This is a mini series of blog post, documenting my experience with the 13th Kpop Academy at the Korean Culture Centre UK.
I would like to start by saying how excited I am to be part of this journey! Being a huge fan of kpop and the Korean culture, this is a big opportunity to learn more about the country aside from its pop culture. But it was also nice to meet other people from the same fandom. (SOO MANY ARMIES, BLESS YOU!)😍
We started the first lesson with mini-introductions to get to know each other and share a bit about how we got here. For my presentation, I talked about how I got into Kpop because of B2ST/Highlight, how I became fascinated with the culture because of my uncle's stories (he lived in Seoul for a few years), and the K-dramas that I love.
Then we moved to the lesson of the day: a look into the Hallyu effect and influence of the Korean music industry, delivered by Dr. Haekyung Um.
From all the other topics in the curriculum, I was especially looking forward to this one! She has so much insight into the evolution of Kpop to how it became a global phenomenon, like BTS at the Billboard, Twice killing Youtube.
We had a discussion about how much we, as fans, know and reflect on what makes Kpop stand out from Western music:
- Unlike the privilege of Western artists just going up on stage and killing it, K-pop and J-pop (and C-pop?) idols have to work so hard as trainees in different companies before they can actually debut. This can take several years of training and mastering dance, vocal, visual, language skills!
- Every song and music video is produced with great attention to detail. Everything from the group's concept and visuals to the filmography and choreo has to be fit in with a certain aesthetic. The result is then just mind-blowing. I mean, don't we all remember the good old days making BTS music video theories? Not like it's gonna stop anytime soon...
- There are more fanservice: v-live interactions, fan-signs, etc.
- Korean drama like ''Goblin'', with killer storyline and OSTs.
However, with good things also have a bad side. We noted that the K-pop industry is especially competitive, to a point that the agency may start treating their idols as a marketing product. There is also a lack of emphasis when it comes to taking care of their physical and mental health during promoting period.
There was so much that we talked about, but my words cannot bring justice to how beautifully Dr Haekyung Um described everything. As this was two weeks ago, I sadly cannot remember much. But I will be adding to this if I remember some points to add.
Oh, and at the end, we all went home with a box of goodies! Inside there were some Korean snacks, face masks, pictures of famous landmarks, a magazine booklet and more. It was so thoughtful!
But overall, the class was fantastic. It was a well-spent Saturday for a ''me'' who promised that she will be going out more during the weekend instead of burying myself at home (tempting as that always sounds!). I, unfortunately, had to miss last Saturday's class because of snow day.
I will be back again with another detailed post soon this Saturday. We are going to have a cooking class in Korean cuisine!
