Four new Korean pop groups worthy of discovery

By Yoon Ki

With candy-coloured hair, glowing skin and layers of eyeliner, these boys and girls are revolutionizing the music world. K-pop (an abbreviation of Korean pop) is a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. It is well known for it’s insane synchronized dancing and carefully seasoned performers. Here are some of the most popular and upcoming groups you should listen to:

1) EXO is known for its legendary song “Growl.” These boys rose to fame in 2013. EXO is a visual group and sells more than any other group in Korea.

EXO won both Disk Daesang at the 28th Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 15th Mnet Awards because of “Growl’s” fame.

All nine boys are visual eye-candy for fans, and therefore their MVs are watched and rewatched so people can look at their bias. EXO is an easy group to show new kpop fans because the music is most similar to American pop music and the group is already extremely successful.

2) BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment.

“The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 2” also charted at number one on the Billboard World Albums Chart and remained there for multiple weeks, making BTS the first K-Pop act to achieve that feat.

Known for a large international fanbase, having performed in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America, BTS’s outstanding performances won the Best World Performer award in the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

3) BLACKPINK is a freshly debuted female group whose first mini-album “Square One” skyrocketed it into fame, winning it first place on music shows such as MNET and MBCKpop. The group’s style is very hip-hop based and focuses a lot of female empowerment.

4) GFriend is a six-member girl group formed by Source Music in 2015.

GFriend made its debut with the EP “Season of Glass” on Jan. 15, 2015. The group won several 2015 female rookie awards and has garnered momentum since its debut, despite coming from a small company.

GFriend’s image is very pure and girly, so it might not be for everyone, but so far every one of its songs has been a hit.