Annika Chung

This book takes readers into South Korea’s K-pop industry and the world of K-pop’s transnational fandom. For general readers, this book provides an overview of the most popular K-pop acts and major label companies in South Korea. It explains South Korea’s highly collaborative system of music production that involves a host of professionals including composers, lyricists, choreographers, MV directors, vocal & dance trainers, and K-pop artists. For academics and Korea specialists, this book offers a sociological perspective on global K-pop phenomenon. It provides a detailed analysis of the culture of K-pop fandom by examining a wide range of fan activities including cover dance, fan fiction, and fan philanthropy, among many others. Critiquing a cultural or racialized argument about K-pop’s global appeal, it investigates diverse societal factors conducive to the diffusion of K-pop across borders. It explains how South Korea’s politics, technology, and businesses have jointly shaped socio-cultural environments favorable to the development of K-pop. Taking a comparative and historical approach to K-pop, the author challenges some biased views that K-pop artists largely lack musicianship and that they are just trained by corporations as export products. Debunking the myths of the “Western culture”, it asks readers to question deep biases hidden in some denigrating narratives about K-pop artists in the media.