After reading “Factory Girls” and watching BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, I got a great sense of how big K-Pop is, and why so many people like it. Although K-Pop has been around for quite some time now, I did not realize that one of the biggest hits from my generation growing up, PSY’s “Gangnam Style” was classified as K-Pop. It wasn’t until I looked at the date the article was written and realized the article is almost 9 years old, I was only 9 years old at the time it was written. So it brings back a lot of memories of my time as a kid. Hallyu is a term to describe the “tsunami of South Korean culture” but I see it to be like a lifestyle in South Korea. It seems that because of Hallyu, South Korea is now the Hollywood of Asia. According to the article, “Hallyu has erased South Korea’s regional reputation as a brutish emerging industrial nation where everything smelled of garlic and kimchi and replaced it with images of prosperous, cosmopolitan life.” K-Pop is a blend of many genres and takes sounds and influences from old western and traditional music but also new western and traditional music. As per the article, “the videos feature extravagant sets and big production numbers reminiscent of early Madonna videos, while the music sometimes sounds like New Jack Swing.” K-Pop artists seem to look back on the history of music, regardless of genre, look at some of the biggest and most influential artists in music history, and try to incorporate bits and pieces of everything and mash it into one, and it works. I believe that K-Pop appeals to so many people around the world because of the blending factor of their music, the promotion of family in a sense that some of the biggest K-Pop groups are very close, and the clean lyrics and videos. According to the article, “Neither the boys’ nor the girls’ lyrics or videos generally refer to sex, drinking, or clubbing—the great themes of Western hitmakers.”. K-Pop artists want to reach as many people as possible. Implementing clean lyrics and videos allows kids to watch the music videos and listen to their music. I know that many parents prevent their kids from listening to explicit music so K-Pop is a perfect solution. The role of capitalism in the promotion and maintenance of K-Pop is very clear. K-Pop brings in money, a lot of money, almost 2 billion a year to Korea’s economy. So promoting K-Pop growth and maintaining that music influence is key to keeping Korea on the map. Social media arguably helped K-Pop grow exponentially. Nowadays it is so easy to share music with people across the world in seconds, and people can see content go viral. It also keeps K-Pop creators in trend and in-touch with fans. They can see what’s trending via Social Media and start trends themselves because K-Pop artists realize the influence they have. I don’t listen to K-Pop, I have no desire to, but if I was a business mogul or an influential figure in the music industry, I would invest in K-Pop artists and managements because I see how powerful K-Pop is and I know I would get a great return.