How did K-Pop conquer the world?

The perfect storm happened in 2012, when a Korean record by Psy, became an international Youtube phenomenon with over 1 billion views at that time(now 3.5 billion views).

K-pop wasn’t just a flash in the pan, and the Korean music producers knew how to package catchy music, doll-face models as stars, colourful backgrounds and great dance moves

Pop music is manufactured all over the world, but in South Korea, things are a bit extreme. Kids as young as 10 are spotted, recruited and groomed to become future pop stars.

The kids are trained in a military-style regime, where they train for up to 18 hours a day. Once the kids hit stardom, they sometimes cannot even afford more than two hours of sleep.

.. or the Korean culture wave has been extremely influential, successful and therefore ripe for control by the ‘Establishment’, which is the South Korean business and political leaders. The government, sensing the huge opportunity to expand the South Korean influence and soft power status abroad, started to back the music industry, giving it tax benefits.

K-Pop popularity and hysteria among the young have led to a rise of other popular industries like the beauty industry while also boosting the attraction towards cosmetic and plastic surgery for young people influenced by the K-Pop stars. 

K-Pop continues to thrive and marketed for the billions of dollars it generates, often at an ugly cost.