As Rosé, a member of the Korean-pop girl band BLACKPINK, flirtatiously sings the chorus “a-pa-tu, a-pa-tu” at the 2024 MAMA Awards hosted at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Bruno Mars joins her and begins to croon “gun-bae, gun-bae” —the Korean phrase for “bottoms up.” The song “APT.” spent twelve weeks at number one with Forbes magazine lauding this catchy collaboration as a cultural phenomenon in 2024.
From Korean pop to Korean dramas, Korean media has taken over American pop-culture in recent years, illustrating the larger rise in Korean influence worldwide. This global phenomenon called Hallyu—which translates to “Korean Wave”—has grown in popularity in United States’ society over the past two decades across many mediums and has influenced America’s perception of Asian Americans.
Among these, the Netflix show Squid Games has become a cultural phenomenon, with its second season breaking the streaming platform’s record for most views in just a week, amassing 68 million views in just four days. The second installment quickly became one of the top three most streamed Netflix TV series ever. In 2022, viewers watched over 362 million hours of All of Us Are Dead, a South Korean show based on a zombie apocalypse, in just the first month of release.
Korean media began making waves in the United States beginning in the early 2000s. The artist BoA became the first K-pop artist to chart on Billboard on April 4, 2009, with her album “BoA”. Early K-pop groups SE7EN and Wonder Girls had just begun to grab the attention of American listeners.
However, the shift into mainstream acceptance was PSY’s “Gangnam Style” in 2012. The song’s catchy beat, funny music video and memorable dance moves led it to become a viral sensation, breaking YouTube’s most watched video at the time and opened the floodgates for other K-pop groups to break into mainstream American media. Now, Korean-pop groups Blackpink and BTS have led a wave of K-pop artists to become universally popular across mainstream television and radio stations, turning the members into massive celebrities in the US.. In the past decade, these groups have headlined Coachella and sold out international stadium tours.
One reason for the newfound approval can be credited to the versatility of K-pop. For example, the group Twice, consisting of nine members, is known for its catchy love songs and upbeat melodies. On the other hand, Stray Kids, a group of eight, mixes genres of EDM with hip-hop and rock.
photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Kevin Wong, who leads food provision pantry at San Francisco City Impact, spoke on K-pop’s unique appeal and accumulation of different cultures. “The K-pop sound pulls a lot from a lot of different places. You can hear it sonically in the music in terms of the rhythm, the beat of some and even some of the moves,” he said.
Characterized by visual aesthetics, energetic performances and rigorous choreography, K-pop also offers a product completely unique from any other music genre. Unlike in the US, South Korean artists are required to undergo training in dancing, singing and acting before they ever make their debut, a distinguishing feature of Korean entertainment.
Megan Dalmacio, a physical therapist in the Bay Area, believed that this professionalism and dedication factors into K-pop’s success. “I think the entertainment industry is different in Korea… In Korea, a lot of groups have you audition for years and years and sometimes you don’t even make it. They take it very seriously, because it’s something that they had to work really hard for. And I think it’s much more entertaining.”
In the world of film, Korean-dramas and TV shows, including Squid Games and All of Us are Dead, have also climbed in popularity and have gained critical acclaim. Similar to K-pop, K-drama’s originality, emotional depth and slow-burn storytelling are differentiators from American television. “I think in American media, they reuse the same plots a lot of times. And I feel like Korean media is pretty original and creative, which is why I think a lot of people gravitate towards it,” Taylor Koo ’26, leader of the Korean Club at Lick-Wilmerding High School, said.
Dalmacio added how the increased accessibility of entertainment and media has also led to its popularity. “When I was in seventh grade, the only way I could get a version of the show was I had to go to this one store…now Netflix has an entire subgenre of it. You can find it everywhere… the things I liked about it are till what I liked about it, but now I can get it much quicker and there’s much more of it,” Dalmacio said.
The impacts of this Hallyu extend past the entertainment industry, however. A history teacher at LWHS, commented on the powerful social influence of Korean entertainment. “I think it’s interesting to think about how, even though K-pop and K-dramas are not created in the US, I think to a degree, we can understand they influence the perception of Asian Americans,” They said.
Korean entertainment is now beginning to push limitations placed on Asian Americans and promote a more nuanced understanding of Asian cultures. The show “Beef,” starring Korean lead Steven Yeun and created by Korean director Lee Sung Jin, won eight Emmys in 2024. Following a road rage incident between two characters, the show depicts Asian Americans as complex and multi-dimensional. This portrayal goes past stereotypical and surface level depictions of Asian Americans.
Koo expressed her enthusiasm about experiencing this Hallyu as a Korean youth.“It’s great to see Korean representation in American media. I feel like it’s been a long time coming and I am excited to see what happens next.”
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