_{* Please note that the information within is not the definitive guide to Kpop, just what I've learnt during my time in Korea. Feel free to note me or comment if I've gotten anything tragically wrong.}

Lately, the Korean pop music scene has been pretty excited about the U.S. debut of a artist called BoA.
"She is a world star!" they say. "She is the leader for Korean artists!" they tell me.
Now, in Asia she really is a BIG DEAL. She's like Madonna and Kylie Minogue all rolled into one. However, your average 'Western' music-lover has probably never heard of her.
Will she succeed? I hope so. She really is one talented lady.
Will this lead to the much-hyped Korean Wave smashing into the U.S. charts? Probably not.

Just in case, here's a (very) brief guide to the Korean Pop/R&b music scene.

The Major Players.
The music industry is dominated by four entertainment companies and a very large amount of musicians are manufactured by said companies. This is not to say that all Korean artists are bubblegum pop monsters, just an impressive amount of them. When artists are signed to these labels they endure years of training and the majority of the sales money goes back to the company. US artists have it really good compared to these guys. Seriously.

YG Entertainment.
This group specializes in R&B and Hip Hop. Let's look at two of it's front runners.

BIG BANG
This R&B band is comprised of 5 members, TOP, Seung Ri, Dae Sung, G-Dragon and Tae Yang. They became popular with the song "Lies" and are now making schoolgirls squeal with the tragic love song "Haru Haru."

Se7en
Apparently this R&B guy is preparing for his U.S. debut. Frankly I don't know much about him except that he said that he never wants to lip-sync at a live show. That's a big thumbs up in my books.

SM Entertainment.

BoA
Korea's Madonna (but actually very attractive.) Enough said. Her new song "Eat you Up" is available on American and Australian itunes.

TVXQ
These guys are probably the most popular boy band in Asia. I put a picture of them up on the blackboard and my female students were STROKING the picture.

JYP Entertainment
The founder, known as JYP is famous in his own right. He's one of the only Korean producers to work with big US music acts. He is sometimes called the 'dancing monkey'. I'm not sure if that's an insult or a cute nickname.

Rain (Bi)
What can I say about Rain? There are really no words to describe him. Type 'Rain bi I'm coming' into youtube and watch the music video in all it's glory. The male version of BoA.


Wonder Girls
Proof that your singing and dancing abilities will never be questioned if you're cute. Comprised of 5 incredibly cute girls,( Sun Ye, Yoo Bin, Ye Eun, Sun Mi and So Hee) this singing troup's song 'Nobody" was featured on that hilton-guy's gossip blog. Ex-pats everywhere were placing bets on how much money JYP paid for that. WARNING: Sun Mi and So Hee are 16 years old. 16. Years. Old.


M-Net Entertainment
M-Net is kinda like MTV.

Lee Hyori
Sometimes spelt as Lee Hyolee, she's sort of like Britney Spears pre-WTF shenanigans. In fact the songwriters of Hyori's song 'Get Ya' were successfully sued for plagiarizing Britney Spear's 'Do Something'. (Plagiarism is rife in kpop so I try to take all 'new' songs with a pinch of salt.)
Her newest songs are 'U-Go Girl' and 'Hey Mr Big'.
She is said to be rivals with fellow M-Net artist Seo In Young from the band Jewelry. (I'm in Seo In Young's camp. She may be a bit of a cow but at least she's true to her own personality.)




This concludes the brief guide to kpop. Remember, there are a lot more Korean musicians out there that are both far more, and far less talented than the people I've mentioned. I recommend you look up kpop blogs and watch a few music videos on youtube. Especially watch some kpop music videos. They're like mini-movies.( I like the one where the photographer gives his eyes to the girl who looses hers in a freak dark-room chemical accident. Not one eye, both of them..... moron.)

Also, please check out the galleries of the artists who works have prettied up this guide.