The band are aiming to reconvene in 2025 following their service — and while fans will obviously welcome them back with open arms, there is a whole host of established and emerging K-pop groups that can keep them occupied in the meantime.
But sadly, it’s impossible to learn about K-pop without being met with stories of tragedy. There have been several suicides by high-profile K-pop icons, including 25-year-old Sulli in 2019, a former member of the girl group f(x). A month later, Sulli’s friend Goo Hara, 28, who used to perform in the group Kara, also took her own life.
In 2017, 27-year-old Kim Jong-hyun took his own life after revealing the immense pressure that came with the success of his group SHINee. It seems that with the fame of K-pop comes an impossible standard; that of being perfectly polished, perfectly synchronised and simply perpetually perfect.
«From an early age, they live a mechanical life, going through a spartan training regimen,” said Lee Hark-joon, a South Korean journalist. «They seldom have a chance to develop a normal school life or normal social relationships. »
Hark-joon also added that K-pop stars are subjected to torrents of online abuse, as theirs is a line of work so inextricably linked to social media. It’s why the South Korean government has discussed introducing cyber-bullying education in schools.
It’s clear there’s a lot more to K-pop than its synthesised music and dance routines, and it’s easy to see why the fascination with this immense genre is ever-growing. But for now, what better way to get acquainted with the K-pop phenomenon than with its music? Here, we round up the best K-pop bands to know if you want to jump on the burgeoning bandwagon. Get that Spotify playlist on and prepare to tap those toes…
