:

This is my favourite track and video of the year so far https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujb-gvqsoi0

The other song they released a couple of weeks later was also great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCWoUUWwdqg

Vastakaiun posted:

No idea what "Sukhumvit Swimming" means, but I really like this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSqmE-jy9g

esperterra posted:

I caught this on one of the music shows this week and it was pretty catchy. I also have no idea what Sukhumvit Swimming means. There was another boy group adjacent thing I really liked too but I can't remember the dude's name, I think it was his solo debut or a solo comeback but he's a member of some group I definitely do not know the name of. I'll go back and look at the schedule later mb to jog my memory.

While I'm at it, never heard of this group before but I really dug this BG jam from last month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU5K0kqaAME

Also SuperM dropped their first pre-release for the upcoming album this past week, and further proved Taemin can pull off literally anything a stylist throws at him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyzhtvtJWDQ

Cavauro posted:

i like pure cheese or heartbreak from kdrama OSTs

Thom and the Heads posted:

I wish more of Blackpink's songs sounded like As If It's Your Last

I like big, bright catchy hooks and the rest of the stuff I've heard from them doesn't do much for me.

TV Zombie posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4wJGWcHzVA

esperterra posted:

SM's promo shots for Red Velvet's cover of Milky Way for the BoA cover album they've been trickling out all month had the first pic of Wendy since her accident, and they've since confirmed that she has recovered enough to participate in promotions so long as it isn't too hard on her body. I don't expect any dancing from her any time soon, but eyyy she's back. Perfect timing too b/c I just spent the past week finally digging into their discography.

Cavauro posted:

Thom and the Heads posted:

In my continuing efforts to listen to something other than Twice, Twice and only Twice, I've also just started getting into Red Velvet. Pretty good! If anyone has any b-sides they wanna recommend, I'm all ears.

bovis posted: