Of course, physically the idols have changed and new ones have come along, but I specifically mean the way they are trained and more! Back then, idols would at least train for more than 5 years before even thinking of going on stage! Now, you have some who can enter shows like Produce 101 and become instant hits. Yes, I know there's still a dungeon for certain agencies. I also know some trainees have trained for years before going on said program but some others haven't and you never really had an opportunity to become a star overnight in the past.

Also, a lot of idols are a lot younger with some even debuting at the age of 14! Our image of idols has changed as well as now we look to them to be a lot more youthful, cuter, and sometimes not so mature.

As expected, the music that we used to recognize K-Pop for has completely experienced an 180-degree change! Nowadays, the K-Pop trend seems to be more of a follower than a leader as it is looking for more outside influences rather than within itself for unique, creative sounds and concepts.

Trap and hip-hop seem to be the biggest influences in today's music. It is such a big influence that even the K-Pop image has manifested into something different. With sex appeal at an all time high, dance routines consisting of dropping it like it's hot and twerking more often than not, it is hard to imagine songs like KARA's "Mister" and "Lupin" or even Girls' Generation's "Hoot" as being that sexy anymore.

It seems like a lot of things went down hill after 2014! From scandals involving drug smuggling, pregnancies, and even drunk driving incidents, 2014 had us celebrating less and less with these problems. Of course, we can not expect K-Pop to come without all of this pressure as our idols are humans too, but it seemed to be less riddled with such controversy back then.

Speaking of controversy - there is a lot of "he said, she said" going on in the K-Pop world and fan wars are at an all time high. You see more issues involving culture appropriation popping up where you didn't really see it in the past. Times are a changing.

While there were a lot of negative changes, there have been many positive ones too! Thanks to events such as K-CON, as well as more overseas activities and interest developing in K-Pop, we are experiencing more and more opportunities to see our favorite idols live!

Before, the only way to even think of seeing an idol on stage was to save money, pack your bags for Korea and find your way to Music Bank or a concert! Now, we find idols traveling overseas every other month holding their own tours and sold-out concerts that are making headlines in foreign countries and more! It is truly a great time for K-Pop in this sense!

Just like more concerts are coming our way, more people are recognizing just how great K-Pop is! K-Pop has become such an international phenomenon, as well as an online sensation, that even popular boy group BTS won an award at this year's BillBoard Music Awards! If that doesn't prove K-Pop's popularity, I don't know what would!

From exclusive coverage on numerous American media outlets to collaborations with American artists, it appears K-Pop isn't something to worry about if your friends find out or not. Soon, we can expect to grow and expand even more!