Transcriber: Sieun Park Reviewer: Thomas Bedin
K-pop seems to me to be largely dismissed by the greater population.
The question that keeps rising to the front of my mind is
why don’t people care?
And I keep coming up without answers.
So after some research,
I’m gonna try to make you care about the international sensation
you will see more of.
So let's start with how many people do already hear.
These idols have huge fan bases.
BLACKPINK’s being called Blinks.
Yes, this is actually the name.
It's been confirmed by the idol Jenny,
when she affectionately used the term on her birthday.
The term,
which may seem confusing to the outside
eye, actually come from the group’s
name Blackpink.
Put the B and L from black and
the I-N-K from pink into the fan base, known as blinks.
BLACKPINK has over 25 million Spotify followers.
And just to put this into perspective,
they are the most subscribed to music group on YouTube right now.
Their numbers rising above Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, even Bruno Mars.
I would also like to note these fan bases can get very political.
One such rivalry happened surrounding BLACKPINK’s Blinks at BTS’s ARMY.
The rivalry was surrounding the toxicity of Blinks use around BTS.
And BTS’ ARMY responded with comments such as BURN IN HELL BLINKS.
SERIOUSLY HOW LOW CAN Y’ALL GO???
YOUR FANDOM IS HELLA TOXIC AND
YOU GUYS HAVE THE AUDACITY TO CALL US ARMYS “TOXIC”??
Then some obscenities reused.
And the argument further spiraled into many debates
on whether the idol should address these claims, or if the group,
such as BTS or BLACKPINK, should be disbanded altogether.
Do you remember trends such as the mini skirt thigh high boots trend? No?
What about the blonde highlights framing the face and
otherwise brunette head of hair?
I bet you didn't know that these trends started or popularized in Asia.
Asian chic fashion has such a huge impact on the American fashion scene.
It’s crazy to me that people say London or Paris are
he fashion capitals of the world,
but take a look at Seoul chic fashion
and you might change your mind.
Chunky sneakers, neon colors, blazer dresses, mixing plaid, clashing fabrics?
These trends all started when, like I said,
we’re popularisation chic fashion trends.
I fell in love with Asian fashion after I started to listen to more K-pop
and fell and found that they are always impeccably dressed.
Idols usually do it with a team of stylists.
Why do people enjoy K-pop so much?
Well, as one says:
It gives me an empowering feeling like I can do anything,
and I believe we need that now more than ever
because everyone is like alone.
This is all set by Noah, a 12 year old, seventh grader from
who is a fan of Blackpink, among others.
I completely agree with them.
I think that mental health is
a really good reason people should listen to music that they like.
I think one of the reasons that K-pop is so popular
actually has nothing to do with K-pop at all.
I think that one of the reasons it’s so popular is because
it’s becoming more appealing to the American audience.
For example, some songs are so similar
they would like to do with them.
Songs like “Dirty Laundry” by Blackbear,
which has really similar energy to “Butter” by BTS.
Although the lyrics are very different and then on the more
emotional or empowering side,
there songs like, “ABCDE” by Gail,
which is very similar energy to “Love to hate me” by Blackpink.
So as you can see, K-pop is powerful and
the media should more accurately represent it.
It’s not some eccentric foreign music.
It’s prevalent and here to stay.
Thank you.