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Cultural Globalization Of Korean Pop Culture

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Aileen Liang
December 11, 2017
The Cultural Globalization of Korean Phenomenon: Korean Pop Music

Multicolored pants, synchronized leg and arm movements, doll-like features, and screaming fans – at first glance of a 2012 performance of “Gee”, 9-member girl group Girls’ Generation appear as your friendly girls-next-door. Upon further research, it becomes apparent that this South Korean girl group ranks as one of the highest revenue-earning legacies in girl group history, earning over 21 billion won in the first three quarters of 2011. Alongside Girls’ Generation, comedic singer Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video has generated 2.5 billion views and Korean boy group Big Bang has generated a revenue of 44 million dollars in 2016. The rise of the Korean pop industry and global phenomenon is most notably attributed to several factors: creators, distribution, consumers, and content. Most interestingly, the prominence of K-pop music and artists on consumer goods, advertisements, social media, and daily life, has profoundly influenced ideological standards of domestic and international culture. With technology, social media, training programs, and international popularity, the Korean pop music industry has played a significant role in shifting consumerism, standards of beauty, gender and societal roles, music production trends, international culture, and the future of the industry as a whole.
South Korean popular music, or K-Pop, is a musical genre that has risen tremendously in

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