With K-pop becoming more popular around the world, the face of K-pop is changing in dramatic ways. We dig deeper into why K-pop has been looking past its home to stay relevant on a global scale.
K-pop giant JYP Entertainment recently launched VCHA, an all-female idol group composed entirely of members from Canada and the United States, who had passed auditions held in North America. The band says its members’ backgrounds include Korean, white, Latino, Black, Vietnamese and Hmong ancestries.
The once-novel idea of a K-pop group without Korean members, which caught the attention of the BBC and CNN, now seems on the brink of becoming the norm.
Inspired by the evolving face of K-pop, I have been tracking global K-pop auditions in Canada since 2023. In the first half of 2023, Canada was the eighth-largest K-pop market in the world.
Beyond linguistic borders
Outside the audition venues, participants have rehearsing their K-pop songs from all different walks of life. They hummed with proficient Korean pronunciation, yet interspersed a notable amount of English in their lyrics.
K-pop management decisions to include idols with Korean or Asian backgrounds from English-speaking countries has been a strategic choice to help groups communicate better in the North American market and overcome language barriers on the global stage.
The clear shift to go beyond all-Korean lyrics associated with K-pop implies K-pop’s sound is not just about the language, but also its adaptability and evolution. Is this trend going to continue?
Not only are K-pop groups created with foreign members by Korean labels contributing to the expansion of K-pop’s reach but also overseas groups that are coming to Korea to learn K-pop to introduce their own K-pop music.
Popular Indonesian girl group StarBe released the Korean-language single “Bang” early this month, following a month of K-pop idol training in Seoul. Also in previous years, South Korean multinational entertainment company HYBE hosted auditions for potential K-pop stars that attracted 120,000 applicants worldwide. The final 10 participants represented a broad spectrum of cultures including participants from the Philippines, Australia, Brazil and Switzerland.
Looking abroad
South Korea now faces challenges with talent shortages, due to an aging population and a saturated domestic music landscape. When investors look to the future, they see hefty investments particularly as the music industry manages a scarcity of venues for new and established artists to secure stage time. The allure of international horizons looks even more compelling given these factors.
K-pop’s rise on the global stage is reflected in the South Korean government’s “K-culture training visa” initiative which allows non-Koreans to enroll at local K-pop or performing arts academies to reside in South Korea for up to two years, as of yet there has been no further announcements on this new visa, though it was proposed to go live towards the end of 2024. This hints at great ambitions for internationalizing K-pop — and potentially drawing more global talents to its shores.
Final Thoughts
As K-pop and K-culture become more popular on a global scale, the K-entertainment industry needs to build on the already successful foundations that it has worked so hard for, to export Korean soft power culture. It will need to adapt and include more foreign entertainers to become and stay relevant in overseas countries, while retaining K-cultures deep routes and history. It will be a long road ahead, but it is not impossible.
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How do you think the face of K-pop will change in the future? Give your opinion in the comments below.
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