Politics play a role in absolutely everything, especially big industries that import and export product, whether it be intellectual or physical.

If we look at K-pop girl group videos now and compare them to girl group videos in the past, it is quickly noticeable just how much less openly sexualised the idols are. I can speculate a couple of reasons why this would be the case.

Korean celebrities are figures people look up to, whether they want it or not they are always someone's role model. Women are usually more strictly watched for possibly influencing young fans, so they have to make sure their simple mindless actions aren't misinterpreted.

There is something curious about how differently "masculinity" is defined in the West and in the East. The West has "big, strong, conceal-don't-feel" seemingly written in invisible ink under "masculinity". Eastern society seems to have quite a contrasting take on what defines "a man".

since the mid-1990s, English mixing in K-pop has skyrocketed. The shift ties directly to Korea's globalization push-especially after the 1997 financial crisis, when English became essential for global integration (Jin and Ryoo 2014, 119).

It's easy to dismiss all of the work put into K-pop by simply refuting all arguments with "the government made K-pop". While also untrue, it is deeply disrespectful to everybody involved in the production process.

In September 2024, NewJeans starred in Calvin Klein's Fall campaign, marking their debut with the brand. The campaign generated $3.1 million USD in Media Impact Value (MIV) within 48 hours.
wwd.com/pop-culture/...

J.Y. Park (Park Jin-young) began his career as a solo artist in South Korea, debuting in 1994 with the album Blue City. Known for his distinct voice and bold stage presence, he quickly stood out in the local music scene.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnHN... (link to debut album)

홍진영 (Hong Jinyeong) is a trot singer born in 1985 who debuted in 2009 with the widely known song 사랑의 배터리 (Love Battery) as a digital single. youtu.be/DbLpG9x_dho?...

i believe the role of idols has changed quite drastically in the kpop industry. no longer are they performers, entertainers, just people who go on stage to sing/dance. Now their entire being is the product they advertise. words like 'image' 'reputation' are always around.

when talking about music from different time periods it is my first thought to think only about the songs themselves mainly because i don't have other associations with the time periods they were released in. my own disinterest in and lack of knowledge of history lets me have this very narrow...

there are many aspects of fandom in k-pop. some good, some bad, that's what makes fandom. among all the positives - community, joint "object" (the specific image of an idol sold to fans) of admiration, etc. - some negatives could be grouped under one word - "toxicity".

산울림 (Sanullim) is a Korean band formed in 1977 by three brothers - 김창완 (Gim Changwan), 김창훈 (Gim Changhun) and 김창익 (Gim Changik). They brought psychedelic rock to Korea and changed the face of its music scene forever.

Yi Hwaja (이화자) was a Korean singer active during the colonial era, who was known for her contributions to early popular music influenced by modern styles, particularly by jazz and western popular music, introduced through Japan's modernization efforts.

Anybody following kpop for long enough would know of one thing - how unforgiving the korean fanbase (most often called k-netz) can be when it comes to idols knowing korean history and doing/saying the right actions/words.

`the video i picked at random from a playlist was JAMBINAI's "once more from that frozen bottom" www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekd7...