K-pop females are women. Their J-pop counterparts are usually minors or child-like. The former are also more musically proficient, singing in multipart harmonies and moving their hips in precise rhythm to the music. J-pop style is to sing in unison, a vocal technique commonly seen among football fans.
The K-pop sound isn't great, but I don't have to leave the room nearly as soon as when a J-pop song comes on.
The music, obviously the language. Some good singers in both sides. Psy and Jessi are my favorite ones; loved Namie Amuro.
The idols, Japanese females are... Kimochiwarui, for the most. Always trying to look cute, sometimes sexy but act like ten years old girls. Like they're trying to appeal to pedophiles. Disgusting.
Korean idols on the other side. Grown up sexy women (as plastic as they might be).
for male Kpop that's really strong cash cow for industry. Female consumers is proven to be more impulsive, so they'll buy anything related to their idols. There are many products from those idols beside music and their concerts.
K-pop is shallow, artificial, and conformative. J-pop at least has variety if you look beyond what's on TV. When I lived in Korea, I hated walking into a restaurant and hearing about bodies and daddies.
In the 90's, Both JPop and JRock was very popular in most part of Asia, idols were not like how we see Jpop as these days. They didn't look teen idols. Infact, Japanese music of any genre was very much popular in Asia.
Kpop was rising around early 2000s, their tv channel "Arirang" was broadcast in many Asian countries. So Asians were attracted toward sexy concept, Korean companies cleverly made very big steps of using both Western (Sexy) and Asian (Cute) concept in their music, outfit, looks etc.
Not only because of that concept, Korean movies during that period were very funny ones and Korean dramas were full of sad love stories, so Asians were already attached to these two.
Koreans realized in the right time that they can compete the Western Market and it succeeded. Whereas for JPop thing that is surprisingly still going around is the companies can profit within their own boundary without even trying to break the market because Japan music industry is so huge that all those Kpop groups make Japanese album which their companies profit a lot by using Japan alone.
You never hear Japanese idol group making album in Korean language. Even if they do, they won't profit.
Beside Kpop, KHipHop and KIndie also became popular, as for the Japan, it's always the JRock.
Kpop music and their idols are usually of higher quality. They're better trained in performing. In terms of music, J-pop is usually sung chorally while K-pop songs are sung with each member taking a verse individually. Lastly and has been said by other commenters is that K-pop idols are grown women and look and act like one. J-pop idols are the opposite. To each their own preferences.
International marketing. Twice seem to release more CDs in Japan than in SK. T-ARA were marketed to China, which went well until China cracked down on Kpop. Black Pink and BTS are marketed internationally. There are sister groups for the G46/8 bands around Asia and some jpop groups are popular outside Japan, but Western fans generally have to seek out Jpop groups like BiSH and 22/7. Jpop seems happier to concentrate on the domestic market.
Age and choreography. These are linked. Jpop idols are often younger and go with 'cute'. Kpop bands are older, have been trained to dance, have more obvious curves, and go with 'sexy'. This has backfired for both in the past.
Music. Kpop embraces rap and hip hop elements easily within fast, loud, punchy lyrics and nightclub-friendly beats. Rap inserted into Jpop just sounds weird, partly because the (younger) voices are pitched higher and partly because the traditional Jpop sound just doesn't sit well with it.
Inyernational influences. 60s Western pop for Jpop idols, 80s Western music for G46/8, more recent American and European music for Kpop.
Lyrics. A surprising proportion of Jpop lyrics offer earnest, lengthy moral advice (or are just rather odd). Kpop lyrics are generally repetitive, staccato and sharp.
Online marketing. Kdrama made it big internationally through fan subbed videos. Kpop MVs go straight to YT on official channels. The money is made from concerts, CDs and 'merch'. G46/8 groups generally use YT well. But some Jpop bands are still reluctant to get their stuff on streaming sites. Johnny & Associates even used to ban the replication of CD covers in online stores. They were so good at blocking stuff online that I think I have just one or two of their CDs amongst many boxes of other groups.
Supporting context, OSTs. Kpop is supported by Kdrama. Jpop has anime.
Psy. Gangnam Style made an appreciable dent in the mainstream Western psyche. A generation began surfing the Korean wave. No Japanese music has really managed that since Kyu Sakamoto.
The culture wars. Feminist and (now) Woke activists target Jpop idols in a way that they do not target Kpop stars.
It's just two different musical traditions doing their own thing. Personally I enjoy both Kpop and Jpop. Probably more Jpop at the moment, as so many of my favourite Kpop bands have broken up. Jpop bands tend to last longer by changing members.
K-pop has legit decade+ training for its idols before their debuts, which is crazy. But it explains why the talent base is so high for singing, dancing, and tv. J-POP just kind of accepts whichever junior high kid they think could be marketable and let’s their vocals hide in the group.
Both are pretty vapid industries, but the effort put into K-pop as a concept has lapped J-POP dozens of times now. The effort to translate songs, shows, and more, using producers from various regions to create songs meant to appeal to those regions, and more. Kpop is serious 4D chess with marketing.
jpop on the other hand refuses to upload whole music videos, region locks music, and takes down older tunes out of some outdated view of media on the internet
As someone who grew up listening to K-pop, I can't stand the music or its culture now.
Kpop is serious 4D chess with marketing.
It uses brainwashed fans to inflate numbers on YouTube and spam social media.
jpop on the other hand refuses to upload whole music videos, region locks music, and takes down older tunes out of some outdated view of media on the internet
To its credit, the J-pop industry is a lot better with that than it was in the 2010s.
The blueprint for Japanese boy bands was set by a serial child-abusing proto-Yakuza.
The blueprint for Japanese girl bands is "lolicon" - Lolita complex. The basic idea is "graduation" (i.e., kicked out) when you are twenty something.
Musically its all very poor, but just what you'd expect when the entertainment industry is a closed shop.
KPop is pretty much the same, only with less lolicon on the girls side, better songwriting, and more awareness of contemporary US pop. It has been successful globally, but I think that says as much about Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Lizzo, etc. as it does about Kpop. Modern pop music is dire. 1980s Madonna had way more talent and originality than Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga. Michael Jackson way more than Bruno Mars. Don't get me started on Prince! Even talented modern artists, say John Legend, have no originality. He's just someone who sings as well as (insert 70s soul singer, say Teddy Pendergrass).
It really depends. I mean, any music produced in Japan other than Enka and Minyou falls into J-pop, and I'm guessing it's largely the same with K-pop. So, you have some excellent individual artists and bands in Japan (and Korea), and then you get the trash like AKB and those massive group and boy/girl bands.
In the latter case, K-pop artists are MUCH more talented and can actually sing very well, dance amazingly, and put on a great show, which is why many are world-renowned. The J-pop bands are just mass assembled for cuteness, just kind of sway back and forth on stage, can't sing worth a darn, and no one outside Japan knows who they are (and inside Japan are mostly forgotten within a year). Heck, this is why you have groups of Japanese men and women going to KOREA to train to be better dancers and singers.
Reading these comments makes it apparent that most of the commenters either aren't actually familiar with much Japanese music, or they think Japanese popular music consists solely of idol groups. Yes, of course idol groups are a part of the musical landscape in Japan, but they are by no means the entirety or even the majority of the market. And while everyone is free to dislike idol singers and groups, I detect a substantial amount of unwarranted animus against them. Korean idol groups are no better than Japanese idol groups, just because they affect a more overtly sexualized manner. You, the audience, are being manipulated just the same, by largely the same production companies. The same silly biases are evident in these comments when people compare current Western music to older artists.
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Moonraker
The female K-pop singers are usually more sexy and more adult. It's relative but so is the question.
JeffLee
K-pop females are women. Their J-pop counterparts are usually minors or child-like. The former are also more musically proficient, singing in multipart harmonies and moving their hips in precise rhythm to the music. J-pop style is to sing in unison, a vocal technique commonly seen among football fans.
The K-pop sound isn't great, but I don't have to leave the room nearly as soon as when a J-pop song comes on.
Garthgoyle
The music, obviously the language. Some good singers in both sides. Psy and Jessi are my favorite ones; loved Namie Amuro.
The idols, Japanese females are... Kimochiwarui, for the most. Always trying to look cute, sometimes sexy but act like ten years old girls. Like they're trying to appeal to pedophiles. Disgusting.
Korean idols on the other side. Grown up sexy women (as plastic as they might be).
yinyang128
Some of K-Pop band members like Blackpink speaks really good English, while J-Pop counterparts I rarely seen any of them seem speak good English.
BertieWooster
Very little difference. They are both crap.
sakurasuki
@JeffLee that not always the case,
https://kpopping.com/profiles/the-idols/men
for male Kpop that's really strong cash cow for industry. Female consumers is proven to be more impulsive, so they'll buy anything related to their idols. There are many products from those idols beside music and their concerts.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230882368_Gender_differences_in_brand_commitment_impulse_buying_and_hedonic_consumption
sakurasuki
KPop take over the world, while JPop struggling with recents scandals.
https://www.mcdonalds.com/om/en-om/bts.html
Hans
K-pop is shallow, artificial, and conformative. J-pop at least has variety if you look beyond what's on TV. When I lived in Korea, I hated walking into a restaurant and hearing about bodies and daddies.
aaronagstring
Muzak and "music".
BackpackingNepal
In the 90's, Both JPop and JRock was very popular in most part of Asia, idols were not like how we see Jpop as these days. They didn't look teen idols. Infact, Japanese music of any genre was very much popular in Asia.
Kpop was rising around early 2000s, their tv channel "Arirang" was broadcast in many Asian countries. So Asians were attracted toward sexy concept, Korean companies cleverly made very big steps of using both Western (Sexy) and Asian (Cute) concept in their music, outfit, looks etc.
Not only because of that concept, Korean movies during that period were very funny ones and Korean dramas were full of sad love stories, so Asians were already attached to these two.
Koreans realized in the right time that they can compete the Western Market and it succeeded. Whereas for JPop thing that is surprisingly still going around is the companies can profit within their own boundary without even trying to break the market because Japan music industry is so huge that all those Kpop groups make Japanese album which their companies profit a lot by using Japan alone.
You never hear Japanese idol group making album in Korean language. Even if they do, they won't profit.
Beside Kpop, KHipHop and KIndie also became popular, as for the Japan, it's always the JRock.
Toshihiro
Kpop music and their idols are usually of higher quality. They're better trained in performing. In terms of music, J-pop is usually sung chorally while K-pop songs are sung with each member taking a verse individually. Lastly and has been said by other commenters is that K-pop idols are grown women and look and act like one. J-pop idols are the opposite. To each their own preferences.
GBR48
International marketing. Twice seem to release more CDs in Japan than in SK. T-ARA were marketed to China, which went well until China cracked down on Kpop. Black Pink and BTS are marketed internationally. There are sister groups for the G46/8 bands around Asia and some jpop groups are popular outside Japan, but Western fans generally have to seek out Jpop groups like BiSH and 22/7. Jpop seems happier to concentrate on the domestic market.
Age and choreography. These are linked. Jpop idols are often younger and go with 'cute'. Kpop bands are older, have been trained to dance, have more obvious curves, and go with 'sexy'. This has backfired for both in the past.
Music. Kpop embraces rap and hip hop elements easily within fast, loud, punchy lyrics and nightclub-friendly beats. Rap inserted into Jpop just sounds weird, partly because the (younger) voices are pitched higher and partly because the traditional Jpop sound just doesn't sit well with it.
Inyernational influences. 60s Western pop for Jpop idols, 80s Western music for G46/8, more recent American and European music for Kpop.
Lyrics. A surprising proportion of Jpop lyrics offer earnest, lengthy moral advice (or are just rather odd). Kpop lyrics are generally repetitive, staccato and sharp.
Online marketing. Kdrama made it big internationally through fan subbed videos. Kpop MVs go straight to YT on official channels. The money is made from concerts, CDs and 'merch'. G46/8 groups generally use YT well. But some Jpop bands are still reluctant to get their stuff on streaming sites. Johnny & Associates even used to ban the replication of CD covers in online stores. They were so good at blocking stuff online that I think I have just one or two of their CDs amongst many boxes of other groups.
Supporting context, OSTs. Kpop is supported by Kdrama. Jpop has anime.
Psy. Gangnam Style made an appreciable dent in the mainstream Western psyche. A generation began surfing the Korean wave. No Japanese music has really managed that since Kyu Sakamoto.
The culture wars. Feminist and (now) Woke activists target Jpop idols in a way that they do not target Kpop stars.
It's just two different musical traditions doing their own thing. Personally I enjoy both Kpop and Jpop. Probably more Jpop at the moment, as so many of my favourite Kpop bands have broken up. Jpop bands tend to last longer by changing members.
The Original Wing
Kpop is really bad.
Jpop is worse.
GillislowTier
K-pop has legit decade+ training for its idols before their debuts, which is crazy. But it explains why the talent base is so high for singing, dancing, and tv. J-POP just kind of accepts whichever junior high kid they think could be marketable and let’s their vocals hide in the group.
Both are pretty vapid industries, but the effort put into K-pop as a concept has lapped J-POP dozens of times now. The effort to translate songs, shows, and more, using producers from various regions to create songs meant to appeal to those regions, and more. Kpop is serious 4D chess with marketing.
jpop on the other hand refuses to upload whole music videos, region locks music, and takes down older tunes out of some outdated view of media on the internet
2020 vision
As someone who grew up listening to K-pop, I can't stand the music or its culture now.
It uses brainwashed fans to inflate numbers on YouTube and spam social media.
To its credit, the J-pop industry is a lot better with that than it was in the 2010s.
kohakuebisu
The blueprint for Japanese boy bands was set by a serial child-abusing proto-Yakuza.
The blueprint for Japanese girl bands is "lolicon" - Lolita complex. The basic idea is "graduation" (i.e., kicked out) when you are twenty something.
Musically its all very poor, but just what you'd expect when the entertainment industry is a closed shop.
KPop is pretty much the same, only with less lolicon on the girls side, better songwriting, and more awareness of contemporary US pop. It has been successful globally, but I think that says as much about Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Lizzo, etc. as it does about Kpop. Modern pop music is dire. 1980s Madonna had way more talent and originality than Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga. Michael Jackson way more than Bruno Mars. Don't get me started on Prince! Even talented modern artists, say John Legend, have no originality. He's just someone who sings as well as (insert 70s soul singer, say Teddy Pendergrass).
dagon
It is hot when Korean girls say "oppa".
John-San
Is there a difference ?
smithinjapan
It really depends. I mean, any music produced in Japan other than Enka and Minyou falls into J-pop, and I'm guessing it's largely the same with K-pop. So, you have some excellent individual artists and bands in Japan (and Korea), and then you get the trash like AKB and those massive group and boy/girl bands.
In the latter case, K-pop artists are MUCH more talented and can actually sing very well, dance amazingly, and put on a great show, which is why many are world-renowned. The J-pop bands are just mass assembled for cuteness, just kind of sway back and forth on stage, can't sing worth a darn, and no one outside Japan knows who they are (and inside Japan are mostly forgotten within a year). Heck, this is why you have groups of Japanese men and women going to KOREA to train to be better dancers and singers.
ochoufujin
Reading these comments makes it apparent that most of the commenters either aren't actually familiar with much Japanese music, or they think Japanese popular music consists solely of idol groups. Yes, of course idol groups are a part of the musical landscape in Japan, but they are by no means the entirety or even the majority of the market. And while everyone is free to dislike idol singers and groups, I detect a substantial amount of unwarranted animus against them. Korean idol groups are no better than Japanese idol groups, just because they affect a more overtly sexualized manner. You, the audience, are being manipulated just the same, by largely the same production companies. The same silly biases are evident in these comments when people compare current Western music to older artists.