EDITOR’S NOTE: Blake Blum is a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior interning with WUTC. She’s also a huge fan of K-pop, a genre of music originating in South Korea. “Gangnam Style” is the best-known example of K-pop, but it turns out there’s a lot more to the genre. In this story, Blum explains why K-pop appeals to her, even though she lives about seven thousand miles away from South Korea and doesn’t speak the language that most of the lyrics are sung in. “Believe me, Blum says, “when I became obsessed with K-pop I was a little thrown, too.”
Korean pop music, known as Kpop, has gotten attention on a global scale thanks to a little hit called Gangnam Style. Now, Kpop is bigger and better than ever, with flashy dances and even flashier clothes. Kpop, which seems so different and bizarre to Westerners, may surprise you with how addictive it actually is. Its bright hairstyles, clothing, and dance moves pull people in when they least expect it—in spite of a language barrier that has American fans searching the Internet for translations of their favorite songs.
These songs are featured in this segment:
- Gangnam Style : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
- Fantastic Baby : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbokV76tkU
- Tried to Walk : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R0jXQRJjpE
- Nalina : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grrpg_r1Nb8
- What’s Happening : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxHy4G9FMI