This week, we say "anyong haseyo" as we dive into fans of Korean Pop (K-Pop)... in Brazil?? Why is it so popular there, of all places? And what is it about this unique musical style? Is it riding out the Korean Wave??
Next week, our final episode of the season, takes us to fans of something a bit more global: Fans of cosplay!
## Episode outline
### Fandom Facts
**Origins:**
Korean pop, abbreviated to 'K-pop', is a musical genre that originates in South Korea. The term is often used to describe a modern form of South Korean pop music drawing inspiration from a range of styles and genres around the world. K-pop's origins begin in the late 1980s and early 1990s with groups such as Seo Taiji and Boys being among the earliest in 1992.
> The French Institut national de l'audiovisuel defines K-pop as a "fusion of synthesized music, sharp dance routines and fashionable, colorful outfits." ... Songs typically consist of one or a mixture of pop, rock, hip hop, R&B and electronic music genres.
>
> — [Wikipedia - K-pop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-pop)
There is also a ton of history about K-pop that relates to Japan, and the West, Korean Culture in general, and even _enka_... but we only have a short time to do the research, so we would highly recommend reading more about it!
**Fandom Origins:**
Modern K-pop idol culture began with the band H.O.T in 1996, and another generation of fans started with TVXQ and BoA which broke into the neighbouring Japanese market (and the world). However, with the advent of social media and Korean TV shows, K-pop and its fandom may just be a small part of the Korean Wave.
**Most Active:**
For the first time in _Fanthropological's_ history, the answer to the question "when was this fandom most active" is _now_. Since January 2004, interest in K-pop (using [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F02yh8l) as a proxy) is the highest it has ever been and has been on a huge trend upwards since approximately January 2010. Interest is still rising, those it has been less dramatic of an increase in interest since approximately March 2012 (For reference, _Gangnam Style_ debuted on Youtube in July 2012).
**Fandom Demographics:**
Thank goodness for fans! The [kpop subreddit has conducted a census](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/55g79h/reddit_kpop_census_2016_results/) which gives us an interesting (if rough sense) of the fandom demographics of North American K-pop fans. Based on this data (and that caveat):
- Age: The majority of fans are between 18-24 (61.5%), with the next largest group being fans aged 25-34 (20%) and fans aged 13-17 (15.6%)
- Gender: The majority of fans from this survey are male (56%) compared to female (42.6%)
- Ethnicity: The majority of fans are Asian (46%), Caucasian (44.5%), or Hispanic (8.4%)
However, a Master's student, Maur-Anne Griffonnet-Barge, conducted a survey as part of her thesis and may give a [more 'global' dataset](http://beyondhallyu.com/k-pop/what-are-k-pop-fans-like-according-to-this-survey-theyre-actually-pretty-cool/):
- Age: The majority are age 19 or younger with a close second being fans age 20-29
- Gender: Differing from the reddit survey, the vast majority identify as female
- Ethnicity: The majority of respondents were white, with the next largest group being fans who are Asian.
While it is difficult to estimate the number of fans, the Hallyu (Korean Wave) index, [gives a conservative estimate of 35 million "hardcore" fans of Korean Pop Culture worldwide](https://www.quora.com/How-many-Kpop-fans-are-there-in-the-world-divided-into-America-Europa-Asia-Africa-Australia-and-South-America) and there are 60 million registered Hallyu fan club members in 109 countries. Assuming K-pop is a subset of that, it would still put K-pop fans in the millions.
**Around the world:**
We know that K-pop has gained some popularity around the world, but using the same google trends data, it appears that K-pop...
