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Kpop Guide For Beginners

Jason Park
Published by: Jason Park
Last updated:

Kpop has been blowing up lately, here is the full Kpop guide for beginners!

Kpop Guide For Beginners

Kpop is a music genre that’s created in South Korea. It’s basically Korean pop music. There’s nothing special about it, but lately, it has blown up, and more people have started listening to it. This is often because of the high production videos or dance performances the idols do.

What Is Kpop?

Many people think it’s very impressive what the idols do, and of course, it is. Another reason why Kpop has become more popular is probably because of BTS. They are slowly taking over the world. Eventually, they will be legends like Michael Jackson.

BTS has been releasing more music throughout the years, and it keeps getting better. Surely, there are other groups like BLACKPINK and EXO, but BTS has been the biggest by far. They sell-out concerts in less than a minute and keep doing it over and over again.

It’s not something every Kpop group can do, especially more than once. It takes a huge fanbase worldwide to do this. In this article, you’ll read everything you need to know as a beginner.

Watch The Music Shows

music shows

Watching music shows is one of the easiest ways to get to know some songs. You could also watch videos on YouTube, but for most people, the music shows are the ones uploaded on YouTube. So, in the end, you’re still watching the music shows.

Another place to watch music shows is on VLive. It’s a South-Korean streaming app, and they stream almost everything there, from videos to live streaming. It’s basically another app like YouTube but made for South Korea.

If you haven’t been watching many music shows yet, we highly recommend you do. Only do it if you have much time left since it’s important to set priorities, and it shouldn’t be vice versa. There are many groups that perform on music shows like Big Bang, ITZY, Super Junior, and many more.

Almost every Kpop group that you see performs on music shows. There are also many different music shows like MusicBank or Inkigayo. It’s preferable to watch the one you like the most since it doesn’t matter on which channel you watch the music shows.

Learn The Names of The Members

blackpink

Learning the names of the members will definitely help you learn more about Kpop. You can say the names right, and maybe in the future, if you plan to go to Korea, it will help you a lot. It won’t be easy at first, but eventually, it’s all worth it.

If you start stanning a Kpop group, which means that you’re going to support a Kpop group. You should avoid big groups like NCT with 10+ members since remembering all their names is pretty hard. Try to go for a group with around 7 to 8 members, and that will help you get started.

There are too many Kpop groups in the market, and every year there are more and more groups debuting. While the Kpop groups that are retiring aren’t as many as the debut groups. So, in a couple of years, there will probably be tens of new Kpop groups.

However, the Kpop music genre has also been growing, and it continues to grow. If we look at the statistics of the Kpop genre, we can see that there was a huge spike in 2014 and 2021. So, we can say that the Kpop industry will probably grow even more in the future.

Learn The Dances

kpop dance

Learning Kpop dances will help you get into the community. It won’t be easy at first, but the more you dance, the more fun it will get. I did this myself for many years in the past, and it helped me get into the Kpop community.

At first, I thought it would be very weird, but the more people I became friends with, the more fun it became.

If you’ve never danced before then, you should start to watch some YouTube videos. Look up some tutorials and try to do them at home. If that doesn’t work for you, it’s always possible to join a dance school.

However, if you don’t like dancing at all, you don’t have to worry about this. Since there are thousands of fans that don’t like dancing but still like Kpop.

By dancing, you’ll probably get quicker into the Kpop community since many dancers are also into Kpop.

If you don’t know which group to join, try to make as many friends as possible. This can be done online or in real life. It doesn’t really matter since Kpop is such a huge genre that almost everyone knows about it or has at least heard about it.

Best Kpop Groups For Beginners

Best Kpop Groups For Beginners

There are hundreds of different Kpop groups, and it all comes down to personal preference. Here are the three Kpop groups which are great for Beginners to listen to:

BTS

BTS has been slowly taking over the world and continue its dominance. Throughout the last couple of years, BTS has released some huge hits like FIRE, Dynamite, and Boy With Luv. It’s a great group for beginners to listen to since their fanbase is huge already. You can very easily blend into their community and make many friends.

Twice

Twice is a girl group created by JYP Entertainment, this happened through a survival show, and out of all the trainees, only 9 got chosen. Lately, Twice has been blowing up and has released hit after hit. They are also getting pretty big in Japan. If you haven’t heard about them yet, check them out because you’re really missing out.

BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK is a group created by YG Entertainment and is, as of writing this article, the biggest girl group in the entire Kpop industry. They only debuted around 5 years ago and have grown tremendously. We hope that they will continue to release great music, and we’ll keep streaming it.

Best Kpop Songs For Beginners

There are thousands of Kpop songs, but which ones are the best for beginners? That’s a question we get asked a lot. Well, of course, there’s a personal preference so, we’ve only picked the 3 songs out of a list we’ve created. Here are the 5 best Kpop songs for beginners:

  • BTS – Dynamite
  • BLACKPINK – How You Like That
  • Twice – I Can’t Stop Me
  • GFriend – Mago
  • ITZY – Icy

These songs are the 5 best Kpop songs for beginners since it’s catchy and has a good melody to listen to. Kpop songs are often mixed with some English words. This makes them more accessible to foreigners and easier to understand.

BTS released a full song in English called Dynamite, it has been one of their biggest hits so far, and it was a huge success.

The Big 3 Companies

There are many companies in the Kpop industry. We’ve picked the biggest three as of writing this article. It might be different at the time you’re reading this. However, if you think about the big three, these are the ones that will come to mind for almost everyone that’s a bit older. Here are the big three companies that you need to know as a beginner Kpop fan:

YG Entertainment

Big Bang

Big Bang is one of the biggest Kpop groups in South Korea. They were the biggest by far a couple of years ago. G-Dragon, the leader of Big Bang, is also known as the King of Kpop, so you probably already can tell how big they are.

BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK is a girl group that debuted under YG Entertainment. They have worked with Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez, and many other artists. This group will probably get even bigger in the future and expand their fans to many other countries.

Winner

Winner is one of the underrated Kpop groups. They have had some hit songs but aren’t as popular as groups like BTS. They do release great music and also have many solo songs that are doing great. If you haven’t heard about them, we highly recommend you checking them out.

SM Entertainment

Super Junior

Super Junior is an older boy group under SM Entertainment if you haven’t heard about them. Then you’re probably a bit younger since this group was dominating the Kpop industry during the first generation. They are still relevant and release new songs here and there.

Red Velvet

Red Velvet is known to be very talented in all aspects of being a Kpop idol. Throughout the years, they have released many hits like Ice Cream Cake and many more. They debuted in 2015. They should be getting more attention and could have been the biggest girl group.

Aespa

Aespa debuted in 2020 and is slowly becoming the monster rookie. This means that they are very good at singing, dancing and have the skills to become one of the bigger girl groups. The amount of girl groups there are in the industry is mind-blowing.

JYP Entertainment

ITZY

ITZY is a 4 member group that debuted under JYP Entertainment. They have been releasing hit after hit and are known to dominate the charts. If you look them up on YouTube, their views do extremely well, and what’s impressive are the dance practices.

Twice

Twice is a girl group that debuted under JYP Entertainment and is one of the biggest girl groups as of writing this article. Their popularity in Japan is huge comparing it to some other countries. This group debuted in 2015 and still extremely popular.

Stray Kids

Stray Kids is a boy group that debuted in 2017 also through a survival show. Survival shows are slowly becoming the norm since it creates a fanbase for them before even debuting. This is great for the company because they can forecast how the group will perform in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Kpop Fancam?

Kpop Fancams are videos shot of their favorite idol while performing. It’s mainly focused on one of the group members and later distributed through YouTube or other Social Media platforms. The fancams are mostly shot by a member of the Fanclub.

Every Kpop group has its own Fanclub or a group with many passionate fans, if you want to call it that. All those fans really like their idol and want to get as close as it gets to the idol. This is where fancams are made to satisfy the fans.

Why Do People Stan Kpop Groups?

Many people stan Kpop groups because they are really passionate about them. It’s like the Michael Jackson where everyone would go crazy when he performed.

It’s the same with Kpop groups, and it’s going to get even more since the genre has only been growing for the last couple of years.

Other reasons why people stan Kpop groups could be because it’s their family or friends. It’s like supporting your family member and hoping they do well during their performances.

Final Thoughts

Now that you’ve come to the end of this article, I hope you’ve found the information you were looking for. As you might know, this Kpop guide for beginners is really easy to follow.

There are a couple of things that you can do yourself, like learning the names of the members. Another thing you could do is to learn all the dances of your favorite Kpop group.

There are three big companies in the Kpop industry, and it has been like that for many years. However, in the last couple of years, JYP Entertainment has slowly become the largest while it was the 3rd a couple of years ago.

Big Hit Entertainment, the company where BTS is signed to, also started skyrocketing. This is probably because of how good BTS is performing and their sales, of course. Slowly the big three companies have been changing in a different order. Let’s keep streaming your favorite Kpop group music and support them where ever you can.

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    About The Author

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    Jason Park

    Jason has been living in Seoul for over 4 years, and during that time, he has experienced many of the city's hidden stores. He loves to write about his experiences and share them with others. Jason has been quoted and referenced by different major media companies like Mashed, Distractify, ThePrint and TastingTable. In his free time, he likes to watch Korean dramas and learn more about Korean culture.

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