Korean ballad

[3] Gaining popularity alongside trot in the 1960s, the ballad is distinguished as "a slow love song built on a Western seven-note scale".

"While still maintaining themes relating to love and loss, songs at the intersections of ballad and other genres can include nontypical instruments or vary in musical style and level of expression.

[3] Due to the skills necessary to sing trot songs, popular singers moved towards ballads for their "easy-listening" style.

Debuting in 1976, Hey Eun-yi's pop ballad "You Wouldn't Know" (당신은 모르실거야), with its slow, melancholic rhythm, became extremely well-received.

Yim Jae-beom's song "For You" (임재범 너를 위해; 2000), begins softly with a keyboard accompanying his singing.

The initial wave of popularity in response to rock music in Korea ended before the rise of ballads in the 1980s.