With music, stories and news of K-pop all over the place, on Instagram, Twitter, Thread and other social media platforms, and dozens of boy and girl bands emerging from South Korea, believe me when I say that K-pop is irresistible. The Korean wave began somewhere in 2012, and once BTS came on the scene, it became a tidal wave.

Being a member of the biggest boy band, BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan), in the world, has a bunch of perks. The seven-member band is known all over the world not only for their music and good looks but for more fans than even the pop band The Beatles ever had.

Bang Si-Hyuk, a producer and songwriter, along with his K-pop label Big Hit Entertainment, created BTS, which debuted in 2013. He began his career at J.Y.P. Entertainment, one of the “big three” companies that helped turn K-pop into a five-billion dollar industry. K-pop, K-dramas and Korean genre films became a source of Korean soft power.

The Bangtan Boys, or BTS, have been the buzz of the music industry for more than a decade now. The lads, Kim Taehyung, Jimin, Jin, Suga, Rap Monster, J-hope, and Jung Kook are the official members of the group.

Jeon Jeong-Guk, known as Jung Kook, is a rapper, singer, and dancer. Like many of his bandmates, he is the heartthrob of young girls across the globe.
Jung Kook’s journey from humble beginnings to being a K-pop sensation was by no means easy. He was born on 1 September 1997 in Busan, South Korea, and spent his childhood with his parents and older brother Hyung. Jung Kook attended Baekyang Elementary School and later switched to Singu Middle School in Seoul. He has enjoyed sports since childhood, and if not for music, he was all set to make sports a career, his first love being the game of badminton.

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When you have a dream that you are totally hung over by, it is important for you to first find a way out by gathering enough information about it, from the same place where you are. I understand that your parents do not support your dream at this point, but you can definitely connect with people from the field online and try and study it better. Social media here would help you learn more about it and also stay connected with the right people. You may not be able to fulfil your dream at this point as you are dependent on your parents, however, keeping all your facts in place would help you pursue it later once you are independent on your own.

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It’s a proud moment for India as Shreya Lenka has been chosen to be a part of the globally-renowned K-Pop band Blackswan. The 18-year-old from Odisha’s Rourkela becomes India’s first and only K-Pop artist ever.

Shreya, who adopted the stage name Sriya, is the fifth member to join the band alongside Youngheun, Fatou, Judy and Leia. Sriya was selected along with Brazilian Gabriela Dalcin (Gabi) the sixth member of the band, by a programme organised by DR Music (Blackswan’s music label) to discover and train budding singers from around the world.

Sriya and Gabi were selected for the band after participating in the six-month-long global auditions that were announced by DR Music last year. As part of their training, which started in December 2021, both artists had to work on their Korean language, dancing and vocal skills. Sriya recalls her tryst with destiny and her big achievement in an interview with VERUS FERREIRA.

Congratulations, Sriya, on this great milestone. So tell us, when they announced you’d be part of Blackswan, how did you feel?
I felt really happy when I saw my name in the newspaper. I feel very proud and happy to see my name everywhere. I have achieved something, but I want to continue achieving and progressing. My journey has just started, and it’s going to be a long one.

You are now part of the K-Pop industry in Seoul. But your love for music was from childhood. From Indian music to K-Pop? How did that happen?
It was quite unexpected for me, but I got introduced to K-Pop by one of my friends. Over time, my interest in K-Pop grew a lot. I wanted to perform. I wanted to try those things, by watching videos and clips, and my interest grew further. The first groups that made me feel like that in the K-Pop industry were EXO and BTS.

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Dear Mina,

It is wonderful that you are truly concerned about your friend and how she will fare in her exams.

Your friend’s passion for K-pop rapping may be taking her away from studies, but it is only when she realises that it is having a negative effect that she will wake up. Even though she has not done well at studies, she does not see that anything is wrong. That is why she is getting angry with you even though you are trying to be helpful.

At this time, just be a normal friend to her and talk about all the other things you usually discuss. You can, if you like, ask her about her passion and interest in K-pop, and whether she plans to make it a career, but do not advise her. As a friend, tell her that you are there for her if she needs someone to talk to, and that you have her best interests at heart. This way, neither are you trying to ‘help’ where you are not wanted, nor are you ending a friendship that means a lot to you.

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The Korean wave finally reached Indian shores when six-member boy band IN2IT (a.k.a. IN2ITXION) performed in Mumbai, Faridabad and New Delhi in April this year, their first tour of India.

Early this year, Indian K-pop fans urged film director Karan Johar to seek out EXO’s Kai at a Gucci show in Paris. Their selfie instantly blew up on Instagram and Twitter across India. Other Bollywood actors (and their children) are also reportedly piqued by South Korea’s music groups with their stunning choreography and dynamic danceable vibes. In February this year, INOX theatres screened a concert film by globally-acclaimed BTS on two days in 88 cinemas across the country. K-pop fans inundated theatres with flash mobs, fan chants and thank you gifts and letters for INOX.

With many K-pop bands joining the fray, BTS is getting stiff competition from a band making waves all over the world. The nine-member EXO was nominated in the Top Social Artist category at the recent Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas alongside BTS, GOT7, Ariana Grande and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. Though BTS took home the award despite coming onto the music scene two years after EXO, it is only a matter of time before EXO emerge top favourites at music awards in the future.

EXO perform melodic, dance-oriented pop music influenced by hip-hop and R&B. Formed by S.M. Entertainment producer, Lee Soo-Man, the band originally consisted of 12 members divided into two sub-groups — EXO-K and EXO-M. It was Lee Soo Man’s idea of a boy group from China and South Korea which would promote in different places at the same time, mainly their homelands, as well as record the same songs in both Chinese and Korean.

EXO-K focus on playing in South Korea, hence the ‘K’ for Korea, and features Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai and Sehun. Suho is the leader of EXO as well as EXO-K.

EXO-M specialize in performing in China for a Mandarin-speaking audience, hence the ‘M’ for Mandarin (Chinese). The members include Xiumin, Lay and Chen. EXO-M also has an official subgroup, EXO-CBX, formed in 2016 by Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin.

The name EXO comes from the word “exoplanet” and stands for the idea that members are new humans from an unknown world. The group now has nine members after the withdrawal of three Chinese members — Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O, Kai and Sehun.

Lee Soo-Man released over a dozen teaser videos to create a wave of anticipation for a band that would rule the music waves; the gap between the release of the first teaser and the debut was for a 100-day global promotion, to let the world know the name. EXO finally debuted on 8 April 2012.

In 2012, EXO released several singles including What Is Love, History and Mama. In May 2013, they released their full-length debut album XOXO.

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One listen to Boombayah and you know this is music that you would want to listen to again and again, while Ddu-Du Ddu-Du with its hard hitting sound lingers in your mind. Black Pink are a band for the youth of India who can’t get enough of them. After BTS got girls swooning over them, it’s Black Pink out to get the boys!

Since September 2017 youngsters have been glued to VH1 after the music channel devoted a special slot for K-pop music videos. But K-pop culture had already made its way into India almost five years ago. It is said that the North East is the K-pop capital of India. After Hindi entertainment media was banned by the Revolutionary People’s Front as a protest against Indian discrimination against the North East, researchers Otojit Kshetrimayum and Ningombam Victoria Chanu, who studied the Korean wave in the North East, said that it was the cultural proximity between the North East and Korea that had added to this craze. K-pop slowly moved on to other states in India. The craze extends to K-pop festivals with youngsters emulating the fashion of their favourite artists and nationwide K-pop singing contests doing the rounds.

Black Pink comprises Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa, who at a very young age are breaking records on YouTube with most of their tracks being viewed millions of times, thus becoming the fastest-selling K-pop girl group on the planet, confirming that they truly are one of this generation’s most-followed acts.

The quartet who debuted in August 2016, was formed by YG Entertainment, and combined the talents of lead vocalist Jisoo Kim, main rapper/vocalist Jennie Kim, main vocalist Rose Park Chae Young, and lead rapper Lalisa Manoban aka Lisa, born Pranpriya Manoban.

As Rosé is from Australia and Jennie studied in New Zealand for several years, the girl group has a bit of an edge on the international K-pop scene because both are able to communicate directly with English-speaking fans.

The band debuted with their EP Square One, featuring the hits Boombayah and Whistle. Boombayah set the record as the most-viewed debut music video by a Korean artist on Billboard World Digital charts. Both tracks climbed the charts in the U.S. and South Korea, even breaking into the French singles chart. Whistle topped the digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts on Gaon in August 2016, earning Black Pink the Best of Next Artist and Best Music Video awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards and the Best New Artist award at the Melon Music Awards. Months later, they released Square Two which entered the U.S. Heatseekers chart at No. 13 and the World Albums chart at No. 2. The song also became the first debut for a K-pop girl group on the Canadian charts.

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What makes the South Korean pop group BTS one of the most popular boy bands in the world today? Is it their great sounding music, their music videos, their good looks or their lyrics targeted at teens? It would be an amalgamation of all this as it is difficult to pinpoint the real reason for their immense success. But watching the band grow so big in barely five years, it is their unity too that has survived their hectic schedules.

After the dance single Gangnam Style (2012) from Korean pop singer Psy that took the world by storm, it is time that a boy band made it big showing the world that K-Pop has a huge following not only in their homeland South Korea, but also around the world.

BTS (Bangtan Boys in Korean) perform a blend of energetic dance-pop and hip-hop that has helped them build a global following while also becoming the most successful K-pop act in U.S. chart history. The fact that they were one of the performers at this year’s Billboard Music Awards, performing and winning Top Social Artiste for the second year in a row, was enough to show the magnitude of their popularity and how far their music has reached. The band garnered 300 million votes in the first year.

The tongue-twisting septet’s lineup includes team leader and rapper Kim Namjoon a.k.a. Rap Monster, singer Kim Seokjin a.k.a. Jin, rapper Minyoongi a.k.a. Suga, rapper and choreographer Jung Hoseok a.k.a. J Hope, singer and choreographer Jimin Park, singer Kim Taehyung a.k.a. V, and singer, rapper, and choreographer Jungkook Jeon. The group members also produce, compose and write their lyrics themselves in English and in Korean. Their music is a combination of love ballads and rapping with topical lyrics.

BTS debuted in 2013 with the first installment of their School Trilogy series and their debut single 2 Cool 4 Skool. A few months later, they released No More Dream that did not take off, but when they released part two of the saga, the EP O!RUL8,2,?, it clicked on the Asian charts. The trilogy’s final installment, Skool Luv Affair, was released around Valentine’s Day in 2014 and was a stupendous hit instantly. The year ended with BTS bagging a host of awards in their home country. But the big bite across Asia and the world was still to come.

Later that year, BTS judged a K-Pop cover dance competition at the Bridge to Korea festival in Russia, an event aimed at promoting tourism between the two countries, and also performed on stage, showcasing their talent to the world. A month later they attended KCON (an annual Korean wave convention held in different locations across the world) in Los Angeles. On their return, they released their first Korean studio album Dark & Wild which peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon Chart and sold over 200,000 copies. Things were looking up for them and supported by two singles: Danger and War Of Hormone, BTS was looking at conquering the charts in the U.S. The band ended the year with their first Japanese studio album Wake Up that peaked at No. 3 on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart selling 28,000 copies.

PLUS! Everything you wanted to know about Jin, Suga, Jungkook, J-Hope, Jimin, V and RM!

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