K-Pop Culture and the Battle for Acceptance in America

The Korean pop genre is soaring to new heights in Western culture, but a wave of xenophobic backlash may stand in its way.

Written by Josh Whalen

Illustrated by Paola Flores

No one was prepared for “Gangnam Style” to break the internet in 2012. The summer it debuted, competition was already stiff with Carly Rae Jepsen’s phone calls and Flo Rida’s whistling wrestling for popularity.

But Korean solo act Psy proved himself a dominant force with his unexpected smash single sung entirely in Korean and heralded by critics for its contagious dance moves and striking oddity. The outrageous and bizarre music video amassed nearly 4 billion views, making it the 8th most viewed video on the platform.

Shockwaves of “Gangnam Style”'s overnight success echoed through American pop culture that year, from viral Ellen interviews to Superbowl commercials for pistachios. The song never gained much traction for the K-pop genre as a whole, however, and it was disregarded as a one-off surprise hit and nothing more.

That would change eight years later, when Korean pop group BTS emerged as the first K-pop act to have a No. 1 song in the United States with the single “Dynamite.” Unlike 2012, BTS’ American chart success was hardly a surprise; it’s only one of a long list of achievements for the boy band in recent years, including a Grammy nomination and three Billboard No. 1 albums.

K-pop artists have taken the United States by storm in 2020 with seemingly no end in sight. Blackpink, a girl group of four K-pop titans, recently released the bestselling album in Korean girl group history. Other K-pop groups such as EXO, Seventeen, and TWICE have also maintained their presence in North America and cultivated an American fan base.

None of this is an accident. K-pop groups have made calculated moves to appeal to the American pop landscape for years, and now, they are reaping the benefits. K-pop groups have released star-studded collaborations with prominent Western artists, including Cardi B, Selena Gomez, Lil Nas X, Lady Gaga, and Jason Derulo. Additionally, the incorporation of English lyrics into K-pop songs has become more commonplace. “Dynamite” is BTS’ most successful track to date, and it happens to be their first song entirely in English.

These subtle nods to the American industry have paid off for the K-pop genre. In 2019, the MTV Video Music Awards announced a new category for best K-pop, with other U.S. award shows following suit. Despite the genre’s newfound success, hurdles still remain. Even with clever advertising and marketing moves, a history of xenophobia in American music begs the question: is America ready for the rise of K-pop?

The sound of K-pop isn’t new, but rather a melting pot of influences from across the world. Most songs rely on upbeat, heart-pumping tempos with Western pop and electronic influences. In fact, apart from the occasional lyric in a different language, it’s difficult to differentiate by sound which songs are foreign. However, much of the hate directed toward the K-pop industry underscores the distaste of its “foreign sound.”

Latin pop faced this criticism, first with Luis Fonsi’s breakout reggaeton hit, “Despacito,” featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. The sensual Spanish-sung single dominated American charts and pop culture in 2017, but the irony was not lost on a politically-divided America. Newly elected U.S. president, Donald Trump, perpetuated stereotypes about the Latinx community, using words such as“criminals” and “bad hombres,” igniting anti-immigration sentiment and calls for a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Amid the political and social turmoil, “Despacito” spent a record-tying 18 weeks as the No. 1 song in America. Critics called it a unifying moment for the Latinx community, and the track successfully proved to audiences that a song did not have to be entirely English to find Western success.

Three years later, K-pop is in a similar position. Even though bands like BTS are poised for world domination, they still find themselves getting snagged with hate comments and xenophobic jabs. Pop culture writer Phil Yu said it best in an interview with The Washington Post, noting that K-pop groups “don’t fit the mold of a traditional Western pop act, attacking people’s notions of what can fly, what can be popular.”

Yu goes on to explain the directed xenophobia and attacks on orientalism that many K-pop boy bands face: “That’s when you can go after their looks, the fact they are singing in Korean, and how they don’t match what looks ‘masculine,’” he said.

The aggressions toward K-pop culture include, but are not limited to, xenophobic 'jokes' on live television broadcasts, racist Twitter comments, and controversy over the addition of separate categories at award shows for the K-pop genre. This vitriol limits K-pop acts to competition with one another instead of competing with the American music scene as a whole in broader categories. Why is it that groups like BTS and Blackpink must compete for Best K-pop Album, but not qualify for Best Album overall?

Such strife doesn’t matter for some K-pop idols, though. BTS’s lead rapper, Suga, has already made it clear he isn’t listening to the hateful comments. In the end, it’s the American listener who has the power to decide which genres reign supreme.

K-pop groups may face a battle of unfair criticism, but their fan bases are ready for combat. The men of BTS, in particular, are revered for their enthusiastic fan base, appropriately titled 'the ARMY.' These fan bases heavily influence the commercial success of K-pop acts in America. Oftentimes, music artists rely on radio airplay and advertisements to guarantee success. BTS is different: the group’s music normally receives less radio airplay and online streaming, but fans have proved themselves reliable by supporting BTS' music with pure sales. “Dynamite” is the perfect example of this theory: even though the track received little to no airplay on American radio stations nor impressive streaming numbers, it still secured a No. 1 debut because dedicated fans bought the song in mass proportions.

Dedicated fans aside, K-pop is still growing with the mainstream audience in the United States. Both BTS and Blackpink are on track for big wins this upcoming awards season, and more Western artists are incorporating the genre in their music as the success of K-pop increases. As far as most Korean pop music performers and listeners are concerned, this huge wave of success is just the beginning.

But the success of K-pop does not come without sacrifice. There’s still lingering tension as foreign music inches its way toward ubiquity: America remains politically divided, with racial division and national tensions remaining at the forefront of political ideology. As K-pop culture gains prominence, K-pop bands like BTS are assimilating to Western standards for success. As chart-topping hits not in their native language and viral music videos with Western aesthetics become the band’s biggest hits, it raises the question: can K-pop truly break through to a Western audience without having to change the very culture that makes them unique?

Only time will tell, but what’s certain is that what once was just a summer craze with silly dance moves has morphed into a culture of genre-bending sounds and styles, and it's here to stay.

Afterglow ATXNovember 10, 2020josh whalen, paola flores