The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop

by Suk-Young Kim (Editor)

How did Korea with a relatively small-scale music industry come to create a vibrant pop culture scene that would enthrall not only young Asian fans but also global audiences from diverse racial and generational backgrounds? From idol training to fan engagement, from studio recording to mastering choreographic sequences, what are the steps that go into the actual production and promotion of K-pop? And how can we account for K-pop's global presence within the rapidly changing media environment and consumerist culture in the new millennium? As an informed guide for finding answers to these questions, The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop probes the complexities of K-pop as both a music industry and a transnational cultural scene. It investigates the meteoric ascent of K-pop against the backdrop of increasing global connectivity wherein a distinctive model of production and consumption is closely associated with creativity and futurity.

Genres: Music

312 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2023

Reviews

[Livia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unironically great and extremely informative, favorite chapters were the ones on early neoliberalism in Korean music, the stylistic history of K-pop, cover dance, idols as affective laborers and cultural capitalists, and the 4-chapter section on BTS and K-pop after BTS, and especially the chapter on idol shipping culture & queerbaiting in K-pop

[Sarah]

Review to come (as I am writing one for a journal).