Description
K-Pop is a core component of the Korean Wave. Born out of a globalisation project, its export-oriented purpose has fed into its in-house production practices, aesthetics, and narratives. K-Pop content is designed to appeal to different global markets whilst still containing identifiably Korean characteristics, thereby creating a glocalised genre of pop music. Whilst it is well understood that K-Pop is promoted as a ‘soft power’ attraction with considerable economic benefit for South Korea, through its cultural hybridity it is also producing and circulating narratives of a modern, globally interconnected Korean identity.
This paper argues that the proliferation of K-Pop offers a unique vantage point for understanding how popular music can construct national identity in international relations. K-Pop is a multi-sensory genre, comprised of pronounced sounds, choreographies, fashions, and visuals. Examining popular acts such as Blackpink and HUNTR/X (K-Pop Demon Hunters), I discuss the use of linguistic combinations, music production, and local symbols and aesthetic experiences to illustrate how national identity narratives are being (re)-configured within K-Pop’s cultural repertoire. More broadly, I suggest that Korea’s accelerated modernization and surge in popular cultural output illuminates how pop music can contribute to the construction of a state’s imagined futures in international contexts.
