On the afternoon of Jan. 9, when the sky was so overcast it looked like snow could fall any minute, I warmed my hands with my breath and stepped into a building in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, the hip center of consumer culture. It is where the headquarters of SM Entertainment (hereafter SM), which marks its 31st anniversary this year, is located. The moment SM ushered in the full-fledged "idol era" with the 1996 debut of H.O.T. is considered a monumental moment in K-pop history. Thirty years have passed since then, but the K-pop industry is still led by idol groups.
SM's history is virtually the growth story of K-pop. First-generation idols H.O.T., S.E.S. and Shinhwa laid the groundwork for idol fandom culture on the back of explosive popularity among teens at the time. Second-generation idols who debuted in the early to mid-2000s—BoA, TVXQ!, Super Junior, Girls' Generation and SHINee—are credited with laying the foundation for a full-fledged "Hallyu" centered on Asia. After that, third-generation idols EXO and Red Velvet found success. In 2025, the flagship girl group aespa also showed its strength, with cumulative sales of more than 1 million copies (physical albums). SM's unique music style known as "SMP (SM Music Performance)" has become an important asset of mainstream K-pop.
As I entered the headquarters lobby, Lee Sung-su, the CAO overseeing SM's artists and repertoire (A&R), greeted me warmly. His main role is to derive the optimal combinations connecting music, artists and producers, and to oversee all music used in albums and concerts. He also served as CEO for three years from 2020. When I went into the inner meeting space, CJ Vice President Min Hee-kyung, who had arrived earlier, said hello. Vice President Min, a graduate of Seoul National University's College of Music (piano major), has supported K-pop's growth through KCON (short for "Korea Convention"), the world's largest K-culture festival that CJ has held annually since 2012, and the indie musician support program "Tune Up." KCON started in the United States and expanded to countries including Japan, France, Thailand and Australia; BTS, then unknown and from a mid-sized agency, attended the 2014 KCON in the United States. Tune Up is considered a rare model among indie musician support programs run by domestic companies. Launched in 2010, it marks its 27th class this year and has supported 85 teams to date. Musicians enjoying popularity beyond indie music, such as Car, the garden, Song So-hee and HANRORO, also received support from Tune Up. Pop music critic Lim Hee-yoon joined the day's conversation, which was planned to analyze and share the secrets behind K-pop's explosive growth. Lim worked more than 15 years as a pop music reporter in a daily newspaper's culture desk, served as a judge for the Korean Hip-Hop Awards, and currently serves as a judge for the Korean Music Awards. A star critic, Lim combines encyclopedic knowledge and sharp analysis, covering everything from the history and latest trends of domestic and international pop music to industry movements and artist information. Although it was Lee's and Min's first meeting, the two talked for two hours in a comfortable atmosphere like longtime senior-junior colleagues, with K-pop as their shared interest and field of expertise.
How can we define K-pop, which has become a cultural phenomenon that crosses borders and genres?
Lee Sung-su "It's not a specific genre of music; it's easier to explain if you view it as a branch of content like musicals or dance. That's because a variety of music styles coexist within K-pop's boundaries. While there are K-pop-specific sounds and songwriting methods, it should be seen as comprehensive content that encompasses stages, music videos, concerts and fandom."
Min Hee-kyung "Until a few years ago, many people thought K-pop was a kind of dance music. But these days, the dominant view is that it's a branch of content, not a particular music genre. It's less about 'where it came from' and more about 'how it was made.' With a unique system that discovers and develops artists and layers on character, story and music, it's K-pop whether it's made in Korea or in the United States."
Lim Hee-yoon "In fact, while the trappings of 'Golden,' the theme song of 'K-Pop Demon Hunters,' are K-pop cultural elements, the track itself is closer to classic 'American pop.' I think that's why it succeeded even more. If you ask what makes something 'K-pop-like,' beyond musicians and choreography and other visual elements, I'd say the way fans communicate is a big part. The relationship between fans and artists—fan loyalty and willingness to participate—is very unique. I believe K-pop spread worldwide because that aspect aligned well with the characteristics of the social media era—sharing, discussion and remixing."
SM was a front-runner of the Korean Wave that swept Asia in the 2000s. The experience and know-how from that era laid the foundation for today's global K-pop boom.
Lee Sung-su "From the start, we had overseas stages in mind and trained artists accordingly. So BoA, who prepared with a goal of entering Japan, was already fluent in Japanese at the time of her debut. On live stages, BoA could deliver explosive vocals and perfect dance moves—the complete package of a female singer that was rare even in Japan then."
BoA underwent SM's systematic training from elementary school and burst onto the pop scene in August 2000 at age 14. She went on to release numerous hits including 'ID; Peace B,' 'No.1' and 'Atlantis Princess.' After her 2002 debut in Japan, she became the first Korean singer to top the Oricon weekly album chart and set a major record by placing six studio albums and one best-of album at No. 1 on Oricon consecutively.
Did you anticipate K-pop's popularity would spread beyond Asia to the world?
Lim Hee-yoon "There were signs even before BTS's debut and the 'Gangnam Style' phenomenon. In 2011, when I was a pop music reporter for a daily newspaper, I went to Paris to cover 'SMTOWN Live in Paris,' hosted by SM. Local fans staged a flash-mob protest in front of the Louvre Museum to demand an additional show. In the end, a show was added as fans requested, and it became a big story."
A flash mob is a form of protest where an unspecified number of people connect via mobile phones or social media, gather at a predetermined time and place to act, and then immediately disperse. For the K-pop flash mob in Paris at that time, the organizers announced the dress code and the setlist to be performed during the protest from the planning stage, and also encouraged practice of the choreography for those songs.
CJ is also a leading K-food company. Its steady culture marketing that foregrounded Korean culture such as K-pop seems to have paid off.
Min Hee-kyung "Favorability is proportional to familiarity. In that sense, K-pop has greatly contributed to Korean companies' overseas business. On a business trip to Vietnam last year, I stopped by a famous cafe, and K-pop kept playing. K-pop seems to have fully taken root as mainstream culture now. And K-dramas are hugely popular too, right? CJ Chairman Lee Jay-hyun once said, 'We will become a cultural powerhouse when people around the world watch two or three Korean films a year, eat Korean food once or twice a month, watch one or two Korean dramas a week, and listen to two or three Korean songs every day.' It seems we've pretty much gotten there."
CJ CheilJedang, led by the Bibigo brand, sells K-convenience foods such as dumplings, chicken, instant rice, tteokbokki and spring rolls in more than 70 countries including the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia. As of 2024, overseas food business sales were 5.5814 trillion won, accounting for about half of total sales.
Lee Sung-su "K-pop, K-dramas and K-food have grown together, amplifying interest in one another. Variety shows also play an indispensable role. Many people discover the human side of artists they became interested in through music videos by watching them on variety shows."
Min Hee-kyung "Howard Gordon, director of the hit American drama 'Homeland,' had no interest in Korean pop culture, but when his son, a music school graduate, joined a K-pop label's song camp (a group creative program), he became interested and even applied to direct the Apple TV drama 'Pachinko' (though it didn't work out). At KCON held in Los Angeles (LA) in the summer of 2024, Hollywood star Dustin Hoffman visited with his wife for three consecutive days, drawing attention. It's a good example of interaction and co-growth between different pop culture genres."
'Pachinko' is based on the novel of the same name by Korean American author Min Jin Lee and depicts the saga of a Korean immigrant family over four generations. Hoffman is a powerhouse actor who won the Academy Award for best actor twice for the films 'The Graduate' (1967) and 'Rain Man' (1988).
Were there K-pop success strategies that CJ could reference for its business?
Min Hee-kyung "What we learned most was how to communicate with fans. Depending on the platform and timing, you need efficient and effective two-way communication, and K-pop agencies' approaches have been a good reference in that regard. We also learned from K-pop how to leverage IP to diversify into merchandise (MD), long-form and short-form videos, and more, and we're applying that to product marketing. Our localization efforts are similar too. CJ CheilJedang sells Bibigo dumplings in 70 countries, and since we make them with locally sourced ingredients, we now have about 110 varieties. In Russia, rich dumplings with a lot of mayonnaise are popular; in hotter countries, chicken-cilantro dumplings are a hit."
It seems hard to discuss K-pop's success without BTS. What were your first impressions?
Min Hee-kyung "Every time we met, they bowed not 90 degrees but 130 degrees—they are exceedingly polite young men. That courteous and wholesome image is also a differentiated charm point of K-pop stars, including BTS."
Lim Hee-yoon "In the 21st century, as hip-hop solo artists began to dominate the English-language charts, their flashy, ostentatious private lives were spotlighted on social media. At first they were objects of envy, but over time they were criticized as sources of relative deprivation and depression. In contrast, K-pop stars exude overwhelming charisma on stage, but on social media they are always polite and show that they value fans most."
Lee Sung-su "Thanks to that image, parents around the world don't worry much about their children going to K-pop concerts. But it's not enough to be wholesome only on the surface. The importance of character cannot be overstated. As stars, they must always consider how their words and actions will affect those who like and follow them. If trust collapses, related IP can vanish in an instant."
What should companies keep in mind when using K-pop stars as advertising models?
Lee Sung-su "The charm and story of the artist you want as an advertising model must fit well with the company's product brand. If you rush in banking only on fame, it can backfire. In that sense, the collaboration between aespa—who since debut have pursued a signature 'metallic sound'—and Nongshim's Shin Ramyun, synonymous with 'spicy,' was a great image match. As interest in K-pop has grown, there's more to be careful about. Dreadlocks, which were once trendy among domestic hip-hop musicians, are a hairstyle symbolizing the hardship and pain of Black people in Central America who were taken as slaves. If domestic artists imitate it at overseas concerts without knowing that background, they could become targets of criticism."
The YouTube ad video for Shin Ramyun featuring aespa, SM's four-member multinational girl group (Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning), surpassed 200 million views in just over 40 days.
What efforts are needed to keep profitability and competitiveness in the K-pop ecosystem high?
Lim Hee-yoon "At a Korea-ASEAN music exchange event where I gave a keynote a few months ago, I was stunned by short-form videos from a Filipino idol act. The lyrics, composition, arrangement and choreography were all by locals, but the music and video were highly polished, and the views were in the hundreds of millions. What's more, we now have artificial intelligence (AI) as a useful creative tool. We can no longer protect what's ours with production know-how alone. In that case, why not consider new fan-participation platforms? Create a new playground-like platform where, using AI, fans can become remixers and creators, generate new revenue through it, and secure sustainability."
Min Hee-kyung "We've done well so far, but what lies ahead matters more. Korea's domestic market isn't large, so in any field we have no choice but to keep overseas markets in mind. Especially now, with the rise of protectionism and nativism, we need government interest and support from a long-term perspective. The government should bolster the growth of homegrown platforms."
What impact will the spread of AI technology have on K-pop?
Lee Sung-su "For example, for Beethoven to write a piece and have people hear it, he had to rent a concert hall and call an orchestra, but now a composer alone can create a similar effect with just a computer. As AI accelerates this trend, some jobs will disappear, but that's the same in any industry. Ultimately, what we must consider is the beneficial use of technology; in the pop music industry, there's no goal more important than nurturing capable artists and making good music. The source of good music is the composer (a human who uses AI tools well). In September 2023, SM established a music publishing company called Kreation Music Rights to expand its global songwriter network—this reflects that understanding."
Lim Hee-yoon "On AI-based music generation apps like 'Suno,' if you ask for music with a certain vibe, it's finished in a few minutes. Suno also has sharing and follow features. AI could act as a catalyst that amplifies the passion of K-pop fandom—where artists and fans share so much, from music to stories."