K-Pop Ranter

Friday Flash to the Past: (2003-2006) Beginning of Modern Hallyu Wave

Posted by : Unknown May 11, 2013

Hello, Nihao, Konnichiwa, Hola, Annyeonghaseyo, Salam... basically, welcome to another beautiful segment of Flash to the Past. Did you miss any of our other posts? If so, you can check them out here.

To begin, 2003 marked the beginning of the modern day Hallyu Wave for K-pop. From the smooth R&B to Hip-Hip on to
mind-blowing, electronic sounds and the rock and pop, companies were taking the advantage of this time to make huge surprises having fresh new styles, flavor and targeting new markets.

Today's Lesson: Beginning of Modern Hallyu

The Big 3, SM, YG and JYP, once again slayed charts as well as the forever lingering DSP Entertainment. SM came out with the amazing groups DBSK and Super Junior, YG had Big Bang whom surpassed many groups with their great music, DSP came out with SS501 which rose to the top and JYP well... was JYP for the time being.

Ever heard of the saying 'Always Keep Faith'? If you have, you get extra cool points for today's lesson, you, already knowing something about the Gods Rising in the East aka TVXQ. Being together (in fan's hearts) for 10 solid years and inheriting the nicknames of 'Kings of K-Pop', 'Asia's Stars' and 'Kings of the Hallyu Wave' due to their undeniable success, the five member boy group debuted in late 2003 (in a Britney Spears - BoA showcase) or early 2004 (their song officially was released) with their debut song 'Hug', becoming successful and exceeding beyond expectations by captivating teenage girls and pedonoonars alike. Their song maintained the position of number 4 on monthly charts and sold over 100,000 copies, making the fourteenth best-selling record of the year.
Unfortunately after their height with Mirotic, DB5K's numbers dropped to only DB2K, SM Entertainment ruining yet another one of their kick-ass groups and leaving only Changmin and Yunho to promote for themselves. Other than that, TVXQ is still one of the best-selling K-Pop group in the world, releasing six Korean albums, six Japanese albums and a bajillion of singles, they've raked in millions of sales and still remains at the top of my heart.

Super Junior originally was named 'Super Junior 05', debuting with their single 'Twins' which sold over a hundred thousand copies as of now. Originally an eleven member group, Super Junior grew to their biggest yet, having thirteen handsome men to rock the stage. Over the years, they divided into smaller subgroups (one of the most popular: Super Junior KRY which was their vocal unit) and simultaneously targetted different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups with hopes to match Super Junior's popularity.
The group earned fourteen music awards from the MNET Asian Music Awards, sixteen from the Golden Disk Awards and is the second group to win favorite group on MTV Asia, best-selling artist for three years in a row and in 2012, nominated for 'Best Asian Act' on MTV Europe, winning sixtreen awards after JTL in 2003. Just like their label mates, TVXQ, they inherited the name 'Kings of the Hallyu Wave' and became largely popular with their best-selling single 'Sorry Sorry' in 2009.

Watch Twins and Sorry Sorry below:

While SM Entertainment rose to the top and JYP Entertainment prepared for following years, YG surprised the other companies with their five member group Big Bang. Debuting in 2006 with their song 'La La La', not becoming very relevant until their songs 'Lies' and 'Haru Haru'. Big Bang's leader, G-Dragon, composed and wrote many of the tracks in their first mini-album 'Always', releasing their song 'Lies' as their lead single and selling nearly a hundred thousand copies while topping various charts. The same year, they released their next mini, Hot Issue, with song 'Last Farewell' which introduced a new style of music to K-Pop and caused Big Bang to widen their fan base. Big Bang is known for their unique urban-originated music and fashion style. The members' involvement in composing and producing their own music, most notably leader G-Dragon, has earned the group respect and praise from music industry experts. Winning many awards, Big Bang has been proclaimed "Best Male Group", " Artist of the year" as well as "Leaders of the Hallyu Wave" by Billboard itself. Check out Haru Haru and LaLaLa.

Additional Info & Groups:

As stated before, DSP had their group SS501 to compete with the SM boys. In 2005, SS501 formed as "Five Members United as One Forever" and debuted with their first song Warning to begin making their mark on K-Pop. Releasing their second single Snow Prince but taking a brief hiatus later, they came back in 2006 and promoted their first album S.T.01 Now. They gained a lot of fans nationally and internationally, debuting in Japan in 2007 with Kokoro and murdering Oricon and being the first Korean artist to receive the award Best Newcomer in Japan. Later, they released numerous other songs and projects before going off in their own ways, their last song together being 'Luv Ya'.

Debuting under Woolim Enterainment, Epik High added their own flavor to music. Although typical K-pop consisted of mostly singing and dancing, the trio wanted to make their raps popular. The group had managed to catch the hearts of fans with their hit singles.The title songs, "Fan", and "Love Love Love" became huge hits in 2007.The album sold almost more than a hundred thousand copies and pushed Epik High made the trio one of the best upcoming artist. The group was chosen as the best artist of the month. Next for the Japanese market, Epik High rose to fame internationally with the song "Flow" the album selling 120,301 copies during the year, making it the third best-selling album of 2007 in South Korea.

To end this segment of Flash To The Past, ladies and gentlemen, which Idol group do you think reached its high expectations entering the global market?

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