THE HALLYU WAVE!

Ever heard your friends say ‘saranghae!’ or ‘daebak!’, it’s at that moment you realize that the Hallyu wave has hit your friends.

Hallyu wave or the Korean wave is the spread of Korean culture across the globe which began in the late 1900s and still continues. This is the time when people were exposed to the vivacious culture of the South Koreans, which from then have created a scintillating place in the hearts of the people.

Population around the world have their own separate culture which they follow without even realizing it, be it the way they dress, the kind of food consumed daily, or even the dialect in which they speak. It was very amusing to see individuals accept a new culture that was completely unknown.

They have not only incorporated the culture but also have implemented a part of it in their lives, the speed of talking, food is eaten daily, and also the way they dress.

The spread of the Korean wave arose due to many factors one of them being the spread of Korean content. there was a variety of content present on numerous platforms, therefore it was astonishing to understand why was there a need for new ones? and that being in a completely foreign language?

There have been several surveys done not only in India but across places to see what were the reasons why Kdramas started to gain fame all of a sudden.

It is when most of the questions were answered.

Korean content seemed to differ from the content that was present in that era which rose to the demand for it. they were seemingly targeting the younger slot of the population providing stories that were surrounded by romance and drama.

Shows like ‘What is Love’ and ‘Eyes of the Dawn’ were hugely streamed by people across the globe. The essence of Korean culture that these shows provided hugely impacted the folks.

The fascinating aspect of the situation was that these never took the streaming time of other popular shows of those times such as FRIENDS, they managed to have gained a separate time of viewing. these shows have been unstoppable since. they have managed to provide staggering content in the forms of TV Dramas and films.

In recent times, Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho won several prestigious awards including the Oscars, streaming services such as Netflix have begun to produce their own Korean language content that has gone to trend among the Top 10 shows watched in the country. At the beginning of 2020 shows like ‘Crash Landing on you’ and ‘King: the eternal monarch’ went on air on Netflix and trended in several countries including India.

India has started to accept the Korean culture in a magnanimous manner, there are fans growing day by day and events held at various spots which include selling of merch, competitions being held and Korean food served which encourage the fans to keep on supporting the culture.

When these shows trended, there were several reasonings behind them, one of which is the showcase of flawless skin and ‘The Dewy no makeup look’ portrayed by both the actor and actresses, resulting in a demand to have those standards of beauty, there were a plethora of Korean beauty products that came into the daily lives of individuals.

Be it facemasks, moisturizers, or serums, all of them were provided by the Korean beauty brands that entered the Indian market like THE FACE SHOP or THE SKIN CONCEPT which have made their market share in the beauty industry. These brands have gained huge popularity in the market and have become one of the strongest competitors, with variety in the products and quality as well, they in a small amount of time have gained the top spots in most of the individual’s priority in makeup brands.

These products are endorsed by many popular Korean celebrities, be it actors or the K-pop IDOLS!!

K-pop in itself is a whole new genre of music. The electrifying songs and energizing dance moves are popular around the globe. This trend started in the late 2000s, with stars like PSY, and his hit song Gangnam style which has over a billion views online and has performed in countries all over the world with popular demand.

He is one of the first Korean music artists to have gained such immense amounts of popularity. Then it was as if the doors for the Korean music industry had been unlocked and paved a way for several other Korean artists to go on a global level. From then several K-Pop groups like BIG BANG with their famous song ‘bang bang bang’, SUPER JUNIOR with their grand song ‘sorry sorry’ entered the global market and gained popular demand in countries like China and Japan.

People started listening to Korean music and considered it a whole other genre of entertainment as it was very different from anything that was done before. Boy bands and girl bands are the systems that is followed in the Korean industry, there are individual artists as well but the band system is the most common one.

One of the most distinguished features of K-Pop groups is that they dance and sing at once, and not any ordinary dance but tough choreographies are followed and performed on the stage while singing.

That has also gained the attention of the audiences, people find it visually appealing to see beautiful choreography come live on stage with amazing songs being sung.

In recent times one of the K-Pop groups who have gained remarkably notable attention around the globe is BTS which stands for ‘Bangtan Sonyeondan’. The one and only boy band around the world which has broken all the music records and have gained absolute fame in just a small amount of time, with their music videos like BOY WITH LOVE hitting a billion views and being the first song to ever get the highest number of views in 24 hours.

They have been a global phenomenon ever since their magnanimous hit FIRE and then releasing songs that went on to become the trendiest songs of the year.

They have been awarded several honors and are the first-ever K-Pop group to have attended and performed at the Grammy’s, this surely proves the amount of global attention that they have gained not only in the USA but in India as well.

Recently they have given their first-ever interview to an Indian news channel which went on to receive huge attention in India from its fans as well as people who were absolutely new to the K-pop genre.

Well, all of the terrific facts of the Hallyu Wave must have made you wonder what you are missing in life, well no problem, you can now surely go and check them out on any streaming service or on your very own YouTube!

- Amena Shakir