K-Pop

Trendsetters in K-pop that opened up popular trends of the present day 

K-pop idols are diversifying the K-pop culture by creating new and intriguing practices and traditions in K-pop. 

Ending Fairy

While an “ending fairy” at the end of a K-pop performance is not new, its origin is pretty recent. The ending pose only got popularized after Chaeyeon’s ending pose on Produce 101. After finishing her performance “Into The New World”, the idol confidently looked into the camera, boasting off her visuals. 

Dance challenge

To promote newly released music works, idols usually invent dance challenges and sometimes invite idols from other groups to jump on the trend. Zico started the trend in 2020, when he released his song “Any Song” and recorded his dancing videos with well-known idols such as Hwasa (MAMAMOO) and Chungha. Following his initiative, idols, artists and fans also participated with the hashtag #AnySongChallenge. From here on, dance challenges have become a popular promotional tactic in K-pop. 

Lightstick

Lightstick is a glowing stick with a unique design to enable fans to color the stadium with sparkling lights and help the idols identify their fandom. 

BIGBANG was the first group to release a lightstick with special design. After a long period of activities, YG made some changes to make the stick look more appealing but still retain its initial overall design. 

Fancam focus

Fancam focus is a widespread video recording of idol performances in K-pop. Yuri (Girls’ Generation) had a major contribution in popularizing the practice of fancam focus and rose to be a trend. She recorded “Oh!” performance at a stadium in 2010 became a “legend” thanks to this.

Photocard

During their “Oh!” album promotion and their song of the same name, Girls’ Generation also released a set of photocards. The members’ photos made history as essential goods in an album set. 

1-billion-view MV 

Reaching  1 billion views on YouTube was and is once seen as a ground-breaking achievement. BLACKPINK and their song “DDU-DU DDU-DU” reached the 1-billion mark after 1 years and 9 months of release. PSY also recorded 1 billion views in his two MVs “Gangnam Style” and “Gentleman”. 

 To keep up with the trends and eras of fans and audiences, K-pop idols are inventing exciting new things to leave their names in the history of K-pop. 

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