Tag: K-pop

Revisit the Biggest Songs, Artists, and Cultural Moments of the Last 10 Years with Spotify’s ‘The Decade Wrapped’ Podcast

December 16, 2019

With 2020 right around the corner—and the 2010s coming to a close—we’re taking a journey through the last decade in music with a new original podcast, The Decade Wrapped.

The podcast’s host, Eric Eddings, will be joined by critics, comedians, influencers, and writers as they look back at the music stories that defined pop culture between 2010 and 2019. This 10-episode series incorporates data and insights from Spotify’s popular Wrapped campaign. Launched earlier this month, the campaign revealed through personal Wrapped e-cards what our listeners have been streaming—not only over 2019, but over the past decade—as well as what the world listened to during that time. 

The first three episodes are available starting today, December 16, in the U.S. (The next seven episodes will be released daily over the course of the week.) Get a taste for the episode topics and featured songs:

2010: Nicki Minaj Tells Us to “Check It Out”/Female-Driven Pop

In the early 2010s, women like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Katy Perry took the stage . . . but no one matched the omnipresence of Nicki Minaj. Before even dropping a full album, she was featured on tracks by Lil Wayne, Kanye, will.i.am, and Gucci Mane. Her debut album, Pink Friday, didn’t disappoint—and over the years she became a force in hip-hop.

2011: One Direction (Re)invents the Stan

In 2011, British boy band One Direction recorded their first album, released “What Makes You Beautiful,” and finished up their first tour. One Direction’s teen audience was fully internet literate and ready to make the band their own. Fanfiction and fanart take flight. So of course we had no choice but to stan.

2012: “Gangnam Style” Introduces K-Pop to the U.S.

One of the most-watched videos in the history of YouTube, “Gangnam Style” set the stage for K-Pop hits like BTS to come. The song, which has been streamed over 208 million times on Spotify, is credited with bringing Korean culture into the American mainstream.

2013: Harlem Shake[s the Internet]

If there was any year that your grandma might be caught dancing to an EDM song, 2013 was it. The “Harlem Shake” showcased the immense viral power of crossover appeal and memes, and the song became a mainstream number-one hit, with more than 2.1 million streams on Spotify. The 2010s were the decade of user-created content—and this song embodied that ideal.

2014: “Uptown Funk” and Taylor Swift Go Retro

In 2014, the 1980s came back to the top of the charts as Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” featuring Bruno Mars, battled for number one. “Uptown Funk” propelled producers to the forefront; it became one of Ronson’s biggest hits and underscored the increasingly key role of producers in music then and today.

2015: Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly Takes Flight, Drake Has the Biggest Year Ever, and Hamilton Shoots Its Shot

There were three differing perspectives on what the biggest musical story of 2015 was. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly cemented Lamar as a cultural icon as it examined race, discrimination, anger, and violence. Meanwhile, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and his diss track feud with Meek Mill fueled a massive year for him. And Lin-Manuel Miranda turned Broadway upside down when his hip-hop musical Hamilton exploded as a hit inside and outside the theater.

2016: Beyoncé Drops Lemonade

 With her release of Lemonade, Beyoncé solidified her status as a powerful force in music. Lemonade appeared to divulge intimate details about her life while at the same time commenting on black life in America. It was universally praised for its personal and political content—and also for crossing genres. Its controversial snub at the Grammys also marked the beginning of a broader conversation around recognizing black musicians.

2017: “Despacito” Gets All the Views

In 2017, “Despacito,” a catchy song from Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee, crossed a huge milestone to become the most-watched video. Not music video. Video. Oh, and it surpassed 1.3 billion streams on Spotify, making it the first Spanish-language song to reach the billion-stream milestone. 

2018: “thank u, next” and the Evolution of Ariana Grande

The year 2018 was all about Ariana Grande. She returned to music with the One Love Manchester concert and came out on top with “thank u, next,” proving that music has the power to help us process, heal, and face what’s next.

2019: The Yeehaw Agenda

The end of the decade gave us giant breakthroughs for two artists. For Lizzo, it’s a story of years of hard work that culminated in the artist’s becoming a mainstay in the mainstream. And for Lil Nas X, it was the perfect storm of a catchy song on TikTok and a cowboy hat.  

Take it all the way back with a listen to the first episode on Nicki Minaj and female-driven pop below.

https://open.spotify.com/show/4C9SyDbX6N7HfgxYAVs9NP?si=DSOxhIGkQsa7bQGpREV_cw

Avatar Pop Stars Take Center Stage

February 4, 2019

One of the most influential artists in Japanese music right now is more hologram than human.

Hatsune Miku is an aqua-haired avatar built on Vocaloid, a singing-synthesizer software that allows users to generate digitized vocal identities. Miku captures nearly 160,000 listeners on Spotify each month, approaching the popularity of flesh-and-blood J-pop stars like Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Despite being built out of lasers and lights, she’s taken over Japanese convenience stores, appeared in advertisements, and even performed live in giant stadiums.

Miku’s runaway success has since inspired her creator, Crypton Future Media, to roll out a steady stream of new avatars, brought to life by different actors who lend their voices to the software. The massive popularity of the Vocaloid avatars is in part due to the opportunity for musical experimentation the characters offer their fans: Devotees have used their favorite avatars’ voices to record thousands of songs, leading to a passionate online community of Vocaloid creators.

Today there are thousands of avatars, each with multiple tracks to his or her name. The five below are arguably Vocaloid’s biggest stars in terms of overall popularity, and the tracks highlight the far-flung and compelling ways the avatars’ voices can been used. As you’ll see, some are written by well-known artists, while others are by fans-turned-producers. Take a listen—if you hadn’t just read this piece, would you know that what you’re hearing is more hologram than human?

1. Hatsune Miku

Big Boi — “Kill Jill” Featuring Killer Mike & Jeezy

One genre Vocaloid technology hasn’t extensively cracked is hip-hop. “Kill Jill” chops up Hatsune Miku’s computerized singing and sets it against a skittering beat. Big Boi, Killer Mike, and Jeezy rhyme over top, offering one way Vocaloid could take on a larger role in rap in the future.

2. Megurine Luka

Samfree — “Luka Luka Night Fever”

Musicians using Vocaloid can do whatever they want with the software, and some simply opt to create theme songs for their favorites. Influential producer Samfree’s “Luka Luka Night Fever” is one of the first huge hits for Megurine Luka, a post-Miku character meant to carry a more “adult” image than the school-outfit-sporting Miku. Samfree’s ode to her is a delirious Eurobeat tune in which the 2-D character talks directly to her creator. It’s a clever concept that shows just how much people connect with these avatars.

3. Kagamine Rin & Len

HoneyWorks — “Suki Kirai” Featuring Kagamine Rin & Len

Kagamine Rin and Len surprisingly haven’t done many duets together, despite being released within the same software package. Music team HoneyWorks showed how well their voices complement each other on the track “Suki Kirai,” one of the most popular songs to feature more than one Vocaloid avatar. Part of its success is owed to the dialogue between the two characters, who spend the duration of the song trying to figure out if they like or hate one another.

4. GUMI

Hachioji-P — “KiLLER LADY” Featuring GUMI

Crypton Future Media dominates the Vocaloid market thanks to its characters, but many competing companies, like Megpoid, have begun offering alternatives. The company’s green-haired avatar named GUMI might be the most successful counter character to Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka. Proof of her increasing popularity came when Hachioji-P, a beloved Vocaloid producer, started using her voice in his songs. One highlight is 2016’s buzzing electro-pop number “KiLLER LADY,” which places her laid-back singing voice in front of a wall of bass and synthesizers.

5. Kaito

KuroUsa — “Cantarella” Featuring Kaito and Hatsune Miku

Vocaloid avatar Kaito has had one of the stranger paths to stardom. He actually came out a full year before Hatsune Miku debuted, but failed to take off. Then, after Miku became a cultural phenomenon, Kaito’s sales skyrocketed as burgeoning creators sought out a male voice to apply to their tracks. 2012’s “Cantarella” by KuroUsa is Kaito’s standout track. This elegant number utilizes strings and a ballroom-ready melody to tell a story about obsessive love, with Hatsune Miku’s voice splashed in during the hook to up the drama.

Want to explore more? Check out the Sound of Vocaloid playlist on Spotify.

K-Pop Takes Over, From ‘Gangnam Style’ to Global Domination

October 11, 2018

Last week, when K-pop group BTS took the stage at New York’s Citi Field, international #BTSArmy members showed up in droves; some had traveled from across the country and camped out weeks in advance for the promise of catchy beats, a chorus that hooks you, and charismatic dance moves.

Just a few years ago, a sold-out show at one of America’s biggest stadiums may not have been in the cards for a young Korean band. And yet, BTS has inspired fans of all ages, races, cultures, and genders not just in Asia, but in the U.S. and around the world. Call it an official global phenomenon.

K-pop’s popularity has reached a fever pitch: On Spotify, more than 14.2 billion K-pop tracks have been streamed globally, and fans have spent over 46 billion minutes since July 2015 listening to their favorite Korean tracks. These numbers grow each day, making K-pop one of the most-streamed genres across the globe. Its fast tempos, thrilling visual components, and resonant use of melody and storytelling have captivated fans on every continent—and on our dedicated K-pop hub.

The K-Pop hub on Spotify

“K-pop or the Hallyu wave is truly an Asian success story. For a genre that’s in a different language and from a very different culture, it is inspiring to see how K-pop is making its mark on the global stage,” says Eve Tan, Shows & Editorial, Team Lead, Spotify, Southeast Asia. “It is our aim to be a platform of discovery for both artists and music lovers, and we are excited to help Spotify fans across the world enjoy and be inspired by Korean music.”

K-pop first captured the world’s attention with PSY’s 2012 viral “Gangnam Style.” Ever since, the genre has evolved into a diverse and popular subculture internationally. Driven by social media fan fever and Korean TV dramas, the Korean Wave—an increase in global popularity of South Korean culture and entertainment—has broken through to the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and beyond.

Recently, K-pop hit some major international milestones. In September 2017, the genre had its first Billboard Top 10 debut with BTS’s Love Yourself: Her. This past July, GOT7 became the first K-pop act to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and last month, BTS, in partnership with UNICEF, became the first K-pop group to deliver a speech at the United Nations.

To capitalize on their rising popularity across the globe, many K-pop artists now record songs in multiple languages. GOT7 recently dropped their new album title track “Lullaby” in four languages: Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, and English. Some bands have even formed subunits to target different audiences, like supergroup EXO, who perform in both Korean and Mandarin. NCT even has three subunits—NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream—each focused on reaching different age groups and demographics.

Plus, more K-pop artists than ever are collaborating with popular English-speaking artists. BTS and Nicki Minaj dropped their buzzy and vibrant “Idol” video in September 2018, and girl group BLACKPINK has an exciting new collab in the works with English pop singer Dua Lipa. Consider K-pop’s crossover officially complete.

For your K-pop cravings

From the latest K-pop tracks to Korean OSTs (dramatic and highly addictive love songs), there’s a suitable Spotify playlist within our dedicated hub. First introduced in 2015, our K-pop hub is as addictive as the music itself, leading to a significant increase in streams and sharing of Korean music on Spotify.

Today, our K-Pop Daebak playlist (daebak is Korean for cool) hosts exclusive access to vertical video premieres from emerging and chart-topping acts. To keep up with the latest news, dance tutorials, and all things K-pop, be sure to follow the official Spotify K-Pop Daebak twitter account, @SpotifyKDaebak.