Despite the cancellation of concerts and music gatherings in 2020, a lot of things have been happening in the world of K-pop.
Capping a breakthrough year for the South Korean K-pop boy band BTS was being named entertainer of the year by Time magazine earlier this month. Such an accolade reassures the band's position as one of the world's most popular. Time writer Raisa Bruner wrote in a profile of the group that "BTS isn't just the biggest K-pop act in the charts. They've become the biggest band in the world -- full stop".
That's not all though for BTS. In September, the seven-member band's first English-language disco-pop single titled Dynamite peaked at number one on Billboard Hot 100 chart. This made BTS the first Korean group to top Billboard's main singles chart.
After releasing their latest album Be in November, the K-pop kings achieved another record when their song Life Goes On made BTS the first group to have a Korean-language song enter the US Billboard chart at number one. However, BTS yet again made history this year when in November the septet became the first K-pop act to receive a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category.
Although Covid-19 cancelled BTS' world tour and prevented their concerts from taking place, they still found a way to meet their fan club through a two-day online concert in October titled "BTS Map Of The Soul ON:E" which attracted almost a million viewers from over 190 countries.
Due to their impact on the music industry domestically and internationally, South Korea passed a new "BTS Law" earlier this month. Previously, all able-bodied South Korean men were required to enlist in the military for about 20 months once they turned 28, if not sooner. However, with the implementation of the new law, South Korea's National Assembly revised the country's Military Service Act allowing some big K-pop stars to postpone military service until they turn 30. This new law apparently came as a rescue for Kim Seok-jin, the oldest member of BTS, who just turned 28 this month. Now, he will be able to perform for another two years just as he is at the height of his career.
Meanwhile, Blackpink -- the K-pop queens -- also saw their popularity increase this year. First, the story of their rise to fame made it to Netflix with the first K-pop documentary Blackpink: Light Up The Sky, which was released in October. This year, Blackpink also added various collaborative titles to their portfolio and among them was the highly-anticipated Sour Candy in which the band joined hands with Lady Gaga. The Blackpink x Selena Gomez single titled Ice Cream also garnered over 75 million views globally within 24 hours after its release. The four-member girl group also collaborated with Cardi B in Bet U Wanna. With their captivating music videos, the quartet became YouTube's second-most subscribed global artist group with 53.4 million subscribers only behind Justin Bieber.
Fame, however, comes at a cost. Blackpink came under fire in China last month for handling an endangered panda cub without a sanitary glove. The controversy caused the band's record label YG Entertainment to cancel the reality show, 24/365 With Blackpink which filmed the girls with China's national treasure.
Also in November, another Blackpink-related controversy was all over the internet after the release of the band's music video How You Like That in which a statue of Hindu deity Ganesha was shown on the floor near a bejewelled Aladdin lamp as a member of the band preened and rapped on a golden throne. Right away many K-pop fans -- many of them in India -- criticised the girl group, accusing them of cultural appropriation and of using a religious object as a prop and defiling it by placing it on the ground. Soon after, Ganesha was removed from the video as the band's management said in a statement that the use of the image had been an "unintentional mistake".
Last but not least, because of political conflict in Thailand, Thai singers who work in the K-pop industry -- Nichkhun from 2PM, BamBam from Got7, Lisa from Blackpink, Ten from NCT, to name a few -- were pressured by Thai K-pop fans. These singers were criticised for not showing support towards protesters in their home country. A hashtag #BanTaeGugLine (ban Thai singers in Korea) topped Twitter trends on several occasions during the protests. Nichkhun, BamBam and Sorn eventually said they disapproved of violence when the Thai authority used water cannons on the protesters.
Also this year, a number of K-pop artists tested positive for the novel coronavirus. They included Yiren and Sihyeon from the girl band Everglow; Bitto, Kogyeol and Xiao from the boy band Up10tion and solo singer Chungha. The infections have sparked fears of a coronavirus cluster within the K-pop industry.
As for the year to come, two rising K-pop boy bands Ateez and Treasure as well as girl group Aespa are to look out for. Their captivating music can lead to a strong fanbase internationally, which makes them worth looking forward to in the K-pop music arena next year.
