All about the 2nd generation of K-Pop: 2003 - 2012!

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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're not familiar with the term "Generations", you can first get a brief overview in our article about the four K-Pop generations .

We will answer these questions today:

• When did the 2nd generation begin and end?
  
• What makes up the 2nd generation?
• Which bands belong to the 2nd generation?

When did the 2nd generation begin and end?

It is generally believed that the 2nd Generation began in 2003 with the debut of the five-member boy group TVXQ from SM Entertainment.

When exactly generations begin or end is actually always debatable, but the beginning of the 2nd generation is comparatively little discussed. Altough one or the other would rather regard 2004/2005 as the starting point, in general everyone agrees that TVXQ belongs to the 2nd generation. So, since the boy group debuted in December 2003, we can be pretty specific.

Opinions are also not too far apart when it comes to the end of the generation.

The majority agrees 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, but for groups that emerged even earlier in the year, fans disagree on who is already part of the third generation and who is still part of the second generation. The same is true for some groups from 2011, but since everyone agrees on EXO, the accepted boundary is early 2012.

What makes up the 2nd generation?

During the second generation, artists helped K-pop blossom: They started experimenting more with their music, style, and concept, spreading the genre throughout Asia and beyond. They also started a new collecting culture and changed the concert experience for themselves and their fans with the first photo cards and lightsticks.

With all of these developments laying the groundwork for future generations, and thus having a major impact on the Korean music industry, it's no wonder that fans refer to the second generation as the "Golden Age of K-Pop" and fondly remember that time.

In the following, we'll take a closer look at the different aspects so you don't miss any of the interesting details:

Experiments with music, style and concepts

After the the 1st generation developed the basics of K-pop - choreographed & synchronized dances + coordinated outfits + catchy music + focus on good looks - the second generation artists increasingly experimented with the music and its 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 the fact that since the 3rd generation , K-pop has been composed of a wide variety of musical genres such as techno and rock, while the music, especially in the first generation and parts of the second, still closely resembled classic pop and was characterized by American influences.

In addition, the boy and girl groups increasingly tried out new concepts. Sometimes sweet, sometimes sexy and sometimes rather crazy. While A-Pink, for example, stuck to one concept for many years (cute), other groups switched to a new concept with each comeback.

Each 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 that two or three members of a band form a so-called sub-unit and release their own albums more or less regularly. A few examples 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 vocals Kihyun, Ryeowook and Yesung. The sub-unit was formed perhaps because Super Junior had an unusually large number of members for that time. Today, more than 10 members in a group is not too unusual, but Super Junior was the first K-pop group of that size.

Spreading throughout Asia and beyond!

Shortly before the start of the second generation, K-pop celebrated its first major successes outside South Korea. Among other things, singer BoA was the first Korean artist ever to top the Japanese Oricon charts with her Japanese debut album "Listen to My Heart". In the next few years, other major milestones followed throughout Asia: for example, singer Rain's album "It's Raining" in 2004 became one of the biggest launches in Asia, and boy group TVXQ sparked hype for K-pop boy groups across the continent!

TVXQ has not only celebrated success in Asia, but also set two world records in 2008 and 2009! In 2008, it was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records that TVXQ had the largest official (paid) fan club in the entire world. It had over 800,000 members at that time! In 2009, the boy band made it into the Guinness Book of Records once again. The boy group and its individual members had been photographed over 500 million times by that year, more than any other celebrity in the world!

But the boys were not the only ones in the second generation to take their name beyond the borders of Asia: in 2006, for example, Rain toured not only various Asian countries as part of its first world tour, but also Australia, the United States and Canada. In 2009, the girl group Wonder Girls became the first Korean group to enter the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and accompanied the Jonas Brothers as the opening act on their world tour!

Even though K-Pop didn't officially make its international breakthrough until the 3rd generation , several artists as you can see have already achieved great international success before that!

The emergence of photo cards and lightsticks

Photo cards are probably the most popular K-Pop fan item, with which fans can fill entire binders. Opening a new album is especially exciting because we don't know what photo card awaits us inside. Some fans even pick up the same album multiple times to get as many different photo cards as possible to complete their collection! But the popular extra wasn't a part of the K-Pop scene from the beginning.

In fact, the trend only started in 2007, when boy group TVXQ released their Japanese album "Summer Dream," which included photo cards for the first time! The first Korean album with photo cards was released in 2010: "Oh!" by the girl group Girls' Generation. Both groups belong to SM Entertainment.

But although from then on the label included photo cards more often in their artists' albums - for example in SHINee's album "Lucifer" (2010) - it still took a while for the trend to be picked up by the rest of the K-pop scene. So even the earlier albums by 3rd generation groups like B.A.P still came without a photocard in them. Today, there is hardly an album without photo cards! In addition, there are now many other small extras such as stickers and bookmarks included. Besides the photo book, these extras are something that distinguishes K-Pop albums today and makes them very different from albums from other countries.

The popular Lightsticks, which are part of every K-Pop concert, were also created in the second generation. G-Dragon from the boy group Big Bang (YG Entertainment) designed the very first lightstick in 2006 because he wanted to have something that Big Bang fans, called "V.I.P", could identify with.

This way, Big Bang could directly recognize them even at festivals where several artists were performing. As you probably know, that was just the beginning! Today, every K-Pop artist sooner or later releases their own Lightstick. They make the concert experience very special: Fans wave their Lightsticks through the air to cheer on their stars, creating a ocean of lights together. We can't imagine a K-Pop concert without Lightsticks!

Which bands belong to the 2nd generation?

These are a few of the most famous representatives:

• TVXQ
  
• Super Junior
  
• Girls' Generation
• SHINee
• BigBang
  
• 2NE1
  
• 4Minute

• Wonder Girls
• 2PM
• Kara
  
• T-ara
  
• Sistar
  
• A-pink
  

Like the first generation, this one was still very much 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! Also, major milestones and significant developments were achieved mainly by artists from these three labels.

Of course the 2nd generation has produced many more popular groups like Beast (today Higlight), C.N.BLUE, Infinite, B1a4, Girls Day or f(x). But the listed examples give a good overview of the time!

Did you start listening to K-Pop during the second generation?