- Yeah, I don't know if this is K-pop, BLACKPINK.
- That was my next question.
That is K-pop, yeah.
- BLACKPINK are banging.
- Hi.
- Hello, welcome to--
- TTK.
- So, our last street interview,
we asked people on the street on London
if they knew who or what BTS was,
and they gave some interesting answers.
- So it's not long until BLACKPINK
are in the UK doing their arena tour,
so we thought we'd come to streets of London
and ask people one, if they know what K-pop is
and two, if they know who BLACKPINK are.
- It's exactly what we did.
What are your music tastes?
- Music tastes.
I'll say Joss, hip-hop.
- Psychedelic blues, folk, melancholy.
- That's a really nice mix of words.
I like that a lot.
- Anything, mainly pop like Shawn Mendes.
- Anything that you would see on, like,
an American trash TV basically.
- I like K-pop.
- She likes K-pop, guys.
- R and B mainly, bit of hip-hop.
- Well, I'm actually a huge musical theatre nerd
so I listen to mainly musicals.
Stuff like Come from Away--
- That's supposed to be really good.
- Absolutely amazing.
- What about pop music?
Are you into pop?
- Pop, no.
Really a pop, Les is a really popular pop track
that they play on the radio, it's catchy music.
Yeah, definitely.
- I like to dance so that's why I like simple.
- You're a good dancer?
- I like to jig, you know what I mean.
- I'm pretty much static from the waste up.
I can't move.
- I like pop music, rap music, and, like, dance music.
- Variety.
- I've been listening to a lot of Korean
hip-hop lately as well.
- Have you heard of K-pop?
- Yes.
- What do you know?
What do you both know?
- I know one song and I don't know what it's called
but I really appreciate the aesthetic of K-pop.
- Have you heard of K-pop?
- Yes.
- What have you heard?
- I don't know any artist names
but, like, friends of mine are into it.
- I know one.
Are they BTS?
And are there like seven of them?
- You know more than you're letting on.
- No, 'cause I just see them and, like,
I know that they've got a massive
One Direction-esque fan-girl situation happening
but I don't know their songs.
- Okay so, you are into, sort of,
theatrical music it's fair to say?
- Yep.
- Have you heard of K-pop?
- I haven't.
- So, K-pop is Korean pop music.
- Oh yeah, I have, I have, yeah.
- Have you heard of K-pop?
- No.
- It's Korean pop music.
- Oh, that's interesting.
- I know that it's on the rise.
It has been steadily rising for, like,
maybe the past five, six years.
Yeah, it's going global, it's doing really well.
I'm down for it.
- I've heard of BTS, I don't know
any of their music or any others.
- I know, like, BTS and BLACKPINK and that's about it.
- Yes.
- What do we know?
- There's that, the boy band, are they K-pop?
- Gangnam Style.
It is K-pop.
- Have you heard good things about these bands?
- Yeah, really good things.
I know they're really famous, so.
- BTS are like the biggest K-pop band
in the world, aren't they?
- Probably band.
- Yeah.
- So my friend, she's really cool, shout out our kid.
She showed me, I don't know if this is K-pop, BLACKPINK?
- That was my next question.
That is K-pop, yeah.
- BLACKPINK are banging.
- As someone who likes musical theatre and drama
and bit of theatrics, is it something that ticks your box?
Do you like that?
- I think it's absolutely great.
I think it's, like, absolutely stunning.
Everything they do is great, it's just not something
that I personally listen to that often.
- That's fair enough.
- XO, I've heard--
- You know more than you're letting on.
- No because my friends are really big K-pop fan
and I know XO, I've heard of them.
- What is it that appeals to you about K-pop then?
As someone that studied music?
- Less the language and more, like, the style
of the way that the music is made and the type of music.
And I think, like, especially with BTS,
I can really get into them because I appreciate
the amount of work that they do
to make their music themselves.
And I think for them to spend a lot of hours
in the studio producing, I know that feeling
so I know what it's like to work on a song
that you really appreciate and have it as a whole album.
So, yeah.
- Have you heard of a group called BLACKPINK?
- I think so, online I've seen stuff.
- So, have you heard of BLACKPINK?
- Nope.
- No.
- Yeah.
- There's a band called BLACKPINK, have you heard of them?
- No.
- On the 22nd at Wembley Arena.
- Are you going?
- Got Zara Larsson that day.
- Oh.
- You like them?
- Bruv, I was, like, watching it mesmerised.
BLACKPINK and they're just fabulous.
- I'm gonna check them out, I'm gonna check them out.
- Have you heard of another K-pop group called BLACKPINK?
- Are they the girl group?
- You know your stuff.
- Have you heard of BLACKPINK?
- No.
- I like that they're different.
They're very fierce compared to other K-pop girl groups,
especially if you look at TWICE and stuff,
they're really like-- - Bubblegum pop.
- Yeah.
And for me, I'm just not into that.
- We can just talk about music all day,
this is such a nice convers--
- I'll just say, the videos are amazing.
The BLACKPINK video and their general videos,
it's just like, they take music videos on a next level.
The production is just, it's mind-boggling.
- Out there.
- Little Mix or BLACKPINK?
- Little Mix, of course.
- Why?
- Because they're like the best girl band in the world
and they're queens.
- I think with BLACKPINK they're fierce and they're fiery
and it's like you can really get into their music
because you can feel its not just, like,
about ice cream and, like, cute stuff.
- They're just very, like, you know.
They're poppy.
- I love that that was the, this is K-pop.
- I don't know, there's a bit of a hip-hop feel to them,
I feel, to BLACKPINK.
Like, the influence seems almost American,
I would say Top 40 Hip-Hop.
- I like the way that they present themselves.
They're all individual but they're all a group together.
- Some kids just walked past me with BTS wing shirts on.
We're doing well, we're succeeding.
Do you wanna talk about K-pop?
Anyone?
- They've got a collaboration with Dua Lipa
and it got 227 million plays on Spotify.
- What?
227 million?
- So, they have collabed with Dua Lipa.
- Okay, yeah I know who Dua Lipa is, yeah.
- Dua Lipa fan?
- Yeah, I literally listen to everything
so any type of music, I'm down.
- We like very similar,
I don't really listen to musical theatre
so actually we're not similar.
- So, obviously Dua Lipa is a massive UK artist
and she's collaborated with them just last year
and it got 227 million plays on Spotify.
And you haven't heard of BLACKPINK?
- Never. - No.
- It's called Kiss and Make Up if you wanna check it out.
- Obviously you've heard of Dua Lipa?
- Yes. - Yes.
- So, she collabed with BLACKPINK, did you know that?
- No, I didn't know that.
- So, their song together is called Kiss and Make Up
and it got 227 million plays on Spotify.
How do we feel about this?
- Wow.
- I mean, I think that's a start,
the fact that they've collabed with a British,
or, like, a Western artist.
I think that's a start in getting people into what K-pop is.
I mean, I know she recently performed with them
at one of their concerts and it just seems so cool.
- Did you know they've got a song
with a British artist called Dua Lipa?
- Do they?
- I love that song.
Kiss and Make Up, it's amazing.
- Do you know how it goes?
- I can't sing so let's not attempt.
- I think incredible.
Obviously it shows you how music just transcends doesn't it?
And, obviously, it's Korean and it's kind of mix
of Korean pop with, I guess, Western pop.
It coming together, it's pretty cool
and it shows it's got a big fan base.
- That songs got 200 million plays on Spotify.
- Has it?
Oh, wig.
- Never heard it.
- To you, is the language that a song is sung in important?
Or can you vibe to it
even if you don't know what they're saying?
- You can definitely vibe
without knowing what they're saying.
- I like to sing to it, though.
Like, I'm a big shower singer.
- Not really because, I'm originally from Africa,
and now I can see a lot of Afrobeats,
a lot of people listen to Afrobeat,
they don't even understand what people are saying
but they just go by the beat.
Music is the universal language
so it doesn't really matter.
So far as you got it catchy and they the rhythm right
and I think people will enjoy it.
- A lot of my favourite songs,
I have no idea what they're saying
so yeah, definitely a vibe.
- I listen to, like, French rap,
PNL, and they also have amazing videos.
It's just, the way they're delivering it,
it feels authentic.
Obviously, I don't really know much French
but it feels real so I resonate with it.
So I think the vibe is very important.
- So language isn't a factor anymore, really?
- I don't think so.
I think the music has its own language.
- So poetic.
- You know what?
Not anymore.
I think, like, in the last two years with like Afrobeats,
it's like, it's fine like Burna Boy,
you know what I mean?
You just sing it out with your chest.
- More about vibes not language.
- Language isn't important in a song for you?
- I'll listen to, like, Latina music.
Even if I don't know the words,
I'll try and sing along.
- It does to an extent but at the same time,
music comes with it's own special language, I'll say,
which is rhythm and the beats
and sometimes people don't even understand
what you're saying and they enjoy it.
- No, as long as the beat's good
and you're feeling it, then yeah.
I know a whole Spanish song and I'm not Spanish.
- Not really, like she said, it matters about the beat.
As long as it has a good beat then it's good.
- The vibes, matters about the vibes,
doesn't matter about the language?
- HRVY's English and he done a Spanish song with Malu, so.
- I love that song.
I love that song, yeah, Hasta Luego.
- And my last question is,
BLACKPINK and trying to sell out Wembley Arena in London.
It's not the stadium, it's the arena,
it's the one next door, do you think they'll do it?
- Yeah.
Yeah, K-pop's massive online so yeah sure, why not?
- Do you think they'll do it?
- That's a very good question.
- You can take your time to think
about the answer if you like.
- I don't know, maybe just off the back of Dua Lipa.
I mean, I don't really know who this K-pop band are, but.
- I have no idea.
- Do you think they'll do it?
- Sounds like it with them kind of numbers.
- Bit of a no-brainer after that.
- How many followers do they have in UK now?
- Well this is the question,
they're also trying to do a show in Manchester,
in Manchester Arena.
- You can have that 271 million Spotify but UK specifically,
I don't know how many followers they have
and I don't know know whether they can fill out Wembley,
but it's possible.
- I don't see why they couldn't with those numbers
but if it's just one some maybe not.
- And you're seeing them when they come to London,
are you excited?
- I'm very excited to see them.
I know that they do, like, a lot of solo stuff,
so I'm excited to see the difference between their music
and, like, other stuff that they performed.
- They're trying to sell out Wembley Arena,
do you think they'll do it?
- Yes.
- You do? - Yeah.
- I think they will.
- Do you think K-pop could catch on in the UK?
- Yeah, I think so.
I think now, as long as somethings got,
kind of, a big enough story around it,
whether it's like a social media thing
or just any kind of publicity stunt type of thing,
they can get enough people to be like, yeah.
Like, Bob the Builder was number one here, so.
- Teletubbies.
- There we go, it can happen.
- So there you have it.
- Those were some really interesting answers.
- The recurring theme we're seeing
is that people don't care about the language the music's in,
it's just the vibe and the message it's sending.
- This is, like, the same as the famous green jacket man
that we had in the last video.
There were a few people in this video
that said exactly the same thing, which I loved.
- If you enjoyed today's video,
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- And also give this video a like if you enjoyed it
and please, please comment
what you thought of peoples responses
and also what you think we should ask Londoners next.
- Bye. - Ciao.