K-Pop, in general, has a problem with queerness.  This is a bit of a loaded statement, but let me explain; K-Pop’s issue with queerness is that it toes the line of what is and isn’t acceptably queer all the time without ever fully addressing it. I’ve written about K-Pop’s marketing of homoeroticism before, and it can be summed up as such: portraying interactions between idol group members as romantic is a very effective marketing tactic.   It’s not obvious whether it’s overt queerbaiting or not, because Korea still has a huge problem with LGBT+ peop ..read more

Korea’s top indie showcase festival Zandari Festa is back once again in Hongdae next weekend. This year 140 acts will be playing across 10 music venues between Friday 29th September and Sunday 1st October. Established names in Korean music including Galaxy Express, Idiotape, 3rd Line Butterfly and Neon Bunny will be joined by a long list of local up and coming acts as well as a huge variety of bands from 25 different countries. More information about the event and where to buy tickets can be found on the Zandari Festa Facebook page. We spoke to guitarist Joseph Lee from local b ..read more

This is the second part in a series on the meaning of K-pop as a genre. Apologies to everyone for the huge delay. Step 1: Casting Step 2: Training Step 3: Producing Step 4: Marketing This is the 4-step process founder Lee Soo-man laid out describing how SM Entertainment develops its artists in front of the audience last year at the SM COEX Artium – six floors of retail space converted into a virtual theme park of K-pop consumerism in the massive (and, in this writer’s humble opinion, crushingly soulless) COEX Mall in Gangnam. The label calls this approach “Culture Technology” and it ..read more

Turns out R&B singer DEAN (or is it DΞΔN?) is so popular in the UK, concert organisers have put on a second date in London after the first one sold out. Tickets are on sale for the gig at KOKO in Camden on Saturday the 24th June and DEAN will be playing with Club Eskimo crew members Miso and 2xxx! with opening provided by SAAY. He’ll also be playing Paris on 22nd June and Berlin on 27th June. The post DEAN is so popular in London they’ve put on a second date appeared first on Beyond Hallyu ..read more

UPDATE: There has been some confusion over the event because the KCCUK have deleted their initial Facebook post but according to event organisers Audience the event is still going ahead as announced. Looks like this year’s London Korean Festival is back with a bigger K-pop lineup than ever. HIGHLIGHT (or the artists formerly know as BEAST) and EXID are headlining joined by KNK and SNUPER on 8th July. But unlike when f(x) and a host of Korean indie acts played in 2015, this time the groups will be playing an indoor ticketed concert following the day’s open air festival events. The event’s bein ..read more

Ask a Korean recently wrote a blog post called K-Pop is Not a Genre in which he argues that K-pop is not a musical genre (as you may have guessed). (He has since also written another.) As much respect as I have for the author, I have reservations about the arguments presented (which I am sure he won’t be surprised by as we’ve had this discussion before) which I wanted to articulate. More than that, it seems like a good opportunity to explore the term K-pop and its meanings and uses. This article, then, is the first of three which will discuss: K-pop as genre, K-pop as cultural technology and K ..read more

Last night, the world shook on its axis as BTS won the Billboard Music Award for Best Social Artist. As the the first K-Pop group to ever even be nominated for the BBMAs, there was little to no chance that BTS would win. Oh no, wait. Last night BTS won the Billboard Music Award for Best Social Artist, because they have a massive online following that they’ve carefully cultivated since debut. BTS won because they have literally millions of dedicated, Twitter-savvy fans who adore them. Weirdly enough, it’s not shocking at all that a group with an online presence as big as BTS won an award for ha ..read more

It was a fairly sunny and warm evening in Glasgow (at least for a early May evening in Scotland) when I headed over from Edinburgh to see Say Sue Me play their sole Scottish date in their UK tour. The venue chosen, the CCA in the city centre, is known for attracting a pretty diverse and open minded audience and I immediately noticed a wide range of ages from people in their late teens up to one older man with a walking stick who had to move to the front for a seat on the stage in between sets. There were 3 acts playing with the group second on the bill after local band Breakfast ..read more

There’s just something about April in Korea. Alongside the annual cherry blossom bloomings and yellow dust warnings, the month also tends to bring threats of war from North of the border and challenges for the country’s increasingly visible LGBT population. The Korean Queer Culture Festival is once again facing threats to its annual Seoul event, this time because anti-impeachment protesters have been illegally occurring in Seoul Plaza meaning grass could not be planted and the city government will not be able to inform the organisers if they can use the square until closer to the time. Meanwhi ..read more

“Hidden camera glasses” started trending on Korean twitter earlier when a video emerged of Yerin from GFRIEND removing the glasses of a man at their fansign after suspecting they contained a camera.  At around 40m 30s in the video you can see Yerin politely ask the fan about the glasses and then inspect them for herself. Yerin’s face is very measured when talking to him but her expression clearly changes to anger, or at least annoyance, appearing to tell a staff member “Those were camera glasses”. SinB also looks obviously disgusted after a staff member explained the ..read more