Eleven years ago, when Psy gained a surprise global hit with his novelty track "Gangnam Style," nobody expected Korea's nascent pop music industry to become the continent-spanning behemoth it is today. But thanks to the historic success of its fourth generation — BTS is a household name with six American number-one songs and four "perfect all-kills" (PAK), the highest chart achievement for a song in South Korea, while girl group Blackpink became the first Asian artist to headline Coachella earlier this year — even the American music industry is now looking to Korea as a source of musical innovation and inspiration.
Case in point: Travis Scott, the Weeknd, and Bad Bunny released a song titled "K-pop" just last month, and Rolling Stone recently put out an ambitious, decades-spanning list of the 100 greatest songs in the history of Korean pop music. Number one? Girls Generation's "Gee," of course.
But K-pop itself is going through something of a transition. While fans may argue whether we are entering a new "generation" of K-pop, BTS entering into hiatus to serve their mandatory military service has left space for a new generation of idols to take the reins. One of these new school groups, Aespa, will perform at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami on Tuesday, August 22.
New Times is introducing you to the artists driving K-pop forward to mark the occasion. Some of these artists might be the Coachella headliners of the next decade; some may never see a U.S. hit. But as of this moment, this is K-pop's next wave.
NewJeans
Nothing and nobody on the face of the Earth is doing it like NewJeans. The five-member girl group signed to BTS' label Hybe debuted last year and has already become the most exciting force in pop from any country thanks to a string of forward-thinking, unique, and, most importantly, capital-F Fun hit songs combined with a retro-chic visual identity. Hybe has taken a purposefully unconventional route with NewJeans to set them apart from the K-pop crowd, hiring the likes of Danish R&B singer Erika de Casier to write for the group, recruiting legendary Hong Kong actor Tony Leung to appear in music videos, adding influences from Jersey club and UK drum 'n' bass to the production, referencing the Powerpuff Girls on album artwork, and debuting almost totally out of the blue with hardly any information or traditional marketing momentum. (The group's first single, "Attention," gained more than 1.3 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours.)NewJeans' latest massive track, "Super Shy," is a perfect example of what makes the group so irresistible: bubblegum-breakbeat production reminiscent of club tracks from New York and London along with an incredibly catchy hook ("I'm super-shy, super-shy/But wait a minute while I make you mine, make you mine") gives the song a something-for-everyone appeal. It's clever enough for music heads to nod in approval but girly and bright enough to feel like a slice of perfect pop. Bob Marley once sang, "You can't please all the people all the time," but NewJeans are soaring to the top of K-pop in just under two years by proving that statement wrong.
Aespa
Can a K-pop group have anything in common with Death Grips? When Aespa released "Spicy," a brash, hyperpop-influenced track with a grinding bass melody, Pitchfork writer Joshua Minsoo Kim declared it "the 'I've Seen Footage' of K-pop," comparing the quartet to the cryptic Sacramento punk-rap group. While NewJeans have earned success redefining the kind of bubblegum pop Girls Generation pioneered a decade ago, Aespa is embracing a bad-girl image and abrasive sound cribbed from the likes of Rosalía, Sophie, PC Music, and K-pop predecessors like Blackpink and 2NE1. Tracks like "Savage" and "Next Level" bristle and burble with spiky bass and powerful drums, and the group's lyrics are all boast and bravado. ("I'm a savage/I'll break you into pieces /I'm a savage/I'll crush you") It's an approach that's worked. The group's Savage EP became the best-selling debut in SM Entertainment's history, beating even Red Velvet and SHINee, and the title track earned the group its first PAK. Aespa also made inroads into the American market, playing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Coachella, as well as the, uh, Metaverse, where the members also exist as digital avatars or something.Le Sserafim
With a former J-pop idol and an ex-ballerina among their members, Le Sserafim doesn't have the most conventional K-pop origin story. Nor did the group have the smoothest debut compared to Hybe labelmates NewJeans, with one member departing after a bullying scandal. But the five remaining group members, a few of whom emerged from idol-building competition shows such as Produce 48, have made their struggles a part of their image. With a name that anagrams to "I'm fearless," the members present themselves as unbowed against a cruel world, and they've given a Korean spin to other global pop sounds. Like NewJeans, the group also incorporates Jersey Club influences into its music on tracks like the oddly titled, slightly somber banger "Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's Wife," while "Antifragile" features a reggaeton beat. The group has recruited unconventional collaborators, like Nile Rogers on "Unforgiven." That song's chorus presents a succinct summary of what the group is all about: "Unforgiven, yes I was bleeding/I was powerless, used to lose every fight/But I ride/Never asked for forgiveness or anything/Gonna target taboos, watch me now." Though Le Sserafim has yet to perform in America, the group has already found success in the U.S., with its EP Antifragile becoming the fastest debut from a K-pop female group to chart on the Billboard 200.Ive
Everything about Ive, from the group's highly polished videos, choreography, and vocals to production that's different without being too different, says one thing: finesse. The Starship Entertainment act gets by through its mastering of K-pop's fundamentals, presenting an impressive vision, if not exactly innovative. Ive had one of the most successful debuts of 2021, with their Arab-inflected anthem "Eleven" gaining an impressive 13 wins on the South Korean music TV show circuit and spending 86 weeks on the Circle Digital Chart, the country's Billboard Hot 100 equivalent. Insider declared the song one of the best K-pop debuts of all time. The sextet doubled down the following year with "Love Dive," a single about the game of love that earned the group Song of the Year at the 2022 Melon Music Awards. "Love Dive" and the group's image more broadly also emphasize a certain style of idol typography called "chaebol crush," combining the sexy cool and confidence of a "girl crush" with the wealth and imperiousness of the country's chaebol ruling class, as dramatized in K-drama shows like Crash Landing on You. Basically, the members are the girls you wanna be — also, their daddy owns the company that makes your car.Xikers
Truth be told, the boys are very much not back in town when it comes to K-pop. Maybe half a decade of dominance from BTS has made the major labels in Korea a bit nervous to try and debut a new boy group — to say nothing of major scandals involving members of BigBang — but most agree that none of the most recent new male groups have been able to compete creatively with the girls. However, there are indications that this is about to change. BTS and NewJeans label Hybe is reportedly planning to debut four new boy groups this year alone, with Boynextdoor already having dropped its single "Who?" and plenty of other agencies also have boy groups in the works as the industry searches for a true BTS successor.In the meantime, if there's one current boy group worth highlighting, it's probably Xikers. The relatively large group — ten members in total — debuted earlier this year and seemed to be looking to Japan for inspiration. With its upbeat, rock-inflected instrumental, Xikers debut single, "Rockstar," feels like it would fit perfectly as an anime opening song.
Aespa. 8 p.m. Tuesday, August 22, at the James L Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave., Miami; 305-416-5978; jlkc.com. Tickets cost $57.50 to $156.50 via ticketmaster.com.
