Trot is Hot: It's Not Just K-pop in South Korea

Fans of South Korean singer Lim Young-woong pose for photographs with banners bearing his name, before watching a movie featuring ‘trot’ singers including Lim Young-woong, at a theater in Gunpo, South Korea, October 22, 2020. (Reuters)
Fans of South Korean singer Lim Young-woong pose for photographs with banners bearing his name, before watching a movie featuring ‘trot’ singers including Lim Young-woong, at a theater in Gunpo, South Korea, October 22, 2020. (Reuters)
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Trot is Hot: It's Not Just K-pop in South Korea

Fans of South Korean singer Lim Young-woong pose for photographs with banners bearing his name, before watching a movie featuring ‘trot’ singers including Lim Young-woong, at a theater in Gunpo, South Korea, October 22, 2020. (Reuters)
Fans of South Korean singer Lim Young-woong pose for photographs with banners bearing his name, before watching a movie featuring ‘trot’ singers including Lim Young-woong, at a theater in Gunpo, South Korea, October 22, 2020. (Reuters)

In a film theater near Seoul, scores of middle-aged South Korean women in matching baby-blue T-shirts, hair bands and face masks inscribed with the word “Hero” are screaming, singing along and taking selfies.

They are some of the 135,000-member fan club of top male South Korean singer Lim Young-woong, gathering to watch “Mr. Trot: The Movie”, a movie featuring him and other singers who perform the country’s oldest form of popular music, commonly called trot.

Lim’s fan club is called “Age of Hero”, after the singer’s name which means hero in Korean.

Once ridiculed as music for grannies, trot is making a comeback and many South Koreans, mostly in their 40s and above, are cheering an alternative to K-pop idol music in one of the world’s fastest ageing societies.

K-pop is a multi-billion-dollar global music industry with bubbly bands like BTS and BLACKPINK enjoying huge fan bases outside South Korea.

But at home, trot signers performing old ballads have seen the biggest increase in fans, according to top portal website Daum that analyses growth rates of fan clubs and their social media activities.

“Our country is ageing, but it is hard to find songs that bring emotional empathy for the elderly population because the music is too idol-oriented” said Park Woo-jung, 54, a member of Age of Hero.

“But listening to Lim Young-woong, I find his voice beautiful and comforting,” said Park, wearing the sky-blue Hero mask. Lim’s new single topped online music charts earlier this month.

Although considered uncool by youngsters, trot music has a broad national following with a storied history of success going back before the birth of modern K-pop. The music’s melancholic lyrics of unrequited love or yearning played to a repetitive beat has resonated with babyboomers and retirees, the generation that helped build Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Money and time
Today, fans of the genre have become an economic force to reckon with and many use their unlimited data plans to plug into streaming sites or vote for their favorite stars at awards, embracing ways of K-pop followers.

“Fandom of the middle-age and elderly is unconditional,” said Jung Duk Hyun, a pop culture columnist. “They have time to listen all day. They have money, and think their stars energize their life, then aggressively invest by buying and clicking.”

When Lim of Mr. Trot became the model for a Ssangyong Motor SUV this year, sales surged 63% in May and 98% in June compared to the vehicle’s monthly average sales between January and April this year, the carmaker said.

Song Jong-choon is a fan of trot singer Song Ga-in whose songs, he says, “heal his broken soul,” especially one about lost hometowns that remind him of the countryside home he left. He doesn’t hesitate a moment to support her career.

“We are old, and many of us are in 50s who have economic power, so normally don’t mind the spending. But, if you are a (K-pop) idol fan, you have to do a part-time job to buy a concert ticket.”

Song is head of Song Ga-in’s fan club “AGAIN” with 57,000 members and six regional chapters. The club has its own guide book to show how to subscribe to streaming sites, and click likes for her music videos.

The living room of his apartment is decorated with giant photos of the singer and merchandise in her signature pink ranging from aprons to cushions with the singer’s pictures.

Trot is unlikely to reach the global success of K-pop largely because of the language barrier, but fans believe their fandom as something special, treating their stars as if they are their own children.

“BTS has (its fanclub) ARMY but we are Mommies,” said Hwang Eun-jeong, a 52-year-old housewife and a member of Lim Young-woong’s fan club.



Fans Greet K-Pop Stars Jimin and Jung Kook of BTS Discharged from Military Service 

BTS members Jung Kook (L) and Jimin salute their fans at a public stadium in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea, 11 June 2025, after completing their 18 months of mandatory military service. (EPA)
BTS members Jung Kook (L) and Jimin salute their fans at a public stadium in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea, 11 June 2025, after completing their 18 months of mandatory military service. (EPA)
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Fans Greet K-Pop Stars Jimin and Jung Kook of BTS Discharged from Military Service 

BTS members Jung Kook (L) and Jimin salute their fans at a public stadium in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea, 11 June 2025, after completing their 18 months of mandatory military service. (EPA)
BTS members Jung Kook (L) and Jimin salute their fans at a public stadium in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea, 11 June 2025, after completing their 18 months of mandatory military service. (EPA)

Hundreds of fans gathered in the early morning hours to catch a glimpse of K-pop superstars Jimin and Jung Kook, the latest and final members of BTS to be discharged from South Korea's mandatory military service.

The pair wore their military uniforms Wednesday, saluted and addressed fans who had assembled to see the pair after their discharge.

Jung Kook thanked the journalists and fans who traveled to see him and Jimin after their discharge and acknowledged how different it was to be back in the spotlight. "Actually, it's been so long since I've been in front of cameras, and I didn't even put on makeup, so I'm a bit embarrassed," he said. "I don't know what to say."

The pair enlisted in December 2023, one day after RM and V did the same. The latter were discharged on Tuesday.

Supporters traveled from around the world to the public sports ground where the meet-and-greet took place. It was moved from the military base's gate for safety reasons. Color-wrapped buses bearing BTS members' faces lined the streets while red and yellow balloons floated above and a decorated food truck provided free coffee and water, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Many supporters wore masks, conscious of potential backlash after the band's label discouraged attendance, citing safety concerns. Despite the challenges, fans like Anaesi from Portugal said the 20-hour journey to Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, was worth it.

"Portugal is a small country, but inside of Portugal, BTS is a king," she said. Anaesi, who discovered BTS on YouTube, said the group "saved" her from depression. "So for me BTS is my angel," she said.

She displayed a colorful upper arm tattoo featuring a golden shield emblazoned with "ARMY" and an eagle above it, complemented by Korean text listing BTS members' names and those of her friends.

V thanked fans Tuesday for their patience in waiting for him and RM's return and teased the band's reunion. "If you can just wait a little bit longer, we will return with a really amazing performance."

The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 after they finish their service.

Six of the group's seven members served in the army, while Suga is fulfilling his duty as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service. He will be discharged later this month.

Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.

The law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren't subject to such privileges.

However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service until age 30 after South Korea's National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.

There was heated public debate in 2022 over whether to offer special exemptions of mandatory military service for BTS members, until the group's management agency announced in October 2022 that all seven members would fulfill their duties.