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K-pop (Korean: 가요, Gayo) (an abbreviation of Korean pop or Korean popular music) is a musical genre consisting of pop, dance, electropop, hip hop, rock, R&B, electronic music originating in South Korea.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} In addition to music, K-pop has grown into a popular subculture among teenagers and young adults around the world, resulting in widespread interest in the fashion and style of Korean idol groups and singers.^[11]

Through the presence of Facebook fan pages, availability on iTunes, Twitter profiles, and music videos on YouTube, the ability of K-pop to reach a previously inaccessible audience via the Internet is driving a change in the exposure and popularity of the genre.^[12] South Korean popular culture is today serving as a major driver of youth culture all across the Pacific Rim and Eurasia, with special reference to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, see also Korean wave.

Etymology[link]

Although, in a bigger scope, K-pop supposed to included all the genres of "popular music" within South Korea, outside of the country, the term is more commonly used for songs sung usually by Korean teen idols, which covers mostly dance, electronic, rap, hip-hop, and R&B genres.^[13] Starting in 1992, dance and rap music started to become popular due to the popularity of Seo Tai-ji & Boys. It is seen by many as the start of K-pop and ever since then it replaced the whole Korean music scene with the genre.^[14] Genres from the 80s are still popular even today, such as ballad and rock. However, the term can be debatable.

History[link]

Origins: 1920s-1980s, birth of Trot and the introduction of Western music[link]

In the mid-1920s, Masao Gouga, a Korean-expat composer in Japan, mixed traditional Korean music with Gospel music that American Evangelists brought with and have taught since the 1870s. This type of music became known as Enka in Japan, and later in Korea as Trot (Korean: "트로트").^[15]

In 1932, a controversial plagiarism was caught and condemned by an article in the Japanese magazine "New Young Adult", Gouga's "Sakewa Namitaka Tameikika" was blamed for copying off the work of Korean composer Su-Lin Jeon, which his version was named "The Calm Jang-Ahn".^{[citation needed]} This event triggered a wave of Korean musicians to flourish with talented composers such as Nan-Pa Hong, Gyo-Sung Kim, Yong-Hwan Kim, Joon-Young Kim, Ho-Wol Moon, Mok-In Son, Shi-Choon Park, and Jae Ho Lee becoming the very foundation of Trot music in its early stage.^{[citation needed]} Trot has been transformed over the years using a variety of instruments and mixing different styles of music to become the dominant genre in the Korean music scene until the late 80's. To this day, Trot music still remains as a popular genre for many; mostly with its very sad melody and heart-touching lyrics.^{[citation needed]}

As Korea was liberated from Japanese annexation in 1945, the country was divided into two nations: North Korea and South Korea. Western culture was introduced into South Korea on a small scale with a few Western style bars and clubs playing Western music. After the Korean War, which started on June 25, 1950 and lasted for 3 years, U.S. troops remained in South Korea for protection. With the continued presence of the U.S. military, American and world culture began to infiltrate South Korea. During this time, Western music became more accepted to a wider crowd of young adults.

Improvements in the recording systems encouraged the production of LP records in the 1960s, which led to the pursuit of diverse voice tones.^[16] Many singers sang for the American troops in Korea at the time, and the appearance of chorus in performances was conspicuous. At this period of time, civilians were exposed to pop songs by commercial radio stations, which led to the great popularity of pop songs. The Kim Sisters, Yoon Bok-hee and Patti Kim were the first singers to debut in such countries as Vietnam and United States.

In the 1970s, the new career of DJs became popular, deeply impacting the teenage cultures. Guitars and jeans were the symbols of youth.^[17] This resulted in the introduction of more folk singers, such as Chang Sik Song, Young Nam Cho, and Hee Eun Yang. In 1977, the Seoul International Song Festival was launched, which encouraged cultural exchanges with other countries.

In 1980, the Asia Music Forum was launched. National singers from five different Asian countries competed in the event. Cho Yong-pil won first place and earned a high reputation as a Korean singer in Japan.^[18]

1990s: Diversification[link]

The debut of Seo Tai-ji & Boys in 1992 was a turning point for popular music in South Korea, incorporating elements of rap rock and techno.^{[citation needed]} Hip hop duos such as Deux were also popular in the early 1990s. Also, Korean trot-techno singer Epaksa started ponchak wave in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

An advertisement for SMTown Live '10 World Tour in Times Square, New York City.

Beginning of Hallyu (Korean Wave)[link]

The founding of South Korea's largest talent agency, S.M. Entertainment, in 1995, by Korean entrepreneur Lee Soo Man led to the first K-pop girl groups and boy bands.^[19] By the late 1990s, YG Entertainment, DSP Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, FNC Music had burst onto the scene and were producing talent as quickly as the public could consume it.^[11]

Groups such as, S.E.S., Fin.K.L, H.O.T, Sechs Kies, G.o.d., Fly to the Sky and Shinhwa had huge success in the 1990s, not only in South Korea, but also outside of the country as well.^{[citation needed]} Especially, artists such as H.O.T, Kim Wan-Sun, Clon, Baby V.O.X, NRG saw huge successes in China and Taiwan in the mid-90s.^{[citation needed]}

Also during this period was the emergence of hip-hop and R&B music in Korea, leading to the success of artists including Drunken Tiger.^{[citation needed]}

And many Modern Rock groups were debuted in second-half of 1990s such as Jaurim, Juju Club and Pipi Band. Juju Culb's First Album named "16/20" won many first prize on TV music programs and Jaurim's debut song Hey,Hey,Hey won second prize on TV music programs. Many Modern Rock bands were also debuted in 2000s. But Modern Rock bands didin't become popular like Idol groups such as Fin.K.L, S.E.S and others at that time. And Juju Club and Pipi Band were broke up. But only Jaurim were succeeded now and they are became popular like Idol groups.

2000s: Popularity in Asia and globalization[link]

Many of K-pop's biggest idol groups and solo acts, including BoA, Rain Bi, Wonder Girls, Big Bang, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO, 2AM, 2PM, Miss A, Brown Eyed Girls, 2NE1, MBLAQ , Beast, JYJ, KARA, Infinite, Se7en, CNBLUE, F.T. Island, After School, T-ara, Block_B, B1A4, B.A.P UKISS, Jewelry and 4Minute are popular in most East and South East Asia, including Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Vietnam.^[20] Because of increased accessibility via the internet, K-Pop has begun expanding to the rest of the world as well, but has not yet reached the mainstream of many countries. Globalization of K-Pop media and fandom has been facilitated by sites such as Facebook and YouTube, which allow users from around the world access to videos and information about artists and promotions. Kpop has undoubtedly caught the interest of the growing new generation.^[21]

China[link]

Since the late 1990s and the beginning of early 2000s, K-pop started to become well known in China. K-pop artists such as NRG, H.O.T., DIVA, Lee Jung Hyun and others stayed in China for their performances.^{[citation needed]} Today, Super Junior is the most popular group in China, where they have the largest fandom. Their sub-group Super Junior M had successful results with the song "Perfection" on the Kuang Nan Record, CCR and Hit Fm Taiwan music charts.^[22]

K-pop has yet to make a major impact on China but there has been considerable success. The Wonder Girls won an award for their song "Nobody" in the 5th annual China Mobile Wireless Music Award in Beijing, China for having the highest digital sales for a foreign artist with a total of 5,371,903 digital downloads in 2010. Their song "2 Different Tears" was also one of the most downloaded songs and their albums have had high sales for a foreign artist. Not forgetting EXO-M who has just debut early April 2012 . ^[23]

Japan[link]

In 2011, it has been reported that the total sales for K-pop artists' has increased 22.3% during 2010-2011, contributing about 1/10th of the Japanese market. BoA, Girls' Generation, Kara and TVXQ are among the best selling artists, with Girls' Generation, Kara, and TVXQ making the 4th, 5th and 9th best selling artists of 2011 in Japan.^[24]

Se7en on the cover of KoreAm, January 2009

Outside of Asia[link]

K-pop is steadily gaining influence in foreign markets outside of Asia, including North America.^[25] In 2011, Billboard officially launched the Korea K-Pop Hot 100, the second Asian Billboard chart after the Japan Hot 100.^[26]

In 2009, Wonder Girls, one of Asia’s most successful music artists who sold millions of singles including the international #1 songs “Tell Me”, “So Hot” and “Nobody”, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.^[27] The Wonder Girls are notable for touring with the Jonas Brothers in 2009 as well as making guest appearances on So You Think You Can Dance (United States) and The Wendy Williams Show, making them the first Korean artists to perform on an American broadtime show. They are still the only kpop group to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Korean-Americans have experienced success in America due to being English-speaking natives and having American influences. Jay Park's 2010 return to America saw his popularity outside of Korea became much more self-evident with the release of English singles, the use of YouTube, and numerous performances, most notable of which is International Secret Agents 2010 and 2011, where he performed along side many YouTube stars, and the likes of Sean Kingston and B.o.B.

On October 23, 2011, artists under the label SM Entertainment such as Girls' Generation, Super Junior, SHINee, F(x), BoA, and TVXQ, held a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City for their SMTown Live '10 World Tour, making them the first Korean artists' in history to do so.^{[citation needed]} SMTown also toured other locations such as Paris, France and Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]}

Big Bang was awarded "Best Worldwide Act" at the 2011 MTV EMA's on November 7, representing the Asia-Pacific region. The group was up against American singer Britney Spears and won with over 58 million votes.^[28]

On November 10, 2011, 2NE1 was officially crowned the "Best New Band In the World" by MTV Iggy after winning a global voting contest that began in early October 2011.

On November 12, 2011, twelve bands from South Korea flew to Sydney, Australia to hold the first K-POP Music Fest.

In 2012, Girls' Generation made their first live television debut in the United States on Live! with Kelly, Late Night with David Letterman, and Extra, promoting their international single "The Boys". They also performed in France on Le Grand Journal (Canal+).^[29]

American rapper Ludacris has shown a lot of interest in the Korean music industry, particularly YG Entertainment due to their hip-hop style and image. Both Ludacris and YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-Suk have hinted in a possible future collaboration with one of YG's artists, such as 2NE1 or Big Bang.^{[citation needed]} Catching the interest of The Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am, 2NE1 is currently working on their American debut album under will.i.am's management.^{[citation needed]} Members of The Black Eyed Peas have also performed their hit song "Where Is the Love?" with CL of 2NE1 at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards.^{[citation needed]} Record producer Teddy Riley has produced the girl group RaNia as well as Girls' Generation's single "The Boys". He has worked with rapper/singer Jay Park, and boy bands SHINee and EXO.^{[citation needed]}

The genre continues to be embraced by the South Korean government as a tool for its soft power abroad, particularly towards global youth.

Recently K-Pop also started to receive media coverage from Spanish speaking countries, with publications such as Kpopstarz [1] daily reporting on this new wave.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2012, Korean-American star Jay Park will be headlining the APAHM Tour, taking place in four cities across the United States, including performances of songs from his English Mixtape, tentatively titled Fresh Air: Breathe It.

Industry[link]

Once a market that used to have multiple "million sellers" of artists in a year such as Jo Sungmo and H.O.T, the K-pop industry encountered some difficulty around the 2000s, as online piracy was more popular among music listeners.^{[citation needed]} The size of the industry shrunk to half in 2005, but the government's copyright law helped revitalize the industry, now making it the eleventh largest digital music market in the world.

South Korea became the first country in which the digital music market surpassed physical market,^[37] probably because of the timing of when the physical market was the smallest. However, the digital market as well as the physical market has grown ever since then, and still today. More than half of the revenue comes from digital sales, showing the importance of the digital market in South Korea.^[36]

In 2009, about 8.8 million South Korean albums were sold worldwide.^[34] The retail value of K-pop was $93 million dollars in 2009.^[34]

In 2011, 1,100 albums were released in South Korea and the hip-hop genre had the most among them.^[38] One-third of the albums were from genres that are less popular in the country nowadays, including rock, modern folk and crossover.^[38] Although idol stars are dominating the K-pop scenes today, it shows that there are still variety of genres existing in South Korea.^[38]

Apprenticeship[link]

Today, apprenticeship is the universal strategy for nurturing girl groups, boy bands, and solo artists in the K-pop industry. To guarantee the high probability of success of new talent, talent agencies fully subsidize and oversee the professional lives and careers of trainees, often spending in excess of $400,000 to train and launch a new artist.^[39] Through the practice of apprenticeship, which often lasts two years or more, trainees hone their voices, learn professional choreography, sculpt and shape their bodies through exercise, and study multiple languages all the while attending school.

K-pop artists[link]

See also[link]

Look up k-pop in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: K-pop

• Korean wave
• Contemporary culture of South Korea
• South Korean music
• Korean music
• List of South Korean bands
• List of Korea-related topics
• Korean drama
• Cinema of Korea
• British Invasion

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Heo, Juno (2012). K-pop community site. http://koremusic.tistory.com. JunoHeo Publishers. 
• Hartong, Jan Laurens (2006). Musical terms worldwide: a companion for the musical explorer. Semar Publishers. ISBN 978-88-7778-090-4. 
• Holden, Todd Joseph Miles; Scrase, Timothy J. (2006). Medi@sia: global media/tion in and out of context. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-37155-1. 
• Jung, Sun (2011). Korean masculinities and transcultural consumption: Yonsama, Rain, Oldboy, K-Pop idols. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8028-66-5. 
• Kim, Myung Oak; Jaffe, Sam (2010). The new Korea: an inside look at South Korea's economic rise. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. ISBN 978-0-8144-1489-7. 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: K-pop

Baby M (born March 27, 1986) was the pseudonym used In re Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 (N.J. 02/03/1988) for the infant whose legal parentage was in question.

"In re Baby M" was a custody case that became the first American court ruling on the validity of surrogacy. William Stern and his wife, Elizabeth Stern, entered into a surrogacy agreement with Mary Beth Whitehead, whom they found through a newspaper advertisement. According to the agreement, Mary Beth Whitehead would be inseminated with William Stern's sperm (making her a traditional, as opposed to gestational, surrogate), bring the pregnancy to term, and relinquish her parental rights in favor of William's wife, Elizabeth. After the birth, however, Mary Beth decided to keep the child. William and Elizabeth Stern then sued to be recognized as the child's legal parents.

The New Jersey court ruled that the surrogacy contract was invalid according to public policy, recognized Mary Beth Whitehead as the child's legal mother, and ordered the Family Court to determine whether Whitehead, as mother, or Stern, as father, should have legal custody of the infant, using the conventional 'best interests of the child' analysis. Stern was awarded custody, with Whitehead having visitation rights.

At birth, Mary Beth Whitehead named Baby M., "Sara Elizabeth Whitehead." She was later renamed "Melissa Stern," after William Stern was awarded legal custody.

Background details[link]

Mary Beth Whitehead responded to an ad placed by the Infertility Center of New York in the Asbury Park Press seeking women willing to help infertile couples have children. She was a high school drop-out who had married a waste collector, with whom she had three children.^[1].

Elizabeth "Betsy" Stern was not technically infertile, but had multiple sclerosis and was concerned about the potential health implications of pregnancy, including temporary paralysis.^[2]

William "Bill" Stern and Mary Beth Whitehead entered into a "surrogacy contract," according to which Mary Beth would be inseminated with Bill's sperm, bring the pregnancy to term, and relinquish her parental rights in favor of Bill's wife, Betsy. The Sterns reportedly based their choice simply by looking at her picture.

(According to later terminology, Mary Beth would be considered a traditional surrogate, as opposed to a gestational surrogate, because she was the genetic mother of the child. At the time, the technology for gestational surrogacy was not yet in common use).

On March 27, 1986, Mary Beth gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Sara Elizabeth Whitehead. However, within 24 hours of transferring physical custody to the Sterns, Mary Beth went to them and demanded that the baby to be given back to her, allegedly threatening suicide. Mary Beth subsequently refused to return the baby to the Sterns and left New Jersey, taking the infant with her. The Sterns had the Whitehead family's bank accounts frozen and sought warrants for their arrest.

In 1987, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Harvey R. Sorkow formally validated the surrogacy contract and awarded custody of Baby M to the Sterns under a "best interest of the child analysis". ^[3]

On February 3, 1988, however, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, led by Chief Justice Robert Wilentz, invalidated surrogacy contracts as against public policy but in dicta affirmed the trial court's use of a "best interest of the child" analysis and remanded the case to family court. On remand, the lower court awarded Bill and Betsy custody and Mary Beth was given visitation rights.^[4][5]

Legal significance[link]

The case attracted much attention as it demonstrated that the possibilities of third party reproduction raise novel legal and social questions about the meaning of parenthood and the possibility of contracting around issues of pregnancy and childbirth.

Among other points of contention, people argued about whether the ability to contract away parental rights to a child born to her invoke a basic human right for a woman to make decisions about her own body, or whether recognizing such a right would entail too great risks of exploitation.

The New Jersey court's finding that no contract can alter the legal position of a woman who bears a child as that child's mother seemed to settle the question of the status of surrogacy contracts in America, at least until technological advances permitting gestational surrogacy resulted in cases where a woman can bear and birth a child to whom she has no genetic relation reopened the question in many jurisdictions.^[6]

At least in New Jersey, however, the Baby M. ruling continues to rule. In 2009, New Jersey Superior Court ruled that In re Baby M applies to gestational surrogacy as well as traditional surrogacy cases, in A.G.R. v. D.R.H & S.H.. The intended parents were a homosexual male couple. They created an embryo using an anonymous donor ovum and the sperm of one of the husbands. The sister of the other husband carried the embryo to term and originally delivered the child to her brother and his husband, but a year later asserted her own parental rights even though she was not genetically related to the child. Judge Francis Schultz relied on In re Baby M to recognize the gestational mother as the child's legal mother. However, a later ruling in 2011 awarded full custody to the biological father.^[7]

Aftermath[link]

After reaching the age of majority in March 2004, the daughter known as "Baby M" (now named Melissa) legally terminated Mary Beth's parental rights and formalized Betsy's maternity through adoption proceedings.^[1] When the controversy died down, Whitehead divorced her husband, re-married and had another child with her new husband.

Melissa attended Dwight-Englewood School and later The George Washington University and majored in religious studies. She said it was strange to study the Baby M case in her bioethics class at the university.^[1]

"I love my family very much and am very happy to be with them," Melissa told a reporter for the New Jersey Monthly, referring to the Sterns. "I'm very happy I ended up with them. I love them, they're my best friends in the whole world, and that's all I have to say about it."^[1]

Studying at King's College London, Melissa completed a dissertation, "Reviving Solomon: Modern Day Questions Regarding the Long-term Implications for the Children of Surrogacy Arrangements."^[8] Ms. Whitehead also wrote a book about her experience in 1989.^[9]

In January 2011, a British court ruled a woman who bore a daughter under an informal surrogate agreement with a childless couple should keep the baby.^[10]

In October 2011, the original judge in the Baby M case, Judge Sorkow, presided over the wedding of Melissa and her husband, a neuroscientist from New Jersey. The couple currently reside in London.

In popular culture[link]

An ABC Network miniseries, simply titled Baby M, was broadcast in May 1988. The miniseries starred JoBeth Williams as Mary Beth Whitehead, John Shea as William, Bruce Weitz as Mary Beth's husband Rick, Robin Strasser as Elizabeth and Dabney Coleman as Gary Skoloff.^[11] The miniseries received seven Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Miniseries, which it did not win. Williams, Shea, Weitz, and Coleman all received nominations for their performances, but only Shea won.^[12] Williams also was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.

In 1989, Mary Beth Whitehead published her own book about her experiences, A Mother's Story: The Truth About the Baby M Case.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Summary of the Baby M case