K-Pop is slowly but surely becoming a highly recognized genre of music throughout the world and making its way onto the MP3 player of millions of fans in countries everywhere.

The United States was no exception after having SMTown perform in Madison Square Garden in 2010 and KCON hosted in California for the past three years. When it comes to the United States and K-Pop New York and California are the first places you associate. However, there is an up and coming location for Korean stars now and it is none other than the Lone Star State of Texas.

The southern state seems like an unlikely host to such big Korean acts, but as the love for K-Pop continues to grow, more and more eyes are looking their way. So far, some of the big names to perform in Texas have been the Wonder Girls, f(x), VIXX, NELL, Jay Park and 4Minute's HyunA. Smaller known bands are also making their mark in Texas showcasing their unique style such as Idiotape, Jambinai, and Crying Nut.

If you recall back to when the Wonder Girls were touring with the Jonas Brothers, they made quite an impact and gained a larger fan base in the United States. In 2012, the Wonder Girls came back to Texas and performed in Houston at the House of Blues. Though they seemed like and unknown group to the audience at first, once they started performing, you could easily see just how many fans filled the room.

The most popular venue to house these artists is a small club in downtown Austin by the name of 'Elysium'. Especially, during South by Southwest (SXSW), a popular live music and film festival held every year during Spring Break in March. f(x) was the headlining performer for Korean Night Out during the SXSW Festival of 2013. The following year, both Jay Park and HyunA also performed their own hits including 'Ice Cream' and 'I Like 2 Party' plus many more. During Jay Park's performance at Elysium for SXSW, he also introduced one of the newest members of the label AOMG, LOCO, to the Texans. As SXSW attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year, it is assured that someone will leave as a new fan of Korean music.

Not all bands head straight for Austin and Houston, boy groups VIXX and Boyfriend have held both held fan-meets in Dallas, Texas. VIXX accomplished 'The Milky Way' showcase drawing in hundreds of fans from not only Texas but even the surrounding states. Not to be outdone by VIXX, Boyfriend held their own showcase at the Verizon Theatre also bringing in fans from all corners. Both showcases offered VIP seating which quickly filled up so fans could gather better views of their idols.

As mentioned earlier, Elysium had proved to be a popular venue for Korean artists. Austinite's and Texans from surrounding cities flock to Elysium for a very special event; K-Pop Night. K-Pop Night is an event held once a month in which the popular club plays the hottest Korean music as well as new comeback hits. Every K-Pop Night held at Elysium has had quite a significant turn out having people come from Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, San Marcos, and many other places around Texas. With the rising success of K-Pop Night in Austin, three of the coordinators for K-Pop night have been invited to serve on a discussion panel for the upcoming KCON event in August.

Most recently, Ye Eun from the Wonder Girls made a trip to Dallas to sing the Korean National Anthem for the Texas Rangers at the 'Korean American Heritage Night'. Popular music show, K-Pop Star, also held auditions in Houston, Texas, for the first time on August 2.

Though most Korean artists who were born in America hail from California, Texas has the right to say they host the fiercest female rapper to ever grace the Korean music industry, Yoon Mi Rae (also known as Tasha).

With all of the recent K-Pop activity occuring in Texas, the state is slowly rising as one of the new homes to Korea's popular artists.