The second generation of K-Pop is also known as the “Golden Age of Kpop” and has produced many now almost legendary artists such as SHINee, Girls’ Generation or IU. Let’s take a closer look at this era together!
If you can’t do much with the term “generations”, you can get a quick overview first in our article about the four K-Pop generations.
These are the questions we answer today
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When did the 2nd generation begin and end?
- What defines the 2nd generation?
- Which bands belong to the 2nd generation?
When did the 2nd generation begin and end?
The 2nd generation is generally considered to have begun in 2003 with the debut of the five-member boy group TVXQ from SM Entertainment.
When exactly generations begin or end is actually always disputed, but the beginning of the 2nd generation is discussed comparatively little. Although some would rather see 2004/ 2005 as the starting point, everyone generally agrees that TVXQ belongs to the 2nd generation. Since the boy group debuted in December 2003, we can pin it down pretty precisely.
Opinions don’t differ too much about the end of the generation either.
The majority agree that the boy group EXO, which also belongs to SM Entertainment, was one of the first groups of the 3rd generation. EXO debuted in April 2012. For groups that formed even earlier that year, fans disagree on who already belongs to the third and who still belongs to the second generation. The same goes for some groups from 2011. However, since everyone agrees on EXO, the accepted boundary is at the beginning of 2012.
What defines the 2nd generation?
During the second generation, the artists helped K-Pop to blossom: They started to experiment more with their music, their style and their concept, and spread the genre across Asia and beyond. They also kicked off a new collecting culture with the first photocards and lightsticks and changed the concert experience for themselves and their fans.
With all of these developments, which formed the foundation for future generations and thus significantly influenced the Korean music industry, it is no wonder that fans call the second generation the “Golden Age of K-Pop” and like to look back on this time fondly.
In the following, we will take a closer look at the different aspects so that you don’t miss any of the interesting details:
Experiments with music, style and concepts
After the 1st generation developed the foundations of K-Pop - choreographed & synchronized dances + coordinated outfits + catchy music + a focus on good looks - the artists of the second generation increasingly experimented with music and their concepts. For example, groups like f(x) and SHINee incorporated elements of electro-pop and synth-pop into their songs. The artists’ experiments led to K-Pop being made up of a wide variety of music genres such as techno and rock since the 3rd generation, while the music, especially in the first generation and parts of the second, still closely resembled classic pop and was shaped by American influences.
The boy and girl groups also increasingly tried out new concepts. Sometimes sweet, sometimes sexy and sometimes rather crazy. While A-Pink, for example, stuck with one concept (sweet) for many years, other groups switched to a new concept with every comeback.
Every comeback was also accompanied by new, iconic fashion styles.
For example, SHINee started the so-called SHINee trend: Suddenly everyone was wearing colorful skinny jeans and high tops!
In 2006, the first sub-unit was founded! Today it is normal for two or three members of a band to form a so-called sub-unit and release their own albums more or less regularly. A few examples of this would be Irene & Seulgi (Red Velvet), EXO - CBX, SVT BSS (Seventeen) or 3RACHA (Stray Kids).
The very first sub-unit “Super Junior-K.R.Y” was founded in 2006. As the name suggests, it is a sub-unit of the then 13-member boy group Super Junior. It consists of the three main vocalists Kihyun, Ryeowook and Yesung. The sub-unit may also have come about because Super Junior had an unusually large number of members for that time. Today, more than 10 members in a group is not all that unusual, but Super Junior was the first K-Pop group of this size.
Spreading across Asia and beyond!
Even shortly before the beginning of the second generation, K-Pop celebrated its first bigger successes outside of South Korea. Among other things, the singer BoA became the first Korean artist ever to top the Japanese Oricon charts with her Japanese debut album “Listen to My Heart”. In the following years, more major milestones followed across Asia: For example, the singer Rain became one of the biggest starts in Asia with his album “It’s Raining” in 2004, and the boy group TVXQ triggered a hype around K-Pop boy groups across the entire continent!
But TVXQ did not only celebrate successes in Asia, they also set two world records in 2008 and 2009! In 2008, the Guinness Book of Records recorded that TVXQ had the largest official (paid) fan club in the whole world. It had over 800,000 members at the time! In 2009, the boy group made it into the Guinness Book of Records once again. By that year, the boy group and its individual members had been photographed over 500 million times, more often than any other celebrity in the world!
The guys were not the only ones in the second generation who carried their name beyond the borders of Asia: In 2006, for example, Rain traveled not only to a wide variety of Asian countries on his first world tour, but also to Australia, the United States and Canada. In 2009, the girl group Wonder Girls became the first Korean group to place on the US “Billboard Hot 100” charts and accompanied the Jonas Brothers as an opening act on their world tour!
Even though K-Pop only officially achieved its international breakthrough in the 3rd generation, as you can see, several artists had already achieved great international success before that!
The emergence of photocards and lightsticks
Photocards are probably the most popular K-Pop fan item, with which fans can fill entire binders. Opening a new album is so exciting above all because we don’t know which photocard is waiting for us inside. Some fans even buy the same album multiple times to get as many different photocards as possible and so complete their collection! But this popular extra was not part of the K-Pop scene from the very beginning.
In fact, the trend only began in 2007. That is when the boy group TVXQ released their Japanese album “Summer Dream”, which for the first time also contained photocards! The first Korean album with photocards appeared in 2010: “Oh!” by the girl group Girls’ Generation. Both groups belong to SM Entertainment.
But although the label from then on more often included photocards with its artists’ albums - for example in SHINee’s album “Lucifer” (2010) - it took a while until the trend was picked up by the rest of the K-Pop scene. So the earlier albums of 3rd generation groups like B.A.P also came without a photocard inside. Today there is hardly an album without photocards! In addition, there are now many other small extras like stickers and bookmarks. Along with the photobook, these extras are something that characterizes K-Pop albums today and sets them strongly apart from albums from other countries.
The popular lightsticks, which are part of every K-Pop concert, also emerged in the second generation. G-Dragon of the boy group Big Bang (YG Entertainment) designed the very first lightstick in 2006, because he wanted something that Big Bang fans, who are called “V.I.P”, could identify with.
That way, Big Bang could also recognize them right away at festivals where several artists performed. As you probably know, that was only the beginning! Today every K-Pop artist releases their own lightstick sooner or later. They make the concert experience something very special: The fans wave their lightsticks through the air to cheer on their stars and together create a sea of lights. We can no longer imagine a K-Pop concert without lightsticks!
Which bands belong to the 2nd generation?
These are a few of the best-known representatives:
- TVXQ
- Super Junior
- Girls’ Generation
- SHINee
- Big Bang
- 2NE1
- 4Minute
- Wonder Girls
- 2PM
- Kara
- T-ara
- Sistar
- A-pink
Like the first generation, this one was also still very strongly dominated by the Big 3 - SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment & YG Entertainment. Many of the most popular and successful groups of the time were produced by these three labels! Major milestones and decisive developments were also achieved above all by artists from these three labels.
Of course, the 2nd generation also produced many other popular groups such as Beast (now Higlight), C.N.BLUE, Infinite, B1a4, Girls Day or f(x). But the examples listed give a good overview of the era!
Did you already start listening to K-Pop during the second generation?
