K-Pop Concepts - From Classic to Innovative

K-Pop Blog > Overview > K-Pop Concepts

In the colorful world of K-Pop, not only do catchy melodies and impressive choreography come together, but also a variety of concepts that define each group's identity and style.

From the classic and familiar concepts like "Innocent" and "Girl Crush" to the innovative approaches of groups like NCT or aespa, over the years the K-Pop scene has developed a seemingly endless spectrum of creative concepts!

In this blog article we will give you an overview of the different K-Pop concepts. About the classics, but especially about the most unusual and innovative developments of recent years:

• What are concepts and what role do they play in K-Pop?
• Classic/ Traditional Concepts
• Innovative concepts
• How have the concepts changed over the years?

What are concepts and what role do they play in K-Pop?

A concept is the overarching theme that a group or individual artist follows. It influences the musical style and often even determines the image of the artists. In addition, the concept also affects song lyrics, music video style, and outfits.

The concepts are often set by the entertainments that produce the Idols. Nevertheless, the idols themselves sometimes have a say, especially those involved in writing and producing songs (such as BTS or Seventeen).

Girl groups in particular often start their career with an innocent and sweet concept and only switch to more mature themes a few years later. But there are other examples like Blackpink, who debuted directly with the Girl Crush concept.

K-pop groups can either consistently stick to a single concept or explore different themes.

Girl group Dreamcatcher has followed a dark and sometimes even spooky concept since their debut. Blackpink has also generally stayed true to their first powerful concept. The world-renowned boy group BTS, on the other hand, turned away from their original hip-hop concept relatively quickly.

In addition, there are also many artists who regularly change their concept and always try something new. Well-known examples of this are Red Velvet or SHINee or SF9.

Classic/ Traditional Concepts

We have already mentioned different concepts like "Innocent" or "Girl Crush". What else is there? Below, we'll introduce you to a few of the most popular concepts and explain what makes them tick:

Bad Boy: We know them from movies, series and books: "bad boys" who don't always do everything right. They get into fights or even rob a bank. And yet we love them! That's why this concept always goes down well with K-Pop fans. Often the bad boy concept is also closely associated with "sexy" or "dark".

TXT - “Good Boy Gone Bad” / ATEEZ - “Guerrilla”

Dark: This concept is almost self-explanatory. It usually goes hand in hand with dark clothes, serious themes and a generally gloomy mood. In extreme cases, "dark" can also mean "creepy/ horror". As with the "bad boy" concept, "sexy" is not far off.

Taemin (SHINee) - “Want” / Dreamcatcher - “What”

Fantasy: The fantasy concept in K-Pop includes not only fairies and vampires, but also everything mystical, fairy-tale and magical. The concept is very broad: Music videos in the style can be sweet and magical as well as dark.

Oh My Girl - “Closer” / Enhypen - “Given-taken”

Girl Crush: This concept is the opposite of innocent and sweet. Girl Crush is sexy, cool and badass! It's often about confidence and female strength. Groups that follow the Girl Crush concept want to be a role model for other women. The concept usually includes strong sounds and powerful choreography.

Blackpink - “How You Like That” / ITZY - “Mafia In The Morning”

Innocent, Cute: This is probably the most common concept among girl groups, and some boy groups have pioneered it as well. Girl groups often start with innocent and cute themes, and even those who debuted directly with more mature concepts have tried it at least once.

Twice - “Cheer Up” / Red Velvet - “Russian Roulette”

Retro: With retro concepts, K-pop stars like SHINee and Everglow take us back to bygone eras. From the jazzy swing of the 1920s to the disco of the '80s to the current hip-hop of the '90s.

SHINee - “1 of 1” / Everglow - “La Di Da” / NCT U - “90’s Love”

Sci-Fi: Often science fiction is about technical and scientific developments in the future or an alternate world. This includes space travel, time travel, robots and more.

VIXX - “Error” (Roboter) / EXO - “MAMA” (Superkräfte)

Sexy: Deep looks at the camera, tight dresses and provocative choreography are all features of the Sexy concept. Usually only groups that already have a bit of experience and want to show a more mature image dare to do this.

Troublemaker - “Troublemaker” / Sunmi - “24 Hours”

Traditional: Every now and then, K-pop groups try out a traditional concept. They wear "hanboks" (traditional Korean robes) and/or use traditional instruments such as drums or stringed instruments.

Oneus - LIT / Stray Kids - “Thunderous”

While the concepts just mentioned describe a certain mood and can be interpreted very differently, there are also some very specific themes like "Military" or "High School". As the name suggests, in these concepts the idols wear military uniforms or school uniforms. Often these concepts are connected to others. For example, school uniforms are usually worn on cute or youthful concepts, while military uniforms are seen in bad boy, girl crush or sexy concepts, among others.

Which concepts do you like the most?

Innovative concepts

In the K-Pop world, innovation is the key to conquering the hearts of fans and standing out in the fierce competition! More and more often, idol groups debut with unusual concepts and stand out from the rest. Among them are aespa, NCT or tripleS:

Aespa

aespa is a K-pop group with a special concept that connects virtual and real elements. The group's name is a combination of the English words "avatar," "experience" and "aspect". "Aspect" in this case stands for "two sides". It symbolizes the "encounter with another self and the experience of the New World."

The concept revolves around a connected universe where the virtual and real worlds are intertwined. Each aespa member has a virtual avatar, and their interactions unfold in a storyline across music videos, social media, and games. The music videos tell a continuous story in which the alternate dimension "Kwangya" plays a role, as does the villain "Black Mamba" who rules Kwangya. The avatars are part of this story and even appear in photo books and other fan merchandise! They are named after their human counterpart, so for example Karina's virtual counterpart is called ae-Karina.

You can learn more about Aespa here!

NCT

NCT, short for "Neo Culture Technology," is a boy group from SM Entertainment known for its groundbreaking concept. NCT is divided into different subunits that focus on specific regions, languages, and concepts.

The original idea was that the group would consist of an infinite number of members who are constantly active in different sub-units around the world. This means that NCT members are not always active in the same constellation like regular groups. Members could switch between sub-units and leave them again, which should ensure constant freshness and development.

From 2016 to 2023, five different units debuted: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, and NCT DoJaeJung. Although some members are active in more than one Unit, new ones kept joining as well. Now the boy group has 20 members, making it the largest K-Pop group ever! Every few years, all units release an album together.

However, in early 2023, SM Entertainment announced that the never-ending expansion will end and only one more unit called "NCT Tokyo" will debut.

However, NCT is still an extraordinary K-pop group! Not only does it have more members than any other K-Pop group, but it is also almost the only group that is mainly active in subunits.

If you want to know more about NCT, you can read on here.

tripleS

The girl group tripleS is rewriting the rulebook and giving fans the opportunity to shape their paths!

In typical K-pop groups, entertainment decides the activities, song selection, and roles of the members. tripleS deviates from this model and introduces a flexible system where members change roles within the group. They can be active in the main group, in subunits, or solo.

Fans are at the center of this concept. They are no longer passive observers, but active participants. They decide which members debut in which subunit and even vote on the title songs of albums.

To do this, fans use so-called COMO tokens. These tokens are obtained by buying and collecting unique digital or physical "objects" (photo cards). A digital object becomes an NFT, which generates a COMO token, giving fans significant voting power over tripleS' activities.

Unlike typical NFTs, tripleS NFT objects emphasize environmental sustainability. They consume less energy, contributing to a smaller carbon footprint.

Fans are not forced to engage in this process. Physical photo cards must first be scanned with the app before they become an NFT.

Want to get to know tripleS better? Then you've come to the right place!

These groups are attracting attention because they are different!

Their concepts are often in stark contrast to conventional idol group structures. But still, typical K-pop elements like catchy songs, synchronized choreography and colorful music videos remain!

How have the concepts changed over the years?

Many of the following statements are based on our own observations and experiences.

Concepts are definitely more diverse now than in the beginning! In the earlier generations, most idols either represented a happy and adorable image or presented more mature concepts like sexy and girl crush. Back then, K-pop girl groups were marketed to appeal mostly to men, and boy groups thrilled mostly women. Therefore, the innocent and cute image was especially prevalent at that time, because the idols were supposed to seem like "the girl/boy next door" that you could fall in love with.

In the 3rd and especially the 4th generation, happy and sweet concepts became rarer and rarer, and instead "Girl Crush" became more widespread.

Today, Girl Crush is so prevalent that sweet concepts are a refreshing change and are happily welcomed by fans.

Sexy is also not as prevalent today, mainly because fans today react more critically to young idols venturing into such concepts. And although even then idols debuted at the age of only 14, today it happens more often and the average age of the groups is decreasing.

If you are interested in this topic, you can read more here: These are the youngest K-Pop idols! Are they getting younger and younger?

In the fourth generation, we could also see the rise of innovative concepts. This started with the debut of NCT in the third generation, but for example aespa and tripleS were both founded in the fourth generation. Their concepts also increasingly rely on digital aspects such as virtual avatars and digital currencies.

Retro is also still a relatively young concept in K-pop. This is, of course, because what we call "retro" today was still the standard of the time in the first and second generations. Today, many different idols like the Wonder Girls, SHINee, NCT, or J.Y. Park take us back to those times once again with retro concepts.

Here you can find an overview of the four generations of K-Pop: K-Pop Generations - 1992 until today

Are there any concepts from back in the day that you'd like to see more of again?

Sources: Social Media