My Reflection on K-pop

If you were the one seventh of the world’s population that watched last year’s Gangnam Style MV by Psy, then you’ve experienced what’s known in today’s terms as K-Pop. BUT…BUT…Gangnam Style IS NOT THE ONLY K-Pop out there! K-Pop songs often range from decent, addictive, pretty sad, awkward and ones that you just have to dance to. Personally, I switched to K-Pop since most English songs nowadays are overly filled with profanity and perverted themes, (i.e. Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj… cough cough). How is that music anymore?

Another reason I like K-Pop is that the artists can actually sing or just without extremely obvious auto-tuning and inorganic noises. They can even dance to their own original choreography AND sing at the same time! It helps to practice along with these music videos to improve on the dance unit in P.E. The only downside is that pretty much all Korean artists wear large amounts of makeup, but otherwise the songs are great. Time to time, Korean bands team up with American artists more often than you think to sing feats!

You might have heard lots of people, whether in school or in public, talking about Exo-K or Exo-M, some sort of Wolf or screaming suddenly and chattering in a craze about they’re favorite bands. Well, what they’re talking about is most likely going to be K-Pop. Exo is a boy band that came out back in 2011, consisting of 12 members and have risen significantly in the music charts. They have 6 members who act as their Chinese counterparts and sing the same songs. Girls just go crazy for them if you just mention them. The most recent comeback by Exo is “Wolf” and “Growl” and their Wolf hoodie sold mainly in Korea is popular among their fans worldwide. K-Pop songs are a great way to learn simple Korean phrases and you can always ask your friends who are proficient in the language on what a certain phrase means.

The good thing about this genre is that you can just go up to a person under the assumption that they like K-pop and best chances are, they’ll know who you’re talking about. BAM! Instant connection and new best friend. For English songs, most people will just say: “Who’s that?”, “Don’t know/like them” or “I like Dubstep”; making the conversation socially awkward in a way.

K-Pop concerts are pretty hard to come by here in Vancouver and the first one was in Stanley Park on September 14th, 2013. So my friends and I were pretty excited when we found out we could attend. Huge crows show up from neighboring cities such as Seattle and Calgary. Make sure you go of another one comes up!

7 Songs to start with to see if this genre is for you: