The neon pop punk to kpop pipeline

I had my formative years in the late 2000s molded by the bright and energetic genre of neon pop-punk. Neon pop-punk was closer to the pop music of the time than the majority of the pop-punk scene. What often put the neon in the pop-punk was heavy use of electronic instruments, such as synths and keyboards. These were combined with the organic instruments that are staples of the pop-punk genre, such as drums, bass, and electric guitar. The lyrics were also often seemingly vapid to go along with the fun party atmosphere. This is the time when Ke$ha’s TikTok, Lady Gaga’s Just Dance, and LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem were on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Modern pop music in the mainstream hasn’t reflected this for a while. An increased blending of genres has changed what’s considered pop music. The genres of rap and trap have integrated themselves onto the Hot 100 with more traditional pop artists due to high streaming numbers, often without the help of a record label. Production choices from these genres have become a regular appearance in pop music as well. 2010s pop music has also developed into a darker and more depressing genre in both production and lyrical content. The pop landscape has changed so much since the late 2000s and early 2010s that it is unrecognizable for those who grew up during that time.

Getting older does lead to being less in tune with what’s popular, so it’s not a surprise that I don’t resonate with the popular music of a different generation’s formative years. This has led me to have to look outside the mainstream to find fun pop music that reminds me of the music I grew up with. It doesn’t have to sound the same because I’m always open to modern twists of pop sounds. For me, kpop is what has filled the void that neon pop-punk left.

Initially, I thought this was just me but after immersing myself in kpop Twitter, I found a lot of people in my similar age range who had also previously been into music surrounding the pop-punk genre. On one hand, I can explain this as simply a shared generational experience. It’s normal for people who grew up around a similar time to be into similar media, whether it be movies or television, or music. On the other hand, I’ve been thinking a little too hard about it and I think there are similarities between the two genres.

The feeling I get from Loona’s Hi High is similar to the feeling I got when I listened to Cobra Starship’s Wet Hot American Summer for the first time. Personally, I think my search for this high is what brought me to K-pop. After graduating from college, I found myself depressed and unmotivated. Despite having a Bachelor’s degree, I had no discernible career path. I was suddenly far away from the close friends that I had made in college without a license or a car. I had also started a stressful retail job at the mall that often pushed the limits of my anxiety so that I didn’t have to rely on my parents for money while living at home. This started my search for a sense of nostalgic comfort. 

Red Velvet’s 2016 title track Russian Roulette

My dive back into pop music in general was during this time and along with this I finally decided to venture into kpop. I remembered coming across Red Velvet’s Russian Roulette thanks to a gif set on Tumblr and how bubbly that had been, so I started there. Many Reddit threads and Twitter searches later, I became intrigued by the Loona pre-debut project and this is what pushed me to finally make my own kpop side account on Twitter. I wanted to engage with the fandom and keep up to date on any news.

A photo from Loona’s debut album as a 12-member group, ++

 I decided to survey my immediate sphere of kpop Twitter to try to get other points of view regarding this topic. The survey was more successful than I thought it would be with 84 responses, and it revealed many interesting conclusions I hadn’t thought of. To be more inclusive, I broadened the definition of pop-punk to basically anyone who might have fit in on a Warped Tour lineup, to include the wide spectrum of sounds that are found in the genre. The survey consisted of questions regarding age, gender, what groups in pop-punk/kpop the respondents listened to, how they found each genre, and their own possible conclusions regarding the audience crossover. 

As mentioned earlier, my initial explanation for this trend was a generational factor. With around 80% of the participants being over the age of 20, my hunch that this was affected by exposure to similar trends in popular culture during adolescence is correct. When I consolidated the answers to the final question regarding participants’ personal thoughts, they were on track with the results from the other questions. Different elements of the music itself dominated as the reason people gravitated towards both genres. They both can be very experimental in sound, have a lot of variety within their genres, and elements of drama and theatricality in the music, aesthetic, and performance. When it comes to the artists themselves, both genres have large elements of getting to know the artist themselves better and fan to artist interactions, especially with the accessibility of social media.

One of the most important aspects to me and the majority of the participants is the community surrounding these genres and the friends made through them. Fandom communities have their own issues, but when you make such strong and lasting connections, the positives come to outweigh the negatives. I’ve made close friendships through online fandoms ever since I was allowed on the internet for the first time in 4th or 5th grade. My time in the pop punk and kpop communities have been no different. I think that there’s something special about these spaces giving a sense of community to people who feel marginalized in their everyday lives.

These two genres and their surrounding cultures have more in common than I originally thought. I think being a fan of anything is a fascinating display of passion and dedication that many don’t get to experience in their every day. I also think the search for media that consistently changes and evolves is very admirable as well. The feeling I have felt engaging in the pop-punk and kpop genres is a unique experience that I hope everyone can have.