5 music production tips to learn from K-pop

Whether you only know the mega-hit that was PSY's Gangnam Style or are a diehard Koreaboo, you've probably heard of K-pop, a huge part of the Korean (or "hallyu") wave. With artists like BTS and Blackpink making waves globally, K-pop isn't limited to South Korea—it's now a veritable global music and cultural movement.

The fearless genre crossing, bold chord progressions, and vibrant arrangements of K-pop offer inspiration to producers working in any genre. Here are five K-pop ideas you can take for your own work.

1. Use more ideas!

Each section of a K-pop song is often sung by a different band member and designed to emphasize their personality. That means each section needs to be unique. There’s no recycling the same four-chord loop through the song: each section needs its own progression, hooks, and instrumentation. This barrage of ideas helps make K-pop so exciting.

2. Constant development

There is no time for the listener to get bored. K-pop producers add new hooks and arrangement elements incredibly frequently. Add a new instrument at the halfway point to add interest. It could be a tambourine, a backing vocal, doubling up on handclaps, or a new synth hook. You might even experiment with a key or tempo change to add fresh energy to the composition. However, keep in mind that the goal is to engage, not overwhelm, the listener, so use these techniques with intention and balance.

3. Mash up genres

K-pop doesn’t expect any song to stay within the limits of one genre. Different sections of a song can be in different genres, with the style switch-ups even depending on what the company is best known for. For instance, YG Entertainment prides itself in its hip-hop roots, with more EDM-leaning switch-ups across all of its artists’ repertoires. You could use the drum style of one genre and chord progressions from another. Write a song in one style, then arrange it with a totally different set of sounds and samples. Write a song in a genre, then perform it at an unexpected tempo. Break the rules!

4. Try brave chord progressions

It can be intimidating to attempt the sophisticated chord sequences in K-pop. To start, try extended chords: 7th and 9th chords immediately sound closer to the vibe. Next, try some chord substitutions. A simple approach is to try replacing a major chord with its relative minor or vice versa. If you don’t know them, you can just look them up.

5. Use vocal doubles strategically

Double-tracking is the simplest way to add width and power to a lead vocal, and K-pop uses the technique very creatively. Rather than doubling an entire vocal, try just adding doubles to specific words that you want to highlight (think of the way the Beastie Boys would shout the end of a line together, but apply it to a pop melody). You can deliberately double with a very different delivery for a bolder effect, or even get a different vocalist to perform the double. Octave doubles, sung live or pitch-shifted, can also create some very interesting effects.

Bringing it together

One of the biggest lessons from K-pop? Great music is rarely made alone. K-pop’s most iconic hits are the result of intense collaboration between producers, vocalists, songwriters, choreographers, and engineers across different countries and time zones. So whether you're layering harmonies, building dynamic beat switches, or exploring unconventional genre fusions, working closely with others often brings out your best work.

That’s why tools like Pibox are so powerful. Pibox is more than just file sharing—it’s a creative workspace built specifically for modern producers and their teams. It makes collaboration smooth, fast, and clear, so nothing gets in the way of the music. Here’s how Pibox supports your creative flow:

• Experiment freely with seamless version comparisons
• Get and give feedback directly on the waveform, right where it matters
• Keep everything in sync: from stems to mix notes to approvals
• Stay organized, even across multiple project stages, with custom file statuses
• Collaborate globally with producers, vocal coaches, and artists across continents in real time, without endless emails or file confusion