Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Notes to Readers
- Introduction
- Part I Genealogies
- Part II Sounding Out K-Pop
- 3 Finding the K in K-Pop Musically
- 4 Recording the Soundscape of K-Pop
- Part III Dancing to K-Pop
- Part IV The Making of Idols
- Part V The Band That Surprised the World
- Part VI Circuits of K-Pop Flow
- Index
- References
3 - Finding the K in K-Pop Musically
A Stylistic History
from Part II - Sounding Out K-Pop
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Notes to Readers
- Introduction
- Part I Genealogies
- Part II Sounding Out K-Pop
- 3 Finding the K in K-Pop Musically
- 4 Recording the Soundscape of K-Pop
- Part III Dancing to K-Pop
- Part IV The Making of Idols
- Part V The Band That Surprised the World
- Part VI Circuits of K-Pop Flow
- Index
- References
Summary
As the popularity of K-pop has grown around the globe, the number and scope of K-pop studies have also expanded. While many have provided important insights into socioeconomic aspects of K-pop, the music itself has rarely been at the center of discussion. The purpose of this chapter is to help fill the gap by examining the sound of K-pop, focusing on its musical elements such as melody, rhythm, and instrumentation. This approach involves close listening and reading of select songs covering various stylistic genres and analyzing their sound using the language of music theory. By so doing, this study will identify and offer an understanding of common musical structures used in K-pop songs. Furthermore, the chapter attempts to respond to the question asked most frequently in the author’s K-pop class: How is K-pop different from popular music of the West? To that end, a comparative analysis is conducted between K-pop songs and Western pop music. Among the styles of songs examined are bubblegum popular music, ballads, and songs that quote Korean traditional music, the types of music that are most revealing in addressing the question of distinctiveness of K-pop songs.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop , pp. 51 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
An, Yun-tae, and Kong, Hee-jun. I su-man pyeongjeon (Lee Soo-man biography). Paju: Jeongbowa saram, 2012.Google Scholar
Chang, Yu-Jeong. “Trot and Ballad: Popular Genres of Korean Pop.” In Shin, Hyunjoon and Lee, Seung-Ah (eds.), Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music, 63–70. New York: Routledge, 2017.Google Scholar
Fuhr, Michael. Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea: Sounding Out K-Pop. New York: Routledge, 2016.Google Scholar
Howard, Keith. “Coming of Age: Korean Pop in the 1990s.” In Howard, Keith (ed.), Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave, 82–98. Kent: Global Oriental, 2006.Google Scholar
Iwabuchi, Koichi. “From Western Gaze to Global Gaze.” In Crane, Diana, Kawashima, Nobuko, and Kawasaki, Kenichi (eds.), Global Culture: Media, Arts, Policy and Globalization, 256–273. New York: Routledge, 2002.Google Scholar
Jang, Soo Hyun. “The Korean Wave and Its Implications for the Korea-China Relationship.” Journal of International and Area Studies 19/2 (2012): 97–113.Google Scholar
Jin, Dal Yong. “Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global-Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics.” Popular Music and Society 37/2 (2014): 113–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jin, Dal Yong. New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Kim, Pil Ho. “Korean Rock’s Journey from Group Sound to Indie Punk.” In Shin, Hyunjoon and Lee, Seung-Ah (eds.), Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music, 71–82. New York: Routledge, 2017.Google Scholar
Kim, Seongmin. Keipabui jageun yeoksa (A short history of K-pop). Paju: Geulhangari, 2018.Google Scholar
Kim, Youna. “Globalization of Korean Media: Meanings and Significance.” In Kim, Do kyun and Kim, Min-sun (eds.), Hallyu: Influence of Korean Popular Culture in Asia and Beyond, 132–154. Seoul: Seoul National University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Kim, Youna. “Korean Media in a Digital Cosmopolitan World.” In Kim, Youna (ed.), The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global, 1–27. New York: Routledge, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Youna. “The Rising East Asian Wave: Korean Media Go Global.” In Thussu, Daya K. (ed.), Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra-Flow, 121–135. New York: Routledge, 2007.Google Scholar
Kwon, Hyunseok. “Korean Pop Music and Korean Identities.” In Shin, Hyunjoon and Lee, Seung-Ah (eds.), Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music, 157–167. New York: Routledge, 2017.Google Scholar
Lee, Jamie Shinhee. “Linguistic Constructions of Modernity: English Mixing in Korean Television Commercials.” Language in Society 35/1 (2006): 59–91.Google Scholar
Lee, Jamie Shinhee. “Linguistic Hybridization in K-Pop: Discourse of Self-Assertion and Resistance.” World Englishes 23/3 (2004): 429–450.Google Scholar
Lee, Sangjoon. “Introduction. A Decade of Hallyu Scholarship: Toward a New Direction in Hallyu 2.0.” In Lee, Sangjoon and Nornes, Abe Mark (eds.), Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media, 1–27. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Oh, Ingyu. “From Localization to Glocalization: Contriving Korean Pop Culture to Meet Glocal Demands.” Kritika Kultura 29 (2017): 157–167.Google Scholar
Robertson, Roland. “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity.” In Featherstone, Mike, Lash, Scott M., and Robertson, Roland (eds.), Global Modernities, 25–44. London: Sage Publications, 1995.Google Scholar
Shepherd, John (ed.). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Part 1 Performance and Production. New York: Bloomsbury, 2003.Google Scholar
Shim, Doobo. “Hybridity and the Rise of Korean Popular Culture in Asia.” Media, Culture & Society 28/1 (2006): 28–31.Google Scholar
Shin, Hyunjoon. “K-Pop (Music) in the Emerging Cultural Economy of Asian Pop.” Journal of Communication Arts 25/4 (2007): 1–11.Google Scholar
Shin, Hyunjoon. “Reconsidering Transnational Cultural Flows of Popular Music in East Asia: Transbordering Musicians in Japan and Korea Searching for ‘Asia.’” Korean Studies 33 (2009): 101–123.Google Scholar
Sinclair, John, “Culture and Trade: Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations,” In McAnany, Emile G. and Wilkinson, Kenton T. (eds.), Mass Media and Free Trade: NAFTA and the Cultural Industries, 30–62. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Straubhaar, Joseph D. “Beyond Media Imperialism: Asymmetrical Interdependence and Cultural Proximity.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8/1 (1991): 39–59.Google Scholar
Sun, Meicheng, and Liew, Kai Khiun. “Analog Hallyu: Historicizing K-Pop Formations in China.” Global Media and China 4/4 (2019): 419–436.Google Scholar
Sung, Sang-Yeon. “Digitization and Online Culture of the Korean Wave: ‘East Asian’ Virtual Community in Europe.” In Kim, Youna (ed.), The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global, 135–147. New York: Routledge, 2013.Google Scholar
Yoon, Tae-Jin, and Kang, Bora. “Emergence, Evolution, and Extension of ‘Hallyu Studies’: What Have Scholars Found from Korean Pop Culture in the Last Twenty Years?” In Yoon, Tae-Jin and Jin, Dal Yong (eds.), The Korean Wave: Evolution, Fandom, and Transnationality, 3–21. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017 .Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by