10 Incredible K-Pop Songs (That Aren’t Gangnam Style)

What do you think of when you hear “K-pop”? If you answered anything other than “Gangnam Style” or “Psy”, congratulations, you’re one the few people outside Asia who has delved below the surface of one of the world’s biggest musical trends.

That aforementioned 2012 smash hit is the most viewed music video of all time, and propelled its maker to international stardom. It introduced K-pop to a whole new audience, but it didn’t lead to its predicted emergence as a huge global force.

Massively popular in its native Korea, as well as Japan, China, Australia and other Asian countries, K-pop remains a niche concern in most of the west. That’s a crying shame, because although Gangnam Style is a hugely fun slice of Korean silliness, it only offers a fleeting glimpse into one of modern music’s most interesting trends.

K-pop can be traced back to the Korean policy of Hallyu, which the government pushed in the early 1990s. Spurred on by the fact that Jurassic Park made more money than Hyundai’s total car sales, former president Kim Young-sam pumped huge investment into new technologies, the movie industry and music.

And it worked. In 2014 K-pop's three major labels had a total revenue of nearly $500 million, and in 2012 the entire industry was worth almost $4 billion to Korea - basically, it's a really big deal. 

These ten songs will show you just why that’s so, and all without the aid of Gangnam’s most famous resident. 

Psy was K-pop’s first truly global superstar, and if the predictions are correct, CL will be its second.

Born Lee Chae-ri, she joined girl group 2NE1 in 2009, but it was in 2014 when CL truly came into her own. She signed up with Psy’s US manager Scooter Braun - who also manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande - and started to plot her international breakthrough.

Earlier this month, collaborator Diplo was interviewed in TIME Magazine and hinted that her debut EP could even be out as early as next month. With songs in a mixture of Korean and English - rather than the snippets of “Konglish” that litter so many K-pop songs - some have questioned out loud whether CL even counts a K-pop artist now. This is a charge Diplo rejects.

"Her solo is going to be K-pop because she's doing it," he told TIME. "But for the most part it's eclectic. She's like the Nicki Minaj of that world which is the coolest artist to work with."

Until that as-yet-untitled EP comes out, and you can fully judge for yourself, you can enjoy her previous single. Also a collaboration with Diplo, Doctor Pepper is a minimal, trap-inspired track, that emits a sinister vibe despite its day-glo and tongue-in-cheek video.