In the colorful K-Pop world, catchy melodies and impressive choreographies are not the only things that come together, but also a wide variety of concepts that define each group's identity and style.
From 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 an almost endless spectrum of creative concepts!
In this blog article, we give you an overview of the different K-Pop concepts. Both the classics and, above all, 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 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 an individual artist follows. It influences the musical style and often even determines the artists' image. The concept also affects the lyrics, the style of the music videos and the outfits.
Concepts are often set by the entertainment companies that produce the idols. Still, the idols themselves sometimes have a say, especially those who are involved in writing and producing songs (such as BTS or Seventeen).
Girl groups in particular often start their careers with an innocent and sweet concept and only switch to more mature themes a few years later. But there are also other examples like Blackpink, who debuted directly with the Girl Crush concept.
K-Pop groups can either stick consistently to a single concept or explore different themes.
The girl group Dreamcatcher has followed a dark and sometimes even creepy concept since their debut. Blackpink, too, has generally stayed true to their first powerful concept. The world-famous boy group BTS, on the other hand, moved away from their original hip-hop concept relatively quickly.
Beyond that, there are also many artists who change their concept regularly and keep trying something new. Well-known examples are Red Velvet or SHINee or SF9.
Classic/ Traditional concepts
We have already mentioned various concepts like “Innocent” or “Girl Crush”. What else is there? Below, we introduce you to a few of the best-known concepts and explain what makes them what they are:
Bad Boy: We know them from movies, series and books: “Bad guys", 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. The Bad Boy concept is also often closely tied to “sexy” or “dark”.
TXT - “Good Boy Gone Bad” / ATEEZ - “Guerrilla”
Dark: This concept almost explains itself. It usually comes with dark clothes, serious themes and generally a gloomy mood. In extreme cases, “dark” can also mean “creepy/ horror”. As with the “Bad Boy” concept, “sexy” is not far away here either.
Taemin (SHINee) - “Want” / Dreamcatcher - “What”
Fantasy: In K-Pop, the Fantasy concept covers not only fairies and vampires, but also everything that seems mystical, fairytale-like and magical. The concept is very broad: music videos in this style can be sweet and fairytale-like 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 tough as nails! It is often about self-confidence and female strength. Groups that follow the Girl Crush concept want to be a role model for other women. The concept usually comes with strong sounds and powerful choreographies.
Blackpink - “How You Like That” / ITZY - “Mafia In The Morning”
Innocent, Cute: This is probably the most common concept among girl groups, and a few boy groups have done it too. 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 or Everglow take us back to past eras. From the jazzy swing of the 1920s and 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: Science fiction is often about technological and scientific developments in the future or in an alternative world. This includes space travel, time travel, robots and more.
VIXX - “Error” (robots) / EXO - “MAMA” (superpowers)
Sexy: Deep gazes into the camera, tight dresses and provocative choreographies are all hallmarks of the Sexy concept. Usually only groups that already have a bit of experience and want to show a more mature image dare to try it.
Troublemaker - “Troublemaker” / Sunmi - “24 Hours”
Traditional: Every now and then, K-Pop groups try out a traditional concept. For this, they wear “Hanboks” (traditional Korean garments) and/ or use traditional instruments such as drums or string instruments.
Oneus - LIT / Stray Kids - “Thunderous”
While the concepts just mentioned describe a certain mood and can be interpreted in very different ways, there are also a few very specific themes like “Military” or “High School”. As the name suggests, with these concepts the idols wear military uniforms or school uniforms. These concepts are often combined with others. School uniforms, for example, are usually worn with sweet or youthful concepts, while military uniforms can be seen, among others, with Bad Boy, Girl Crush or Sexy concepts.
Which concepts do you like best?
Innovative concepts
In the K-Pop world, innovation is the key to winning fans' hearts and holding your own in the tough competition! More and more often, idol groups debut with extraordinary concepts and stand out from others that way. These include aespa, NCT or tripleS:
Aespa
aespa is a K-Pop group with a special concept that combines virtual and real elements. The group's name is a combination of the English words "Avatar", "Experience" and "Aspect". "Aspect" stands for "two sides" here. It symbolizes the "encounter with another self and the experience of the New World".
The concept revolves around a connected universe in which the virtual and the real world interlock. 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 alternative dimension “Kwangya” plays a role, as does the villain “Black Mamba”, who rules over Kwangya. The avatars are part of this story and even appear in photobooks and other fan merchandise! They are named after their human counterparts, so for example Karina's virtual counterpart is called ae-Karina.
NCT
NCT, short for "Neo Culture Technology", is a boy group from SM Entertainment that is known for its groundbreaking concept. NCT is divided into various subunits that are geared toward 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 all over the world. That means that NCT's members are not always active in the same lineup like regular groups. Members could switch between the sub-units and also leave them again, which was meant to ensure constant freshness and further 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 several units, new ones kept joining as well. By now the boy group has 20 members, making it the largest K-Pop group of all! Every few years, all units release an album together.
At the beginning of 2023, however, SM Entertainment announced that the infinite expansion would end and that only one more unit called “NCT Tokyo” would debut.
Even so, NCT is still an extraordinary K-Pop group! Not only does it have more members than any other K-Pop group, it is also almost the only group that is mainly active in subunits.
If you want to know more about NCT, you can keep reading here.
tripleS
The girl group tripleS rewrites the rulebook and gives fans the chance to help shape their path!
With typical K-Pop groups, the entertainment company decides on the activities, the song selection and the members' roles. tripleS departs from this model and introduces a flexible system in which the members switch their roles within the group. They can be active in the main group, in subunits and also solo.
The 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 tracks of albums.
For this, fans use so-called COMO tokens. You get these tokens by buying and collecting unique digital or physical "objects" (photocards). A digital object becomes an NFT that generates a COMO token and thus gives fans a meaningful say in tripleS's activities.
Unlike typical NFTs, tripleS NFT objects place value on environmental sustainability. They use less energy and thus contribute to a lower CO2 footprint.
Fans are not forced to take part in this process. Physical photocards first have to be scanned with the app before they become an NFT.
Would you like to get to know tripleS better? Then you've come to exactly the right place!
These groups attract attention because they are different!
Their concepts often stand in sharp contrast to the conventional structures of idol groups. But typical K-Pop elements like catchy songs, synchronized choreographies and colorful music videos remain!
How have 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 at the beginning! In the earlier generations, most idols either represented a cheerful and lovable image or presented more mature concepts like Sexy and Girl Crush. Back then, K-Pop girl groups were marketed so that they appealed mainly to men, and boy groups mainly excited women. That's why the innocent and sweet image was especially widespread back then, because the idols were supposed to come across as “the girl/ boy next door", someone you can fall in love with.
In the 3rd and especially the 4th generation, cheerful and sweet concepts became increasingly rare and “Girl Crush" became more widespread instead.
Today, Girl Crush is so strongly represented that sweet concepts are a refreshing change and are happily welcomed by fans.
Sexy, too, is no longer as widespread today, probably mainly because fans now react more critically when young idols venture into such concepts. And although idols debuted at the age of just 14 back then as well, it happens more often today and the average age of the groups is falling.
If the topic interests you, you can keep reading here: These are the youngest K-Pop idols! Are they getting younger and younger?
In the fourth generation, we also saw the rise of innovative concepts. That already began with NCT's debut in the third generation, but aespa and tripleS, for example, were both only formed in the fourth generation. Their concepts also increasingly rely on digital aspects like virtual avatars and digital currencies.
Retro, too, is still a relatively young concept in K-Pop. That 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 more with retro concepts.
Here you can find an overview of the four generations of K-Pop: K-Pop Generations - 1992 to Today
Are there concepts from the past that you would like to see more often again?
Sources: Social media
