He
to another episode of "Hey Alexia, What's Trending?".
Today I'm going to be covering K-pop.
So EXO-L, ARMY, BLINKS, and more, this one's for you.
♪ [upbeat]
It's about time that I got around to a K-pop episode
because every week I see something new
that's K-pop related trending on social media,
whether it's a new album drop, a group's comeback,
or just fan girls posting birthday messages
for their favourite idol.
When was the last time your birthday
was trending on social media?
Can't say that I know the feeling.
So what makes K-pop fans stan so hard?
Before I get into that part,
I need to brush up on some of my K-pop terminology.
So first, K-pop. It's produced in South Korea
and it's inspired by many different music genres like
pop, hip hop, R&B, country, and more.
Number two is "idol".
This is what K-pop fans call the personalities
or celebrities in the groups.
So think of it like we call celebrities "celebs".
They call them "idols".
Number three is "bias".
This is what you call your favourite idol
in a musical group.
So, for example, if there's any
they could say that Alexia is their bias.
Hey, a girl can dream.
And last but not least, "aegyo".
These are cute little face expressions or movements
that idols do which make the fans go crazy.
Speaking of aegyo, introducing the Hey, Alexio...
just cannot even pronounce my name right.
Introducing the Hey, Alexio...
I can't even say my name right
because I'm getting it mixed up with aegyo.
Introducing the Hey, Alexia Aegyo Challenge.
♪ ♪
Oh, I've seen this one before. I've seen this.
I've seen
♪ ♪
So, like...
♪ ♪
So like this?
♪ ♪
When I smile it kind of looks like both my eyes are closed.
♪ ♪
I don't know if I'm doing it right.
♪ ♪
You guys should definitely try the Hey, Alexia Aegyo Challenge.
Make sure to tag me and
Now, let's talk to a K-pop expert.
When did K-pop explode in the North America scene?
So there's technically two answers to that.
I think the main one is in 2012 when PSY
kind of broke out with "Gangnam Style".
♪ Oppan Gangnam Style ♪
♪ ♪
And it became a really big viral hit.
It was kind of the first video
on
PSY was everywhere in North America.
He was on TV shows, his song was on the radio.
He was showing up at award shows.
But I do think a lot of people in Korea think that
that song is more of a gimmick and not really
representative of K-pop as a whole.
So I think the real answer to when K-pop really exploded
is kind of more in the past few years with
the mega success of groups like BTS and Blackpink.
BTS obviously have three number one
♪ ["Dynamite" by BTS]
They recently got their first
So these are kind of like heights that we've never
really seen a K-pop group hit before.
K-pop has been trying to break through in the U.S.
for the past ten or so years.
Back then, you might have noticed groups like
Big Bang or Girls' Generation
trying really hard to break through,
but just not really having the same success.
I think it's a really easy genre to get into because K-pop is
kind of a full package. It's like crazy choreography.
It's really big, flashy music videos.
♪ Ice cream, chillin', chillin' Ice cream, chillin' ♪
It's a certain look and style to all of them.
But also their music is a mashup of a bunch of different genres.
So there's like Latin influences,
there's hip hop influence, there's dance and EDM influence.
So I think that there's a way in for everyone
and there's something for everyone there.
So why do BTS and Blackpink have such a big success versus
Big Bang and Girl Generation?
How come they were the ones to break through?
I mean, sometimes I think it's just timing.
Recently with online streaming,
I think people have just kind of like
broken down a lot more barriers,
especially when it comes to language barriers.
We've seen Latin music break through a lot,
and I think K-pop is just kind of similar in that sense
where it's just right timing.
BTS and Blackpink just happen to be the two groups
that are trying right now versus,
you know, ten years ago when it might not have been as popular.
So recently, K-pop stans have been overtaking like
political events, a Trump rally not too long ago.
How do they have so much power?
How does the K-pop fandom have so much power
over like
K-pop is now like a global phenomenon.
So I think their reach and their power and their influence is
so much bigger than I think some people might even realize.
They're also a very organized group of fans
and we've seen that in the way that they'll rally together
and vote for BTS to make it to the top of
the
And it's similar in the sense that, like,
if there's a cause that they want to get into,
there's millions of fans around the world that kind of
will rally together and get behind this cause.
I think with U.S. politics,
a lot of that is actually specifically U.S. fans of K-pop.
The U.S. has a very big and diverse K-pop fandom.
What the instance of the rally, it's like once,
you know, a few fans kind of come together
and rally against this, it's like
really easy to kind of get the rest of the fandom around it.
Although I will note that, like, I think
with that example, a lot of Korean fans
are maybe not entirely comfortable with it.
But that's kind of the thing with like a global fandom
is that like, you know,
certain factions can kind of get behind certain things.
So what do you think the future holds
for K-pop in North America?
I mean, I hope it gets bigger. I mean, I know, like we've said,
BTS and Blackpink are the biggest artists.
I think there is a lot of room there for other artists
who are kind of breaking through right now.
NCT 127, Seventeen, TWICE.
I would hope that there's more room for those artists
to also break records and like top the charts.
But also I think K-pop has really, you know,
broken down a lot of barriers
in terms of Asian representation.
And not only do I hope that like K-pop and like
Asian artists continue to kind of break through, but
that that kind of makes room for
Asian-Canadian, Asian-American artists too.
I've been learning a lot of like K-pop terminology today.
So I was wondering, do you have a bias?
Ooh! [laughs]
I really like Lisa in Blackpink and I really love J-Hope in BTS.
For me, I got really into K-pop by just, you know,
watching a few videos, and that just snowballed into like
four hours of me watching, like, BTS videos.
It's really as easy as that, I think.
Are you a K-pop stan? Do you have a bias? Let me know.
Till next time...
♪ ♪