K-pop and J-pop: Music genres offering far more than just catchy beats and energetic dance moves
K-pop and J-pop aren’t just niche interests—they’re now firmly embedded in pop culture, with K-pop singles and J-pop anthems frequently climbing UK charts and securing top spots on streaming platforms.
From K-pop powerhouse Seventeen making history at Glastonbury 2024, to the likes of BTS and Twice making waves in British playlists, these genres are captivating audiences and reshaping what mainstream music looks like in the UK.
K-pop, short for Korean pop, is known for its catchy songs, high-energy dance routines, and visually striking music videos. K-pop often blends different genres like pop, hip-hop, and electronic dance music (EDM).
J-pop, short for Japanese pop, covers a broad range of Japanese music, including pop, rock, and even traditional styles mixed with modern sounds. It became popular in Japan in the 1990s.
As K-pop and J-pop continue to win over listeners, they’re introducing more than new sounds—they’re opening doors to East Asian culture, style, and language, making a lasting mark on British music and media.
Dr Laurence Mann, Senior Lecturer in Japanese & Korean at Oxford Brookes University, shares his insights into their surging popularity in the UK and addresses the unique aspects that make them so appealing.
Why have K-pop and J-pop increased in popularity in the UK?
K-Pop and J-Pop are now global phenomena and it is great to see such interest in both in the UK too. To give some context, K-Pop now generates billions (yes, billions!) of dollars of global revenue for Korea. Japan is also home to one of the largest digital music markets on the planet. Through social media and streaming services, both music industries have reached out to fans across the globe. I would attribute their popularity to great music and dance performances, an understanding of patterns of social media use across fandom communities and sector-leading partnerships between the industry and artists—take K-pop band BTS members’ multimillion-dollar personal stakes in HYBE - a South Korean multinational entertainment company - for instance. By the way, since 2021, HYBE’s American subsidiary, has owned Ithaca Holdings—the company that managed Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber.
How have K-pop and J-pop contributed to cross-cultural exchange between East Asia and the UK, and what role do these music genres play in shaping perceptions of Korean and Japanese culture?
As numbers of K-Pop and J-Pop fans have grown in the UK, so too has general interest in the languages and cultures of East Asia. This cuts across many areas of life, from food and travel to theatre and fashion. Personally I am most excited by the growth of interest in East Asian food. I travel to East Asia a lot and have always enjoyed Japanese and Korean food—and it is fantastic that both are now available almost everywhere around the UK. I love the fact that I can go to eat authentic Korean BBQ in Oxford and buy gochujang - a thick, spicy, and sweet Korean condiment - in my local supermarket!
How have K-pop and J-pop influenced fashion, beauty standards, and visual aesthetics among UK youth, and impacted the growth of cosplay (dressing up as characters from a film, book or video game), anime culture, and related subcultures?
I think they have had a lot of impact on aesthetics. Among my students, I regularly encounter young people who are passionate about Japanese or Korean language and culture, but who also feel some resonance with one or other fashion or aesthetic style from the region. For example, many young people whom I have met while teaching Japanese are influenced by ‘Visual Kei’ (a bit like Japanese glam rock!) styles but, of course, there are countless potential influences from both cultures. Another important development is that Korean beauty products—which have long had a reputation for excellent quality around East Asia—can now be found on the British high street. Such products and brands are often endorsed by the stars of K-Pop and K-Drama and so it is clear that their beauty is now widely appreciated by young people across the world.
I think the second part of this question is also closely related in that, for example, cosplay draws its inspiration from anime and manga aesthetics, but also intersects with styles made popular in music videos, on K- and J-Pop-related social media and among fans. Take the case of female ‘idol’ groups and the global spread of so-called ‘Lolita’ and ‘JK’ fashions, for instance. Like all fashions, both are fusions of earlier styles, but in this case they have emerged from very particular cultural contexts in Japan and their dissemination around the world is closely related to the growth of interest in Japanese and East Asian pop culture, including pop music, anime and manga. It is also true that global fandoms for J-Pop, K-Pop and other East Asian pop culture intersect to a certain extent. So overall it is a complex picture, but we get a strong sense that the various pieces of the puzzle have come together over the last decade or so to support a huge growth in the popularity of East Asian culture globally.
A band named ‘Seventeen’ made history and became the first K-pop band to perform at Glastonbury in June 2024. How has the growing popularity of K-pop and J-pop in the UK contributed to greater representation and appreciation of East Asian cultures in mainstream British media and entertainment?
I think Seventeen playing Glastonbury was a great triumph for the K-Pop industry and, at the same time, recognises its status as an emerging global standard, toward which other music industries can aspire and from which they can learn. From events such as these, it is now clear that K-Pop is mainstream. In other words, not just global audiences but also music producers and critics now recognize and appreciate K-Pop for its musical and visual appeal, as well as for its ability to speak to a broad global fandom. This appreciation contrasts strongly with some Western critics’ earlier appraisals of K-Pop—which, let’s just say, did not do it justice!
Has the increased popularity of K-pop and J-pop had an impact on the interest levels of learning Korean and/ or Japanese language in the UK?
It is difficult to prove causation, of course, but there has certainly been an uptick in interest in learning both languages during the same period that K-Pop and J-Pop have grown in popularity in this country. Oxford Brookes has a thriving Japanese Studies degree and we are lucky to be opening a new programme in Korean within Modern Languages with Translation from 2025. It might surprise some people but language learning in the UK actually grew hugely during the Covid-19 pandemic, mostly through the use of learning apps such as Duolingo. Alongside apps, widespread access to social media content dedicated to the pop culture of countries such as Korea and Japan have enabled learners of all ages to experience real-world language use and effectively make their own digital immersion strategies. I explored this topic alongside other language teaching colleagues in a book published in 2022, just as the pandemic was drawing to a close.
To what extent have K-pop and J-pop challenged or reinforced existing stereotypes about Asian cultures in the UK?
This is another really interesting question. I think to some extent any initial interest starts at a superficial level. The fact that we use the J- and K- initials to label the pop music of both countries could tend to lead people to develop over-simplistic impressions of them as typically Japanese or typically Korean. Whatever the names might suggest, as I mentioned earlier, K-Pop and J-Pop are massive and diverse industries that are very far from anything approaching monolithic musical styles. However, the more that we learn about both sectors, the more fascinating they become and the more granular detail we need. This is the case for researchers like myself, and I have also witnessed students on similar personal journeys as they carry out dissertation projects on East Asian pop music. Such projects usually start broad but, as they progress, become more and more honed, until ultimately they offer an exciting glimpse into a small area of pop music in Korea or Japan. I have also seen students develop their interest in Asian pop music into research projects in other fields, such as sociology or anthropology. Overall, I would say that the popularity of K- and J-Pop is actually fuelling high-quality research and is therefore certainly a force for good.
How are the social values and themes often present in K-pop and J-pop—such as collectivism, mental health, or self-discipline—resonating with UK audiences, and how might these influence British cultural norms?
I think it is inevitable that UK audiences will be influenced by the music they are listening to. To see evidence of this, we only need to look at the so-called ‘Beatles Effect’ and how far it travelled in the 1960s! It is difficult to discuss J-Pop and K-Pop together on this point though, since I don’t think ‘Korean values’ and ‘Japanese values’ are the same—and of course there is huge diversity found in both countries. That being said, there are many similarities and areas of cross-fertilization between the Japanese and Korean pop music sectors, partly born out of the fact that artists frequently work across both countries. K-Pop in particular is self-consciously international, recruiting widely from countries around Asia and, especially recently, even further afield. In terms of resonances for UK audiences, I am not sure about mental health per se, but there is a certain theme within some J-Pop that can be summarised in the phrase ‘ganbarō’. This is difficult to translate, but means something like ‘let’s do our best’, ‘let’s try hard’ or ‘give it your best shot’. At first glance this might seem closer to the ‘self-discipline’ or ‘collectivism’ end of the spectrum but, actually, the idea is that you can listen to the music, watch the performances and feel happier, more energetic and ready to face life’s challenges (‘ganbaru’)—or to put it another way, to be ‘healed’ (‘iyasareru’). With so many challenges facing them in the world today, I certainly hope that young people in the UK can also tap into some of this power and feel happy and fulfilled in their daily lives.
More information on Languages courses on offer at Oxford Brookes, such as Modern Languages with Translation, and Japanese Studies can be accessed on the University website.
From the 2025 academic year, Oxford Brookes will be offering a new degree course in Korean within Modern Languages with Translation.