KPOP Kaleidoscope
The soft sound of music drifts through your ears as you sit with your eyes closed. The spellbinding feeling of contentment surrounds you like a blanket. Then you feel a tap on the shoulder and you are pulled back into reality. You take your earbud out and stare inquiringly at the person who tapped you.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was just wondering what song you’re listening to?”
A million thoughts shoot through your head, do you lie or do you tell the truth? You decide on the truth. How bad could it really be?
“It’s ‘Shadow.’”
A confused look flashes across their face. You know they’ve never heard of the song before and hesitate before you say the next part, knowing it could change the whole conversation.
“It’s a KPOP song,” you say, “By SEVENTEEN.”
You feel a subtle shift in the atmosphere of the conversation and know that it will be a short one. The subject is immediately changed and that dejected feeling creeps back into your heart.
Unfortunately, this is an experience you get used to if you are a KPOP fan. KPOP stands for Korean popular music, and its popularity has certainly been increasing over the past few years (the Korean music industry grew 31.7% from 2021-2022). While many people all over the world are now KPOP fans (earlier this year, Spotify’s KPOP hub had an average of 7.9 billion streams worldwide), the general attitude from non-fans toward KPOP music and its fans is still very negative.
It feels like people are asking questions and never understanding or really caring about the answers. That sentiment can apply to a lot of different scenarios, but it is almost always the motto of being a KPOP fan.
A couple of the most common questions fans get are “Are they gay? Why do they look like girls? How can you tell them apart, they all look the same?” These assumptions are not only untrue, they are also offensive to fans and KPOP idols.
Assuming a man is gay simply because they wear makeup is ridiculous, as is assuming that these men must be women instead. Even if they were gay, there’s still nothing wrong with that. It’s also racist to say all of them look the same based only on the fact that they are Asian. Just as claiming all white people or all Hispanic look the same; it’s simply not true.
Another question that makes KPOP fans want to roll their eyes is, “So, is KPOP Chinese music?” This question is a little more easily forgiven, because you could be asking out of pure curiosity or ignorance, but still . . . NOWHERE IN THE WORD “KPOP” IS THE LETTER “C” PRESENT! There is also no letter “K” in the word “Chinese.” Again, if you are assuming that KPOP must be Chinese because the people are Asian, that is prejudiced.
Some lighter questions, but no less tiresome to hear are, “Why do you care about these people so much when they don’t even know you” and “Why do you waste your money on all of these albums and merchandise?” The answer is the same reason you buy sports merchandise or tickets to a sports game or any other number of things people spend money on. It makes you happy. Does there need to be another reason other than happiness?
If you answered yes, then maybe we buy merch to support people who are taking a chance and following their dreams. To give some hope and a lifeline for someone who has pretty much staked everything on this career. Since when did being a fan of someone mean that they have to personally know you?
Now, for the question that is perhaps asked most often of KPOP fans: “Why do you listen to this music if it’s in a language you don’t understand?” Why do we have to listen to music just for the lyrics? Can’t you listen to a song because you like the beat or the melody or because it makes you want to dance? A lot of the time, KPOP fans don’t need to read the lyrics, but can understand the message of the song through the emotions being portrayed in the singing. However, if you are asking about understanding another language in the 21st century, then our society is seriously doomed.
There are many multilingual people all over the world and a lot of them translate KPOP content into different languages. This is not just translating from Korean to English, but also to Japanese, Spanish, and so many other languages. Translating all of this content takes a tremendous amount of time for fan translators, and generally comes with little reward other than gratitude. If the group or artist is well known and the company can afford it, there can also be official lyric and content translations.
To circle back to the lyrics, many KPOP song lyrics are relatable and inspirational. For example, the group Tomorrow X Together released a song called “We Lost The Summer,” which talks about their generation’s experience during the lockdown for COVID-19. Some of the lyrics from that song are…
“That endless school break
The repeating morning
Our clock that lost the weather
Is broken at winter”
Credits to @translatingTXT
If you went to school during COVID and weren’t living under a rock, then you most likely empathized with these lyrics and could completely understand the meaning and purpose behind them. Not being able to see people, feeling like you were doing the same thing everyday, and feeling hopeless like it was an eternal winter are all feelings most people had during the lockdown. KPOP is filled with lyrics just like this that give many people the feeling of being understood and having a friend right by your side.
My final word is this: KPOP fans should not have to hide what they love for fear of being judged by others. We should not be made to feel less about ourselves and our passions because you don’t like the same things we do. I am not saying that everyone needs to go become KPOP fans, but at the very least, do fans the courtesy of not outright hating what we love if you barely know anything about it.