A Controversial Topic

Did the title catch your attention? Yes? No? Maybe? Well anyways, before you get too excited, I’m not going to write about gay marriage. Or abortion. Or stem cell research. Or politics. Or Twilight, for that matter. Or Looking for Alaska.

I’m going to write about K-pop.

And now’s the moment where you close this window (actually, please don’t) because you think K-pop is the weirdest thing in the world or just don’t care for music you can’t understand. OR you’re spazzing in front of your computer screen and super glad that someone’s writing about it. Right? (I told you it was pretty controversial.)

As a halfhearted K-pop fan, I’ve been surprised that even though K-pop hasn’t really broken through in the American music industry, everyone seems to have heard of it. I mean, yes, there have been particular songs that have been famous for like, two weeks, but their fame is nothing near a group like, say One Direction (another controversial topic)

The most recent K-pop song to become famous in America is “Gangnam Style” by PSY, which was featured on CNN. This song was actually a lot more popular than I thought, currently being the second most popular song on Youtube after “Call Me Maybe.”  The music video is below, but before you watch it, I’m going to warn you about a few things.

1. It’s catchy.
2. My first reaction to the the music video was, “… … … Whatthefreakisthis. ThisisreallyREALLYweird. (butcatchy)”
3. Make sure no one’s standing behind you when you watch this, because I’m pretty sure they’re going to have a similar reaction as me and think you’re weird. And wear headphones if possible.
4. The only exception to #3 is if they’re a K-pop fan, or have seen this music video before.
5. You’re welcome to use me as an excuse if someone does ask why you’re watching this. 
6. However, do not say that this is the type of music that I like XD.  

I think that’s enough warnings. Here’s the video:

(doesn’t the preview look weird already?)

So what do I think of the song? Basically my first reaction. I don’t like the song or music video, but it’s way too catchy to not listen to. (It’s on replay as I’m typing this.)

Please don’t judge K-pop solely by this song. Yes there are other videos like this out there, but there are definitely better songs that have more meaning to them written in Korean. (My personal favorite is Haru Haru by Big Bang, but I heard the song before watching the video…don’t judge me.) And honestly, is this that much different from American pop?

Ok, since this is a pretty controversial topic, feel free to bash on and hate on this post as much as you want. In fact, I encourage you to. However, I encourage you just as strongly to try seeing K-pop from a fan’s point of view– just people enjoying their music which happens to be in Korean. Hoping to hear from you in the comments! (like always)