When I was in middle school, I was not so happy because my parents divorced. My mom, I and my sister needed to rent a small room to live because my father did not want to support us. I felt so bored every day because we did not have a TV or cell phone to be entertained anymore. However, knowing our lack, one of my uncles then bought a small TV for us. Naturally, Korean pop and Korean drama have become one of my favorite programs even though I did not understand any Korean words.
Modern Korean pop, which is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements within South Korea appearing in the late of 1990s while Korean drama also has become popular during that time. Furthermore, I'm interested in most of the activities and news of this big industry, also called Korean Wave, is the increase in global popularity of South Korean culture.
What I like about K-pop and K-drama are the rhythm and the contents. I still remember the first K-drama and the first K-pop performance I watched on TV. That was Lovers in Paris (2014) and the performance of Lee Hyo Ri and Big Bang in MAMA 2009. On my cell phone, a half of my songs' lists are Korean music. Furthermore, some Korean drama is really good at film techniques such as Goblin (2017) or Descendant of the Sun (2016).
Most Korean idols are trained so well in for a long time. For example, the leader of a boy group named Big Bang, Kwon Ji Yong (also called G-Dragon), had been trained in YG Entertainment for 11 years before his first debut. Now he becomes one of the most famous singers in Korea and worldwide. However, unfortunately, not all idols will be successful after being trained, or not all actors and actresses succeed after joining in a TV show.
Otherwise, some Korean artists don't have luck in the fields for which they were trained for, but they are still popular because of attending in other fields. For instance, Song Ji Hyo, an actress who has been well-known from the drama Princess Hours (2006); however, she only becomes so popular in many countries when becoming one of the main casts from a reality show Running Man (2010).
Famous Korean GroupsMikka Jung
In the Korean music industry, there are Big 3 with different styles of groups and music including YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. YG is a home of Big Bang, 2NE1, Gummy, Lee Hi, Psy, Winner, iKon or Black Pink. I personally love YG because of its unique music and talented artists. The looks of the artists are not so important to this company.
SM also has many talented artists, but this company really focuses on the looks such as Girl Generations (SNSD), DBSK, Shinee, BOA, EXO or Red Velvet. Otherwise, like SM, JYP also focuses on looks as well as talents like Wonder Girls, MissA, 2PM, 2AM or Twice. I also love solo Korean singers; for example, Lee Hyo Ri, IU, Ailee or Kim Jong Kook.
Besides being singers, some of those idols are also good actors and actresses. To illustrate, there are Im Yoo Na (SNSD) with Love Rain (2012), The K2 (2016) and The King in Love (2017); Bae Suzy (MissA) with Dream High (2011) and Gu Family Book (2013), or D.O. (EXO) with It's ok, That's Love (2014) and Hello Monster (2015).
However, being popular is not really a good thing for these artists because their personal lives will be affected. Some may overcome their own scandals, but others may lose all their fame. Therefore, those idols have lots of pressure, which can cause depression in them. At the end of last year, Jong Hyun (Shinee) chose to end his life after suffering depression for a long time, which was so heartbreaking for his fans because he was a talented person.
Additionally, in the Korean film industry, darkness still exists; there are also many scandals and deaths. For example, in 2011, a tragedy happened to Jang Ja-Yeon, an actress in drama Boys Over Flowers; she decided to suicide after being abused and raped by many people relating to this industry. Also, Jo Minki, who was accused of sexual assault, killed himself because he couldn't stand this scandal.
K-pop and K-drama somehow bring South Korea to the world. Their fans are around the world. I have some friends who decided to learn Korean because they want to read and understand the lyrics of the songs and travel to Korea. Many people also like to cook and eat traditional Korean food because it looks delicious on some reality TV shows. In addition, many young people have also affected by Korean fashion when some outfits from the drama and the music videos become trends.
While Japanese culture is well-known through its manga and anime, Korean culture is introduced well through K-pop and K-drama even though sometimes things in life are different from those. It doesn't relate, but I hope one-day Vietnam also has something that can affect the world in a good way.
