If you are not aware of the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, it is "Gangnam Style" by Korean Pop star, PSY. Unless you live under a rock or have never clicked on the Internet, there is a great chance that you have heard of this song before or even watched the video for yourself to get some fun laughs out of a catchy tune. But as we were doing the funny horse dance along with PSY, did we care that we were listening to a whole other language? Did we care that we could not understand most of the lyrics from this hit song aside from "oppa Gangnam style?"
"Gangnam Style" proved that we do not need to understand the words of a song in order to enjoy it, yet people are judgmental of those who do enjoy songs of other languages. I had been introduced to Korean Pop, or in shorter terms, K-Pop, far before "Gangnam Style." I'll admit, before I really got into K-Pop, I used to make pre-judgments about it as well.
This group here is SHINee and they are one of the biggest male music groups in Korea. Debuting in May of 2008, they have won tons of awards and recognition for their songs, fashion, and dancing. And anyone that knows me personally may say that I am "obsessed" with these boys (let's be honest, though, they are gorgeous). My personal K-Pop story began when I was in 8th grade and a close friend of mine had a picture of SHINee on her binder. Having no idea who they even were at the time, I would jokingly call them the "Asian Backstreet Boys" but little did I know that they would steal my entire heart (and life).
It is funny to me how we make judgments so fast about things when we really shouldn't. With "Gangnam Style," many people thought ALL of K-Pop was just full of fun, goofy songs that made little to no sense but K-Pop groups create music so much more abstract than that. Yes, most of their hit songs are super catchy but other songs are created to show the true talents of each of the artists.
K-Pop is filled with groups full of amazing dancers and phenomenal singers. Obviously, male groups appeal more towards girls (such as myself), but don't worry guys, there are girl groups for you as well.
To verify my perspective, I am not Korean nor am I even close to being fluent in the Korean language, but I love K-Pop. I'm not saying you should love K-Pop as well (although you really should), but don't be afraid to try new things and listen to songs not in your language. It is not always about what is being said in the lyrics but how the beat of the music makes you feel. Who knows, you may really surprise yourself at what you find you like.
Trust me on this one!
