You’re hanging out with your friend who absolutely loves K-pop, and then, they go on talking about how much they love their favorite group and how excited they are about going to their upcoming concert. Now, instead of going along, you ignore what they’re talking about, why? Oh, because you think all the boys look like girls, they’re all gay, or you think none of them have talent.
Now let’s say it’s the next day, you wake up and you’re scrolling on your phone and see a TikTok about BTS. Obviously, you scroll past it because you find them overrated and annoying, but, weren’t you just listening to Dynamite by BTS?
K-pop is one of the biggest genres in the music industry, yet people seem to create lots of controversy about it. Just because you only heard one song doesn’t really give you the right to judge the entire music genre and say that all of it is bad, but, you’ll still believe that K-pop is “trash” and they all look like girls because they wear “too much makeup”. Even if they do, that does not cancel out their talents of singing, dancing and more.
K-pop has been around for decades, originating in South Korea in the 1990’s but slowly began its popularity in the 2000’s and went on from there. Throughout the years, although everything is in Korean, their music style includes very similar genres like pop, r&b, rock, electronic, and more.
Being an idol can be very tough, and many people who audition have lots of struggles due to the harsh and rigorous training, especially because nowadays companies are looking for much younger people. For example, NI-KI from ENHYPEN, being only 13 years old when he became a trainee in 2019, and in 2020 he competed in a survival show at only 14 years old and placing fourth which earned him a spot in his group.
Analize, a junior at the iSchool, told me about what she thinks about the intense training that goes on in the K-pop industry. She says, “There’s many people who decide to be back up dancers because of the rigorous training they go through like training when they’re like 15 or 16 and there’s people who end up going to therapy because it was intense so it’s been like changing overtime and people have seen those changes and they’re making it more like humanized for the people.”
With their unique style, they tend to inspire thousands of fans, creators, and artists all around the world with their fashion trends and the way they express their culture and promote diversity. Even though all groups may have all Korean members, whilst some other groups have members from all over the world like having members from countries all throughout Asia and USA, Japan, Thailand, China, Canada, California, Australia, and New York. The groups NCT, Stray Kids and SEVENTEEN are great examples of this.
Being a K-pop fan can be lots of fun, the reason being because there are lots of different and fun activities you can participate in, like going to a concert!
Ever since 2018, I have always dreamed that BTS would be the first K-pop concert I would go to, but during the pandemic, my upcoming concert tickets were canceled. Two years passed since the pandemic and in 2022, Stray Kids was the first ever K-pop concert I attended! It was lots of fun and being in one area with thousands of people enjoying the same thing made it so meaningful to me.
A freshman named Elibeth, who has been a K-pop fan for about 4 years, told me all about her first concert. Elibeth had told me that being able to go to that concert was very meaningful to her because as she has liked K-pop for 4 years it was very special to finally be in one place enjoying the same thing as everyone in there. Eli said, “Yes yes yes, ok, so my first ever K-pop concert was Enhypen in Long Island with my two friends and it was amazing and I made a poster and it was super cute. I didn’t get on the big screen though.”
Personally, from my experience at the Stray Kids, I can definitely confirm that it was so special to be able to go to something you’ve been dreaming about for so long, especially since I have liked K-pop for about 7 whole years, I do think going to the BTS concert in 2020 would have been the most memorable to me as they give me a lot of nostalgia and happiness.
Now, you may only know about two K-pop groups and a couple songs, and with that little bit of information most people go straight to disliking them. But what people don’t see or realize is that even though it might be in another language and you don’t understand what they’re saying, these songs that all of these groups make have so much deeper and relatable meaning to them, as well as their unique choreography.
Syniah, a freshman at the iSchool, thinks that people who dislike K-pop just aren’t being open enough to their music taste and that they’re being ignorant just because it’s in another language. On the other hand, Syniah thinks that these idols put meaning into their lyrics and have choreography that matches the lyrics. “I would say in terms of like how they go about dances cause I know there’s a lot of American dance groups, but I do think the way that they like show their choreography like a really matches with the songs and also I would say I guess lyrics because even though it’s all in Korean like when you translate it, they say a lot of things, I wouldn’t think they talk about.” One of Syniahs favorite songs are Attention by New Jeans, this song can relate to lots of people because it talks about wanting attention from your crush, the website Elite Daily says “The group sings that they always want to be near their crush and grab their attention so they can see they’re meant to be.”
Analize also think that the idols have very unique lyrics and think that they put lots of work as all the members contribute, she said “I think it’s because of every group is unique like for example BTS leader he’s the one who makes most of the lyrics and not only him but also a lot of the members contribute to the lyrics.” The song Answer: Love Myself by BTS is a song that has helped thousands of people while they were struggling with self love. A website called ‘TriColor Times’ says, ”The song “Answer: Love Myself” by BTS talks about learning to love yourself and the struggles that go along with it. The lyrics have deep meanings and even though at first glance, it may seem confusing, this song wasn’t created to just be out there, it was made to help people who are learning self love.”
Overall, K-pop is not as bad as you think it is and I definitely think you should give it another try. Even if you feel like some of the songs aren’t your vibe, that’s okay because they have lots of different styles. While listening, you can look up the English translation and find out the meanings of the songs. For starters, I would recommend BTS, Seventeen, Enhypen, EXO, Twice, BlackPink and New Jeans.
