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| Thai pop | |
|---|---|
| Other names | String music |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1950s, Thailand |
| Other topics | |
Thai pop or T-pop, is a genre of Thai music roughly equivalent to pop music. It emerged in the 1970s–1980s, during which it was known as string music, before gaining mainstream popularity during the 1990s and has since dominated the Thai music industry. The term is extremely broad, covering Thai rock, dance music, hip hop music and western-influenced popular music in general, though normally excluding the folk and rock-influenced phleng phuea chiwit.
The origins of string lie in American R&B, surf-rock artists like The Ventures and Dick Dale, Exotica, rockabilly and country and western brought to Thailand by American and Australian soldiers serving in Vietnam in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It also drew heavily on genres from the British Invasion, including rock and roll, garage rock and Hollywood film soundtracks. Since the 1980s, it has mixed with other genres, such as disco, funk and dance.
This era marks the rise of many record labels and artists. While the Thai population still largely enjoys traditional genres like Luk Krung and Luk Thung, there is a surge in interest in Western pop and rock.[1]
This era marks the point when Western-styled pop music had penetrated the taste of the Thai audiences, leading to more Westernized beats and melodies.[1]
This era was the transition era from cassette tapes to online music distribution. As a result, T-pop became more widespread than ever. [1]
This era is notable for the acceleration of the Thai music industry as the distribution of music has become much easier with apps such as YouTube, Spotify, and TikTok.[1] T-pop had begun to gain traction internationally with the rise of Thai BL.[2] Numerous girl groups and boy groups have also been inspired by K-pop groups.
T-Wind[3] (Thai Wind) is a term used to describe the phenomenon of Thai pop culture internationally. It mirrors the concept of Korean Wave. In the 21st century, Thailand has been exporting many kinds of cultural products overseas, especially in Southeast Asia,[4] such as lakhon (television drama), movies and BL series from GMMTV – GDH and lukkwad-pop (Thai teen pop).
