K-pop is an $8billion global industry.
Tonight Dateline goes inside the dance schools of South Korea training future stars. SBS investigates if there is a hidden cost of becoming the next big idol.
Since emerging in the 1990s, Korean pop music, or K-pop, has grown into a global phenomenon worth an estimated US$8 billion ($11.8 billion) that attracts hundreds of millions of fans worldwide.
It’s a highly choreographed genre that draws from foreign music styles such as pop, hip-hop, R&B and electronic dance as well as its traditional Korean roots.
Thousands of teenagers audition every week in the hope of sparking the attention of talent scouts and music labels. And each year, the industry launches hundreds of new idols.
K-pop stars are beholden to music labels and managers, losing their personal freedoms in the process.
Designed to embody perfectionism, they’re not permitted to smoke, drink or even have relationships — so they can appear to fans as romantically available.
Individual groups are known for their distinctive aesthetics and styles, with the most popular singers called idols.
9:30pm Tuesday on SBS.
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