The K-Pop ABC for newcomers and professionals

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Das K-Pop ABC für Neulinge und Profis

Autor: Helen Bosch / Jul 22, 2021

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K-Pop Blog > Overview > K-Pop ABC

K-Pop has its own language - here is a brief overview of the most important terms including explanations so that you always have an overview and can have a say :) 

TO

Aegyo - The term in Korean refers to excessively cute behavior. For example, K-pop idols speak in baby voices or make hearts with their fingers when asked to do “aegyo.”

Akgae - A member of a band who receives a noticeable amount of attention compared to the other band members.

All-Kill - When a band's song or album reaches number one on all South Korean music charts, it is called an "All-Kill".

b

Bias - Your personal absolute favorite of a band. Every fan has their own bias.

Bias Wrecker - The band member that attracts the most attention after the bias and sometimes even distracts from the bias.

Black Ocean - At K-pop concerts or music shows, fans often wave their favorite band's lightstick. For example, if the entire arena is filled with red lightsticks, it is called a “Red Ocean”. A “Black Ocean” arises when “fans” collude and turn off all their lightsticks to boycott a particular band and their performance. In this case, the arena or part of it becomes dark and silent.

C

Center - The member of the band who dances in the middle most of the time during the performance and therefore gets the most screen time. Center is not a fixed position and changes often, although not always during a comeback.

CF - “CF” is the abbreviation for “Commercial Film” and in Korea refers to commercials that are shown on television.

Comeback - A comeback occurs whenever a K-pop band or individual artist releases a new song. The respective song is promoted on various music shows. The concept of a comeback includes the theme of the song as well as the makeup and outfits of the band members.

D

Dance Practice - K-Pop is known for the dance choreographies that match the songs. Fans also like to imitate these, and special “dance practice” videos are then published for this purpose.

Discography/ Discography - A discography is a detailed list of sound recordings. When it comes to K-pop artists, a distinction is usually made between studio albums, extended plays and single albums, which differ mainly in the number of songs they contain.

AND

Ending Fairy - The member whose face is zoomed in on after a music show.

F

Fan Chant - Each song has an official “Fan Chant”, a fan chant to support their idols at concerts and music shows. This is created either by the fan communities or even by the respective band.

Fighting - A call for support and motivation.

G

Gaon Chart - The Gaon Chart was initiated in 2010 and gives an insight into the weekly best-selling songs and music albums in South Korea, which are included in the year-end evaluation - in the calculations of the award shows - factor in.

Generations - Generations are the different time periods since the emergence of K-Pop.

H

Hallyu - The term stands for “Korean Wave” and describes how K-Pop is literally overtaking everything and everyone and is becoming increasingly popular.

Hanteo Chart - In contrast to the Gaon Chart, the Hanteo Chart is a “real-time chart”. The counting takes place in real time and not cumulatively over a certain period of time. The chart obtains its data from Hanteo-certified stores, which report their actual sales to the end customer. This data is also included in the rating of the weekly music shows.

Here you can find out more about the two charts!

Hiatus - The term refers to a pause or interruption of activities. If a K-pop artist announces a hiatus, he interrupts his activities for a longer period of time, for example to recover from an illness.

I

Idol - Members of the K-Pop bands. They are real role models for their fans.

Here you can find albums and merchandise of your idols!

L

Leader - The leader is usually the oldest member of the band and is like a father/mother to the remaining members; That means he takes care of the others, motivates them and represents the band, for example by doing the speaking at award ceremonies.

Line Distribution - The distribution of song parts among the members of a band. In “Line distribution” videos created by fans, people often compare who sings how many lines of songs, with main vocals, i.e. the main singers of a group, usually having particularly large parts. Unfortunately, comparison often makes it clear that some members consistently have extremely few vocal parts.

M

Maknae - This is the youngest member of a band. This term is not only used within a band, but also within a family.

MV - Abbreviation for “Music Video”.

N

Netizen - Netizen is a combination of “Citizen” and “Internet” and describes people on the Internet.

EITHER

OST - Abbreviation for the Official Soundtrack of Korean television series.

P

Point Dance - A special, exceptional movement of each song's dance routine.

R

Rookies - The term “rookies” refers to young artists who have recently debuted. Young artists stay in this phase for around 1-2 years.

S

Sasaeng - “Sasaeng” describes extreme fans. Most often, the term is used as a negative term for fans who stalk public figures or otherwise invade their privacy.

Shelfie - A "selfie" of your shelf and your K-Pop collection.

Selca (Day) - “Selca” is the Korean term for “selfie”. Every band has its own so-called Selca Day with an associated hashtag. Fans can then post a picture of themselves combined with their idol including the appropriate hashtag on each day.

Here you can find out more about the famous Selca Days!

Survival Shows - Korean casting shows in which individual candidates or groups compete against each other and are eliminated one by one until one or more winners remain.

Find out more about survival shows here !

IN

Ultimate Bias - The absolute favorite singer, not just within a band, but in K-pop as a whole. The favorite among the favorites, so to speak. Logically, the ultimate bias is also the bias from the respective band.

Unboxing - There are countless “unboxing videos” on the Internet from fans and increasingly from K-pop shops in which albums and other fan items are unpacked in front of the camera to show the content. Unboxings help fans decide whether or not they want to buy an album.

Underrated - In German “underrated”. Fans often talk about “underrated” bands; Groups that deserve more attention and whose talent is underestimated.

Unit/Sub-Unit - Larger bands in particular are often divided into “units” that also release their own songs. In addition to these smaller groups that emerge from a band, there are also special units or project units that consist of members of different bands and usually only exist for a short time.

V

Visual - The visual is the member who represents the group - the face of the band.

Vocal Line, Dance Line, Hyung Line (…) - When you talk about the "vocal line" of a group, these are the main singers meant. The “dance line” therefore means the main dancers. The boy band Seventeen had already clearly defined who belonged to the vocal, dance or rap line before their debut and were also active separately in these groups. Outside of this division into positions, there is also the term “Hyung Line”. This refers to the older members of the band; for BTS that would be RM, J-Hope, Suga and Jin. In contrast, the younger members Jungkook, Jimin and V form the “Maknae Line”.

IN

WeVerse - WeVerse is the official store of Big Hit , a South Korean entertainment agency and record label.

Did you know all the terms? Feel free to write us in the comments which term we should include in our K-Pop ABC :)

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