About JYP's rise to the leader of the K-Pop industry! In 1997, J.Y. Park founded "JYP Entertainment". It is now home to successful K-pop idols such as Twice and Stray Kids.

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He stepped down from his internal director position in march 2026 to focus on producing, helping younger artists and take on new tasks in the K-Pop industry. His career as a CEO showed that he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do and he proved that with good promotion, a lable can take off.

As for JYP himself, he is one of the only remaining performing CEOs. He still releases albums and produces music. Recently, his stages have been a little questionable, with many actors and singers having funny reactions. Nonetheless, JYP remains an icon and continues to pave the way for artists.

#WonderGirl was the first female group debuting under JYPE, and they quickly became a massive hit, proving once again that Park Jinyoung knoew how to make idols out of trainees.

TaeHong Planning Corp debuted their first female artist, #Pearl, in 1997. She left 3 years after debuting. After that, the company changed names for JYP Entertainment in 2001. JYPE debuted #Rain with the album "Bad Guy", which was a hit. It later debuted many more artists in 2003 and onwards.

He debuted in 1994, and later found his own label, #TaeHongPlanningCorp, after producing a song for a group from another company. He reunited with #BangSiHyuk, with who he produced songs under his label. After debuting #G.O.D, Bang Si Hyuk left the label to creat his own : Big Hit Entertainment.

After countless failed auditions, #JYP had to take matters into his own hands. When SM Entertainment rejected his audition, they wanted to buy his self-produces song from his, which he refused. Instead, he released his first album and immediately knew a huge succes with his song #Don'tLeaveMe.

As a solo artist, he wrote famous hits like "Whale Hunting", becoming anthems for young people during a time of strict government control. Even though he was a talented classical singer, he chose to make simple, honest songs that everyone could relate to.
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Song Chang-sik: A life immersed in music If last year’s music scene was all about the return of old boys from the 1990s, this year’s music industry will be concentrating on the sounds of the 1960s and ’70s, when folk music was mainstream. ...

He went from a classical aspiring singer to a central figure of the "C'est Si Bon Trio" and later #TwinFolio, bridging the gap between classical music and the popular, acoustic youth music that would define his legacy afterwards.
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Despite these struggles, he began frequenting #C’estSiBon, a famous music teaquin in the Myong-dong district of Seoul that served as the "Mecca" for the burgeoning youth culture. It was there in the late 1960s that he met musicians like Yun Hyongju and Kim Se-hwan.

Because his family was calling him "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", he pursued a career in music. However, he was living in extreme poverty and never truly graduated from Seoul Arts High School.

His father died during the Korean War, his mother ran away and went missing, as well as his grandparents. He benefited from a scholarship and managed to attend school. He focused on music after leanring some music making tecnique when he was around 8 years old.

Born in 1947, #송창식 is a South Korean singer-songwriter who is considered one of the country's most impactful musician of the 1960s and 1970s. He debuted in 1968 as a member of the folk duo Twin Folio.
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However, when you never heard about the Sewol disaster, Spring Day may appear as a simple song about spring. This is why it is important to understand the context in which a song was created in order to get all the hidden meanings and messages the songs wants to convey.

At that time, while the media was focused on the government's ilplication in the disaster, BTS focused on the victims. As a global group, they conveyed a mesage of grief and hope to the audience and the grieving families.

But as a foreigner, or simply someone who is not familiar with the korean history, how can we know ? Like Spring Day from BTS being about the Sewol Ferry disaster, when you don't know about this incident, it is hard to understand all the hidden meanings.

For all we know, some might have been inspired by national catastrophes, but the subtle lyrics prevent us from understanding if we don't know about the culture or the history of the country. Back then, to prevent being censored, some artists may have used specific technics to hide certain meanings.

While korean songs from the 1970s seem to be joyful and enjoyable, the article cleaely points out how this era was impacted by national incidents and influence from the government. Therefore, a question rises : can we fully enjoy a music if we don't know what context it was created in ?

Just like many artists from his time period, #JoYongPil still performs to this day, showing how people enjoy his work even after music changed with newer groups.

His band "The Great Birth" formed in 1979 was a stepping stone for futur bands, as they paved the way for bands in South Korea. Even after many decades in the industy and member changes, the group remains around Jo Yong Pil and continues to shape Korean music history through tours and albums.

His influence is today compared to that of artists like Elvis Presley, and he acts as a bridge between all generations. Today, he remains a very popular artist and was even mentionned in a recent k-drama #WelcomeToSamdalri, showing how important his impact was on certain generations of Korean people

Jo Yong-Pil achieved unprecedented success by being the first to sell 1 million copies of an album, making him one of the most popular singers of his time. He combined genres like rock, trot, and pop, and was known for modernizing traditional Korean music.

#JoYongPil is a South Korean singer-songwriter who revolutionized the music industry in the 1970s and 80s. He introduced rock elements to popular music. He is considered the Korean #KingofPop.

However, given the popularity of pop songs today, would a new artist focusing only on very traditional music like minyo be popular ? Could there be a next Yi Aerisu or Choi Seunghui ? I am not sure, as traditional music could be overshadowed by what the new generation wants.

The image of a very popular idol performing trot is a powerful move to promote more traditional music and singing techniques internationally and domestically. It also attracts a totally different audience who still yearn for traditional music.

It shows the importance of heritage from artists like Na Hun-a, who is a more recent traditional music performer, and how traditional music is still popular today and how some artists wish to keep it alive.

With this performance, we can see how tradition and modernity can meet in a context of westernization of korean music (with more and more english lyrics). It shows that even idols today are able to perform more traditional singing techniques.

STRAY KIDS - Jeongin/I.N Singing Trot Compilation YouTube video by Noemí R.

As part of music histroy in Korea, it is interesting to look at how artists today perform more traditional songs like trot. I.N fro Stray Kids, for example, has shown well-received abilities in trot singing.
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The idols agree to this principle by being careful during elections. That is because, during their training period, they are taught that they are becoming a product. They become idols knowing this. They acquiesce because they have been raised and trained as such. To remain #idols, they must comply.

While these idols sometimes don't know everything because of their education being stopped early, some facts must still be acquired. #Nationalism is the backbone of international promotion. Being a nationalist also includes being #apolitical, so they represent the country, not any political side.