You read the title. You know what’s going down.

In the left corner, we have LiSA! One of the biggest Japanese singers who made her debut as the second singer of GirlsDeadMonster in the popular anime series Angel Beats and continued to make popular theme songs in Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Nisekoi, Sword Art Online and the Fate/ series.

And in the right corner, we have LISA! She makes up a quarter of BLACKPINK, the hottest female Kpop group worldwide which has multiple music videos with over 1 Billion views, such as their debut song “Boombaya” and most popular song “DDU-DU DDU-DU”! LISA also recently made her solo debut with “LALISA” and “Money”.

Disclaimer: I’m not actually putting these two up against another. I’m not going to say who’s best or why one is better than the other, because music is objective, and I believe there is space for all artists.

As someone who was aware of both these artists since their debut and who is an active follower of both Japanese and Korean music for over 10 years each, I thought this would be a great opportunity to explain the differences between Japanese and Korean music and markets. I also wanted to dig deeper into why I believe one has made international headlines while the other is relatively unknown.

This article will be written from a Western perspective, as in what trends in the west and what acts are popular in the west. While Japan may have some of the biggest groups due to their huge market, many of them are only known domestically. You can tell the difference by checking a music video with millions of views and seeing if there are any English comments or if they are all Japanese.

Personal Note/Disclaimer: If you’re curious, I am personally a bigger fan of Japanese music, and I have always loved how different and beautiful both the music and the lyrics are, thus why my blog is focused on Japanese music for musicians. I actually discovered LiSA (Jpop) before most people as I was a regular listener of the Angel Beats (Girls Dead Monster) album way before SAO came out. However, since my discovery of Jmusic in 2006, I knew it wouldn’t be as popular because it’s so different, especially the cuter and funner songs, which I personally loved most back then. Kpop always had a simpler music style similar to Western music, takes a lot from Black culture, and always had better MV quality, so I knew it would take off international. But in this article, I will be looking at them both in-depth and taking a non-biased approach.

Jpop Industry Observations

Japan has many, MANY artists and make many, MANY sales in music. How do I know this? Because they are the 2nd biggest music industry in the world.

Can you believe it? I was shocked when I first heard this a decade ago because no one really talks about Japanese music where I am. However, even if you haven’t heard about it, do not think for a moment that Japanese people aren’t buying CDs, attending concerts, and buying merch from local artists.

Anime Artists Are Generally More Popular Globally

If you’ve heard LiSA’s music, you may be wondering what genre she goes into. Unlike Kpop where ‘Kpop’ is actually ‘pop’ music with high energy and dance routines, Jpop is a lot harder to classify.

In Japan, anything that is popular could be considered pop music, including hip hop, jazz and ballads. Even on Spotify, though the Japanese music I usually listen to is rock, it was classified as Jpop.

While LiSA could go in a few areas like pop and rock, she is formally known as an ‘Anison/Anisong‘ artists. What is an Anisong artist? It’s usually a singer or voice actor that is called in to create music for an anime series.

What is anime? Anime is simply any Japanese cartoon or animation, and it has been a huge sensation worldwide. Anime’s have been shown on western TV as early as the 1960s starting with Astroboy, and had it’s high point in the 90s and early 2000s.

Due to the timeline, many Millennials are anime fans as they grew up with shows like Pokemon, Yugioh, Sailormoon, Beyblade, Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Dragonball Z on TV. However, back in this time, the original opening would have been replaced with an English theme song. These songs are still nostalgic and known by heart by many fans though.

For some who got into anime later, Bleach, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece and Naruto were their formal introduction to Japanese music, since broadcasters stopped making alternate openings for English viewers.

While anime is rarely on TV anymore, westerners can still access subbed (subtitled) animes on Netflix, Crunchroll or Funimation (anime subscription sites), or random sites online. New people are still coming across it, and old fans are happy to recommend series to curious individuals.

While anime fans may not be as loud due to their ‘geeky’ or ‘weird’ status (and many have been bullied or picked on for liking anime), don’t think for a moment that it isn’t one of the biggest fandoms in the world. The anime fandom is huge and new people are being introduced everyday. It is till way bigger than Kpop, even if it doesn’t feel that way.

Continuing on, anime music is not just a short quirky tune like it is in the west, often focusing on being catchy or introducing viewers to the characters ot the main plot. Anime songs uses REAL songs by real artists and bands. Some songs are chosen while in production, while other artists were asked to make a song for the show, thus why it fits so perfectly. You can learn more about how Anime songs Are chosen in this article!

If the show features fighting, it’s going to be an epic song talking about winning and working hard. If it was a romance anime, you may get a more light hearted pop track with lyrics of how the main character may be feeling. Thus, there were strong ties between the fans of the show and the theme songs attached to the show.

Thus, artists who make or sing a song associated with an anime, like LiSA, can can gain global recognition if the anime becomes mainstream and the song is epic and memorable. Though, of course it would be memorable if you’re listening to it every episode.

We can also look into artists like Kenshi Yonezu, who has been the #1 artist in Japan for quite some time and continues to puts out bangers that get tens or hundreds of millions of views. Before Kenshi was known by his real name, he worked as a Vocaloid producer under the name Hachi, allowing him to build a fanbase before his official debut.

Most anime fans, however, will known him best for singing “Peace Sign”, the second opening of My Hero Academia, which has been one of the biggest mainstream series, loved by males and famales, over the last decade. For many My Hero Academia fans, they still like his opening the best.

A year after that, he dropped “Lemon” which was the #1 song in Japan for over a year! Thus, Kenshi has a lot of leverage from different groups of people, the general public, the anime fandom, and vocaloid fanatics. His unique, funky, and relatable music keeps him at the top of charts.

But back to anime! There are certainly many bands that have made anime theme songs, some popular ones being Asian Kung Fu Generation, Scandal, Burnout Syndromes, Vickeblanka, Linked Horizon, Nico Touches The Wall, and Spyair. The more theme songs a group has, the more potential for them to be well known in the global anime community.

However, they do have one big disadvantage. If a western anime fan can’t ready Japanese nor are paying attention during the credits of the theme song, it’s very easy to miss the name of the artist or the song, and thus, they may not look it up later. Or, if they want to, they’ll refer to it as the “2nd opening of Naruto”.

If the song’s name is in English and has become super popular like “Blue Bird”, “Silhouette”, even better! But some fans may still not know the artists or care to look into their other tracks. They are simply interested in the song, nothing more.

The Stars Only Known Domestically

There are many huge Japanese artists that are known by almost everyone domestically like XJapan, Mr. Children and Southern All Stars, but finding anyone outside of Japan who knows these artists are slim to none. They may have 20+ million views on a video, but all the comments are Japanese.

What I found the most interesting, though, was that B’z is actually the biggest artist in Japan, but I have never heard anyone reference them in my life. According to Wikipedia, “B’z is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and the best-selling in their native Japan, having released 49 consecutive No. 1 singles, 25 No. 1 albums, 3 No. 1 EPs on the Oricon music charts and sold more than 100 million records worldwide”.

B’z have been rivaling with artists like Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink and Britney Spears….but you wouldn’t know that.

I knew them before writing this article as I was obsessed with their song “Giri Giri Chop” from Detective Conan, but I had no idea they were THIS huge until now. I have heard people around me talk about Gazette, Arashi, and Tricot, but again, I’ve never heard anyone reference them. This just goes to show how well an artist can do in their own country and still be unknown elsewhere!

Johnny & Associates’s are an agency that puts out some of the biggest and best boy groups in Japan, like the renowned Arashi. They debuted in 1999 and didn’t blow up until 2007, but since then, they have topped the charts and are beloved in Japan. A lot of their videos on Youtube have over 20 Million views.

Matsumoto Jun from the group is an actor and has been in super popular drama series, Hana Yori Dango (which we will talk about later), and also Gokusen, which was #1 when I considered watching Jdramas. He got a lot of nominations and this helped bring a lot of attention to the group. Other members have also helped in their huge success in taking over the boy group industry.

The video above came out in October 2019 and has over 36 Million views. Unlike B’z, Arashi is definitely a group I have heard international fans bring up more than a few times, but the comment section on their videos are all Japanese. Thus, they are big enough to be recognized by international fans, but their international fandom isn’t as big as one may think.

There are some groups that are domestic and haven’t done much to promote or tour worldwide, like XJapan. They debuted in 1982, making them one of the oldest bands that are still active. The band has made a lot of sales and is super popular, thus most foreign fans who are interested in Japanese music will find them easily when conducting research…though I guess having “Japan” in their name also helps with search results.

However, the band is categorized as Visual Kei, a subgenre of rock created in Japan, often accompanied with eccentric outfits and outlandish hairstyles. So while many foreign fans may come across their music, they may not personally like them.

I have also noticed, that while this group is alive and active, their videos on Youtube mainly consist of just the track, or a clip from a previous concert, as opposed to an actual music video. This gives them an outdated look that young people may not be willing to give a chance to. They also don’t have a lot of content for fans to connect with. Below is the first video to show up on Youtube with the most views of 10 Million.

We will talk more about the exceptions under the “So, Why is Kpop More Popular” section below!

Why Don’t Foreigners Know About These Groups?

Now, it’s not like Japan is so foreign that people don’t know about them. Japan is one of the first East Asian countries people would name and people generally see them in a positive light.

However, outside of things like food (ramen, sushi), martial arts (karaoke, judo, aikido), and cars (suzuki, honda), most people are unaware or ignorant of the many things Japan has given them, such as video games (Nintendo, Mario Bros, Pac-Man, Final Fantasy), and electronics (Panasonic, Nikon, Brother, Sony, Yamaha). Or they know and appreciate it, but they aren’t interested in learning more about the country.

As for the music industry as a whole, Japan hasn’t really made an effort to promote it in the West, and some labels have even enforced Geoblocking. You’ll notice early on when looking for Japanese content that you can’t find many songs with English titles or subtitles/translations. Many songs don’t have English at all (borrowed words don’t count).

If an artist uses their real name, it will be in Kanji (chinese characters), and this makes it impossible for foreign fans who don’t know Japanese to remember or look them up. Even if you knew “Kenshi Yonezu” you may not recognize him when he pops up on Youtube because they use his real Japanese name “米津玄師”. (Definitely check out my article on how a little Japanese can help you explore Japanese music.)

As for Geoblocking, you may notice that a lot of songs that fans uploaded have been taken down due to copyrighting, and that some songs aren’t available to be listened to on Youtube or Spotify. This means even if Western fans wanted to cover a song or discuss it, their videos would be taken down, thus discouraging any spread.

So it got me thinking, “Since I was born, do I recall seeing a real push for Japanese music in the west?” Initially I thought no, but then I remembered something…

Let me introduce to you, Puffy AmiYumi, a Japanese duo group. Back when I was a kid, there was a cartoon on TV called “Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi”. It starred the duo as animated characters and the show was aboue the two making and playing in a band. The real artists would make cameos every episode, and are even featured in the theme song itself.

I didn’t know all of this back then. As a kid, you take a show as it is, just a form of entertainment. Only when I started looking into Japan years later and revisiting a lot of my nostalgic childhood shows that I realize Puffy was a real group and the show featured a real band (though, the voice artists were different people). They also sang the theme song for Teen Titan’s, which was one of the biggest cartoons of that time!

I will do more research on this at a later time, but it’s got me wondering, what motivated them to make the cartoon? How far did they want to go in the western market? Who pitched this show idea anyways and why was Puffy the chosen artists?

All in all, they have gone on to do international concerts around the same time, but since then I haven’t heard them being referenced in the West at all. It’s like they’ve been forgotten, even though they are still active and together. And this seems to be the case for most Japanese songs or artists that got a taste of international fame.

But honestly, from an objective standpoint, when you consider all that has ever trended in Japan from a media standpoint, you’ll realize….

Japan Is Kinda Weird (To Westerners)

Japan may trend now and then, but it usually highlights the weirdest or craziest things Japan has to offer.

Let’s consider one of the biggest Japanese tracks internationally from this generation: PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen). Not only did it hit #1 in Japan’s Top 100, but it was also the first Japanese song to make the Billboards Top 100 since Seiko Matsuda in 1990, and also made a record for the shortest song to do so.

Justin Beiber made a tweet saying it’s his favourite song, and that helped bring massive amounts of attention to it, thus it started trending. Do note that this is a real song created by a real artist. PIKOTARO actually has a real fanbase and he does real concerts. He is not the only artist that makes weird or simple songs in Japan. This is normal.

Let’s also consider the following clip with the red cat mascot going crazy on the drums at a children’s concert. I’ve seen this video so many times as it’s been trending and regularly passed along on social media and in memes. It’s unusual, it’s impressive, it’s funny, thus it gets shared around. But as a whole, that’s all they will do. They won’t look into the mascot or try to find his music.

BABYMETAL also gained a lot of international attention years back due to their super adorable girl idols dancing and singing to some very aggressive metal music. They certainly gained a lot of international fans, but not everyone will like their music.

It hasn’t been that long since they were in the general spotlight and being interviewed on many Western shows, but since then, they have been forgotten about by the general public. It’s just not the kind of music many people would be into, and that goes for a lot of Japanese artists. Rock is big in Japan, but it hasn’t been that popular in North America for decades.

Below is BABYMETAL’s most popular song, “Gimme Chocolate!!” which came out 7 years ago and has 151 million views.

While that may sound like a lot, Twice’s (Kpop) recent song “The Feels” came out 1 month ago and already has 130 million views (221 million views as of Feb 2022)….and that’s not including all the views on their moving choreography video (30 million [60 million now]), normal choreography video (7 million [9 million]), Jimmy Fallon appearance (7.2 million [8.4 million]), lyric videos and so on.

There’s a lot of strange and weird things Japan has made over the years. For one, I was a big fan of Para Para and the arcade game made with it in mind, Para Para Paradise. These songs had routines mostly based on arm and hand movements and would be danced to Eurobeat music

Some groups would have a dead expression (this was the standard, don’t ask me why) while following the routine. Then there’s groups like Hinoi Team that were a bit more energetic. I can definitely imagine other westerners finding it weird and robotic, but this was popular in many clubs in the past, and is still alive today.

There is this ongoing joke that when something really new and weird comes out, you can usually assume it’s Japanese. For a lot of Japan and Anime fans, they had to get over a lot of culture shocks and weird things, and they’re now at that point where nothing really shocks or surprises them anymore. If anything, they’re always amazed at what unique things Japan could come out with next, myself included.

What About Japanese Idols?

Japan’s idol culture is huge! While anisong artists are big, idol groups are another level of popularity in Japan. Because they’re so big, even if a foreigner isn’t personally interested in it, they would know about it. Literally everyone knows about AKB48, and groups like Perfume and Morning Musume are also idol groups that others have told me about quite a few times.

According to Wikipedia, “Japan’s idol industry first emerged in the 1960s and became prominent in the 1970s and 1980s due to television. During the 1980s, regarded as the “Golden Age of Idols”, idols drew in commercial interest and began appearing in commercials and television dramas. As more niche markets began to appear in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it led to a significant growth in the industry known as the “Idol Warring Period.” Today, over 10,000 teenage girls in Japan are idols, with over 3,000 groups active. Japan’s idol industry has been used as a model for other pop idol industries, such as K-pop.”

For AKB48, the group started in 2005 and has expanded to have drafts and subunits in other countries. They hold the Guinness World Record for the biggest idol group ever. Not surprising as they have had 395 idols as of now! The group only has 60 singles over their span as of now.

But, how do idol groups work in Japan? Well, it’s not that complicated actually, especially compared to the Kpop industry.

For groups like AKB48, it usually just takes an audition. You don’t have the be the best singer or dancer, nor do you need to be super pretty! You just have to have a certain star power that would attract potential fans to you, and you must be willing to work hard and grow to become a great idol.

If you make it into the group, you aren’t usually given a training period. You’re thrown in and you learn as you go along. Thankfully, fans don’t expect perfection. Routines are important, but it’s more important that it looks like you’re having fun and you’re trying to connect with your audience.

Idol fans are happy to support their idols as they learn, grow, and they will pay and vote hoping their favourite idols move up in ranks. Depending on the popularity of an idol, they will get to be in the front of lines, or even center the group, which means more attention and camera time for them.

AKB48 (and other big groups) have what you call a graduation system. Instead of the same group of people continuing on forever, those who want to leave, or reach their ‘retirement’ age will graduate from the group and officially leave the group. They are then replaced with newer, younger members and the group will continue, just like High School.

Do note that even if you don’t make it into a big group like AKB48, you can still be an idol in Japan! You can create your own little group and get attention dancing on local streets. You can be a solo idol and upload covers, or even compete in net-idol (ネットアイドル) competitions. You can even live the fantasy by working at maid cafes or other cosplay cafes, and put on a few live shows a day!

Now, Japan’s idol culture has a more casual ‘girl next door’ feel. Idols try to make their performances more personable. They will make eye contact, interact with their fans, and generally do what they think fans will love the most in the moment.

After a show, fans can pay for the opportunity to meet their idol, and pay extra to shake their hand, get an autograph, or take a picture with them. Imagine getting to meet a celebrity you actually admire and love! Fans become more dedicated as they know your support means the world to them, and the moments you did have to speak to them was really positive.

I think idol culture can also be encouraging to many. Seeing an idol work hard to perform and their eagerness to please their fans can motivate others to pursue their dreams and try their best as well. I really like these two videos about non-traditional idols who are still very popular and supported by fans, even more so because it’s hard for them and they had to overcome many obstacles.

Do Idols care to go worldwide? Most don’t. I’m sure for many, it’s nice having all your fans in the same country and being a domestic superstar! These idols may be easily recognized by many and even have their faces on big screens in the city.

You’ll see in a video in the Kpop section that a lot of Japanese idols are aware that they don’t have the potential to be known outside of their own country. They don’t speak English, and compared to their Korean counterparts that aren’t formally trained in singing, dancing, or performing.

Japan Can Be Too Cute To Handle

Adding onto idols, this can be a huge culture shock to those who aren’t familiar or comfortable with Japan’s culture and antics.

While the west is really comfortable with sexy girls wearing the bare minimum, guys talking about their dicks in music, and movies portraying sex scenes a little too well, Japan is quite conservative.

In society, girls’ chests are covered up, hair is kept natural and simple, and tattoos has been looked down on due to their ties to the Yakuza (Japanese gangsters). Schools also have strict uniforms and expectations, such as no makeup or earrings. Boys’ hair must be this short and shirts must be buttoned to the top, etc.

In dramas and romance animes, it takes so long for characters to kiss (IF they kiss), as a lot of time is spent in the two characters getting to know each other and be comfortable with each other. Being in each other’s personal space, holding hands, and so on will have them blushing. If sex was to happen, it is usually implied instead of shown on the screen. That’s just how conservative Japan is.

Of course, in any conservative or strict environment there is a need to rebel, especially for youth.

“Kawaii” is a Japanese word that refers to anything cute, innocent, sweet and adorable. As pure as this may sound, it actually came to be thanks to young Japanese girls wanting to rebel. Instead of writing proper Japanese strokes, they created a cuter bubblier writing style.

Kawaii fashion, and teen or adult girls wearing super cute outfits was a way of rebelling against the norm, a way of maintaining their youth and childlike nature in a society where they are told to grow up and be mature. Some clothing brands now known for Kawaii fashion were also started by student protestors. Here’s a detailed video that goes into detail about what Kawaii is and how it came to be.

In Harajuku, on the one day students are free to wear what they want (as they would usually wear their school uniform anytime elsewhere), you will see many young people wearing bold, colourful and unique outfits. Japan has created a lot of original fashion styles, such as visual kei, various lolitas (sweet, kuro/black, creepy, mori/forest), ganguro, decora and so on.

This crazy fashion is portrayed in their music videos, like the vary famous “Pon Pon Pon”. This song was trending and many people are aware of it.

For many foreigners, though, songs like this with high pitched voices and happy-go-lucky girls just doesn’t suit they’re style. It’s not something they would or could want to listen to everyday.

Vocaloid is very well known internationally, but you either love it or you hate it. While some may think of Hatsune Miku, a virtual character, when they hear the word Vocaloid, it is actually a music program that artists can use to input vocals. They just put in the words and the melody line, and bam!

In the majority of Vocaloid music, it tends to be high pitched and has a faster BPM, sometimes even rapping. Hatsune Miku has many fans, despite being a fictional character. There have been official concerts for her via virtual reality. I write about Vocaloid and it’s producers in detail here!

This all just adds on to the whole “Japan is Weird” category. None of this is normal in the west and many westerners don’t see the appeal of it, especially if they aren’t into cute things. And in case you were wondering (you probably weren’t), someone has married or tried to marry a hologram (and as I’m editing this in April 2022, it was brought up once again ^^”).

Kpop Industry Observations

Kpop is very different. Before I get into this, let me explain a bit about Kpop agencies and how Idols are made, as this is a big part of why they are the way they are.

Young people in their early teen years, sometimes even younger, would audition for agencies. If they get in, they will have to live in dorms full-time (usually 4-8 to a single room) and go through very strict training periods, averaging 2-4 years, sometimes as short as a couple months and sometimes as long as 10 years.

Foreign trainees who get into an agency will have to leave their country and train in South Korea, like LISA did as she is from Thailand. Most idols don’t have the opportunity to visit their families. Some have their phones taken away as they are to focus strictly on training.

Even then, there is no guarantee they will debut, and many are cut if they don’t keep up with standards or pass frequent tests.

Some are told they need to lose more weight to debut and this encourages starving and eating disorders. Some trainees will train 8-18 hours a day (which includes, singing, dancing, performance, working out, English lessons, etc) and some will continue to do personal practice if they feel it’s needed.

They push through the brutal training because this is their dream. Because of how competitive it is, they will give it their all pursuing the life of an idol. Some trainees have sacrificed years to train, just to be cut in the end and never debut.

This training isn’t free either! When they do debut (if they debut), idols will work hard to pay off their debts to the agency. Even if they have successful comebacks and sales, they may not see any money in their pocket for 3 or more years, sometimes never if the group ‘flopped’ and/or disbanded early in their careers, thus all that time and energy for nothing.

Each comeback costs money as the agency pays for the producers, dance instructors, makeup artists, music video sets, outfits (which can be brand name), and of course, their usual expenses such as their dorm and food. Smaller agencies can’t afford to keep an unknown or failing group active for long, so it’s very important that they gain popularity as soon as possible.

How KPOP Groups Succeed

For most, getting their first music show win could be what’s needed to really gain more attention from the public and finalize their position in the music market.

There are multiple music shows in Korea and they each have their own ranking and voting standard. Most shows have weekly rankings, while bigger shows only have awards once a year. If you’ve been wondering why BlackPink’s LISA has more awards than Jpop’s LiSA, these shows are a big reason. You will see the stats on my comparison chart at the bottom of this article.

Many small groups can’t help but be shocked and cry when they get their ‘first win’. It’s not just a trophy. It means that their hard work has paid off and they can look forward to more popularity which could mean more sales and success in the future.

Over 100 groups debut a year, but only those from some of the biggest agencies are instantly noticed as the agency already has a big reputation from previous groups and artists. This is why so many young people will try so hard to get into these bigger agencies as it could mean guaranteed success.

However, because the agency is so popular, naturally, more people will audition. And thus, the agency not only has higher standards, but more competition for trainees. And if you don’t know, agencies don’t debut groups often. The average span between debuts of the same gender within an agency is 4+ years, and most groups only have 4-9 people. So obviously, many trainees will never debut.

If they try a small agency, their chances of debuting drastically increase, but they have slimmer chances of getting recognized by the public since the agencies don’t have the power, money or recognition. Thus, even if they do debut, they will have to work longer and harder to start paying off their debts and even longer to actually make money. Most small groups won’t last long unless they get lucky with popularity.

In the past, some smaller agencies became so desperate that they would change the concept of a group to a sexy (and somewhat inappropriate) concept because…sex sells!

Members, like those from Stellar, were sexually exploited to help garner attention to their group. Only after their disbandment years later were they able to come forward and admit that they didn’t want to do certain sexy photos or choreography.

For certain 19+ MVs, they were tricked or unaware of what the actions they were told to do really meant. For example, one member was told to drink milk and have some spill while doing so. She was unaware of the sexual connotations of that action until after. When she saw the clip, she was scarred and refuses to drink milk again. Idols are slaves to their agencies via their contract, so saying “no” isn’t usually an option.

There are other groups like AOA and Sistar, and soloists like Hyuna, Jessi and Hwasa who also do mature and sexy concepts, but they haven’t come forward about any exploitation, and appear to be more comfortable with their image, even choosing to wear bolder outfits.

The Rise Of Survival Shows

Survival/Elimination shows are also popular. These shows will have trainees compete on TV and the audience can vote for their favourite trainees, similar to America’s Got Talent and XFactor. The finalists get to debut in the new group.

Some agencies do internal competitions with their current trainees, like Sixteen to create Twice, and Finding Momoland to…find Momoland.

There are also bigger competitions like the ‘Produce’ series which allow trainees from various small agencies, idols from newer small groups, and even unsigned individuals, to compete for a position in a temporary Kpop group that is bound to be super big due to the hype around the show itself.

Even if the contestants from these shows don’t win, they could still gain a lot of exposure for themselves and their future groups, which could help them a lot with views and sales when they do debut. (Sadly, Produce was called out for rigging, some agencies would even pay to have them promote their idols or have them in the final line up, but that’s a story for someone else to cover).

Groups like IOI that was created from Produce 101, despite only being around for a year, got a lot of awards and left many fans heartbroken when they disbanded. It was expected that their success and popularity would carry back to the many groups they all debuted in, but that was not the case.

Groups like Gugudan started off really well, but every comeback after made fewer and fewer sales. Groups like Pristin were doing really well and even got a couple “Best New Artist” awards, but their agency messed things up for them and they disbanded. As far as I know, only Somi and Chungha who became solo artists seem to be active and continue to win awards.

For Produce 48, they had some Japanese idols from AKB48 compete for spots to be in IZ*ONE. Considering these are Japanese idols who debuted and have been working for years, most of them became insecure and intimidated when they saw the Korean trainees. The AKB48 idols didn’t have formal singing or dancing training, so there was a big distance between them and their Korean counterparts.

While Japanese idols are ‘entertainers’ who aim to put on a show and make their fans happy, Korean idols are ‘performers’ and are expected to be ‘idols’. Everything from their looks to their actions to their performances should be as perfect as possible.

Another group that debuted from a survival group was NiziU. Like Twice, it was made by JYP, but the purpose of this show was to create a Japanese pop group with his current Japanese trainees.

If you didn’t know, quite a few Japanese youth audition for Kpop groups with hopes of becoming a Kpop idol. Three members of Twice are Japanese, so when they started promoting in Japan, they had three members to help with lyrics and popularity. Twice has done really well in Japan, and continue to do well compared to many Kpop groups, so it only makes sense for JYP to debut a full Japanese group the same way.

NiziU has a more traditional Jpop feel with higher pitched voices and poppier music, but they get to have that Kpop flare of harder and more insync choreography and cooler music videos. They have done extremely well on Japanese charts from their debut.

The Struggles Of Small Agency Groups

In the last 5 years, groups from smaller or new agencies have done better than they ever have before. Gfriend was the first group to debut from their small agency and they managed to beat some of the biggest groups a couple years in.

For their first comeback song, “Me Gustas Tu”, a video of their performance went viral as many members slipped and fell on the wet stage but kept going. Luckily, their music and dance style were awesome so people were interested in them and thus they got a lot of fans…but also a lot of hate.

Some commented that they ‘fell for attention’, calling some of the members ugly and questioning why they are an idol. Some hated them for beating their favourite groups for awards, or being friends with BTS (even though some members trained with them before their agency divided, one took the boys, one took the girls).

However, despite all the unnecessary hate, Gfriend got the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award and went on to get awards for pretty much every comeback. In a list of girl groups with the most wins from 2020, they were #4, beating many groups from big agencies! They are regularly referenced for their dance skills as they were in sync and able to complete crazy dance challenges that other groups failed at.

BTS is also from a small agency. They were on the verge of disbanding a few years in and they were expecting “I Need U” to be their last song, but luckily, they got their first win and blew up. They got increasing popular and finally broke into the Western market to secure their spot as the biggest Kpop group ever.

These two proved it is possible for small groups to make it big, but it’s still hard. Unique concepts and music does help a group stand out in the crowd, as we see with Dreamcatcher who dances to rock music and does creepier themes, but it may still take a viral song or an epic moment captured on camera to gain small groups the attention they need to possible get their first win.

There are many other stories of small groups getting lucky, like EXID which, thanks to a fancam of one member going viral, they blew up and got to continue putting out music for many years.

More recently, Brave Girls’s 2017 song “Rollin'” started trending thanks to a video of soldiers going crazy over the song. Despite it being 4 years old, the sudden popularity allowed the girls to start promoting the same song again, thus making more money. You really never know.

The Pressures Of Kpop

Of course, through all this, a group must also be careful of their image as a scandal could ruin a group and cause more hate or backlash.

Idols may deal with physical health and mental health issues and decide to go on hiatus. Bullying allegations may push the agency to kick a member out, and even dating could be an issue.

Not many groups stay together with their original lineup through until the end of their contract, which averages about 7 years. The industry is quite strict and a few idols have committed suicide in the past.

Again, these individuals were training while they were so young, so they don’t really know what life is like outside of being an idol. They worked so hard to debut, and thus not being popular or getting a lot of hate comments can leave one feeling insecure, lonely, and depressed.

Since Kpop is growing more internationally, quite a few idols have been under attack for saying racist things or for allegations of cultural appropriation. Everyone will have a different opinion. Some will defend the idols saying they are ignorant only having lived in Korea, other’s will say they should know better and it’s unacceptable, especially if they’ve done something similar before.

I could only imagine the pressure Kpop idols face. They are in front of cameras almost 24/7 and they don’t have any privacy since they live in shared dorms. They are criticized for anything they do and sometimes things they didn’t do, and there is constant competition and comparison between other groups and your members.

Not to mention, they have contracts that have commonly been referred to as ‘slave contracts’. They train daily and still eat little to maintain their weights. Some idols were overworked and lacking proper nutrition, so they fainted or collapsed on stage. Some are forced to work despite feeling sick or anxious, and they can’t take a break to visit their family or attend a funeral.

You wouldn’t know any of this, though, as Kpop idols are always smiling and giving their best on stage. That’s what they are trained and paid to do.

Regardless, even if they were feeling sad or had a bad day, or they had an injury that people couldn’t see, Knetz (Korean Netizens) are quick to judge them and attack them, saying they shouldn’t be an idol and going as far as to tell them to ‘KYS’. Some idols have actually taken their own lives and others are depressed, causing fans to worry about them.

There are often discussions within the Kpop community about which agencies are better and which are known to mistreat their idols. While some assumptions have been proven to be true, some assume the worst just because one idol from a group got the least amount of lines in a couple songs. Point is, we don’t and won’t always know what goes on behind the scenes.

Kpop Had Great Potential To Go Global

Since I was introduced to Kpop in 2011, I had no doubts that it could blow up. I got into Jmusic 5 years before that, but I knew Japanese music was a little too different, too cute, and too foreign to really take off. Kpop, on the other hand, was a different story.

For one, Kpop contains a lot of English. All Kpop groups have both a Korean name and an English name, and the English names were usually easy to remember and pronounce, for example: Got7, Gfriend, EXO, Twice, BlackPink, SHINee.

Next, the names of the songs were also English, and the song had English words or sentences sprinkled around. I remember watching a video comparing Kpop songs, and they found that many of them would have English words right before the drop, and English words are usually the hook of the song. For international fans, that means these songs are more likely to get stuck in their head and they can actually sing something along.

There is also the choreography aspect of it. If you paid attention to the Japanese section above, you’ll notice a lot of their moves are not only simple, but that members don’t have to be too perfect or insync with each other.

Korea, on the other hand, puts a lot of time into training their idols in dance, and then perfecting their choreography. This makes the music videos very cool to watch, and naturally, fans will pick up or put the time into learning the dances as well, which helps it trend on social media.

While there are some groups that make more old fashioned Asian-pop music, like Lovelyz and April, generally, the west isn’t that interested in cuter or more innocent concepts, as we’ve seen with Japan. The West tends to favor cool, flashy, and fun. Something easy on the ears and something that makes THEM want to dance. Cute, high pitched songs with adorably awkward dances don’t suit many people’s tastes.

Boy groups commonly had darker, cooler, and more aggressive songs and concepts. As Korea continues to take more western influences, girl crush groups (aka cooler girl groups, as opposed to cute or sexy which was common in the past) have become more mainstream. Nearly every Kpop group has a rapper, and raps are included in nearly every song, even cuter or slower songs.

Finally, there is the fashion aspect of Kpop. Japanese fashion tends to be quite simple, like a uniform, or crazy bold like we saw in Harajuku fashion. Kpop, on the other hand, not only takes influences from the west, but also has huge influences from black culture. The styles are cool, trendy, and unique, and commonly extravagant and pricey.

Thus, from the beginning, and even more with time, Korea had a good consumer product. You got hot/beautiful individuals, who sing western influenced songs that contain English, cool or fun dances, outfits that others would actually be open to wearing, and more content that allows others to learn more about these idols and essentially fall more in love with them.

It may have taken a bit more time, but now that people are aware of it, they’re all set. But that leads to the next question…

Who Paved The Way For Kpop?

In the Kpop world, fans have been arguing for years about who “paved the way” for Kpop to succeed in the West. I can’t really answer this directly, but I’ll tell you what I know.

Wonder Girls is definitely up there as they made a few full English tracks and “Nobody” was the first to appear on the Top 100!

There is also BoA who is quite well known in all types of circles. Song’s like “My Name” was played on MTV, and I feel like I heard “Hurricane Venus” around elsewhere. I personally got to know her from her Anime song “Every Heart” from Inuyasha, and there may be others who know here form that as well.

Let’s also not forget the biggest boy groups that most older international fans go into like SHINee, EXO, TVXQ!, Big Bang, and Super Junior. Even if you didn’t follow them, you would know a song or two, and many are still referenced today.

Do note that over the years girl groups have always had it harder in the industry. Boy groups were made to attract female fans, and girl groups to attract male fans. Boy groups were usually cooler while girl groups were cuter.

With all the cute girl groups out there, it was harder for some to stand out, so they would switch to a sexy concept to shock the public and attract male fans, as we mentioned earlier.

Boy groups could last 10+ years, while most girl groups flopped and disbanded within 7 years. Some girl groups would be quite popular in their first few years, but then they would be neglected with no comebacks in sight. Then suddenly, a new group with younger girls would debut from the same agency.

Girl groups would also face a lot of scrutiny as women are generally judged more harshly for their looks, weight, facial expressions etc. Male idols would be loved for doing something, like lifting their shirt during a concert or having a cold expression, but female idols would be called not so nice words. There is a lot of double standards. But things have been changing thankfully!

Girls Generation debuted in 2007 from one of the biggest agencies, SM Entertainment. They came out with a refreshing concept and feel that both boys and girls could watch comfortably and support. This led to them being the biggest girl group of their time and the first official group named ‘The Nation’s Girl Group’. If there was one girl group every Kpop fan knew, it was them.

Their concepts weren’t unnaturally cute or immature, nor were they sexy and overly revealing. Rather, they were confident, and at times, mature women who were here to dominate.

They had fun songs anyone could love and cool choreographies that other girls would love to cover. They went on to create hits both domestic and international fan would know, such as “Gee”, “Genie” and “I Got A Boy”. They were the first group to be named “Nation’s Girl Group”.

Moving forward, there’s also 2NE1 who was the first real Girl Crush (cool/hip hop & R&B) Kpop group to come out and they managed to do really well for sales and charts in Korea. “I Am The Best” was very popular and have shown up in multiple commercials, Just Dance, and even movies! Even though the song came out in 2011, it continues to be used more recently, such as in a 2019 South Park episode, and the movie Work it in 2020.

Most can’t deny PSY‘s influence due to his catchy and unavoidable song, “Gangnam Style”, blowing up on Youtube and being the first video to hit 1 Billion views. His following tracks “Gentleman” and “Daddy” were not as popular, but they were still well known and made an appearance in Just Dance games. However, a lot of people didn’t know it was Kpop, or were turned off from Kpop because of him.

But all in all, in my opinion anyways, BTS is definitely THE group that has the most international fans and is well known by the general public. I do believe they helped Kpop not only gain more attention but also helped Kpop STAY in the spotlight as they continue to produce hit after hit. They may not have been the first to ‘pave the way’, but they brought a bulldozer and opened the floodgates.

With BTS putting out more English tracks and focusing on a more casual western sound that many could enjoy, new fans and even older women love the group. I personally loved them most in their early days when they had a cooler, darker, and more aggressive and juvenile sound, but no one can deny that their concept change and easy going songs has helped them gain way more popularity worldwide.

BLACKPINK is just behind them. Their fanbase, aka BLINKS, are eagerly awaiting their once per year (or fewer) comebacks. BLINKS are intense streamers so most of their MVs have broken records for most views within 24 hours. While other groups have big fanbases as well, their fans aren’t as dedicated to streaming, so they miss out on the ability to reach non-fans via trending.

BlackPink has done a few collabs with big western stars like Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa, which also helped them gain more attention and traction. They don’t have the biggest discography, but many feel like YG, their agency, does this on purpose because they know starving fans will eat up anything the second they get it.

There are groups that do better in Korea, like Twice, which has cuter and happier concepts and is currently known as ‘The Nations Girl Group’, but we should all know that the West isn’t the biggest fans of cute, especially in a day and age where rap, hip hop, and sexual concepts take center stage. Anything cute is seen as childish or annoying and instantly brushed off. Others will find it weird or cringey that adult women are acting like kids.

Despite Twice putting out 10 times as many songs as BlackPink, coming back about 3-5 times a year, having more album sales and being one of few groups to truly make it big in Japan (predictable since they like cute stuff there), Twice still hasn’t reached nearly the same amount of international success or recognizability as BlackPink which has a cooler feel and a more western hip hop and R&B sound. It is what it is. At least Twice fans are always full (speaking as a Once myself).

“The Feels”, which was Twice’s attempt at breaking into the English market, did really well, but I felt it was previous international fans who were watching and covering it. Others may have saw their performance on shows, but may not remember them nor add them to their playlists.

so, Why is Kpop More Popular Than jpop?

1. Japan Doesn’t Try To Go Global

The main reason Japanese music isn’t as global is because Japanese artists and labels don’t make an effort to become known internationally. If it happens, it happens, and that’s usually due to anime. But otherwise, meh. Some labels further restrict it from happening with Geoblocking.

LiSA sang a few openings for very popular series like Angel Beats, Sword Art Online, Demon Slayer and the Fate/ Series. Other well known bands like Asian Kung Fu Generation, Spyair, and Kana-Boon were also discovered internationally through their theme songs and sometimes known by name in the anime community. Many anime fans will only remember the title of the song and the anime it appeared in.

Not to mention, these songs are usually 95% to 100% Japanese. Fans may remember an iconic Japanese line in a song, like the first line of Unravel below, or they may wait for the one iconic word they know, like for Attack on Titan with “Yaegar!!!”

English is certainly a boundary since most anime fans don’t speak the language. There are rare cases like Rie Fu’s “Life is Like A Boat” from Bleach that has 50% English, and Akeboshi’s “Wind” from Naruto which is full English.

There are of course some exceptions…

Groups like ONE OK ROCK doesn’t have an anime opening, so most anime fans don’t know about them. However, they did make the main soundtrack for all three live-movie adaptations of Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X), and their song from the series, “The Beginning”, has hit 184 Million views. They’re an older band, starting in 2005, and they are currently one of the most popular Japanese bands in their country and worldwide.

ONE OK ROCK made it big not just because of their amazing music with motivational and relatable lyrics, but because the band had a drive to go Global.

Taka, the singer, wanted to tour the world one day since he was young, and he’s made an effort to incorporate English into their songs from early on. “The Beginning” which came out in 2012, was half English and half Japanese. For their last few albums, they have made full English international albums alongside their original Japanese ones.

ONE OK ROCK also got a boost in popularity due to working with 5 Seconds of Summer, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Against The Current and more, even being a guest for Ed Sheeran. They have been interviewed by western shows and Taka’s voice has also been highlighted as he has amazing control and range as he can sing sweet songs, but also screamo when necessary. His ability to communicate, even a little, means a lot as a foreign artist trying to break in.

They have also mentioned their music being influenced by Western bands, so naturally, their music would be easier for Westerners who may not be familiar with Japanese music to get into. Japanese music as a whole is very different from Western music, from the sound, to the chord progressions, and of course, it’s another language.

According to Wikipedia, “Their seventh studio album, 35xxxv, became their first album which charted on US Billboard. It peaked at No. 11 on Heatseekers Albums, No. 43 on Independent Albums, No. 23 on the Hard Rock Albums, and No. 1 on the World Albums Chart. The band’s eighth album, Ambitions, debuted at No. 106 on the US Billboard 200 and international charts while incorporated more American pop and pop-rock. In 2019, the band adopted electronic and pop sound on ninth album Eye of the Storm.”

As a whole, the band has won countless awards, such as Best International Band & Best Live Performance on Rock Sound Awards, Best Overseas Artist, Best Group Artist & Artist of the Year on Space Shower Music Video Awards, and Best Japanese Act on MTV Europe Music Awards.

We could also consider Hikari Utada. I thought she was just popular in Japan as I would see her on the top of Japanese lists but haven’t heard anyone recommend her to me, but turns out, she is actually one of the biggest Japanese artists worldwide as well.

Instead of being known internationally via animes, Hikaru is recognized due to being acquainted with one of the biggest video game franchises, Kingdom Hearts, with over 35 Million sales since it’s creation in 2002. Out of the 4 main theme songs, she sang 2 of them.

On Youtube, one of her oldest tracks “Come Back To Me” that came out in 2009 has 30 Million views. According to Wikipedia, “”Come Back to Me” is the first single from her second English-language album This Is the One. In the United States, the song has peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and number 69 on the Pop 100 chart.”

She has also made other tracks for dramas, like One Last Kiss, was on the Rush Hour 2 Soundtrack, and has collaborated with big western artists like French Monatana, helping her extend her reach and gather a decent fanbase of both English and Japanese fans.

King Gnu is also a newer Japanese artist that has already taken the world by storm. Ceremony hit the #1 spot on both Japan Oricon and Japan’s Top 100 list, and they later went on the win all 5 awards they were nominated for in 2019, which include Best New Artists, Best Video of the Year, and Excellence Album Award.

On Spotify, their popular songs have 26 Million to 123 Million listens, with over 2 Million monthly listeners, which is around the same as both Hikaru Utada and ONE OK ROCK! Although the comments on Youtube are mostly Japanese, International fans have shared their love for the band. I have noticed one that said it would be great if they translated their content. Hopefully they do to further reach potential fans!!

All in all, I’m sure if Japan or Japanese artists wanted to, they could break through as other artists have in the past. We saw the openness for foreign and unique acts like BABYMETAL after all. However, Japan’s market is blooming, and they got huge amounts of local fans who are happy to support them financially, so they aren’t really pushing for further discovery.

As one Redditer put its, ‘If they’re already the 2nd biggest music industry, why work hard to get into #1’s industry?’

Not to mention, English has always been a hard language for Japanese students. Pronunciations are difficult since Japan has very limited sounds (each vowel only makes one sound, unlike English where “a” could be pronounced 7 ways. Japan doesn’t have many distinctions for plurals, but English does. And then our spelling is unpredictable, there’s slang and sarcasm and just a whole lot to digest. So making the effort to learn the English needed to really connect with international fans isn’t worth the effort for many Japanese artists.

And while the language barrier is certainly one big thing, Japan copywriting and banning their music in other countries means less exposure, and it’s hard to purchase Japanese music and merchandise if you live outside the country. This certainly gives one the impression that they don’t even want to go international.

Korea, on the other hand, their industry isn’t nearly as big as it may feel right now. As of 2020, South Korea was only #6. And while that doesn’t sound bad, if you recall the chart near the top of this article, USA was #1, Japan had about half their numbers at #2, then Germany and the UK had about half of Japan’s at #3 and #4. France was lower than that. Thus, #6 really isn’t that big, and is probably similar to many other countries you don’t usually hear about in the music world.

As big as some groups are, that’s a drop in the bucket considering all the catching up they have to do compared to other countries that have multiple successful artists who many sales over many years.

Also, just because it’s K’pop’, doesn’t mean it’s actually ‘popular’ in Korea. It is, but it isn’t.

Let’s consider Drake, Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus for example. They’re huge for sure, and they are pretty much household names, but not everyone cares to hear or buy their music. It’s the same case over there.

I had a male Korean co-worker a few years back who (funny story) left Korea as he didn’t want to serve in the military. I did ask about Kpop as I was curious about his perspective having lived their recently. He told me he doesn’t listen to it nor is it that popular, ‘it’s just something for young girls’.

All in all, this explains why Korea was so eager to push their artists in Japan since it was just next door and they had a huge industry. However, now that they are seeing more global interest in their artists, they may as well push into the #1 market.

You could make the same argument about anime, how not all Japanese people love anime either, which is very true. Some view true anime fans as geeks and nerds. HOWEVER, as we mentioned earlier, anime theme songs aren’t just theme songs.

They are real songs made by real artists, so fans of those groups may like a song from an artist without knowing it’s a theme song as well. Or in cases like LiSA, the song is just so good that if it trends, it’s bound to gather a lot of interest from the public regardless.

2. Korea’s Pursuit Of Perfection

As mentioned in the Korean Industry section, Korea has very strict standards when it comes to who they choose to debut in a group. They don’t just teach them how to dance and sing, but how to stand, speak, and behave. If the idol isn’t Korean, they will have to study the language, and some also learn to speak English.

In Japan, being perfect isn’t a priority, being a performer and being able to attract fans is. When you watch their dances, they aren’t super in sync. You couldn’t tell who is making a mistake or not together since everyone does their own moves their way.

In Korea, standards are high for stages. Many groups have resorted to lipsyncing on their comeback to further ensure perfection while performing. The choreographies for these groups have gotten increasingly harder over the years, so you can’t even blame them for trying to save their breath or wanting louder backing tracks. People are aware they lip sync and the focus is just on giving a perfect performance.

This crosses into dance covers as well. Jpop covers usually have [踊ってみた] in the title which means “I tried to dance”. They are just doing their best and that’s good enough for viewers. Whereas for Kpop cover groups, a lot have taken this just as seriously, and will host auditions and learn songs within days so they can upload a cover while the track is hot. If a member doesn’t keep up, they will be booted and replaced in no time.

Korea being very strict on perfection does heighten the steaks for these idols. Messing up or being lazy will be noticed and pointed out by haters. It doesn’t matter which comeback stage you watch, they usually do every single dance the same and leave little space for improvisation.

You could watch stage mixes (a compilation of all their comeback stages edited into one like the video below) and it’s a little creepy how well they can be tied together since the members do the same thing every time as they’ve been trained to do. Even facials are the same a lot of the time.

This level of strictness may seem scary, but it’s part of Kpop’s flare. They make it look so easy, but it takes a lot of work to do what they do as perfectly as they do it. For Gfriend, a group known for their difficult yet insanely insync dances, are nearly impossible to cover the way they do. People look up to this and are intrigued by it.

Just A Note On Korea’s Obsession With Beauty

Looks are also a very big factor in Korea. To outsiders, I’m sure Korean idols look like living dolls because they don’t seem to have any flaws. But if you didn’t know, South Korea is the plastic surgery capital in the world, and it is estimated that 1/3 to 1/2 of people have had something done. I’m not saying or suggesting that all idols have plastic surgery, but it is common for spectators to wonder and try to find past photos of the idols to confirm their theories.

The most popular plastic surgery procedure is double eyelid surgery, as it makes one’s eyes look bigger and/or cuter. Jaw surgery is also very common and most will file down their jawline to a heart of “V” shape as it’s Korea’s preferred shape and beauty standard. Some undergo nose jobs, usually to make their nose slimmer or for a nose bridge so their face isn’t as flat. There are other less invasive beauty procedures such as braces, brightening/whitening shots, and removal of moles.

All this is usually done before debut, but there are times idols will reappear after sometime and fans don’t recognize them, so they theorize that they had something done.

In Korea, beauty is everything, or at least a good 90%. Their skincare, makeup and surgery industries are huge, and foreigners tend to ride on those trends. Some even travel to Korea to get surgery done, and Korea has made it easy for them to do so. They have even invited or paid for Youtubers to come for free plastic surgery services to share their experiences and promote them.

There have been Kpop idols like Jooe from Momoland and Umji from Gfriend who were considered the visual holes in their group by Knetz (Korean Netizens) and received many hate comments despite her talents, charisma, and previous performances. You don’t need to do anything to be hated if you’re considered ‘ugly’ to Koreans. I have yet to see an ugly idol, but Koreans have their standard and they’re not afraid to be vocal about it.

The opposite is true for ‘the visual’ of the group. They gain a lot of interest and popularity early on just for being pretty or handsome, and that love grows as they perform. They could never do anything wrong and they are quickly forgiven if they did make a mistake. People are more supportive of their growth if they weren’t as talented as their peers. While I personally think every idol has talent to even debut, I do feel being pretty is enough for a lot of Korean fans.

A great example of this is Tzuyu from Twice. Twice was made through their survival show, Sixteen. Tzuyu was eliminated early on, but surprise surprise, after the 7 idols who made the group were announced, JYP decided to add 2 more. Momo was his personal choice as she was an amazing dancer (and one of the best in her generation), and Tzuyu who was overwhelmingly popular with viewers.

While she did have a scandal of her own, it’s blown over years ago, and she won #1 for 2019’s Most Beautiful Faces of the World. She isn’t one of the top 3 singers, dancers or rappers of the group, (nor is she the worst, as there are 9 people in Twice), so she doesn’t stand out talent wise, but her visuals have gotten her a lot of recognition, and many fans only got interested in Twice because of her.

You can contrast this with Jihyo, a girl who trained at JYP for 10 years and was also on Sixteen. She actually made the lineup and was voted to be leader by the other members. She is the main singer of the group with the biggest vocals, and she is (arguably) one of the best dancers with a lot of stage presence and charisma.

Sadly, she was a little chubby, and didn’t fit Korean standards as well as other members, so while she had the talent and had worked extremely hard over the years, she usually ranks in the lower half of the group during polls. She has lost the weight and many now see her beauty (that was already there), but her popularity has only risen so much, and she still can’t compete with Tzuyu who is usually #1 or #2 on ranks.

And yes, this is shallow. It’s very shallow. The fact that the “Visual” is an actual position a member can have in a Kpop group says a lot about Korean society. But it’s a smart move as well.

Science and history has shown there has always been favor towards beautiful people and they will usually be more popular than not as attractive people because many individuals are attracted to looks.

As we see with Disney movies, the princess is always seen as young and beautiful and thus come off as more pure and innocent. The villains tend to be very ugly in comparison, with dark eyes, sharp features, and sometimes being obese. The pretty girls are always the popular ones in schools and movies and will win beauty pageants and prom queen titles in high schools and movies.

As for boy groups, many young girls (not alllll of course) develop feelings and crushes based on looks alone. For Kpop, girls may be instantly hooked to a guy via his looks, and then pulled in by their singing and dancing skills. Their shallow crush then gets deeper as they get to learn more about the idol and hear them speak, and they will feel like they know them personally. Thus, looks are very important to a lot of fan’s initial interest in an idol or group.

Do note that this logic doesn’t apply to girl crush groups. Girl crush are girl groups that tend to do more hip hop or aggressive concepts, and they wear cooler, more badass fashion. Best examples are BLACKPINK, (G)idle, or Everglow. These groups attract more female fans (thus girl crush name), and fans tend to choose their favs based on who’s the coolest, or who has better dancing and rapping skills.

Even if someone wasn’t aiming to be an idol, they may still opt for treatments because looking good may be a requirement for a lot of jobs. Photos are attached to even the most basic customer service jobs. Not to mention, dating is obviously easier when you’re pretty or handsome.

Parents will often gift their child surgery treatments for birthdays or before graduating college to ensure ‘a better life for them’. Being a little chubby or being considered unattractive can lead to a lot of bullying as well.

3. Kpop’s Dedicated International Fandom

International Kpop fans have been around for a very long time, but Kpop groups didn’t always make them a priority. Kpop groups wanted to do well in their country and will aim for local album sales and their first few music show win.

Then, after dominating their own market, most would try to debut in Japan with a Japanese version of a previous song. Due to Japan’s huge music market and their close proximity to the country, it sounds like a great idea. Cuter groups, like Twice and Gfriend, had an easier time coming in, but nowadays, Korean artists have taken up quite a few spots on their top charts. They really have taken over the world.

In recent years though, I find more agencies are debuting groups with international fans in mind, probably due to the popularity of BTS and BLACKPINK. They want to mimic that because, obviously, they’ll make more money if they know they will succeed globally.

SM Entertainment, who previously had most of the biggest groups in the industry, like Girl’s Generation and EXO, created SuperM, a new boy group with male idols from their previous groups. They immediately debuted in the West with their song “Jopping” in 2019.

2NE1 was popular as one of the first real hip hop and girl crush concept groups in the Kpop world. YG, their agency, saw their success and instead of pushing them more, they wanted to create a better one with prettier members (their words, not mine).

Due to this, people were already eagerly awaiting for BlackPinks debut. They did not disappoint as BlackPink were considered beautiful fashion icons who had a badass image and high end charisma around them. Their sound would easily be popular in the west and the dances were flashy but not too difficult so others could cover them.

But let me tell you a bit more about Kpop fans. While BTS fans are officially called “Army,” I think that word truly fits most hardcore Kpop fans. They will fight for their fav groups ’til the end and you are just asking to be cancelled if you do or say anything against their beloved idols. Their passion is immense and their is power in numbers.

There have been many instances of someone making a tweet talking negatively of a group, or a TV station saying something ignorant, and the fans will come flooding. They will attacking them, thumbs down them, they will demand an apology, and some toxic fans will send death threats. You do not want to make them mad. You have been warned.

Moving on, because their fanbase is so strong and everyone is keeping an eye out for their favourite groups and their comebacks, they are quick to show the groups their support when content is dropped and quickly spread it around. A music video can drop and less than 24 hours later, it will hit over 10 million views due to international fans streaming their songs and music videos all day everyday.

Due to this, Kpop instantly trends and thus exposes casual fans and curious non-fans to their music, thus increasing views. Unlike before where a Kpop group may have get lucky and have a single viral hit, now a popular group with a lot of fans will instantly go viral once their songs are released.

In this day and age with short clips being preferred on social media (Tiktok, Instagram Reels, Youtube Shorts), bite size clips of a chorus from BTS’s “Butter” and “Dynamite, Itzy’s “Wannabe”, and Twice’s “The Feels” can also get non-fans interested in a group’s new song and maybe spread the song as well if they choose to follow the trend and upload their own cover. You also got other Youtubers finding cool or funny clips from official content and also sharing it around.

Due to the high demand, albums, merch, light sticks, and so on instantly sell out. If the group does an international tour, they can fill up huge stages despite somewhat pricey tickets. Their fans are die hard and will eat up anything they put out. As long as the market is there, the groups can keep promoting, and thus the cycle continues. New fans join and they can spread it to their circle as well.

4. Kpop Has A “Better” Community

I put better in quotes cause the Kpop community can be quite toxic at times. Fanwars are common, people are always leaving hate comments on videos and targeting idols, there’s annoying trolls, and delusional fans who stalk idols, etc.

But regardless, International Kpop fans at least have a community. A very active and passionate community. You can find them anywhere at this point.

As a Jmusic fan, I never felt I had that. While I could easily find anime fans, I don’t really have anyone to discuss the music with. They’ll know the names of theme songs but not the artists or their other tracks. I’ve also attended J-music events in Toronto, and the audience was always small, under 200 people.

I went to a ONE OK ROCK concert in 2018. They visited my city, Toronto, which was 1 of 2 Canadian stops. The venue could hold 2,500, but it didn’t sell out, and there was a lot of space at the back and on the balcony (VIP). Their main tickets were quite cheap, under $60 after tax. I ain’t complaining, but just saying, price wouldn’t have been an issue for most fans. .

Considering Toronto has a population over 2 million people, and people from other cities and provinces would have travelled to make it to this concert, less than 2,000 fans really isn’t that much. The chances of me bumping into another ONE OK ROCK fan is very slim. If OOR is one of the biggest Japanese bands internationally right now, what does that say about the rest of the industry?

BlackPink, on the other hand, has had audiences of over 14,000 in Australia and 20,000 in the USA for a single concert. I’m sure many fans couldn’t afford it (tickets were averaging $100 but went up to $500) or couldn’t get tickets in time, so I’m positive the number of fans in an area are a lot higher than the number of attendees at a single event. Not to mention, they were the highlight act at Coachella! Their international fanbase is huge and possibly still growing.

Moving on, because Kpop has such a big and active community, Kpop news spreads fast and people are always talking about it and educating others about it. I know stuff about groups I don’t even follow nor really care much about as their music don’t fit my personal tastes.

There’s a lot of Youtubers who strictly make Kpop content and will report on news, scandals, comebacks, incidents, comparing visuals and talents, sharing cool or funny clips from appearances on other shows and so on. A lot of Kpop fans are multi-stans (they follow multiple Kpop groups), which is why it’s so easy to spread news between fandoms.

Trending for Kpop isn’t just some algorithmic mistake either. It starts with some fans adoring content and sharing it in groups and threads, and then some will make covers, and other’s will make additional content out of clips, and all this helps bring exposure to non-fans. So a song from a small group may blow up out of nowhere.

For many, having a community means having a home. A space you feel safe and free and you can express yourself the way you want. Kpop fans can openly talk about how much they love their idols and not feel ashamed about it.

There are stores that sell Kpop albums where they can hang out and find other fans. Most times, the owners are fans too, and they will converse with customers. I have friends who are well affiliate with workers and are even known by name.

At conventions, they often have dance challenges/games where, if you know the choreo for the song playing, you will run to the middle and dance along with everyone else who knows it. As you can see, a lot of people know a lot of dances, and learning these cool dances are a big part of being a fan.

I don’t see any of this in the international Jmusic fan community. I love Jpop dances and have learned them, but other people may not like the songs (especially ones from Vocaloid), and/or they find the dances to cute, childish or cringey. The main reason I started a Kpop dance group in 2015 was because no one responded to my ad to create a Jpop one, but I really wanted to dance with others.

Even if one is an introvert, as most anime fans are, it’s still nice to have a community for the things you do like, and that’s why anime conventions are huge! It’s the one time many fans could dress up and be loud about their love without shame or embarrassment. Many anime fans are still picked on and bullied for being a nerd and liking ‘childish cartoons’.

I really don’t hear anyone talking about Japanese music or creating channels to share news and content. At most, a theme song will trend, or a random song from YOASOBI will trend due to their catchy tunes and storytelling elements, but that’s about it.

No one is really making content about the groups or letting others know about new tracks. Then Japan isn’t making an effort to keep international fans updated, so we’re out of the circle.

5. Korea Has Better Real Life Media Production

Finally, I will say that Korea’s other media has certainly helped with more international acceptance. Yeah, they have skincare and food, but it’s only popular within certain groups, like millennials and those who are on social media. Their live movies and series has certainly helped Korea gain more public attention, interest, and acceptance.

I remember in high school, my friends would tell me about “Boys Over Flowers” all the time. I didn’t watch it as I didn’t have internet at home then, but what I found funny is that the story is actually Japanese, and it’s original name is “Hana Yori Dango”. There is a Japanese drama with the same story that came out 3 years before the Korean drama, but no one really talks about it or refers to it when recommending the series.

I have watched quite a few Japanese dramas and I’ve noticed Japanese shows tend to have a certain graininess, or the lighting is more natural or dull or just something about it that makes it look old and/or cheap, even if it’s not. You can see this in their music videos as well.

Japanese MVs tend to be quite minimalistic, using a 1-2 outfits and usually a single set location. They don’t go too crazy with the lighting or sets either. Sometimes, they don’t even create a MV and just use clips from a concert or rehearsal, like the Babymetal MV above.

I can’t recall ever watching a Japanese music video and thinking it looked extravagant or luxurious. It’s just not what Japan does. However, that’s not a bad thing! Due to this simplicity, we get to see the artists in a more natural state, seeing them have fun or just having their personalities shine through.

On the other hand, Kpop MVs, especially those from bigger agencies, will give each video their all, and MVs can easily cost more than $100,000 to make, sometimes even hitting $1 Million to make!

I’ve gather two music videos from each country, both were released in January 2021. I first looked up “Japanese MV” and the one on the left was the best ranking one from this year. I then chose a Korean MV from the same month and year to contrast it with.

As you can see, Kpop tends to use multiple fancy looking sets. They will also create a set for each member to be highlighted. Some MV require renting out locations like airports or expensive halls and venues. A music video may include 3+ costume changes for each idol, some of which are brand name, and they may have fancy props like cars or a billboard. They may also destroy these things in the video.

There’s also post production, which will include additional graphics and effects and ensuring everything ties together perfectly with the music. They don’t play over there….but this is also why it takes idols a very long time to put money in their own pockets.

As much as one may feel this is shallow or not that important, people like high quality stuff. Would you rather watch a dark video in 380p or a high quality one in 4K? Do you just want to see people dancing in a school yard, or you want an actual storyline with epic sets and graphics? A lot of people would choose the latter.

Now, let’s also go back to the perfection value and Korea’s obsession with beautiful people. Their stars tend to fit beauty standards (or can get something done to fit them better).

Since their fans find them attractive and some fall hard for them, they are eagerly following other stuff they may appear in, thus helping bring attention to other shows or groups. A lot of Kpop stars who are the visual of the group may later become actors or models.

Now let’s talk about Japan’s beauty and standards in comparison to that.

A lot of Japanese actors don’t stick out much visually in Jdramas unless they were supposed to be objectively pretty based on the story. That’s not to say Japanese actors are ugly, but rather, the actors look like everyday people, and in everyday life, some people are naturally more attractive than others. A Jdrama series isn’t swamped with people who could all be models, so it’s similar to western shows and movies in that aspect.

And you may not know this, but Japan actually finds certain ‘odd’ features cute. Best example is that a lot of Japanese people find crooked teeth cute and adorable, and some will actually get dental surgery to get crooked teeth. I am not lying about this. Look up “Yaeba” if you’re curious.

While Korea has a tendency to bleach and whitewash their idols as they find whiter skin beautiful, I find Japanese people tend to embrace their natural skintone a bit more, and there’s a lot more tan idols and actors. They may have whitening products, but it’s not used by most people like it is in Korea. There are also subfashions in Japan that promote darker, tanner skin, like Ganguro and Gyaru styles.

And while Japanese people are generally pretty slim due to their culture and cuisine, being a bit chubby isn’t seen as negatively as it would be in Korea. Japan does have Sumo wrestlers after all. Sometimes, chubby is also cute and adorable, aka Kawaii.

Moving on, Parasite did really well in the box office and got tons of awards. And now, Squid Game is one of the highest ranking Netflix series. Pretty much everyone knows about it, and if not, chances are, you’ve seen memes or your favourite Youtubers did something around it. Kdramas were also always highly rated by fans. Thus, Korea top spots on international musical charts and now they’re topping international media as well.

In Squid Game, the most popular actor from the series is HoYeon Jung, who played Kang Sae-Byeok, a North Korean defector and finalist of the games. She never acted before, but she was a famous model in Korea beforehand. Many westerners have followed her on Instagram since the show debuted and they can’t help but be captivated by her visuals.

I say all this about media because you need to understand, when it comes to developing a fanbase, you will do better when you have real people to connect with. People want to see others, to relate to them, learn about them, and feel inspired by them.

By having real people in your media, you give fans someone to follow, and thus creating stronger bonds between fan and star. They can check out other content, interviews, guest appearances, commercials and films.

You can follow them on social media, see what they are up to, what they’re wearing, and perhaps copy them to feel connected, follow their advice, or show your love for them. They may also have live streams you can check out and hear what they have to say.

As you get to know them more, you fall for them deeper and become quite attached, Korea is amazing when it comes to portraying humans and giving fans regular content to follow and keep up with their favourite stars and idols.

Not to mention, these humans are actually seen as perfect by quite a few fans, so there is also a huge idolization factor. They recognize that these people are human beings, but that they are also something unreal. ‘They’re beautiful, talented, kind, amazing!” Their agency has helped in creating the perfect image for the idols, and then media production certainly helps with portraying this.

Celebrities in the West aren’t as open and you never know what’s going on with them until they release something or someone exposes them. They also may not have regular content and fans don’t know when or if they’ll drop the next thing. They won’t sit aorund waiting.

And sure, Japan has AMAZING media. Anime, Ghibli films etc, but it is fictional. Your connection stars and ends when the show starts and ends. The characters are not going to show up elsewhere, so there’s nothing to follow. You just end up digging around for another show to fall in love with for a little while.

Takeaways

Kpop is huge and it’s very easy to see why. Not only are they deeply influenced by the West, but they make an effort to be more accessible to westerners.

The idols are strictly trained making them admirable and praise worthy, and their combination of cool outfits and amazing choreographies make them something a lot of people in the west would love to watch. It’s new and exciting, and it’s not so foreign that it’s weird or annoying.

Once a potential fan finds a few songs they like and they have a bias or two, they’re going to check out other content by that group and get attached. Then, they’re going to be curious about other Kpop groups or Youtube will recommend what’s trending, and they get to discover new groups that they also love.

Before you know it, you’ve fallen too deep into Kpop hole and there’s no wait out (I’m dead serious, so many fans mention wanting to leave as they lost interest or the fandom is toxic, but they stay cause there’s still groups or idols they love. That or Youtube keeps recommending them stuff and they can’t help put click on it).

With a huge fanbase always making content and a big community that openly accepts them, teaches them, and introduces them to new groups, new fans are easily created, and they will eventually help others who are also curious about Kpop.

Now that Korea fully broke the walls with the west, I don’t see Korea’s popularity going down. The agencies and idols have worked extremely hard to make it here, and they’re definitely going to keep working to maintain that level of fame as they are now mainstream in the #1 music market of the world. This is not only great for the artists, but it will bring attention the country and increase tourism as well.

As for Jpop, Japan’s industry is #2 in the business, so for a lot of agencies, artists, and bands, their home country provides more than enough money and support for them to feel comfortable where they are. They don’t make an effort to promote in the west, they barely have any (if any) English in their songs or titles, and they also copywrite a lot of songs meanings westerners can’t even listen to it.

If someone was interested in Japanese music, it is a long, slow and hard path, more so if they don’t know any Japanese. Titles and artists may be written in Japanese, there’s no fans making content to help introduce people to new bands, and songs are rarely ever trending. If they do, it’s usually weirder songs that only a few would like enough to look into the artists’ other music.

Anisong singers have the greatest opportunity for discoverability since Anime is already Japan’s biggest media export and the anime community is huge. However, while some theme songs may trend greatly, not many anime fans care enough about Japanese music to learn about the artist and check out their other tracks.

And sure, Japan may give us anime, but that is animated. International fans don’t get to see or follow real people. We don’t see the singers behind the theme songs, the actors behind the voices, the creators and artists behind the series itself.

It’s like there’s a wall between us, and that makes it really hard for westerners to find them and connect with them. Most Japanese music fans had to be lone wolves, digging and digging to find more that they may like since no one tells them anything and no one talks about it.

Side By Side – LiSA vs LISA

So back to the title of this article. Now that you have a better idea of how both countries work and why Kpop is more popular, let’s now explore these two artists: LiSA (Jpop) an ani-song artist, mainly known for her singing VS LISA (Kpop), a member of BlackPink who specializes in rap and dancing.

With your new knowledge above, understanding the numbers below will make a lot of sense. In a lot of categories, Jpop’s LiSA can’t compete with international Kpop star’s LISA, but these two were never facing side by side, nor were they competing in the same markets. They are both big, but big in their own ways.

As of June 2022	LiSA (Japan)	LISA (Korea)
Birthname	Risa Oribe (織部 里沙)	Lalisa Manobal (Birth Name: Pranpriya Manobal)
Birth Year	1987	1997
Year of Debut	2005	2016
# of Instagram Followers	1.1 Million (@xlisa_olivex)	78.9 Million (@lalalalisa_m) 47.3 Million (@blackpinkofficial)
# of Twitter Followers	1.6 Million (@LiSA_OLiVE)	6.5 Million (@BLACKPINK)
# of Spotify Monthly Listeners	~3,800,000	~10,900,000 (LISA)
Popularity/Brand Rep In Their Country	#5 (Reference)	#8 (Reference)
Net Worth	$2.2 Million	$20 Million

Conclusion

I hope this article has been informative for you. Whether you were curious or really trying to understand why one is so well known compared to the other, I hope this has provided the answers you were seeking.

This article is not to say which one is better as music is subject. I like both LiSA and LISA and I can see why certain people may like one more than the other. There are also artists and groups I prefer over both of them as I am a bigger fan of Jrock music and cuter/quirkier Kpop concepts. I love what both countries have to offer and I love checking out anything I can find.

All in all, one shouldn’t assume that popularity automatically means one’s music is better. There are a lot of Kpop groups that are popular internationally for a handful of years, but there are Jpop groups and artists that have been famous in the #2 music industry in the world for decades, you just don’t know about them.

And this goes for many undiscovered artists around the world. You never know when one may blow up, but until then, be sure to support them when you can and help spread music to others who may like it too.

As a Jmusic fan, I’m hoping to help spread their music through this blog and help others find what they may like sooner. If you’re interested in Jmusic, but aren’t sure where to start, check out my Youtube channel that contains many sampler playlists for various genres to discover new artists and sounds.

Also, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! I’m grateful to those on Reddit who has helped me shape this article and make it clearer for non-fans, and I would love if you have other points or perhaps artists that you also think should be mentioned.

Thanks for reading!