TheaterMania: Korean Pop and its stars, most often referred to as "idols," have been taking the world by storm for the last few years, but many Broadway audiences might not be familiar with the unique and distinct facets of the K-pop industry before they see the new musical about it at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
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I am not a stranger to K-pop, so I clicked on this article out of curiosity to see how they go about describing the music genre. This definitely covered the most prominent terms and occurrences within the K-pop industry and some elements of Korean culture. I think this article does well in terms of simplicity for its audience. It doesn't go overly in depth and confuses their designated audience on what the K-pop scene is. I think more shows should provide background knowledge on their productions as it will make the audience feel more immersed within the play and understand its contents more. I am happy to see that K-pop is continuously becoming more well-known and people are embracing a new style of music and culture. Though I believe it is also important to note that much of the k-pop industry is inspired by black musicians and serves as the core of their industry.
As someone who has been hearing all of the raving reviews of KPOP the musical but knows little to nothing about K-Pop as an industry or art form, this article is very interesting and helpful. Before reading this article, I knew almost nothing about K-Pop and while I still don't know very much, this article was very good about teaching the most basic terms and giving basic knowledge about what it is. This article was very clear and concise in what it was teaching. It didn't overcomplicate and just stuck to the basics that an audience like me would find useful. I am still interested in learning more about K-Pop and I know that if I wanted to actually know anything real about the industry I would have to read a lot more. However, I am now slightly more prepared to learn more and I am more prepared to hopefully go see this show at some point in the near future.
As someone who is new to KPOP and did see the KPOP musical, I find this article helpful in providing some background to the story. I would’ve even liked it to have more information, as the production does not necessarily provide much background on the industry. That’s one question I had when seeing this show on Broadway. I found it very entertaining and thought the musical numbers were expertly sung and danced. But I was a bit confused on the target audience for the show. Was it mainly for KPOP fans or individuals who don’t know very much about it? If the answer is the latter, it would be useful to have some of this background integrated into the production a bit more. But then again, fans of this music industry may get bored on the exposition and maybe the attempt was just to find a happy medium. Regardless, the title of this article is well-put and hopefully draws more audience members in to the show.
I’ve been a fan of K-pop since 2018, so when I heard that K-pop the musical was coming to Broadway, I was so excited. There's so much more to K-pop than most people would think. On the note of english words and phrases in K-pop songs, I’ve always been conflicted. On the one hand, it does make songs catchy and I enjoy being able to sing along to parts. On the other hand, it's so common for K-pop songs to be filled with slightly incoherent english phrases. Also, I don’t like when there’s too much English because they are trying to appeal to western audiences. As for training, yeah, it's intense. The whole industry is intense, but the training process is no joke. Some idols train for a month before their group debuts, and some aren’t as lucky. Jihyo from Twice trained for ten years before she competed on Sixteen, a competition show where the top scorers would debut in Twice. Another thing you have to realize is that most idols begin training at 12 to 16 years old, so they can debut when they are still young and appealing to Korean audiences. K-pop is all about appealing to the fans, so most K-pop agencies don’t allow their idols to date. This is because of the “married to the fans” idea.
Kpop have been such a big part of my life since 7 years ago when I went into a middle school where there were a lot of Korean students. The impact and influence which Kpop can give is huge and impactful. In the beginning of my exposer to Kpop, many of the popular songs were sang by everyone in my class, even with students who do not come from a Korean background. It can be so widespread and can bring joy to everyone. During high school, I started my dance team experience with Kpop songs, the up to beat lyrics and easy dance moves brought me back into dancing and gave me confidence. Right now, many of the songs are about women empowerment such as Antifragile and NXDE where it both talked about women position in society and the wide spread lyrics help to promote and spread awareness in this topic.
I was able to see K-Pop in New York over fall break and I had so much fun. I was not really a K-Pop (the music genre) fan and I didn’t know much about the industry as a whole before seeing the show but I definitely left with respect for the craft. I really appreciate this article and wish that I was able to see it before I saw the show just to get a bit more context. Although, I really was fine without it and was able to follow the show without feeling confused which is definitely how it should be. While the name and content of the show will definitely draw in a huge number of actual K-Pop fans, I am sure this will be plenty of people’s first introduction to K-Pop and they shouldn’t have to study up before the show. The show did inspire me to look more into the ins and outs of the industry because it really is such a unique world.
I definitely had mixed feelings when I heard about K-Pop on Broadway. I can’t really tell what the intention was, or who the particular audience was. Is it a cash grab for K-Pop fans? Is it an earnest effort to bring this cultural element to a larger American stage? Is it both? What interests me the most about the show is its story. Apparently, it has one, though I have no clue what it is. Obviously, I’m sure the dance numbers are wonderful and impressive, but I am very curious to see how this is framed beyond just being a concert. Maybe it’s like Six, for example, where it’s a concert style but has dialogue take place in between songs between the queens. Or, what I really hope for is a real, fleshed-out story about the fascinating standards of culture and training involved in K-Pop explained in this article. I feel like it’s a real opportunity to shed light on that. I would very much like to see this show when I get the chance. I just hope it’s not as shallow as I was initially expecting it to be.
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