Spotify: "Discover This” Podcast Explores Korean Music Beyond K-Pop

 In recent years, South Korea has become the seventh-largest market for music globally and can be heard every day across television, movies, video games, and more. 

The wildly popular K-Pop group BTS were one of two artists to sell half a million copies of an album in the U.S. in 2020, selling 674,000 copies. 

Spotify has released the newest episode of its original podcast series, “Spotify: Discover This” - a show aimed at sharing fresh insights on music, podcasting, cultural moments, and trends - amplified in a way only Spotify can. In this episode, listeners head overseas to South Korea to explore Korean music genres beyond K-Pop, including Korean Hip-Hop, Rock, OSTS and R&B.

Korean-Canadian singer, JUNNY joins host, Lea Palmieri to speak with Korea’s biggest artists across a variety of genres, including Yoon Mirae, TIGER JK, Jay Park, pH-1, Sam Kim, Since, CHOIZA, and Gaeko. 

The episode also includes commentary from Korean music critic, Kim Youngdae and Spotify Korea’s Managing Director, David Park. Lea and JUNNY unpack various topics with their guests, including the origins of their genres, their steadily increasing fandom, the importance of playlisting, and what listeners can expect moving forward.

This episode is available in both English and Korean. You can listen to the English episode here and the Korean episode here.

 Please see below for interview highlights in the episode. 

Yoon Mirae on what Hip-Hop meant to a younger generation of Koreans in the late 90s. “I think for us, hip hop represented freedom -- the ability to express ourselves, especially back then because there was no hip-hop and music was pretty much about either breaking up, or love, and nobody ever talked about certain issues that related to the youth. So it was something that was very important for us, and cathartic for us to be able to talk about the issues that were concerning us at that time and that age.”

TIGER JK on influencing Korean hip-hop in the 90s. “When we first started hip hop, we had to go out and hustle on our own by looking for clubs that had open mics. Some booed and hissed, but some also applauded. Rappers do what's called a "cypher." And there, we did freestyles, rap battles, and performances.”

Jay Park on the differences between K-Pop and Korean Hip-Hop. “For idol groups, there's a blueprint and system that exists for them. They get trained, enter a survival audition show, and debut. Then, as they get more fans, the sales increase too. So there's this recipe for them. But it doesn't work that way for hip-hop. There is no specific recipe for success in Korean hip-hop. K-pop has become so popular that even in America people of all ages know BTS or BLACKPINK songs but Korean hip-hop still has a long way to go. For K-Pop, they have their outfits, hair and make-up, choreography, and music videos. So even if they don't know the lyrics, they could still enjoy it. But for Korean hip-hop, lyrics are everything. Unless you're Korean, it's hard to relate to the lyrics…So they tend to include stories or experiences that only Korea can offer.”

pH-1 on Korean Hip-Hop fandom. “It's interesting because even the fans of Korean rappers kind of behave like K-Pop fans. They're very passionate and they show a lot of support, either mentally or financially, that would buy us lots of gifts, create photo cards, celebrate our birthdays by, you know, like throwing special birthday cafe events, buying multiple copies of our albums or concert tickets and etc. And it's nice. We're very grateful.”

Since on developing stage presence by appearing on the Korean television program “Show Me The Money.” “Sweating profusely. Because it’s me on stage. I have to show myself jumping around and having so much fun, so that the audience can enjoy it more. I really think I should be using all my energy to have fun while performing.”

Sam Kim on the artists who inspire his sound and desire to make Korean R&B music. “I mostly dabble in soul R&B because that's what I grew up listening to, you know, Brian McKnight, you know, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross. But I like to experiment. I’m not much of a rapper, but I love rapping. I love hip hop. And just in general, I think my base and my foundation is definitely in Black music.”

Spotify Korea’s Managing Director David Park on what listeners in South Korea can expect this year. “What excites me the most is that Spotify here in Korea is still at an incredibly early stage, and we're only at a starting point of taking abroad Korean music, its artists and the culture, merging this into this borderless global music and content ecosystem. The prospect of enabling talented Korean artists from other musical genres to discover new audiences worldwide is precisely why I feel lucky working in my current position. We're truly excited for what comes next.”

Gaeko on Spotify’s KRown playlist and keeping up with trends. “We need the playlist as well because we don't know all Korean hip-hop songs. So it's nice that it summarizes what's trending.”

It's abundantly clear that Korean music in various forms has influenced the U.S. and world markets. This episode can explain why and where music in Korea is going in the future.