NewJeans Announce Break: What’s Trot and Japan’s Next Big Target After K-POP?

In recent years, K-POP has dominated Japan’s music scene. At the end of last year, the Japan Record Awards saw “NewJeans” and “JO1” win the Excellent Works Award, “ILLIT” take the New Artist Award, and “LE SSERAFIM” receive the Special International Music Award. This further fueled the excitement. At the “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen,” along with these artists, “TWICE” and “TOMORROW X TOGETHER” also showcased the strength of K-POP.

Great expectations for the next move! What’s inside?

K-POP seemed secure for a while, but BTS, the cornerstone of HYBE, a monster agency with a market value of around 1 trillion yen, went on a hiatus as its members enlisted for military service.

Additionally, the popular girl group NewJeans, which debuted with high expectations, caused a contract termination scandal at their agency and declared a hiatus, creating some uncertainty.

As the future of the Korean entertainment industry becomes unclear, the next big move being anticipated to keep the Korean Wave alive is the new music genre, trot.

What exactly is trot? Columnist Aiko Kodama, who is well-versed in Korean entertainment, explained:

“Trot is similar to ‘enka’ in Japan. However, the new generation of trot is different from the traditional, deep enka style of songs like ‘Busan Port is Return’ (released in 1976) sung by Cho Yong-pil (75), which was a big hit in Japan. Trot nowadays often has a lively rhythm with a melancholic melody, and it’s gaining popularity among young people in Korea, competing with K-POP in terms of attention.”