One is Korean while the other is Japanese. That makes enough difference for me

I avoid all Korean songs, for no real reason. On the other hand I adore Japanese songs, again for no real reason. I follow my intuitions on what I hate and what I love lol. That for not much reason just happens to be awakening my dislike for Korea, while falling in love with Japanese. In conclusion, it's the culture.

Well, biased stuff aside K-pop or any Korean songs for that matter, they sound weird I suppose. And from the info I got off of TV, K-pop lyrics seriously remind me of English songs. Well in the end all that remains in me is that it's Korean and bing,bang,bong. Lol. Japanese lyrics in general on the other hand... hmm... softer?

Umm... You need to get your facts right. That Ayumi person may outsell all of the not known Korean artists, but when the well known bands release a Japanese album, they CRUSH all other artists. I check the Japanese music charts every time new albums are released by Koreans, and they reign on top. Many of you say that Koreans are vain (which I am not denying), but that also goes for the Japanese. I think that a HUGE selling point for any idol is how they look, so they want to try their best to look good.

I noticed that many people made comments on how Japanese music is more "meaningful" than Korean music, and I have to strongly disagree. Yes, there is a lot of random songs made by the Koreans, but there are a ton made by the Japanese as well. You stated that you only listen to the hip-hop genre of Kpop and that is probably why that most of the lyrics are funny or weird, but you also said that you listen to just about every genre of Jpop and that is why you can probably find songs whose lyrics are more meaningful. Overall, I would like to say that everyone has their own preferences and that I am not forcing my opinions on anyone. What I would like to point out is that before you post stuff, make sure to look up the facts and also that telling others to go jump off a building does not emphasize your point. It seems very childish and thoughtless of you to post something like that online.

Last edited by ICanBelieveYouSuck at 9:26 pm, Aug 21 2012

I feel like jpop is more solo artist based and kpop is more group based. The line between jpop and jrock is a little more blurred especially when bands make it big. Kpop on the other hand is pretty easy to categorize based on label company, image, choreography, formation (slapping together a bunch of trainees and giving them a group name) etc. I feel like the kpop eruption (so many debuts in the last few years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_Korean_idol_groups) is responsible for the appeal of Korean indie that has been really bubbling underneath.

That being said, I started out listening to jrock and really hating kpop. Then kpop grew on me (it's an absolutely guilty love-hate relationship that I could go on and on explaining) and Korean indie was found in the mix. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with jpop to give more thoughts on the defining characteristics.

Hope this helped.

I don't know why so many posters responded saying K-pop is shallow or emotionless. Being an avid Korean drama fan myself, some of the K-pop I have heard in Korean dramas have touched me more than any Japanese song. I think a lot of people assume K-pop just equals boy/girl bands or dancing singers, or pretty people (often with little talent) who just want to break into acting, but that is only a small part of the genre.

One thing I noticed that is different between the two though is that K-pop seems more piano driven while J-pop for the most part seems to be guitar driven music. In Korea your singing career is significantly shorter as well and you are pretty much kicked out of the business once you reach your mid-30s. In Japan it is more common to have older artists still in the business. If you are a guy you need to look like a girl to be successful in Korea as well. I don't think I have ever seen a manly looking male K-pop singer. I also think music in Korea is more often seen as merely a gateway into acting. The common approach as I see it is to scout young pretty people, try to teach them to sing and dance, hire top notch songwriters to write their music, poor a lot of money into marketing their music, then try to get them popular enough so they get cast in a drama or movie.., then milk them for all they are worth and dispose of them. This is probably why there is so much mediocre K-pop out there. Every once in a while though some talent eventually surfaces to the top.

Many of you aren't going to agree with me here but I will go ahead and say it; essentially they are both just rip-offs of American music anyways! The majority of J-pop music almost sounds like 80s American music to me. K-pop (and J-pop to some degree) has been heavily influenced by R&B in the recent years as well. I really haven't heard much innovative, genre defining music from either country.

Also... aren't K-pop idols like ridiculously popular in Japan? I think Japan consumes almost as much, if not more, Korean music than it does Japanese music.

I don't listen to Kpop or Jpop much but here are my impressions so far:

Not much difference to me. The groups on both sides often do not write their own music. Also, the company decides on their imagery, the kind of music they'll sing/dance to and so on.

Jpop has more variety to the music, I agree.

In terms of Kpop, the dancing is pretty fun. However, yeah, the strict censorship codes imposed by the Seoul Cultural Board might've played some influence into the type of lyrics written for Korean music. That plus companies probably trying to ride the trends of "love" or whatever lyrics while they last.

Of course, the music scenes in Japan and Korea probably have a lot more than just Jpop or Kpop.

I like Secret and BAP for Kpop. For Jpop, haven't caught up much.

Last edited by VampireBanana at 11:22 pm, Aug 21 2012

I rarely listen to K-pop, if not never... On the other side, I frequently listen to J-pop but mostly songs from opening and ending anime. Japanese songs are more catchy to my ears.

Mass produced music usually is garbage, be it japan, korea, USA or UK. Even more at that if they are boy/girl bands.

But IMO, japan's pop music usually have in average, better music. While there are a lot of cute love songs in korea, most of them are bland, and sound most the same after a few times.

One of my three favorite band is korean tho, "clazziquai project", along with a japanese one that is "toe".

it anything korean music sounds similiar like they were made from the same company, I doubt most of their singer made the song themself, it lacked variety and creativity .
They are just trying to justify the music by selling appearance of the girl/boy band which most of them at some point did some plastic surgery.

at least there are more indie groups in japan, they just have better taste in music.

on personal note, I just feel japanese language sounds softer than koreans.

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I agree with the music in Korean dramas! I don't listen to K-pop, and I rarely listen to J-pop if I'm not watching anime, but wow. The music I hear when my parents watch K-dramas is beautiful.

Still, to me, K-pop will typically be what you said people assume K-pop is. Because that's what most people talk about when they talk about K-pop. Well, in my circle of friends at least. I guess that kind of music is catchy, although I've never gotten into it. I can't listen to mainstream singing/dancing k-pop groups for more than a minute unless I'm forced to.
I wouldn't call either K or J pop rip-offs of American music... It makes them sound so bad. xD I'd rather say they're heavily influenced, which is practically the same, but it sounds nicer. I think they sound different enough, though. A Japanese song given English lyrics that fit and make sense still wouldn't sound like American music to me.

I personally prefer J-pop over K-pop in most cases. As long as the vocalist doesn't have some really high-pitched, "cute" voice. Like Hatsune Miku. Who isn't even a real person, but I can't think of another example right now. I just don't like her voice.

Wasn't into kpop really until Big Bang released the mv for monster. And BAP

Last edited by telepop at 5:49 pm, Oct 20 2013