Influence of K-pop music to the Filipino’s

Chapter 1: Background and its Problem

Intoduction

“Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People
everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we
are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the
same.” -John Denver Music is a big part of everybody’s lives. It’s basically one of the things we do
or listen to when we feel certain emotions such as happiness, sadness or even anger. Every
country has their own music, its part of their culture whether it is used on religion or just plain
entertainment. But for now, we will focus on a certain type of music that became one of the most
influential music of today, Korean Music or simply K-Pop. In Rolling Stone Magazine, a magazine
that focuses on music, popular culture and politics defined K-Pop as a mixture of trendy Western
music and high-energy Japanese pop (J-Pop), which preys on listeners’ heads with repeated hooks,
sometimes in English. It embraces genre fusion with both singing and rap, and emphasizes
performance and strong visuals. (Rolling Stone) We will write a custom essay sample on How
Influential K-Pop is to Filipino Teenagers specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page ORDER
NOW In Wikipedia, K-Pop Music was defined as a musical genre originating in South Korea that
is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. Today, Korean Music became one of
the most listened songs of teenagers around the world whether the language of a country or the
language that is being sung in all K-Pop video is different, it doesn’t matter. But where did it all
start? The history of Korean pop music is not very old. It can be traced back to 1885 when an
American missionary, Henry Appenzeller started teaching American and British folk songs at a
school. These songs were called changga in Korean, and they were typically based on a popular
Western melody sung with Korean lyrics. The wellknown song “Oh My Darling, Clementine” was
for example known as “Simcheongga” (Wikepedia) In 1992, modern K-pop was ushered in with
the formation of Seo Taiji & Boys, whose successful experimentation with different music styles
had sparked a paradigm shift in the music industry of South Korea.. First gaining popularity in
East Asia in the late 1990s, K-pop entered the Japanese music market towards the turn of the 21st
century. In the late 2000s, it grew from a musical genre into a subculture among teenagers and
young adults of East and Southeast Asia. Currently, the spread of K-pop to other regions of the
world, via the Korean wave or Hallyu,, is seen in parts of Latin America, Northeast India, North
Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and immigrant enclaves of the Western world.
(Wikipilipinas.org) K-Pop was born in the Philippines indirectly through the Koreanovelas in
2003. The first Koreannovela was “Autumn in My Heart” (the first in Endless Love series) aired in
GMA 7 to compete with ABS-CBN’s highest rating Chinese-novela, Meteor Garden. Through
Endless Love starts the love of Filipinos to Korean Music, like one of endless love’s OST Winter
Sonata, performed and remake by Faith Cuneta. During the same year, one of the first Korean
music videos in the Philippines was aired on Myx, a local music channel. This is the music video
of the Korean female group known as Kiss for their ballad, “Because I’m A Girl”. Not long after,
the music video of Korean singer Mina 10/1/2018 How Influential K-Pop is to Filipino Teenagers
EssayExample for Free https://studymoose.com/how-influential-k-pop-is-to-filipino-teenagers-
essay 2/3 for her first album’s carrier single, “Answer the Phone” also entered the local music
scene. Eventually, in 2004, both of these songs were remade by Roxanne Barcelo in her debut
album.’ Because I’m A Girl was made Filipino as Kung Alam Mo Lang, whereas Mina’s Answer the
Phone was translated into English retaining its original title. Going back to the television,
following the success of Endless Love came in Full House in 2005. Full House also starred the
same actress from the first season of Endless Love, Song HyeKyo, who was paired with Korean
singer-actor Rain. Rain’s debut in the local television paved way for K-Pop to be more known in
the Philippines. Not long after the airing of the said series, his music videos such as I’m Coming
and the more recent Love Story started to enter the charts of Myx and local FM stations. Because
of the rise of Rain as a singer here in the Philippines, among other reasons, more Filipinos became
interested in K-Pop; more Korean singers became known and loved like Girl’s Generation, BoA,
and Super Junior. The Philippines is one of the countries which are greatly influenced by Korean
Wave or Hallyu (Alanzalon, 2011). The first Philippine K-pop convention was held in PICC last
2009 which was attended by more than two thousand K-pop fans. By tapping into social
networking services and the video sharing platform YouTube, the K-pop industry’s ability to
secure a sizable overseas audience has facilitated a noticeable rise in the global proliferation of the
genre. Since the mid-2000s, the K-pop music market has experienced double digit growth rates.
In the first half of 2012, it grossed nearly US$3.4 billion and was recognized by Time magazine as
“South Korea’s Greatest Export”. But in the midst of all the good things that K-Pop gained in the
past years, there would always be a development of bad things, and as K-pop grew in popularity
around the world, critics shows and find the bad things that Korean music brought to others
whether it’s in people or in their culture. Throughout the years, the Korean pop culture has grown
into popularity for many teenagers and adults alike. In fact in many regions of Asia, notably
China, and Japan and almost the entire region of South-East Asia, the popularity of K-Pop has
become so extensive that authorities and nationalist fear that it is leading to a xenocentric
preference for Korean styles and ideas. And today, we witness the gargantuan amount of KPop
merchandise adorning the shelves of shops and hundreds of thousands of Filipino teenagers and
other adolescent individuals spending a substantial amount of their money on buying such
merchandise, purchasing their favorite stars/singers album and not to mention concert tickets,
the cheapest are which are usually enough money to buy a high technology high phone or even
more essential stuff that can be of used for example a K-Pop group called B1A4 sells their general
admission tickets for 9450 pesos (SM Tickets). Why are these teenagers so willing to spend their
so earned money or if they’re not working their parent’s hard earned money just for these K-Pop
figures? What are the positive and negative impacts of being so captured by this phenomenon?
Another problem arises like, how Korean music basically stole the interest of people on their own
music; they forget patriotism, Music authorities here in the Philippines are getting worried for the
increasing popularity of K-Pop, not only that the sales of Pinoy (P-pop) songs are decreasing, as
years past, people started listening more to foreign songs and they don’t enjoy Filipino 10/1/2018
How Influential K-Pop is to Filipino Teenagers EssayExample for People who like Korean music
get addicted so much that they changed their lifestyle to be more incorporated to their k-pop
idol. As a psychologist, I was curious as to why this problem arises? Is there an effect to teenagers
if they listen to such kind of music? This research aims to give information on the experiences of
K-pop fans, to whom and where do they express their fandom, how do they express their fandom
and what influenced their fandom.

Background of the study

After 50 years of the Korean War, the animosity between the North and South Korea may
spark anytime. The Koreans are still at war, at least figuratively. In fact, now they are conquering
the Philippines. Their unforgettable dramas and the funny three syllable names of the actors and
actresses, the not-so-difficult redundant dance moves and the ghastly waxed hair with white
powder make-up of the so-called K-Pop have drawn the attention of a great number of the young
Filipinos. Despite the barriers language between the Filipinos and the Koreans, the Filipino youth
apparently are put under the spell of their charisma.

Significance of the study

This study concerns with Filipino college students, teenagers, fashion designers, music
and movie industries who made their own brand of talent, own taste of music, own culture and
own brand of fashion forgotten. For the Filipino college students and teenagers who are deeply
hooked to K-Pop, they can appreciate both K-Pop and OPM at the same time.

Statement of the problem

This study intends to determine the influence of Kpop music to the Filipino teenagers.
Specially, this research intends to answer the following question : Why do Filipino teenager like
kpop?

Why does Filipino teenagers get addicted to kpop?

How does Kpop music influence Filipino's?
How can Music Authorities to influence Filipino Teenager to patronize OPM?

Scope and Limitation

This research focused on how influencial Kpop music to the Filipino Teenagers. Also this
study focus only on Kpop music and the respondents whose are ages 13-16 years old only.This
research uses informal survey only. The maximum respondents are students of Jose P. Laurel High
School. The respondents have right no to say the name but the age must be specifically
announced and also the suggestion on how they wanted to promote patriotism are purely
opinionated.
Definition of Term

Addiction: the fact or conditioned of being addicted to a particular subtances,things, and

activiteis.Changga- translated of American and Brittish folk song in korean lyrics. Fandom-
(consisting of fan[fanatic] plus the suffix dom, as in kingdom) is a term to refer to a subculture
omposed of fans characterized by a feeling emphathy and camaradirie with other share a common
interest. Kpop- a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety
of audiovisual elements......Koreanovela- Kdrama for short, reverse to televised drama, in a
miniseries of format produced in South Korea. Korean Wave- or Hallyu refers to the sudden
increase in popularity of South Korean culture around the world. Teenagers- a person aged from
13 to 19 years old.

Patriotism- cultural attachement to one's homeland to one country,

Xenocentric- refers to the preference for the product, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture
rather than of one's own.

Assumption of the study

In this research Filipino Teenager will know what are the influences of Korean music
or Kpop music to them and they will know what are there effects to our country.

Setting of the Study

Jose P. Laurel High School is located at Pampanga Street Tondo, Manila. Jose P. Laurel

teaches students in grade seventh through tenth in Tondo, Second District of National Capital

Region. The school has 51 structional rooms and 29 non-structional rooms, which are all powered

by power grid. With estimated 2,601 students, class size is around 40-50 students. Dr. Marion

Mallorca is in charge of the school, acting as the school’s principal.

Figure: 1 Figure: 2
Chapter 2: Review of Literature

Anchoring on the objectives of this study, the researchers reviewed related studies that are
significant for the fans active media consumption, Filipinos as active-fans, popular media content
in the Philippines, and the Korean wave in Asia and Philippines. Because of the rising of this
social media or social networking sites k-pop became popular in the Philippines especially in the
Filipino teens. Not only in the Philippines but also in the other country, people who are influence
by this k-pop group are mostly teenagers, some are young and others are young at heart.

Because of the popularity of k-pop group and artists, k-pop fandom among Filipino teens become
also widespread, they influenced most of the Filipino teens days with funky hair style (and those
huge that almost cover their faces), fashionable clothes, trendy shoes, coal eyeliners, eccentric
shacks and the bangs flip trademarks. Filipino teens imitate now their Idols look, how they move
act and everything that his/her k-pop Idol & k-pop fans imitate that too. There is no doubt, k-pop
fever is all over the Philippines, with its consistent sales of k-pop albums and concerts tickets,
Filipino is definitely invaded by Korean culture. Even on the culture of the Korea they search
about it, how they talk and their language they imitate that also.

Last January 19, 2013 more than 2,000 K-Pop fans as gathered for the Dream K-pop fantasy
concerts at the Mall of Asia, Filipino fans are really happy seeing their k-pop Idols performing in
front of them LIVE. Even the Aryana main star “Ella Cruz” attends and watch the show. According
to the interview about her she is a fan of k-pop Girls Generation. We can observed teenagers,
nowadays that Filipino teenager Idolized artist with very fanatical, even when there is a concert or
for example Super junior who came from Korea to Philippines for the concert, they desperately
willing to see their Idol sing and not of fan of rich people who would like to see the concert, even
the lower economic participate dragged to see the concert even though they are on the urge of
economic incompetence. They used their money in buying that ticket for the sake of their being
k-pop addict.

According to one of my respondent which is my sister a k-pop fan also, she like KPop because this
is similar to the west. They have the same beats and the memebers of every group in k-pop are
appealing or they have this so called appeal. She rate the K-pop and western music the same, k-
pop is her music of choice because it is more relaxing especially when at home and your listening
to the k-pop music its really fun and nice to hear. You can say it’s interesting in a way I guess, its
fun. It has also opened the door for me to explore new artist and a new culture. And according to
her also some k-pop artists have this inspiring, soothing effect upon k-pop lacks in western Music.
At first I was overly critical about k-pop fans, I was very disgust on how Filipino teens or k-pop
fans are obsessed with their idols types and their irrationals assertions that their favorite artists
can do wrong. .I’ve gotten into the habit of criticizing that doesn’t that I don’t think k-pop fans
are some of the most awesome people. I’ve encounter hell, im a k-pop fan myself Its hard to
believe but Im also a k-pop addict. I’m a fan of this k-pop group Girls Generation and Exo K-M I
was amazed by their talent especially on how they sing and dance at the same time. They are
appealing, handsome and beautiful and a multi-talented group. My favorite member in Girls
Generation seohyun the maknae of the group. Maknae means the youngest among the group and
in Exo k my bias is D.O his screen name his true name is kyungsoo but for me D.O is better. I was
very thankful about the k-pop fans because without them I will not appreciate my k-pop biases .
Infarct, I’m often time amused at how extraordinary they can be. Here are some of the best things
about k-pop fan
1) They possess the ability to mobilize better and faster than any military force on the globe.
Have you ever seen one of those action movies about a small group of thieves planning out a jewel
heist? Like Ocean’s 11 or The Italian Job? . K-pop fans are kind of like that. When a new music
video comes out, everyone knows their designated roles. The giffers strain their eyes trying to find
the perfect gif moment to post to Tumblr. The YouTubers spend hours replaying the MV to up
the view count. And others max out their debit cards to buy as many copies of the album so their
group can achieve and all-kill. And when one branch fails, the others step up to do the job. It’s a
huge elaborate system.
2) They’re vigilant about curveting and giddy when they do.
I love that fans are very particular about converting people to the groups that they love. For
example, I once told a huge Exo fan on the Seoulbeats team that I wanted to learn a bit about Exo
and that I was going online to do research and I found it.
3) They go all out to provide subtitles for the language- challenged.
I am convinced that some fans have the supernatural ability to sub idol appearances before the
appearances even happen. That’s how quick they are. Without subbers, K-pop would not be as
prolific online as it is now. Without them, my K-pop, K-drama, and K-variety experience wouldn’t
be half as rich. I never would have been able to fully enjoy Running Man, Shinhwa Broadcast, X-
Man, and my favorite idols’ variety appearances
4) They’re loyal.
Loyalty is tough quality to find. But in K-pop, fans are solid in their loyalty. It’s why they separate
themselves into different fanclubs–so that they can focus their attention on the groups for whom
they hold the most love. But sometimes this loyalty, though admirable, can rub people the wrong
way. Some k-pop fans quarelling because of this loyalty thingy. Some fans make an organization
and fan clubs for them to express their love and idolizing their bias k-pop group.
K-pop has a bad impacts on the Filipino teenagers, many teenagers nowadays become very lazy
because of k-pop. They only care about k-pop and ignore their responsibility. Many k-popper will
do a anything for their Idol. Filipino are threatened, they are less interest as food and traditional
clothing, they are most interest everything about Korea. This is an alarming issue what if Korea
influenced our culture our tradition and everything we should make a move for us not to be
foreigner on our own culture. If k-pop music became a widespread all over the world OPM will
now be a trash no one will accept it anymore they will be more interesting in korea.
Did SNSD’s Taeyon and tiffany recently undergo plastic surgery? Certainly, plastic surgery in
South Korea, in general, has made headlines over the year, the economic as the most cosmetically
enhanced population in the world. It could be more coincidence that, with the incredible rise of
k-pop the plastic surgery age may be trending younger. However, no secret that k-pop as
recognized not only for their music but also their physical appearance. This is a shocking
controversy is it true that all k-pop idols or artists undergo plastic surgery. If you ask me I think
some artists are natural beauty. An example of this is sandara park a 2ne1 k-pop member she is
has a natural beauty and seohyun and yoona as well.

People having plastic surgery in Korea are become younger and younger. According to my elder
sister she is an addict fan of reading an article about Korea’s facts and she told me about what
have she read. According to her some student in korea are encourage by their school to get high
marks in their subject and as a reward in making their grades high they will have a free plastic
surgery that’s why student in Korea are studying very hard to have that reward.
This is very scary and a gross how could this kind of things exist? Teenagers in korea undergo
plastic surgey an example of this is Sujin Shin, a 17 year-old student at the Hanguk Academy of
foreign studies in Yong in, South Korea, said that she has seen many of her classmates get double
eyelid surgery or nose jobs. “ It’s not uncommon for middle Schoolers to get eyelid surgery before
going to highschool” she added. It’s also common to get surgery as a highschool graduation gift
from their parent. I think this should be banned or it should be stop because if this kind of things
will continue what will happen to the teenagers their physical appearance might be damage if not
licensed doctor will operate them. Teenager might not also be confident on their self

Foreign Literature

At present, there are already many types of music known to be famous. One of which is the
popular music. Popular music pertains to a kind of music that is produced for a broader audience.
This includes jazz, rock, rap music and many more. Popular music has three of the most
important elements and these are language, beat and tune. This popular music originated in
America in the year 1850-1950 (Yudkin,1996).
In addition, popular music is typically vocal where everybody can sing more or less, and it has no
formal training because it is intended to appeal to the widest possible audience. Until now, this
particular music is still being acknowledged and appreciated worldwide including Philippines as
well as other European countries. (Yudkin,1996).

Regarding this popular music, Korean Pop or known as K-Pop is one of today’s hits and famous
music worldwide. Korean pop music is the well kind of music in the country of South Korea
today. K-pop music is just similar to western music. The only difference is their lyrics which are in
the form of Korean. Hallyu is the word that means Korean wave. Part of the Korean wave is their
overwhelming success not just in music but as well as in South Korean dramas and movies. The
term Korean pop music does not only pertains to music but with accompaniment of movement
that makes South Korea popular in Asia and neighboring countries from 1990’s until present
(Villano,2010).

According to Hicap (2010), the making of Korean pop music also involves attractive young stars
and their unique moves in dancing accompanied with how they dress up. One of the newest and
most famous is Rain, the male singer who became artist after his shooting in the Korean Drama
Full House with the actress Song Hye Kyo. BoA is one of Korea’s top female singers who has
topped the charts in Korea, then Japan and released an album in US. BoA worked in partnership
with western artists and was cited as an influential artist in the 2004 MTV Asia awards.

Others are bands and groups which are today’s most known. One of them is the female group
2nel having a member who became famous in the Philippines before she reached her fame in
Korea. Her name is Sandara Park. The next known group is the Wonder Girls, also a female group
who was famous for their popular hit “Nobody” which was loved by many Filipinos. Other group
includes SS501, a male group that become famous after the inclusion of some of their songs in the
soundtrack of the popular Boys Over Flowers and having their member Kim Hyun Jung. Todays’
known female group, the Girls Generation who were trained in various aspects of the performing
arts, has its own TV Series and they endorse products in Korea. There are still many known
groups and artists that contributed to the success of the Korean Pop Music such as the Super
Junior and Shinee group. These bands and groups made Korean Pop music be known (Hicap,
2010).

Younger Korean musicians have already gained reputation, much popularity and appreciation as
top performers in both concert and entertainment fields. In relation to this, youth around Asia
especially Filipino youths have been affected by the outstanding effect not just to the K-pop music
but also to other music from other countries (Kim,1985).

A study by Fritzie Joy J. Dungog (1997) distinguishes the influence of Pinoy alternative music to
the attitude of students towards local government officials. Dungog used a three part
questionnaire that asked questions pertaining to personal data, exposure questions and an
attitudinal test. The questionnaire was distributed to 284 respondents.

Based on the questionnaires she gave to the 284 respondents, the researcher found out that the
respondents showed a high level of exposure to Pinoy Alternative Music and that the majority of
respondents exhibited a positive approach towards their city government officials. The study also
revealed that “there were no significant relationship between the attitudes of respondents toward
their city local government officials and the frequency exposure to Pinoy Alternative
Music”(Dungog, (1997)).
Dino Arnaldo A. Karganilla (1994) determines the effect of exposure to foreign music in FM
stations on the perception of high school students towards Filipino music. The study covered a
sample size of 111 fourth year U.P. College High School attendees through a two-page
questionnaire which were given to those 111 respondents. The instrument that Karganilla used in
his study was a two paged questionnaire composed of three sections with an additional
information part.

The researcher discovered that the respondents had a low level of exposure to foreign music and
that the respondents had a favorable insight towards Original Pilipino Muisc (OPM). There was
no connection between the respondents’ sexual category and rank of exposure that could
influence their view towards Original Pinoy Music (OPM) and in turn, the exposure to foreign
local FM stations did not bear a negative impact of the respondents toward Original Pilipino
Music (OPM).

According to Malm (1977), there are explanations about the behavior observed with regards to the
preference of Filipino youth. Malm said that early in the history back to the time where
Philippines was colonized, the Filipino music traditions were mixed with Spanish-type of music
which was distributed into the country. “The Spanish influence becomes even stronger as one
move toward Philippine urban culture” Malm (1977).

Malm (1977) claimed that Filipino possesses an attitude which comes from the experience of
colonization, wherein it has adapted many music cultures from different neighboring countries in
the history. Through this fact, it can now be related to the issue of choice of music that Filipino
youth is experiencing with interest, specifically its fascination towards Korean pop music.
Additionally, they ought to love the unfamiliar type of music with amazement and astonishment
to that kind of music. Regarding this concept, the popularity of the native music will declined
slowly until it will no longer be known.

According to Mayol (1990), the shifting of the Youth’s musical preference is due to the music’s
influential power that serves as a “shaping force in determining the nature of the moral character
of the populace. The power of music affecting a person was derived from its structure.

The above mentioned cases and studies have shown that there is an effect or impact regarding the
preference of Pinoy teenagers toward music. And the above researches would aid the current
researchers to accomplish their study about the Pinoy Youth’s Preference for Korean Pop Music
and how does it affect their taste for Original Pilipino Music (OPM). This would serve as guiding
principles in this latest study.

Local Literature
According to Hicap (2010), the reason of the rising popularity of K-pop in the Philippines involves
attractive young stars and their unique moves in dancing accompanied with how they dress up
which Filipino Youths find it as a complete package.

Most popular Korean celebrities are belong in a bands or groups which are today’s most
known. One of them is the female group 2NE1 who’s having a member that became famous in the
Philippines before she reached her fame in Korea. Her name is Sandara Park which also
introduced Korean culture to the Filipinos (Hicap, 2010).
The popularity of Korean culture really contributed a lot in the country of South
Korea regarding on the rising of their economy because of TV dramas, films and music that
attract tourists that becomes just like a domino effect. These tourists bring billion of dollars into
the country. Korea is now enjoying double boom in economic and cultural fields (Anjaiah, 2011).

Malm (1977) claimed we Filipinos had a history of colonization that we influenced some
attitudes which we inherit to our colonizers and also to our experienced during the time of
colonization. This experience of Filipinos is related to the issue of choice that Filipino Youth is
experiencing with interest and very fascinated towards popular Korean culture.

Most Asian countries have been distant from their closest neighbors in terms of
cultural understanding and exchanges, and instead having this tendency of connection more
closely to the former colonial empires or advanced Western countries than with neighbors
sharing borders”. In this case, because of the boom of Hallyu throughout the world, the local
government of Gyeonggi planned to have an entertainment hub which to be known as
HallyuWood. The impact of the Korean wave has not only permeated popular culture but is also
a measure of positive lifestyle for many Filipino Youths (Kim and Ryoo, 2007).

Most Filipinos make Korean culture as an inspiration to their work in doing movies,
music, work of art, etc. Recently, Filipino movies have already influenced by Korean culture such
as the Filipino movie “Kimmy Dora” which is a huge box office success followed by a sequel shot
in South Korea as a Korean-inspired shot. Martinez, the writer of Kimmy Dora illustrates that
: "Filipinos like Korean films because they are fresher, less formulated and with a degree of
violence and eroticism that appeals to the local audience, who are just being bombarded by
teenybopper and romantic comedies in their local cinemas” (Santamaria, 2012).
 Filipino youths are also influenced by the Korean looks, to have a Korean look is to have a
Korean hairstyles in order to have that Korean sense of fashion. Korean hairstyles became trend in
the Philippines today (Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho, 2010).

Kim & Ryoo wrote in 2007 publication that, Cho-han (2003) stated that Hallyu
should not be treated as a superior among any other cultures for she examined that it is just an
impact of globalization from the west-based globalization.

Having the difference in language is one barrier in understanding and developing an

interest of Hallyu. Because of this it give interest to the people who likes Hallyu to do
multilingual. If we can understand what this Hallyu really is about, it can help us to determine the
grater variations in the themes that is presented to Korean culture (Gaya, 2013).