As K-pop group BTS celebrates 10 years, the industry's future rests with its diehard fandom

Ryo Cifra fell in love with K-pop 15 years ago, just a few years before Korean boy band BTS — the industry's most successful export to date — was formed in Seoul.

After hearing an earworm called Fire by the girl group 2NE1, Cifra dug into all things K-pop, developing an appreciation for the country's pop music industry and other facets of Korean culture.

Nowadays, he performs in the Edmonton-based K-pop dance cover group Apricity. A linchpin of the scene's vibrant fan culture, dance covers involve fans lipsyncing and reenacting choreography by their favourite K-pop idols — briefly replicating the beloved musical acts that are now some of the most popular in the world.

"You see it everywhere. There's no corner of the globe where where K-pop doesn't have some sort of influence," Cifra told CBC News.

While Cifra and others express their love for K-pop from Canada, thousands of fans travelled to Seoul over the weekend to celebrate BTS's 10th anniversary. The group ushered K-pop into the North American consciousness five years ago, becoming the industry's first act to reach number one on the U.S. albums chart in 2018.

Some who study and work in the industry think that K-pop's future depends on its international fandom, as devotees from outside Korea learn how to sing and dance like the idols they adore and labels invest in K-pop education for wannabe superstars around the world.

Chuyun Oh, an associate professor at San Diego State University, has been conducting field research in Seoul's Gangnam district amid festivities dedicated to the BTS anniversary.

The group is currently on hiatus as two of its seven members, J-Hope and Jin, complete mandatory military service, but lead performer RM attended an anniversary festival on June 17.

Oh teaches a K-pop dance course at the university, which she says is the first of its kind in the U.S. She's watched fans spill into the capital city from all around the world and, not unlike a holy pilgrimage, visit sites where the famous boy band has studied, rehearsed and performed. 

"I feel the liveliness of the city and a lot of global fans' love and interest in learning ... the local context and the origin of K-pop in Seoul," she told CBC News.

While the K-pop industry rumbled to life in the '90s, it exploded during the 2010s as labels and production companies in South Korea began investing as seriously in education and training as they did in touring or music production, opening schools like Def Dance and Global K Center where people could learn professional K-pop performance.

SM Entertainment, one of Korea's largest entertainment agencies, represents K-pop acts like Red Velvet and Super Junior. Last March, it enrolled its first batch of students at SM Universe Academy, an arts institution dedicated to training the next generation of idols.

"Nowadays, K-pop agencies are not just entertainment, business or music labels. They are also international performing arts schools," Oh said.

Even as fans eye K-pop as a long-term professional pursuit, a shadow of mental health issues and suspected suicides continues to linger over the industry, which is known for strenuous training programs and difficult working conditions that sometimes puts undue pressure on its idols.