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  History of KPOP 3: BTS, EXO, BLACKPINK, TWICE, Red Velvet and more!

  For today's predebut, we're here to talk about the third generation of KPOP. We want to start out with a disclaimer that the third-generation KPOP artists we talk about in this predebut are all still very much active, and this is not an era of KPOP that is over in the past.  Typically, when people refer to the third generation of KPOP, they are referring to the period roughly between 2011 and 2018. This includes a wide range of groups such as BTS, EXO, iKON, GOT7, and the iconic girl group trifecta of BLACKPINK, TWICE, and Red Velvet. (Of course, this is not a complete list!) This era is characterized by the rise of social media and the dominance of YouTube, and KPOP adjusted accordingly. Artists were also trying out slightly more experimental concepts. Although KPOP was already popular among fan bases in Asia, after the massive global success of "Gangnam Style" by PSY in 2012, KPOP gained explosive popularity around the world.  There are multiple third generation male artists who became international top stars, BTS perhaps the best known among them. When EXO released "Growl" in 2013, it instantly became a huge hit and propelled them to superstardom. Since then, EXO has been continuously active as a group, subunits, and solo artists. ED has hosted Artist Classes with KAI and BAEKHYUN for their solo songs! Watch "Growl" below ? There are many third-generation KPOP artists, but it's fair to say that the "big three" trifecta is the most famous among them, consisting of BLACKPINK from YG, TWICE from JYP, and Red Velvet from SM.Notably, BLACKPINK became a phenomenon even before their debut when they released a dance practice video as a predebut group of four YG trainees. The video went instantly viral, escalating excitement for their debut, and their popularity has only increased since. The four most followed KPOP idols on Instagram are the four BLACKPINK members! Watch their music video for "DDU-DU DDU-DU" below, which has more than 1.6 billion views on YouTube: Bonus feature: watch this iconic music video for "Naughty" by Irene and Seulgi of Red Velvet, choreographed by Jae and Spella! You can take their "Naughty" tutting class on our website.  Do you have a third-generation bias? Tell us all about it by simply responding to this blog on Instagram! We hope you enjoyed this Predebut article! Click HERE to go onto the next chapter: History of KPOP 4 With love, ED Team  
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  History of KPOP 2: An exploration of the second generation of KPOP 🌟

  Do you remember the second generation era of KPOP? This is generally said to be from around 2003 to 2009 or 2010, and many artists who are considered the second generation of KPOP are still active, either as solo artists or groups! Let's take a look at some of these artists and their songs. Starting with boy groups, TVXQ!, who debuted in 2004, is one of the earlier second-generation groups and gained massive popularity across Asia with Rising Sun in 2005. Other boy groups who defined the second generation of KPOP include SHINee, Super Junior, and 2PM. All of these groups are still active today! Eunhyuk of Super Junior even hosted ED LIVE's first-ever Artist Class back in April. Watch TVXQ!'s Mirotic music video below 👇 There were also many iconic girl groups who became the standard of KPOP who debuted during this time. The most popular girl groups of this era include Girl's Generation, Wonder Girls, 2NE1, SISTAR, Brown Eyed Girls, After School, Miss A, f(x), KARA, 4MINUTE, and more.  Although most of these groups have now disbanded, a lot of the members are still active as solo artists. HyunA, who is now very well-known as a solo artist, was initially a member of 4MINUTE, and Sunmi was originally a member of Wonder Girls, for example! Take a look at the music video for 2NE1's FIRE below. This song actually had two music videos, the "street version" and the "space version," and this is the space version. We hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. We'll be back with a predebut on KPOP's third generation! ❤ Click HERE to go onto the next chapter: History of KPOP 3 With love, ED Team
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  History of KPOP 1: An exploration of the first generation of KPOP ?

  In today's predebut, we have a fun little history lesson for you: the history of KPOP! Let's go all the way back to the beginning and learn about the first generation of KPOP idols, the KPOP artists who paved the way.  First, a note on the KPOP "generations." KPOP is often divided into four generations between its beginning in the 1990s and today. There's no set rule or definitive guidelines separating the generations, but the distinction is rather something generally agreed upon by KPOP fans according to changes in popular styles and the debuts of a new group of KPOP artists. The artists that are considered the first generation of KPOP include Seo Taiji and Boys, H.O.T., god, Shinhwa, and SECHSKIES for boy groups. "I Know" by Seo Taiji and Boys (music video below) was especially phenomenally popular in Korea and launched the beginning of what we now think of as KPOP with a hip-hop-influenced musical style inspired by American hip hop and pop music that was previously unheard of in Korea. First-generation female artists during this time include S.E.S., Fin.K.L., and BoA. If you're not immediately familiar with S.E.S. and Fin.K.L., Eugene, who showed some amazing acting skills in the drama Penthouse, debuted as a member of S.E.S. (the E in S.E.S. stands for Eugene), and Lee Hyori debuted as a member of Fin.K.L. They were likewise influenced by popular American artists of the 90s, such as Aaliyah and Janet Jackson, as well as Japanese pop. Listen to the iconic No.1 by BoA below ? During this time, "hallyu," or the "Korean wave," was becoming known and rising in popularity throughout East Asia. BoA was popular in Japan, for example, as was Bae Yong-joon (affectionately called Bae-sama in Japan), an actor well-known for his role in the drama Winter Sonata.  Although these groups aren't really active as units anymore, many of the members have continued their careers as soloists or actors. Yang Hyun-suk from Seo Taiji and Boys, of course, went onto found YG Entertainment and played a huge part in creating today's biggest KPOP groups like BLACKPINK. S.E.S. even released a 20th anniversary album, "Remember," in 2017! Watch their music video for Paradise below ? Whether you were already an expert on first-generation KPOP or this is your first time learning about it, we hope that this was fun and informative! Try listening to a few of the old songs from these groups and compare them with your favorite KPOP songs from the past few years to see how KPOP has evolved over the past 30 years.  What's your favorite first-generation KPOP song? Share with us!  Click HERE to go onto the next chapter: History of KPOP 2 With love, ED Team  
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  Learn about what Hanbok is and how KPOP idols wore it!

  If you have watched a Korean period drama, you might be familiar with hanbok, or traditional Korean clothes. In today's predebut, we'll teach you a little bit about what hanbok is and its history, and we'll take a look at how various KPOP idols have worn hanbok and its adopted forms. When we think of traditional hanbok today, we think of something like what Yuri from Girls' Generation is wearing in the photos below (from Bossam: Steal the Fate, photos from Girls' Generation official Instagram).  This contemporary image of traditional hanbok is similar to what was worn in the last Josun Dynasty, around the 19th century. The history of hanbok goes back much further than that because the word "hanbok" itself really just means "Korean clothes." Over the millennia that hanbok was worn in Korea, it changed a lot depending on the ruling dynasty, the region, trends, and so on.  (Source: National Museum of Korea) The picture on the right is a painting of Jeong Mong-ju, a scholar and diplomat during the late Goryeo Dynasty (14th century). Compare the shape of his collar, belt, and hat to the picture on the right, which is a painting of Jeong Gyeongsun, a scholar during the late Josun Dynasty (18th century). You can also see that these clothes look different from what you might have seen in Korean period dramas. Notably, the sleeves are bigger and the clothes are more flowy and loose.  This is to say that hanbok is not a monolith, and there is not one set of guidelines that define what hanbok should look like. It's not a set uniform or a costume, but a certain style of clothes that have evolved with the Korean people throughout history.  That evolution continues today, as Koreans continue to adapt the traditional style of hanbok to modern life. Although traditional hanbok is usually reserved for special occasions or holidays, many Koreans wear reformed hanbok that is tailored to look more modern and be more suited to contemporary society. The kind of hanbok that KPOP idols wear on stage can be called a type of reformed hanbok as well.  You might be familiar with BLACKPINK's hanbok for How You Like That. They wore hanbok-inspired outfits for this performance at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and similar hanbok outfits make an appearance in their music video as well. Take a look below 👇 BTS also wore hanbok-inspired outfits in their IDOL music video, where they are seen dancing on what looks like a traditional Korean gazebo. The neon colors contrast with the traditional imagery to create a mix between the old and the new. Watch below 👇 Below is how SuperM wore Hanbok in their '호랑이' music video! OH MY GIRL also showed off their beauty in a modern hanbok, the traditional attire of Korea. So what do you think? We hope that you can appreciate the beauty, tradition, and history of hanbok, and that you learned a little bit about how it's evolving, even in contemporary society. Would you want to try on a hanbok outfit yourself? :) 
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  Mini Korean Lesson with ED (body parts)

  Today, we're bringing you a little Korean lesson that we think will be helpful for ED classes. Although all our classes have an English interpreter, it will still be useful for you to know how to say basic body parts that our instructors often refer to.  .small {text-indent: 50px;} .big {text-indent:50%;} Starting from the top:  Head: 머리 (pronounced meo-ri) Neck, throat: 목 (pronounced mok—in Korean, we use the same word to refer to the neck and throat) Shoulders: 어깨 (pronounced eo-kkae) Arms: 팔 (pronounced pal) Wrist: 손목 (pronounced son-mok) Chest: 가슴 (pronounced ga-seum) Back: 등 (pronounced deung—note that in Korean, this refers truly to your spine and the back part of your torso) Waist: 허리 (pronounced heo-ri—this refers to your midsection and the area that you refer to when you say your "back" hurts in English) Pelvis/hips: 골반 (pronounced gol-ban) Legs: 다리 (pronounced da-ri) Ankles: 발목 (pronounced bal-mok) Feet: 발 (pronounced bal)  Watch the video below for an overview and the audio pronunciation of these and a few other words!   We hope this was a helpful mini-lesson, and that you can understand a little bit of what the instructors are saying without an English translation. That could make our dance classes even more fun! Is there anything else you want to learn how to say in Korean? Let us know via Twitter / Instagram and ask! We can teach you :) With love, ED Team