Dragon Pony, a four-member boy band consisting of An Tae Gyu, Pyun Sung Hyun, Kwon Se Hyuk, and Ko Gang Hun, debuted in 2024 with their EP “POP UP.” Formed in 2022, the band features former high school friends and current Seoul Institute of the Arts music majors Pyun Sung Hyun, Kwon Se Hyuk, and Ko Gang Hun on their respective instruments, plus vocalist An Tae Gyu, who studies under the arts department at Howon University. Together, they were selected as the first boy band under Antenna, a label known for its many talented singer-songwriters, like Lucid Fall, Park Sae Byul, JAEHYUNG JUNG, PEPPERTONES, Lee Jin Ah, and Yun Seok Cheol. Following their debut, Dragon Pony took the usual route of honing their skills with performances at indie venues near Hongik University in Seoul and major festivals across Korea. Most recently, the band’s been actively promoting their new EP, “Not Out,” released earlier this year in March.
Dragon Pony brings forth a feeling of stability rather than some uncertain future. Rock has experienced a resurgence in popularity among younger listeners in recent years. It’s more than just successful—it’s now the trend to follow. If you’re experiencing deja vu with this young band, there’s good reason for that. First off, there’s their name. Everyone in the band was born in either the Year of the Dragon or the Horse in the Korean zodiac, much like the source of the name for the band JANNABI (Korean for “monkey”), whose members were born in 1992. The fact that Dragon Pony is under a notable label but is still honing their skills at underground clubs is reminiscent of the trajectory JYP Entertainment’s boy band DAY6 took, too. Unlike that band, though, where they were placed into the label’s project without any experience playing instruments, everyone in Dragon Pony’s been playing music since they were kids, so they’re virtuosos by now. That makes their music their strongest suit, using the typical rock band configuration of two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer.
It’s hard to nail music like this down to a single genre. Instead, I’d like to propose the idea of “youthwave.” I came up with the term to encapsulate the refreshingly youthful, pure, and slightly anxious combo that people have come to expect from young bands post-pandemic, bundled together as the defining attributes of youth. Faintly rooted in ’90s Britpop, 2000s American pop punk, and modern Korean rock, it’s a distinct style that can be heard from newer bands who major in music, such as TOUCHED and YdBB, and Dragon Pony is no exception. Their catalog already includes great songs that satisfy listeners’ thirst for high-quality rock. Their recent single “Not Out” follows a clear narrative arc through a mix of wet reverb effects and distorted guitars, “NEVER” is a beautifully melancholy acoustic track, and “Ouroboros” goes darker with a mix of the recently popular emo and post-hardcore sounds. The band isn’t defined by one clear-cut genre, instead standing out for their versatility. While they may not quite venture into groundbreaking territory, there’s no shortage of excitement when they play festivals. A great example is “POP UP,” where the music and vocals are all geared toward pumping up the audience and getting them involved.
As recently as just before the pandemic, youthwave bands never knew what tomorrow would bring, bouncing between underground clubs, festivals, and cultural events hosted by municipalities and other government agencies. Auditioning on reality shows like “Great Seoul Invasion” and “SuperBand” was another one of the few paths forward. But things are better now. When we finally made it out the other side of the pandemic tunnel, fans started flooding music festivals and concert venues across the country. Newer bands signed to decently sized labels can now practice in peace knowing their upcoming gigs and releases are more of a sure thing. Landing in the lineups for major Korean festivals like the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival and the Busan International Rock Festival is no longer an impossible hurdle to clear, and it’s no longer unusual to see them make appearances on TV. Performing at internationally renowned festivals like Lollapalooza isn’t just a dream anymore.
The pandemic created what felt like a black hole, but since then, a new universe has sprung up in its place, and it’s one dominated by rock bands. The fact that YOUNHA’s modern rock hit “Event Horizon” became one of the biggest songs of the time doesn’t feel like mere coincidence. Rock is the most youthful, most popular genre in the world of Korean pop music today. Six strings sounding out along with their four-string cousin, two sticks in hand as vocals run electrically down the wire—this combo is no longer a stranger to our ears. And it’s all because, during the days of social distancing, listeners were drawn to cultural experiences they’d never had before, like tracking down music on their own and looking to broaden their horizons. People with different tastes could finally connect with one another through social media. They’re rediscovering legendary live performances at festivals and more, showing their love for these musicians along the way.
Today, the rock scene in Korea is abuzz with excitement. Different bands, all with their own interesting backstories, are using their music to differentiate themselves with unique messages. The first ones on the scene were the bands under indie labels that started to show up in the mid- to late 2010s. Hwang Soyoon, better known as So!YoON!, has attained superstar status touring festivals as part of her group SE SO NEON, already famous in indie circles, while Silica Gel has built up a dedicated fan base with their high-concept music and highly polished albums. The success of wave to earth, consistently the most-streamed Korean artist on Spotify other than K-pop idols, has bolstered confidence in Korean rock’s potential to make its mark on a global scale. The rise of indie idol HANRORO, who previously opened for Coldplay, is another promising sign.
The media have gotten in on the action, too, adding to the momentum. The success of artists like LEE SEUNG YOON and Nerd Connection—who won and became popular through the show “Sing Again,” respectively—and bands like LUCY, who joined MYSTIC STORY, and KARDI, the mixed-gender group who placed third on “SuperBand,” have convinced the media to pay attention to the rock scene, who have in turn turned up the volume on the hype. Meanwhile, the battle of the bands on Mnet’s “Great Seoul Invasion” solidified the position of bands like YdBB, TOUCHED, SURL, and Lacuna within the scene.
The mainstream is looking for a piece of the action, too. On the back of DAY6’s massive success, JYP’s debuted the boy band Xdinary Heroes, who experiment in hardcore and heavy metal. There’s also a wealth of musicians from the K-pop sphere diving into rock. Singer-songwriter WOODZ foresaw the pop punk revival of the 2020s early and ventured into rock, going on to put out “Drowning,” a song that rapidly climbed back up the charts recently to become the biggest hit of the year. Born out of the J-pop trend that preceded the rock craze, the all-woman band QWER has released three mini albums, spawning the song “T.B.H,” the biggest hit of 2024 among Korean YouTube Music listeners. Meanwhile, NCT’s main vocalist, DOYOUNG, has once again found great success in his solo career by following the youthwave formula with his second studio album, “Soar,” following last year’s “YOUTH.”
It’s not just younger bands riding the wave, either. Long-performing bands are thriving as well, from older youthwave pioneers like PEPPERTONES and SORAN to heartfelt hit “Song Is Universal” writers Broccoli, you too? and more. There’s also the electrifyingly innovative THE SOLUTIONS, who recently put on an unforgettable show at an apartment complex slated for demolition. Bands like JANNABI, who’ve made a brilliant exploration into every corner of Korean pop music, and the Black Skirts, who can get people talking just by announcing a concert, are already legendary. Rock lovers are more welcoming today of all bands, whether they’re familiar with them or not. It used to be that fans would show up to festivals and just wait around for their favorites to play. Now, the crowds cheer just as passionately for every band onstage no matter what kind of music they’re playing.
Since exploding back onto the scene, rock music has been shining brighter by the day. The rise of youthwave bands like Dragon Pony symbolizes how the once unpredictable popularity of rock bands is now at a place of greater confidence. They’re easy to get into, catchy enough to stick with, visually engaging, and fill a demand for music beyond K-pop and chart-topping ballads. There’s diversity, but no wrong turns. No matter what music they’re making or how, when groups of people come together to play for an audience, the true key is their passion to collaborate for the sake of the music. And it’s no problem if that kind of safe approach to rock starts to feel stale at some point. The universe of Korean rock—indeed, of Korean pop as a whole—is boundless. And it’s on that wide-open sea that Dragon Pony has just begun their journey. “Not Out” shows just how much determination a young band like them can have: “You and I’re just getting started / Now we need to lose our minds.”
