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K-pop was born as a very local phenomenon tied to the South Korean music industry and to regional consumption that for years kept it within its own cultural boundaries. However, in just a few decades it has become one of the most influential pop industries in the world. Today it fills stadiums on different continents, dominates digital platforms, and coexists on equal terms with Western pop in the global conversation. What began as a specific cultural scene has been transformed into an international ecosystem in which groups such as BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, and SEVENTEEN coexist, and where success is no longer measured in national terms, but in global reach, digital impact, and transnational communities.
To better understand this musical phenomenon, I spoke to several specialists in K-pop, Hallyu (the Korean Wave), and fandom phenomena, who explained to me that K-pop has not grown in a linear way, but in layers. CedarBough Saeji, a professor at the University of Oklahoma specializing in Hallyu, sums it up simply by explaining that “each stage of K-pop built the next.” This idea helps explain why it is not a sudden phenomenon, but a gradual expansion in which fandom, technology, and the industry have helped one another.
For his part, Gyu Tag Lee, a researcher and expert in Cultural Studies and K-pop at George Mason University, explains to us that the genre's worldwide expansion was due to the fact that many of the factors that would later work in the digital era were already present in K-pop itself since the 1990s, such as in “visually striking and distinctive music videos (such as ‘Gangnam Style’), performance-centered music, a unique fashion style, and a close relationship with fans.” However, that years-long evolution is usually organized into what the industry and fans call generations, a tool that, as he points out, “is not defined only by artists’ debuts, but by their musical styles, their images, the platforms they use, and the markets they target.”
From there, these generations function as a kind of map. The first, in the late 1990s with groups like H.O.T. or S.E.S., consolidated the idol system in an environment that was still dominated by television and national consumption. The second, with names like BIGBANG, Girls' Generation, and Super Junior, began to open the door to Asia thanks to the internet and the first fandoms organized online. And it is precisely in that transition that K-pop stops being just a local product and starts to think in terms of international circulation.
The third generation is the one that ultimately changed everything. With BTS, EXO, and BLACKPINK, K-pop entered the era of international streaming. This is where Grace Kao, professor of Sociology, Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University, establishes a clear turning point, stating that “BTS has been at the center of K-pop's global expansion.” She says this has happened not only because of their commercial success, but also because their visibility has changed the way Korean culture circulates in the West. That change is not only musical, but also demographic. “At their concerts, you can see people between the ages of 18 and 65,” she notes, also emphasizing how the fandom has expanded far beyond the teenage stereotype.
In the same way, Mathieu Berbiguier, a researcher and adjunct professor of Korean Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, insists to us that the role of the group made up of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook is not so much that of an “exception” as that of an amplifier of dynamics that already existed in the industry: “BTS became the example people turn to because they resolved a tension that had existed for a long time in a way that was especially understandable worldwide: the image of an emerging group from a small label, the appearance of composers' and producers' names in the credits, personal and social themes, and direct and constant communication with fans.”
Starting with the fourth generation (with groups like Stray Kids, ATEEZ, and ENHYPEN), the change is no longer about expanding into the world, but about adapting to an environment that is already completely globalized. Gyu Tag Lee explains that, after BTS, “All new groups debut knowing that their music will be global from the start, and the group transformed the industry's conception of who its audience was, where its markets were, and how K-pop should be produced, promoted, and consumed in the era of globalization.” This means the industry no longer designs strategies to go out into the world, but is born directly with that expectation. In the fifth generation, this process intensifies even further with the concept of virality, where platforms like TikTok shape both the aesthetics and the length and circulation of new releases.
In this context, Berbiguier introduces a key nuance that runs through the entire phenomenon of BTS: the idea that global expansion does not eliminate authenticity, but transforms it. “When the codes that were previously considered authentic are incorporated into the industrial system, audiences begin to look for new forms of authenticity,” he explains, also pointing out that elements such as closeness with fans, vocal and dance skill, songwriting credits for the group members themselves, and the narrative of effort do not disappear, but become part of K-pop's own language. Thus, he also explained to us that “authenticity in K-pop is not a fixed quality that an artist either has or does not have, but something that is continually performed, claimed, and questioned.”
Although BTS has become a phenomenon that has made people look directly at the Korean music industry, there is one element that has helped them achieve it: the English language. Saeji says, “They are taking K-pop everywhere, but this coincides with their decision to use more English in their music, since, unfortunately, part of the general public still prefers English to Korean.” Thus, she explains something many fans may agree with: “Many of their songs in Korean enjoy enormous popularity among their fandom, but to secure airtime and attract new audiences, English-language tracks have proved effective.”
Beyond records, sales charts, or the expansion of the industry, K-pop's impact is also measured in terms of representation. Although BTS was the great accelerator that brought Korean music to unprecedented visibility in the international market, the path they opened has allowed new generations of artists, such as BOYNEXTDOOR, CORTIS, and KATSEYE, to continue expanding the presence of Asian faces and people of different backgrounds in today's pop culture. In this sense, Grace Kao emphasizes that for many racial and ethnic minorities in Western countries “it is exciting to see people from different backgrounds on stage, since almost all pop stars in the U.S. are either white or Black, with a growing Hispanic population, but almost no Asians.”
Far from being a passing trend or a phenomenon born overnight, K-pop represents decades of evolution, adaptation, and constant dialogue between the industry, artists, and audiences around the world. From the first steps of the “idol” system in the 1990s to today's groups designed for a global audience, each generation has built the next and redefined what it means to be a pop star in the 21st century. BTS marked a before and after by proving that a South Korean group could lead the global music conversation, but its legacy also lies in the path it has opened for new generations of artists and in an international community of fans that not only consumes music, but also translates it, shares it, and gives it new meanings. And perhaps that is where the true strength of K-pop lies: in its ability to become a shared cultural language that, while still looking to South Korea, increasingly belongs to the entire world.
