I didnt exactly know where to put this, so I hope this is alright

Im writing an article and I need a bit of help. In your opinion, what are some of the major (or not so major) differences between Kpop and Jpop? This goes for music, style, appearance. The whole nine and as detailed as possible. I would greatly appreciate it =)

I would say that K-pop is very relative to american music or entertainment overrall,
while J-pop is very adorable, not in a teenybopper way, it's very unique.
Well that's how I see it.

well i think Japan has more rocky music and Korea is more like r&b

i dunno =P

In jpop, they speak Japanese. In kpop, they speak Korean.

I guess K-pop has more of a R&B feeling...not sure about J-pop, they have a mix of stuff.

Just post this in the general section. It's not going to receive much attention by people who hang around the other music forums.

Korea's old school music has its distinction, but the recent music is freankin related to Western's one.

When you hear a Japanese song without any vocal, you can recgonize it.

Mainstream KPOP is very westernized aka American sounding with remixes from American acts (ex. Play from Jenifer Lopez was remixed and sung by Baby V.O.X.) and tends to go into more of an R&B sound. Rap is commonly used in even the poppiest of songs.

Mainstream JPOP has higher vocals from the women and can often sound computerized. It has some western influences but stays within it's Japanese roots. Rap is rarely used in the mainstream unless you listen to JR&B, JRAP, some Jrock, and some less mainstream JPOP (High and Mighty Color).

KPOP does crossovers with genres, I think, a lot more than JPOP but, many bands and artists fall under many genres.

Many genres -
JPOP
Crystal Kay - JPOP/JR&B
SOUL'd out - JRAP/JPOP
High and Mighty Color - JPOP/JROCK
L'arc en ciel - JROCK/JPOP

KPOP
Se7en - KR&B/KPOP
Clazziquai - (well, it's name says a lot)
1TYM - KRAP/KPOP
Bi - KPOP/KR&B

Korean artists usually just release albums, but Japanese artists release many singles before releasing albums.

K-pop has many genres, but R&B/Hip-hop tends to be the fad right now. Ballads, pop, rock, and trot are quite popular as well.
I miss the days when techno was the fad. lol

Most ballad music videos in Korea are set like a drama or movie with actors, but Japanese ballad videos feature more of the artist.

There are more "sugary" pop singers in Japan compared to Korea.

hip-hop is a fad? I haven't heard much hip hop in the Korean mainstream. I've only heard pop and ballad with sucky rapping in it.



Your right about 1TYM. It IS crap.

But mainstream jpop stays within its Japanese roots? Please expand on this. I never knew Japan had roots in pop, especially since I thought pop came from the west. IMO, All Asian pop I've heard of sounds like Western pop.

J-pop sounds like the music u hear in games and stuff like that.
And K-pop is aloy of hip hop these days.

When I mean fad, it's the "cool thing" right now, so sucky rapping in pop songs is a nobrainer.

i love both of them, but like what was mentioned before, i notice that kpop leans more toward r&b (which i think they pull off very nicely) along with ballads and... i don't know how to explain it, but it seems a lot of singers have pretty powerful ballad voices. like old voices? or mature? i don't know.

jpop has... a lot of pop, obviously, and they do a pretty good job with their rock. sometimes the voices can be really annoying, though -- especially the girls. most of their songs are upbeat, i think, and danceable.

Well... J-pop has been around much longer than K-pop and K-pop has been influenced by J-pop. Japanese producers are much more talented than Korean producers, there's no doubt about that.

Hahaha, I don't like 1TYM, either.

I mean mainstream will touch base with Enka (Japanese traditional music) from time to time, while I haven't heard KPOP do that very much at all with it's traditional music. Musicians like Chitose Hajime and Moriyama Naotaro often weave enka into their music.

Not all Asian Pop sounds like Western Pop. Thai, Korean, some Japanese, and some Chinese/Taiwanese, oh yes definately, but Japanese pop has some elements that I feel has not been heard in Western music. I'm sorry that I can't explain it as well as I would like but, since I'm grown up in America (the dominant country of music) there's a bit of a spark in some countries' music that I no longer hear here. It attracts me to that country's music instead of western music.

Kpop/whatever else is heavily influed by Western culture. I love Kpop, but to me it seems like "MTV imitation" >.>; They have nice singers, good voices, etc, but it's much too... unoriginal. :/

Jpop/whatever has a bit more of a distinct style. It's not influenced by Western culture as much as Kpop. Like Kpop, rapping seems to be somewhat popular in pop songs. There's something distinct about Jpop that I can't really describe... that's about all I can think of o.o;;

Jpop is usually noiser than kpop????

Mainstream Kpop nowadays is a lot of American influence. Bleh.
And I don't know much about Jpop, except Utada and Ayumi.

I stick to ballad songs from drama OSTs or videogames.

Yea Kpop is very Westernized. What I noticed is that Korean dance groups tend to dance alot? I mean they have alot of dancing going on.

Jpop has dance too but its just differnt>? I dont know..
hahah
and yes about music video parts. Korean ballad music videos are like movies or dramas. It's like deeply emotional
i mean look at all the sg wannabe and lee sooyoung mvs.
But I agree that J-pop had been around longer.

Though Jpop have alot of sugary and cute songs? and some of the voices look so computarized..like oh wow they can have voices like that? like otsuka ai, morning musume and stuff

they are like freaken movies..

What I've definitely noticed about japanese songs is that (well for girls) it's hard to listen to if you're used to listening to American music.
Singers like Utada and Mika sometimes sing louder than the music and it's surprising?
Like it becomes not background music, but your attention.
Japanese also usually do ballads...like rock ballads or plain ballads.
Korean seems to emulate popular Western music.

All of the k-pop I listen to is very R&B-influenced. Also, most of the ballad singers have like...melancholy voices. For instance, even when Bi sings Japanese, I can tell it's him because of his distinctive voice [SE7EN and BoA are able to blur this line though, although, I notice that her style in K-Music is also more R&B than the Pop-feel of her J-Music...like comparing her "Girls On Top" album and her "Outgrow" album]

Most of my J-Pop is really that, pop with some urban mixed in [M-Flo] Also, I only listen to J-Rock, not K-Rock [if there are even bands...] Also Japanese people are more experimental [a la recent Hikki, M-Flo, etc.]


The languages are easy to tell apart too.

^

HAHAHA!

& KPOP isn't really "R&B" (rhythm & Blues) ... it's more like pop ballads.

i think kpop leans more towards r and b, while jpop leans more towards rock.^_________^ i think there's a difference between the lyrics as well - i find jpop lyrics more original, and they tend to use more symbolism (personal observation).

jpop.. sounds happy and energetic. I'm not too familiar with jpop. For me, it's noticable with Se7en's music. His japanese style's very different from his korean music. I guess it's like what everyone else says, kpop's more rnbish. Japanese pop just seems more bubble gum pop.

I noticed that in the japanese industry, the boyband members are also talented actors. In the korean music industry, the singer's acting isn't quite up to par with the rest of the cast's acting skills.

The style of dancing is quite different. Like the music, japanese is more.... i don't know how to word it... boybandish? it really depends on the groups.

I think they are both the same.. but jpop is more all out there with their tunes and their styles.. Look for example Morning Musume. Their fashion style can be wacky and yet really cute.. I think jpop artists are not afraid to be weird just to express their own style and how they work their songs..

Ah, one thing I noticed, is that in Korean songs, the song goes normally, and then might be that one part that has a different pattern. I don't know, I'm just saying. Most Japanese songs I know don't have that, they just follow the same pattern.

Like a lot of other ppl have said, jpop is more noisy or high pitched voices(for the girls), sometimes I don't like listening to it because I don't like the way they sound.

I listen to korean music a lot more...i love the ballads, I think the lyrics, voices and music itself are so beautiful...especially with singers like Lee SooYoung and Sg Wannabe. Kmusic has a totally different style and sound compared to Japanese music IMO. Don't really know how to explain it.

I'll elaborate more later if I can but I g2g now. >.<

Kpop is more hippop/R&B

Jpop is purely bubblegum pop mostly. japanese people love cute voices xD

Judging from the majority of the posts, most of the people here don't really know anything about Japanese music.

I suggest you should try to distinguish both regional music yourself. One way to start is by studying their history of music and discovering how each country developed and modernized their music. I think learning their roots will help you compare and contrast the two.

kpop is like very americian kinda... hiphop rap... the videos look influenced by black ppl.

jpop they have higher voices, more cutesy POP type... happytone



noo.... they pretty much said it all

Kpop has more ballad singers in the mainsteam, a lot of hip-hop influence and there isn't much artists that try to do something different (ex. Clazziquai and N.EX.T do a lot of experimenting).

Jpop's pop side has a lot of europop influence, the indie scene is pretty big, artist mix a lot of genres in their music and rock is more popular than in Korea.

ppl kept saying that j pop is mostly heard on animes and games and such .. i dont think thats true, yea its true that a lot of songs are heard through games and animes and such but not the majority of j pop.. and a lot of ppl seems claims that most of j pop songs are noisy and such.. i dont agree with that at all=\ hmm welll its probably cuz utada and ayumi are the common singers ppl listen to so its only natural for ppl to think that jpop is loud and such but i think you guys should give j pop a chance i mean theres lots of bands out there.. and plz dont critisize it cuz its really offensive...

I see, your own ignorance is bliss.

I noticed that too. It can get kind of annoying in a lot of Kpop songs...

Jpop = seriously more poppy. omg x_x i consider Jpop like imature music.

kpop = more to the mature side

you probably heard the anime themes and assumed there all like that you obviously dont know anything about j pop =\ there are many many bands out there and i dont consider them "immature"

What I notice is that, like almost everyone who replied said, Kpop has more of a Western tune in it, and I think it is more flexible(not sure if this is the right term to use) type of music. When I listen to it, it gives me a positive feeling.

Jpop, however, has a darker, or deeper tune everytime I listen to it. To me, it has this sort of negative(?) feeling to it(especially jrock).

With regards to language, I think kpop is softer, mellower to pronounce, while jpop is edgier(edgy?) or distinct to pronounce

Sorry I suck at expressing thoughts with words, plus my english is bad Hope that makes sense anyway. I like both types of music, because they are still unique in their own way.

have you actually listenend to any jpop songs?. go listen to KAT-TUN , NEWS, W-INDS etc... then come back reply

You've got to listen to somemore Jpop, hun. I suggest SPITZ, Skoop on Somebody, The Gospellers, Chemistry, or Crystal Kay for starters.

Those probably aren't the best examples. Those boybands are pretty... "poppy".
I think Jpop has more of a unique sound (well duh, the Jpop music industry has been around longer than the Kpop industry) and there's a wider range of genres you can choose from. Kpop's getting there... but mainstream Kpop is way too "westernized" for me. It's all right to have a certain western flavor, an "influence" if you may, but sometimes, a lot of Kpop songs sound too much like what I've already heard here in the States.

While Japanese pop artists have more of a poppish kind of feel, like Ayumi Hamasaki & Utada Hikaru, Korean pop is more based on R&B, rapping, and so on ^^ But if we are also talking about rock music, Japan has way more rock groups as to Korea, I've only heard of the TRAX
--Yumi

Listened to all of them already.

I'm just one of those people who's already tired of Jpop since I've been listening to it since middle school.
I still listen to Jrock though.

I find 1tym talented and a good hip hop group.

I think Japanese music stands out on the rock part.
But their voice can be very high..
Jpop..I really like all the songs. Theyre all listenable. not that i heard every single japanese songs that came out
Kpop ; they can have few songs I'd never ever listen to. But they definitely have their strengths and Kpop songs are usually the ones I get addicted to.

Cant explain.

I find Jpop has a more rock theme to it..........

j-pop is very distinctive from other types eg. ayumi

woah Jpop immature? lol When I read the lyrics of Jpop music into english. I feel that their lyrics are really nice and it's really symbolism. Like they have a lot of thinking into their music. Every word in there is really deep.

Kpop is influence, a lot, by the west like R&B. And they have more better song in drama.

The style of clothes are really different too. I mean you can totally tell.

If you listen to Boa, Se7en and many k-artist who went to sing in Japan, then you can tell the difference between Kpop and Jpop.

since i don't like R&B a lot i'm not a fan of k-pop, but SG Wannabe is good.

the best I heard so far!!
well I got my own too!!
Jpop is Japanese Pop and Kpop is Korean Pop....both is the same thing(pop)...

if you guys are just talking about the tune or rythem than it is different! so the quote that Dachink said is really agreeable to me....

.. the poster meant "K-RAP" not krap/crap T___T
unless you're not into hip hop or r&b I guess you wont like 1TYM..

anyways like other peoples said.. Jpop is more to the pop-rock side while kpop is more r&b/pop with some hip hop too. jpop is more unique while kpop sounds more like western music

whoa~ you guys;; i love jpop too.. but i've come across a lot of japanese songs that sound heavily influenced/exactly like american music......

are you guys being biased....?

but in kpop;; still today there is a lot music that sounds of its korean origin...

for like 90% kpop/jpop.. you can tell that its k/jpop before it gets into the lyrics;;

yea;you may say thats its like american music.. but most songs have a big portion of their k/j origin;