 The world is getting smaller. A lot of things are transcending all these cultures. It doesn't matter where you live. If some people start enjoying a certain type of music or a culture, I think people will catch on. I think that's exactly what's happening right now. I can't even keep up with K-pop. There's someone new every day, and there's like one to 20 members. There's so many varieties. Now a lot of the new bands that are forming are formed with Chinese members, members from Thailand, fluent English speakers. This isn't by accident. They are keeping the international audience in mind, so they're trying to reach out to the international audience. They even have entire songs being sung in English now, so that's a huge change for us. My name is Simon. And my name is Martina. We make videos about life in Korea. Slowly we started getting a following, but we had no idea why. The first time we left just to get some vlogging footage of what it's like to be at KCON, and we were totally swarmed by people. We were just completely shocked. I'm like, is there a K-pop band behind me? Our plan today was to make a video of this whole thing, but we can't actually get anywhere without being surrounded. We have security that escorts us only to necessary places, but it's really, really shocking. In America right now, well, of course with YouTube, it's just so easily accessible now. Whereas in the past, before YouTube and the internet really kind of boomed into this phenomenon, it was kind of hard. You have to go to the traditional Korean video stores to rent these music shows and dramas. My name is JD Relic, and I'm a songwriter and producer. I started out on YouTube. I was making English covers of K-pop songs. Through that, I met the people I'm working with now. They asked me to come write for their company. So that was it. I mean, I didn't have any prior songwriting experience before that, so I just kind of dove into it about two and a half years ago. YouTube is absolutely crucial to the role of K-pop spreading. I think Psy that did Gangnam Style is very clever. The Americans took Oppa Gangnam Style pretty well. It's very different Gangnam Style from the rest of K-pop because there's a lot of irony and humor in that video. We don't see that in other kinds of K-pop, but we still see a vast amount of success happening on an underground level when it comes to K-pop. K-pop is scary. If I was an artist in Korea, I'd be nervous because the pace of the popularity of music is quick. You discover when you audition for a record label, when you're like 12 years old. And then when the label thinks they're ready, they'll start bringing them out into bigger bands' videos and kind of like debuting them in the background and stuff. As an extra. As an extra. And then the fans kind of get to know them, and then the fan group starts forming even before the band releases its first single. So by the time the band releases its first single, it has a fan group. It usually has a fan color. It'll have fan chants and everything. Fan colors. Seriously. They pick colors. They're running out of colors. Fan involvement is really popular among K-pop fans. In Asia, karaoke is so huge. And one thing that I've noticed is that if you have a song that's really singable, then it's more likely to be a hit because people can go to the karaoke lounge and sing your song. I don't think, what is it, like 8,000 people here? You know, they just want to be able to get up close and personal with, you know, these artists. The fans are so extremely passionate. There's no moderate fan in the crowd. They're screaming their guts out. K-pop has definitely evolved a lot more over the past four years. When we first came, K-pop was very just Korean. Korean people singing Korean songs. It's obvious that it's becoming more and more global all the time. You'll see groups coming out with English versions of their songs and promoting it here. I could see it from now being pretty big. And seeing this right now, KCON, there's so many different ethnicities out here and races, which that I think is most shocking to me.
 The world is getting smaller. A lot of things are transcending all these cultures. It doesn't
 matter where you live. If some people start enjoying a certain type of music or a culture,
 I think people will catch on. I think that's exactly what's happening right now.
 I can't even keep up with K-pop. There's someone new every day, and there's like one to 20
 members. There's so many varieties.
 Now a lot of the new bands that are forming are formed with Chinese members, members from
 Thailand, fluent English speakers. This isn't by accident. They are keeping the international
 audience in mind, so they're trying to reach out to the international audience.
 They even have entire songs being sung in English now, so that's a huge change for us.
 My name is Simon. And my name is Martina. We make videos about life in Korea. Slowly
 we started getting a following, but we had no idea why.
 The first time we left just to get some vlogging footage of what it's like to be at KCON, and
 we were totally swarmed by people. We were just completely shocked. I'm like, is there
 a K-pop band behind me?
 Our plan today was to make a video of this whole thing, but we can't actually get anywhere
 without being surrounded. We have security that escorts us only to necessary places,
 but it's really, really shocking.
 In America right now, well, of course with YouTube, it's just so easily accessible now.
 Whereas in the past, before YouTube and the internet really kind of boomed into this phenomenon,
 it was kind of hard. You have to go to the traditional Korean video stores to rent these
 music shows and dramas.
 My name is JD Relic, and I'm a songwriter and producer. I started out on YouTube. I
 was making English covers of K-pop songs. Through that, I met the people I'm working
 with now. They asked me to come write for their company. So that was it. I mean, I didn't
 have any prior songwriting experience before that, so I just kind of dove into it about
 two and a half years ago.
 YouTube is absolutely crucial to the role of K-pop spreading.
 I think Psy that did Gangnam Style is very clever. The Americans took Oppa Gangnam Style
 pretty well.
 It's very different Gangnam Style from the rest of K-pop because there's a lot of irony
 and humor in that video. We don't see that in other kinds of K-pop, but we still see
 a vast amount of success happening on an underground level when it comes to K-pop.
 K-pop is scary. If I was an artist in Korea, I'd be nervous because the pace of the popularity
 of music is quick.
 You discover when you audition for a record label, when you're like 12 years old.
 And then when the label thinks they're ready, they'll start bringing them out into bigger
 bands' videos and kind of like debuting them in the background and stuff.
 As an extra.
 As an extra. And then the fans kind of get to know them, and then the fan group starts
 forming even before the band releases its first single. So by the time the band releases
 its first single, it has a fan group. It usually has a fan color. It'll have fan chants and
 everything.
 Fan colors. Seriously. They pick colors.
 They're running out of colors.
 Fan involvement is really popular among K-pop fans. In Asia, karaoke is so huge. And one
 thing that I've noticed is that if you have a song that's really singable, then it's more
 likely to be a hit because people can go to the karaoke lounge and sing your song.
 I don't think, what is it, like 8,000 people here? You know, they just want to be able
 to get up close and personal with, you know, these artists.
 The fans are so extremely passionate. There's no moderate fan in the crowd. They're screaming
 their guts out.
 K-pop has definitely evolved a lot more over the past four years. When we first came, K-pop
 was very just Korean. Korean people singing Korean songs.
 It's obvious that it's becoming more and more global all the time. You'll see groups coming
 out with English versions of their songs and promoting it here.
 I could see it from now being pretty big. And seeing this right now, KCON, there's so
 many different ethnicities out here and races, which that I think is most shocking to me.