K-Pop Daisuki - Korean Music Basics
The K-Pop scene brought with it a lot of new terms (or reuse of older terms) with it, specially among international fans. Eventually, the whole industry absorbed these terms, making them somewhat official. Here are the most used terms you might find in Korean Music chats and articles.
Aegyo
An overly cute reaction (or purposeful acting), often using high pitch voices. There are even Aegyo songs often used by some producers asking their artists to show their cute side. Depending on how it is portrayed, Aegyo can either be just funny and sometimes genuinely cute, or go too far into slapstick comedy;
All-Kill
Term used when a song hits number one on all valid charts (monitored by Instiz's ichart). While All-Kill is a hard achievement, it only requires real time charts to be topped. The hardest achievement is the called Perfect All-Kill, where not only the real time charts are topped, but also the weekly charts;
Artist Reputation Value
Also called "Artist Brand Value" is a list of artists with highest "Brand Value" published weekly by a private for-profit business, the "Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation", and a few sites still publish their "findings", which for lack of better term, is stuff that comes out of the ass. We already have an article explaining their completely fake value, but to sum up, they just count the comments, posts and likes each artist have on their Social Network, apply a proprietary magic formula, and spit a list that is supposedly how much an artist is worth for advertisers (brand value). For all its worth it, this is barelly a popularity ranking, but since they can't tell if the comments and posts are positive, it could well be that the artist is in a big scandal.
Bias
The favorite artist of a person, commonly used in regards of the favorite member of a group;
CircleChart (or just Circle)
As of 2023, the new name of the official Music Industry Benchmark and tracking in Korea, which tracks Streaming, Downloads, Album sales and other metrics. Previously known as Gaon starting in 2010, and before that it had no official name and was a report from MIAK (Music Industry Association of Korea).
CircleChart Physical sales track the volume of items distributed to stores from the factories, minus the number of returns from unsold/refunded items (weeks or months later). Therefore, it takes some time to have a clear picture of real sales. However, it is considered the official method by the industry. Hanteo charts, in contrary, run reported sales and returns from affiliated stores. However, only outlets that are affiliated with Hanteo offer such reports, and many outlets do not send reports weekly (some will do it monthly), and therefore can also have some lag. Another big problem with Hanteo is their difficulty in getting online stores affiliated, and therefore counted, causing specialy international sales to be highly underreported. All in all, they are reasonably accurate for internal sales, but Hanteo have less reach then Circle because of the reduced cover. Hanteo have difficulty tracking international sales, while Circle, since it tracks items produced and shipped, doesn't. Some Music Show Awards use Hanteo as their Sales source, while others Circle. Typically, End of year awards use Circle since it offers a more exact picture (since it tends to be more precise with time). As the online outlets became more prevalent, Hanteo and Circle numbers developed a huge divide, with Circle being considered now extremelly more accurate despite not being able to account for items which were never returned (broken/lost/still on stock).
CircleChart also have a different method to track electronic revenue. It tracks Streaming, Downloads and Ringtone Downloads (something common in Korea) separate, and then it have a compilation of all electronic revenue in their "Digital" chart. Due to constant changes in how their Digital chart is calculated, as well lack of transparency, it is hard to have a clear picture of these values when comparing with different time periods, but for immediate checking (current charts) it is considered a golden standard for taking into account all electronic revenues in the same chart. For this reason, if you want a better picture of how an artist is doing, Circle Sales + Circle Digital is the best combo.
Gaon
The previous name of CircleChart, the official Music benchmark and tracking in Korea. Read "CircleChart" for more.
Science defines a Generation as something between 25 and 30 years, but who cares?
The youngsters of K-Pop can't fathon periods of time longer than about 5 years, and this this is the pseudo-separation in time period or a K-Pop generation, creating groups of artists better suited for each new wave of young fans to express their appreciation without having to consider previous (or future) artists. Most fans consider the artists from before the international awakening of Kpop to be the first generation (all Idols up late 2000s). The second generation starts when new fans started pouring in following the initial success of Kpop, and after that, each generation unsurprisingly gets shorter.While some people claim that the term encompass changes in posture, culture and approach in both musical and visual styles of the artists, this is nothing more than the reflex of time passing, and by all accounts the whole of K-Pop is still pretty much the same since the modern era of Korean Music started.
As companies explore the concept (not surprisingly) all new groups try to give the impression that they are the start of a new generation, thus a whole new novelty level that would make them unique and with no comparisons (since you shouldn't compare artists of different generations). For adults, this derogative term further objectifies - even in time - Idol groups by creating even more segregation among artists into non-existent smaller categories, allowing easy and simpler comparisons between them. By having fewer successful artists in each Generation, it becomes easier for their artists to be among the top artists, giving young fans the idea that only that particular Generation exists and thus is unique, also validating their existence as special. By the time they grow up into their 30's, young fans realize how fool it is to try and partition music in such tiny periods of time and stop using the term.
Hanteo
A Industry monitoring group that have their own sales tracking using a different approach than the official Korean Ministry (currently Circle). Read more about the differences in "CircleChart" above.
Hyung
An affectionate term for an older man, used by males;
Idol (Groups or Artists)
Groups of young attractive people who are often trained for months or years to be able to dance, behave properly, display a good demeanor and sometimes even sing. Groups have members with different focus, such as vocals, rappers, dancers or visuals, and not rarely, groups will have a second vocal so they can perform if one vocal cannot work;
Idol Groups are hugely formulaic, with their members being often treated as less than humans by the industry (there have been more than one case where companies were found to treat their trainees as close as slaves, depriving them from external contact, food and freedom and locking them with huge contract breakup fines), while enshrined by their fans. Often, the songs are not produced inhouse, with both songwriters and lyricists being hired and only given directions towards the desired theme they should follow.
The main goal of Idol Groups is to reach an impossible standard of beauty and behavior (thus, an Idol) that will attract brands to hire said Idols or the whole group as their brand face, representatives or simply sponsors, bringing the main profit for the industry.
In stark contrast with Singers, who focus is on the music, Idol Groups are all about the entertainment and show, with complex choreography, shinny wardrobe and appealing image. Contrary to the believe of youngsters that this formulaic trained Idols are inferior, being entertained by the show is far from wrong, and people of all walks of life and ages enjoy the lively atmosphere from the Idols - but it is important to understand their origins, ideals and capabilities to prevent misunderstandings, such as that all Idols are really perfect and can sing pitch perfect. Idols are people too, and make mistakes. Unfortunately, society (and the industry) is slow on understanding this fundamental truth, and artists are often ostracized and even thrown away by the slight mistake (even in their past, before becoming an artist), sometimes leading them to depression and even suicide.
Its worth noting that being a singer and an Idol are not mutually exclusive. A lot of Idols are actually very good and talented singers, some even natural. Some idols are also good songwriters and lyricists. It is not a mutually exclusive trait.
Koreaboo
A non-Korean person that is obsessed with Korean culture, often used as a derogative term;
K-Pop
Korean Pop Music, often used to encompass all Korean Music. However, there are also specific terms for different music styles, like K-Hiphop, K-rock and so on. The term, however, is used internationally as a short for Korean Music even though it actually is about the Pop style. The format is also used in other Asian countries, so you will find J-Pop (Japanese Pop), C-Pop (Chinese Pop), T-Pop (Thai Pop) and so on.
It is worth noting that K-Pop is not a genre in itself, and should be tied with the general Pop genre. Some streaming or sales sites incorrectly describe music from Korea as belonging from "K-Pop" genre, which is incorrect (most notably Apple Music/iTunes)
Daisuki considers Korean Music any Music produced by artists based and promoted mostly in Korea, even by non-Koreans (most often Japanese or Chinese). Korean language is not a pre-requisite (the human voice is just an instrument on vocalized music).
Maknae
The younger member of a group;
MR Removed
Short for "Music Recorded" Removed, it means the playback of a recorded song is removed (digitally from a live presentation) in order to isolate only the live feed from the singer microphone. This is done to expose how the artists real voices and singing ability is in contrast to what the audio with playback sounds.
As an useless gimmick - since singing and dancing wearing often constricting costumes, and often for a long time in concerts, is not exactly easy or often possible - some fans will use these versions as "proof" that an Idol cannot sing live. The fact remains that Idols are not actually required to sing along while doing the choreography, and whenever they are showcasing their voices (such as in Dingo's Killing Voice), they will do standing (not dancing) with comfortable clothes in often controlled environment and good acoustics.
Most Singers - in contrast with Idols - will do live presentations with reduced or no choreography in order to be able to showcase their voice.
MR Removed videos are yet another display of how far the vile trolls on the internet will go to attack the very real people behind Idols.
Noona
An affectionate term for an older woman, used by males. The equivalent to Unnie, which is used by females;
Nugu (Group or artist)
An unknown (little known) group or artist, usually meaning a niche or simply unsuccessful artist. Like "Stan", it is not a recognized Korean term and is used only by foreign fans.
Oppa
An affectionate term for an older man, used by females;
PC
Photocards or Postcards. Often included on Albums. Some people collect them (Each Album comes with one group member Photocard, and therefore you can either buy multiple, or try to trade online).
Sasaeng Fans
Fans that become so obsessed with their idols that they disrespect privacy, act as stalkers and feel entitled enough to dictate and judge their idols lives. Basically, the utter scum of the fandom, losing only - perhaps - to trolls that enjoy humiliating and spreading fake news about Idols;
Stans
A term initially pejorative towards a person that is overly obsessed with something, it eventually became a commonplace term among KPop fans for people who consider themselves loyal fans of their specific favorites, with fans often using the term as a badge of honor. While the negative connotation has diminished, outsiders still perceive it as an excessive fan that can often be irritated by any comment that is not positive about the object of their affection. Most "stans" have a very weak sense of what constructive criticism is and will not accept them, and will also not accept that every artist can have ups and downs; The closest analogy would be an "Stalking Fan".
This is a foreign term that is not actually recognized by Koreans (who instead use Sasaeng Fans) - therefore, even Koreans get it that Stan is a bad term. Please don't use it, there is a perfectly suitable word for a fan ... "Fan".
Unnie
An affectionate term for an older woman, used by females. The equivalent to Noona, which is used by males;
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