It is explicit that K-pop is one of the most prevalent and famous music genres in the Korean music industry. Every day, every week, and every month, tons of new K-pop albums are released, and some of them make their way to the honor of "best selling album of the week". Broadcasting companies air music concert programs in which so called "idol" K-pop groups can perform their songs and have the opportunity to publicize their music to the public. People - especially the younger generation - hum the repetitive yet addictive melodies of K-pop musics and try to dance as the idols do. They even pay money to learn how to sing and dance, a phenomenon that helps the entertainment industry to flourish. So far, K-pop appears to be a great culture that provides opportunities for young singers/dancers, profits to broadcasting companies, joy to the audience, and money to the singing/dancing teachers.
However, there are some major problems that K-pop imposes on the Korean society which outweigh the benefits the genre gives. If the current trend - frantic excitement (in other words, psychopathic obssession) toward K-pop and the idols - continues, it is explicit that not only the Korean music industry but also the whole Korean society will be endangered.
The virtue K-pop music instills in the minds of teenagers is not desirable. The genre of music gives a false illusion to the impressionable young children that how so called "idols" - those who perform K-pop - look and behave is what defines style and beauty. Individuality and uniqueness are no longer valued; if you look similar to one of the idols, if you dress similar to one of the singers, and if you dance similar to one of the dancers, YOU ARE THE COOL GUY.
Recently, it has been reported that 57% of Korean teenagers want to take the plastic surgery to become more handsome/pretty and resemble the appearances of celebrities (K-pop stars). The K-pop culture puts appearance at the center of the judgment of a person - neither his/her true potential nor his/her ideology is assessed.
However, appearance is NOT what should be considered when you evaluate a person; rather, as I previously mentioned, his/her potential capacity, personal beliefs, and attitude towards life should be considered. K-pop music veers the society towards a wrong direction and therefore, does great harm to the society.
Yet, emphasis on outlook is not the only negative influence that K-pop imposes on the values of teeenagers. The sensational - sometimes very lewd or violent - lyrics that K-pop music adopts exercise an extremely negative influence on Korean teenagers. Some songs vividly allude to the sexual harassment, rape, or even murder. Imagine what teenagers will think as they are keep exposed to such harmful words. The future of Korean teenagers had been darkened, is being darkened, and will be darkened if we keep let K-pop music thrive in the Korean music industry.
The values of other genres of music are shaded because of the fanatical fame K-pop receives. Whenever Girl's Generation or BigBang - they are very famous K-pop groups in Korea - release an album, it sweeps the top ranks of Korean Billboard chart for weeks. Therefore, when we look at the music chart, we can barely find songs other than K-pop within the top 30 songs list.
Maybe, K-pop music is so well-made and thus deserves such huge fame. Yet, it seems that there is another more important reason for the K-pop's fame. K-pop fandom thoughtlessly supports the songs released by the celebrity it is supporting. Most fans are never critical of the songs nor do they ever try to find any problem in the songs. They just buy the album, give 5stars for all songs, and things are done. Songs made by other singers - especially rival singers? They are just trashes.
The blind support for the songs that one loves hampers the establishment of healthy music culture in Korea. People rarely admit songs made by other singers than their stars, and thus good songs - especially those that are not K-pop - never get the proper attention they deserve. This might ultimately lead many singers to bankruptcy because their albums are not purchased or to abandon their original field of expertise and sing K-pop songs - which will ultimately stifle "variety" in the genres of the Korean music industry.
The negative influence of K-pop music goes beyond the music industry - it "pollutes" the internet culture among internet users as well. Because of the extreme admiration of their favorite singers, fans frequently defame other singers and their qualties as singers in the cyberspace. Then, it would cause conflict between fandoms of different singers, which ultimately brings about cyber violence. Internet etiquette is not obeyed, users do not respect each other, and sometimes, in a very extreme instance, they kill each other. There are numerous instances in which people commit suicide because of the verbal abuses other internet users did to him/her or in which a gangster kills another because the user insulted him in the internet.
It has been reported that K-pop has expanded its market to Europe and America and is raising huge fame in the places. K-pop certainly has many values as a type of music and should be respected accordingly.
However, in the status quo, the status of K-pop and the true spirit of it are being misinterpreted and misrepresented. It falsely plants the impression that K-pop idols are the role models of the society - especially in the context of beauty and fashion, it takes away the opportunities of other types of songs to be valued, and it creates a polluted internet culture.
In the status quo, K-pop clearly does more harm than good, However, I definitely believe that if the aforementioned drawbacks - especially the culture of crazy obsession by fans - are settled, K-pop will positively bolster the development of Korean music industry.
However, there are some major problems that K-pop imposes on the Korean society which outweigh the benefits the genre gives. If the current trend - frantic excitement (in other words, psychopathic obssession) toward K-pop and the idols - continues, it is explicit that not only the Korean music industry but also the whole Korean society will be endangered.
The virtue K-pop music instills in the minds of teenagers is not desirable. The genre of music gives a false illusion to the impressionable young children that how so called "idols" - those who perform K-pop - look and behave is what defines style and beauty. Individuality and uniqueness are no longer valued; if you look similar to one of the idols, if you dress similar to one of the singers, and if you dance similar to one of the dancers, YOU ARE THE COOL GUY.
Recently, it has been reported that 57% of Korean teenagers want to take the plastic surgery to become more handsome/pretty and resemble the appearances of celebrities (K-pop stars). The K-pop culture puts appearance at the center of the judgment of a person - neither his/her true potential nor his/her ideology is assessed.
However, appearance is NOT what should be considered when you evaluate a person; rather, as I previously mentioned, his/her potential capacity, personal beliefs, and attitude towards life should be considered. K-pop music veers the society towards a wrong direction and therefore, does great harm to the society.
Yet, emphasis on outlook is not the only negative influence that K-pop imposes on the values of teeenagers. The sensational - sometimes very lewd or violent - lyrics that K-pop music adopts exercise an extremely negative influence on Korean teenagers. Some songs vividly allude to the sexual harassment, rape, or even murder. Imagine what teenagers will think as they are keep exposed to such harmful words. The future of Korean teenagers had been darkened, is being darkened, and will be darkened if we keep let K-pop music thrive in the Korean music industry.
The values of other genres of music are shaded because of the fanatical fame K-pop receives. Whenever Girl's Generation or BigBang - they are very famous K-pop groups in Korea - release an album, it sweeps the top ranks of Korean Billboard chart for weeks. Therefore, when we look at the music chart, we can barely find songs other than K-pop within the top 30 songs list.
Maybe, K-pop music is so well-made and thus deserves such huge fame. Yet, it seems that there is another more important reason for the K-pop's fame. K-pop fandom thoughtlessly supports the songs released by the celebrity it is supporting. Most fans are never critical of the songs nor do they ever try to find any problem in the songs. They just buy the album, give 5stars for all songs, and things are done. Songs made by other singers - especially rival singers? They are just trashes.
The blind support for the songs that one loves hampers the establishment of healthy music culture in Korea. People rarely admit songs made by other singers than their stars, and thus good songs - especially those that are not K-pop - never get the proper attention they deserve. This might ultimately lead many singers to bankruptcy because their albums are not purchased or to abandon their original field of expertise and sing K-pop songs - which will ultimately stifle "variety" in the genres of the Korean music industry.
The negative influence of K-pop music goes beyond the music industry - it "pollutes" the internet culture among internet users as well. Because of the extreme admiration of their favorite singers, fans frequently defame other singers and their qualties as singers in the cyberspace. Then, it would cause conflict between fandoms of different singers, which ultimately brings about cyber violence. Internet etiquette is not obeyed, users do not respect each other, and sometimes, in a very extreme instance, they kill each other. There are numerous instances in which people commit suicide because of the verbal abuses other internet users did to him/her or in which a gangster kills another because the user insulted him in the internet.
It has been reported that K-pop has expanded its market to Europe and America and is raising huge fame in the places. K-pop certainly has many values as a type of music and should be respected accordingly.
However, in the status quo, the status of K-pop and the true spirit of it are being misinterpreted and misrepresented. It falsely plants the impression that K-pop idols are the role models of the society - especially in the context of beauty and fashion, it takes away the opportunities of other types of songs to be valued, and it creates a polluted internet culture.
In the status quo, K-pop clearly does more harm than good, However, I definitely believe that if the aforementioned drawbacks - especially the culture of crazy obsession by fans - are settled, K-pop will positively bolster the development of Korean music industry.
