K-Pop’s first generation is often referenced as the foundation for the industry we enjoy now, but there aren’t enough good English-language sources that give its music the focus it deserves. I’m hoping to change that with a continuing flashback series, spotlighting personal highlights from the era – both iconic and obscure.

The era in question is often considered to run from the debut of Seo Taiji & Boys in 1992 to the emergence of TVXQ in late 2003. The music featured in this series will largely fit within that time frame, give or take a few years on either side.

It was a time of bonkers song structures, wild fashion, slamming techno beats, bad reggae impressions, flagrant use (theft?) of American hip-hop samples, hearty power ballads, foul language, the growliest rapper tones you can imagine and an anything-goes scrappiness that’s impossible to pigeonhole. To borrow the name of a popular second-gen act, these years were the “big bang” of an emerging musical powerhouse, still finding its footing and throwing everything at the wall.

Check out other “Back to K-pop’s First Generation” reviews here.

The year is… 1998

S.E.S – DREAMS COME TRUE

With the massive success of boy group H.O.T, it was only a matter of time before SM Entertainment debuted their first girl group. S.E.S arrived in 1997 with a fresh, innocent image and songs that both reflected trends of the era and looked back at older pop decades.

Songs like I’m Your Girl are certainly iconic, but it’s 1998’s Dreams Come True that feels like their most enduring hit. From what I can tell, it’s also the first instance of SM Entertainment outsourcing their material by covering a hit from Finnish girl group Nylon Beat. Yes, my Korean and Finnish obsessions overlapped before I was even aware of either of them! A great song tends to remain a great song no matter the language, and S.E.S’s version is a very faithful interpretation. The most obvious departure is its quirky rapped bridge, which sounds like a robotic pixy mimicking TLC’s Lisa ‘Lefteye’ Lopes’ flow. That’s a very specific, strange description… but the approach somehow works!

More importantly, S.E.S bring some killer vocals to this track. I mean, listen to those harmonies! Bada in particular has one of the most irresistible tones in all of K-Pop – sugary sweet and infinitely lovely. The group’s performance makes Dreams Come True the definitive version of this track. It’s a case of vocal and production matching perfectly. The synergy creates a dreamlike atmosphere that sounds as beguiling and fresh today as it must have in 1998. The keyword here is “soundscape.” The vibe is just exquisite. Of all their many hits, Dreams Come True has become the undeniable K-pop standard.

Grade: A+