South Korea’s pop music scene has been out-popping ours for years. Time to get on board!
Learn the latest on any KPOP events, concerts, appearances, and gossip that involve North and South America. Also, this is a place to share your KPOP fanaccounts, pics, and video of any events or sightings you have!
YouTube's most-watched Korean pop music video, Girls' Generation's "Gee," has earned 74,000,000 American views alone, even though most mainstream U.S. music fans have never heard of it. The song and video – a calculated, colorful, choreographed affair that sees the nine-member girl group smiling and winking for the camera in flirty outfits as they change formations and soloists without a hitch – epitomize how Korean pop music (K-Pop for short) has been able to break language barriers and captivate a passionate U.S. audience.
By Coca Xie
More than 16,000 people attended L.A. K-Pop Festival Sunday at Memorial Coliseum, which celebrated the Culture of Korean immigrants.
It is the 11th year the city of Los Angeles has celebrated the event. The host company, Koran Broadcasting System (KBS), wanted to give people, who were interested in Korean pop culture, an opportunity to get more taste.
The festival started at 10 a.m. with traditional and modern Korean food trucks and venders with K-Pop t-shirts, posters and other souvenirs. Korean barbeque and fried potato are the tents with the longest lines.
There was a stage away from the venders, where dancers and musicians performed with Korean music that hundreds of audience were able to sing along with.
The majority of the audiences were teenagers from 15 to 19 years old. Some of them were parents who became K-Pop fans being influenced by their children.
KBS workers were dressed in black uniform to help people who were at the festival. People who attended the event also added Korean elements on themselves. Some of them dyed their hair bright colors to imitate Korean pop stars.
All the Korean bands were big names back in Korea, including Shinee, 2PM, Infinite and CNblue. Most guests came to the festival are fans of 2PM and Infinite.
K-pop has entrenched itself as a bona fide phenomenon in Asia and is rapidly extending its reach to new markets. Since some Korean pop singers made their nationwide US debut with an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” in 2011, K-pop has brought more impact to the US.
“We started listening to K-Pop since 2008 because of one song by TVXQ that my daughter brought to us. Now everyone in our whole family is a big fan of Korean music!” Said Katelyn Plancarte, a 43-year-old Caucasian mother who came with two daughters.
The young audience didn’t mind standing for hours so that they could see the stage better, they would sing along no matter the songs were in Korean or English.
“I prefer Korean music rather than American music, because I feel like American music has only one kind of content, Korean music is more divers, and fun.” Said Stephanie Marin, a high school student.
Gabriela Mendoza is from Mexico, she heard about the event on Facebook and got her free ticket, then traveled to LA for the concert. “I think it’s great that no matter we are from, we can all listen to the same music, to be honest I don’t even understand the lyrics, but I love this festival.” Said Mendoza.
Many famous Korean pop stars had travelled to the U.S. for the festival. There is no admission fee.
K-Pop Festival