Comparative Discourse on J-pop and K-pop: Hybridity in Contemporary Local Music

Abstract

Due to the close but complicated relationship between the Japanese and Korean music industries, J-pop and K-pop have several significant commonalities and differences. By analyzing the transformation of K-pop in tandem with Japanese influences through a convergence of political economy in terms of historical approach and textual analysis, this paper identifies several key elements involved in the growth of K-pop. It does not attempt to determine the major reasons for the success of K-pop, and/or the failure (or low degree of popularity) of J-pop in global markets. Instead, it comparatively discusses several major features—including idol production systems, copyright issues, and hybridity—of these two popular music genres, thereby mapping out J-pop’s influences and the remnants of such influences in the K-pop sphere, as well as the ways in which K-pop has become a model for J-pop. It aims to investigate the contemporary cultural stages and transition of popular music in Korea occurring within the unfolding logic of cultural globalization, known as hybridization.