one of South Korea's most beloved boy bands the now world-famous BTS continue
on with their sensational feats that are unprecedented for a kpop artist but if
you remember before the BTS love yourself era there was the era of
Kangnam style by psy who also gained a global recognition for his unique style
of music now there's one person who has kept close tabs on these two mega hit
kpop stars and their journey through the u.s. music industry since very early
stages that is none other than kpop columnist at billboard jeff benjamin who
joins us in the editing studio today to give us his insights on the present and
the future of kpop welcome to the program oh thank you for the nice
introduction and thank you for having me so mr. benjamin you are just as famous
as any other k-pop star I'm a big fan I mean anyone who's slightly interested in
k-pop wouldn't know who you are but for our viewers who may not be so
familiar with who you are could you first introduce yourself and tell us a
bit more about what you do yeah of course um no thank you for saying that
was very kind but yes I'm a journalist based in New York writing about all
kinds of music but kpop has definitely become a specialty and definitely a
passion of mine I've been writing about it since around 2011 2012 and in 2013 I
became billboards k-pop columnist when we launched the k-pop column along with
different other genres for columns and since then just really tried to be you
know the go-to guy for a kpop writing I've talked about it I've written about
it on places like New York Times Rolling Stone across the board and and also been
so lucky to be able to talk about it on places like CNN Good Morning America and
Beyond and trying to nowadays more so expand kind of where this world can go
for the longest time it kind of was you know only getting small chances to be
able to write about it whether that was on Billboard or whether if it was the
occasional article for other places but the world is just taking so much more
interest in kpop these days so I'm trying to expand also what I can do
I recently joined a variety show that films here in Korea but I fill my
sections in New York it's called week kpop on KBS world which just like
Arirang definitely has an international audience and yeah hopefully you guys
will have good news soon about other projects I'm working on
just again trying to expand this world of kpop and kind of how we understand it
today now many of us South Koreans here including myself are amazed to witness
kpop grow and reach beyond Asia and tap into the American as well as the
European continent where we could say is home of pop songs Kate home of the genre
pop genre now how would you assess the current global position of kpop where
does kpop stand now in the world yeah I mean I think pop music these days in
general is just so much more open-minded and so much more accepting these days I
think we saw particularly in 2017 with the rise of Latin and reggaeton song
with songs like this besito once again kind of bringing Latin music to the
mainstream these days you know the world stage is just open to pop music I think
if it sounds good if you have a medium and a video and something that is very
entertaining to people it's going to catch on or it's gonna find an audience
one way or another whether or not kpop becomes this this full-fledged
mainstream force I do think that it's shown that it is part of the pop
conversation that there's a growing strong really passionate community there
for it and that's gonna be part of the pop scene for for a long time whether or
not it you know it might a band flow in terms of its popularity but kpop is here
people are talking about it and you know it's just slowly but surely just ways of
breaking in so that it doesn't seem like it's sort of an outlier or something
atypical to the pop scene but rather just another part of it now I hear that
you yourself are quite an ardent fan of kpop what would you say what what is it
about kpop that mesmerized so many across the globe what are some
distinct features of kpop that appeal to fans across the globe yeah I think you
know me personally I think I'm just a huge fan of music and so many different
kinds of music and when I first heard true kpop music I was blown away because
what's really good is that you know at its core this type of music includes all
different styles I remember the first song I heard it included all these
different elements it started as a ballad and then grew to a dance song
there was rapping there was singing there was auto-tune there were soft
moments loud moments and all these different things kind of combined and
packed into a really nice pop package and I think that's really appealing to a
lot of people too is that people these days they love so many different kinds
of things you don't need to just be a rock fan or or a hip-hop fan you can be
a fan of so many different things and something like kpop really shows all the
different things that are available to you and it can be packaged as one and I
think also these days in particular everything is so digital everything is
so we live in such an a TD generation that there's so many things vying for
our attention kpop is really good about making a moment k-pop artists they
release the song the music video the album all at once they only tease it for
about two or three weeks or so it's something that happens really fast and
it's really much definitely of this generation to just put content out there
and before the years over have another album out or a third album out it
definitely keeps people excited going when it's really tough to get people to
pay attention to music these days they kpop does a really good job at making
sure everything's in line to keep your attention for a little bit for that
moment and just keep you hooked just for that for that cycle for sure now the
power of music was stronger than many of us here had thought now obviously the
value of kpop is now spreading beyond music for instance people are now it's
spreading to culture people are learning Korean the language Korean
love in Korean TV drama series they're making visits to South Korea to see to
learn more about the Korean culture what would you say about the the the another
or other values of kpop that is now reaching beyond music yeah 100% I think
that's definitely what we're seeing you know definitely with the rise of music I
think when people become so attached to these k-pop artists and they want to
know more about their world and luckily kpop is so good about showing that world
you know whether it is including different styles you know dance or
different styles of Korean culture in the music videos just showing their
personal lives and the food that they're eating you know every artist kind of
creates its own kind of mini cultural universe in their in their own way you
know we could take for example RM the leader of BTS he he's really great about
he loves art and he loves museums and he visits I noticed he visits a lot of
Korean museums and shares them on social media
and that's such a great you know way of just you know it's not like he's doing
it on purpose or he's thinking about you know the larger impact this is just
something that he likes and he likes to show and but think about how many people
how many fans of RM are now gonna go visit those museums or see that artwork
by Korean artists or visit a Korean Museum simply because he just posted on
social media there's a lot of different ways I think that this impact can be
seen when you become a fan and you become such a passionate fan of kpop
which is something that this scene really breathes and this really kind of
grows in a natural organic way and just by having the artists have their
different interests in their own ways it definitely can kind of grow and and
create a larger sort of form of soft power in that way for sure now
kpop however is often criticized for being too standardized an idol centered
and that they're planned out and represented by just a handful of the
well-known entertainment corporations your thoughts on that yeah I mean I
think you know it's definitely a legitimate critique I think when we
talk about you know these sort of it's it's really something that I've
personally been trying to kind of get over that hump when talking about it in
international media is that lots of times many outlets want to play to this
dark side of kpop that it's you know industrialize that it's you know factory
made whatever but I think you know truly the artists that I do think are crossing
over and being able to make an impact in a larger way are the ones that kind of
you know defy those standards a bit more someone like BTS they really did talk
about you know their feelings open up become kind of an idol in that way just
talking about things that I had never really seen from other idol groups at
the time about you know mental anxieties politics things that they were going
through as young people those things were really quite unique and I think
created a much more international fanbase from the get-go and had a lot
more people paying attention to them and and following them not just for their
performances or for their music but for the fact that they were thinking and
speaking a bit differently and I think that's gonna be the key to kind of
shaking those those stereotypes those those labels is just allowing those
artists to you know maybe be a little less formal you know relax a tiny bit
and just kind of show that human side of it get rid of this sort of tag that they
need to be idols be so ideal but rather just show who they are as humans and an
artist I think that's gonna be so so key in terms of kind of stripping away that
because I don't think at its core being an idol is is a negative thing at all
but I think I do think that all the connotation with it does tend to be a
something that tends to bring down the conversation ultimately I must point out
BTS has delivered a speech at the UN and that was very inspiration
truly just put aside all the profits they generated they put aside their
popularity they the speech was very inspirational it was it was someone
talking from the heart right sure he was talking about who where he was from who
he what his full name you know the world knows him as RM but he talked his full
name Kim Nam that was it was really moving and
amazing in that way for sure now social media a big part of kpop the popularity
of kpop will can be attributed to the social media came up stars have fully
utilized social media a social medium to represent themselves and and and those
postings expanded at a viral speed globally now what would you say is the
next social trend and what kind of measures are needed for kpop to adapt to
the fast changing social trend yeah I mean I think I think now we finally seen
it it's finally happen I think for a while and kind of the conversations I've
had in the industry it kind of that kpop was a little scared of social media at
first at least when it came to things like Twitter or Instagram where you know
the artist was having kind of full control of being what they're able to
say and what they're saying but I think you know the more of that the better I
think you know just showing you know if you're
having a rough day showing more of what you're going through you know connecting
with fans in a more personal way I think whether that's a plot whether it's on a
platform a big platform like Twitter or Instagram or a rising platform like Tik
Tok I think tick-tock is gonna be really really important especially as artists
you know cuz it's such a music centric platform and I think Tik Tok is gonna be
really great at kind of creating those sort of viral moments I think many
artists can find little viral moments and be able to kind of spread in that
way but I think it comes down it comes down to to the heart the human the
hardest you know whether you have something entertaining or whether you
have something heartfelt you know if there's something that people are
connecting to that's sort of the most important thing I think ultimately is
just making sure that it doesn't feel so sanitized so formal like like as if a
press release was written for your Twitter posts you know no one likes
reading that no one wants to feel like a company wrote something that is supposed
to come from the artists eye I think as that continues growing and the power of
social media continues to grow and you know those things are gonna be the
things that that really matter beyond you know having a pristine
countour having you know the best selfies or whatever might be okay one
last question before you go what can we expect from your future columns what do
you plan to focus on yeah I think you know these days you know I feel so lucky
that people are watching my columns so I'm really thankful but you know I think
especially these days and it's something that I wanted to stick to when we
started the column in 2013 you know really just giving this scene the the
in-depth you know look and sort of the deeper dives that it deserves you know
not just here's a music video watch it this is who this artists is but rather
you know this is what stands out this is what caught my eye this is what's
important about it this is something different to think about but also
talking about you know the social issues and things like that you know I gay I
wrote a column that I'm really proud of about why it's time for us to cut a bit
of slack when it comes to idols wait you know there's been a lot of talk about
eating disorders and and sort of the mental anxieties that come with that and
something like that it got a really good response and I was really happy too to
see that but also sort of being a resource for these artists to be able to
tell their deeper stories I'm really proud of some stories and some artists
different artists that have opened up to me recently about their struggles their
mental anxieties whether it was Park Bom talking about her a DD or Minzy from 21
formally of 21 who talked about feeling depressed and suicidal these are not
common topics really still anywhere in the world but the conversation is
growing in America and and I hope I can be a resource for them in that way and
just kind of be a trusted comforting voice and and show that you know I'm not
here to sensationalize any crazy you know Hunger Games kpop you know
narrative but rather show them as the people they are so I really hope I get
those opportunities moving forward all right mr. Benjamin thank you so much for
your perspectives tonight thank you thank you