K-pop's past, present and future stars, all in one place

The cover of Mark James Russell's new book 'K-Pop Now! - The Korean Music Revolution' (image courtesy of Tuttle Publishing)

The U.S. based Tuttle Publishing, which specializes in books about Asia, has newly released "K-Pop Now! - The Korean Music Revolution", a book on Korea's popular music, recognized globally as "K-pop", and about its past, present and future.

The author, Mark James Russell, has been in Korea since 1996. He has published articles in the New York Times and in Billboard, while also authoring a book called "Pop Goes Korea" in 2008, which sheds light on Korean films, music and online culture.

This new book has a brief introduction about Korea and reviews the music- and dance-loving nature of the people using historical records, and then explains how modern K-pop came to be.

Making a comeback last year with a new album, "Bounce", and the title track of the same name, the so-called "king of pop music", Cho Yong-pil, gained popularity across all generations after a decade of absence. There's Kim Kwang-suk, who enthralled the minds of '90s youth. Sinawe,Kim Gun-moand Shin Seung-hoon are all also given an honorable mention, leading up toSeo Taijiand the Boys, whose marked presence in Korean pop music history was the prelude to the new era of K-pop.

Once a singer himself, Lee Soo-man set up SM Entertainment after being influenced by MTV during his studies in the U.S. The agency began by producing fine-tuned and super successful idol groups, like H.O.T. This was followed by other groups, like S.E.S and Shinhwa.

Entering the marketplace, groups like Sechs Kies and FinKL, all managed by DSP, helped to continue the idol group-filled environment of the current K-pop world.

Following on their heels, musician turned producer Yang Hyun-suk founded YG Entertainment andPark Jin-youngstarted JYP Entertainment, both of which enhanced K-pop's musical, visual and commercial diversity. All this has resulted in K-pop's current status on the world's musical stage.

Russell interviews the couple behind "Eat Your Kimchi", a popular YouTube channel, Brian, of the male duo Fly to the Sky, and Kevin of Ze:A, bringing the various voices of the K-pop industry together. Also, with encyclopedic information on the individual groups and singers in the K-pop pantheon, he helps readers unfamiliar with K-pop to get up to date.

Finally, he discusses 28 male and female groups, while solo artist like Psy,BoA, Rain and IU also get entries. In the end, he shares his views on the prospects of new and upcoming talent, like VIXX, Lee Hi, the Akdong Musicians and Crayon Pop.

By Paik Hyun
Korea.net Staff Writer
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