Monday, January 2, 2012

Oh K-pop, why do you have such a hold on me!

I was thinking about this the other day.

What is it about K-Pop that I like so much?

Let me start by saying that I love music in general, in all its forms. this is not to say that there aren't styles that I don't really listen too, but I can generally find some merit in pretty much every form of music.

Growing up, I was exposed to all sorts of music. From Guatemalan marimba music to rock & roll. Along the way I learned to like folk music, traditional forms from around the world, classical, musical theater, and, of course, pop music.

For the sake of this entry, let's narrow the definition of pop music to be that which is popular at the time, you know, top 40 kind of stuff. there was a time I would have considered these likings to be 'guilty pleasures.' I think over the last few years I have finally grown out of that notion.

Why should one excuse their preferences as guilty pleasures? why should one feel that they cannot revel in these things?

With that in minds I say, without guilt, I love Abba. I love the Osmonds. I love disco, boy & girl bands, the Spice girls and their 21st C. counterparts Girls Aloud. And of course, Korean Pop Music.

It started when I saw the group The Wonder girls on an episode of "So You Think You Can Dance." I looked them up on line and found some stuff. Then a year or so later my daughter, Nora, started showing some stuff she was listening to on You Tube.

That was when it all began. :)

I started looking around on line and kept coming across groups I really enjoyed. I won't be disingenuous and say that the fact that it's a bunch of super cute Asian girls sing jaunty tunes had nothing to do with the appeal, because it did. Heck, even the indie/not-pop stuff I listen to has had its share of groups I began listening to because the lead singer or members of the band were kind of foxy, but I usually will lose interest if the music isn't appealing.

I found, through my online wanderings that a great deal of these groups/artists are genuinely talented. As Nora & I did more exploring, we found the variety within the Korean music industry was pretty wide. They cover everything from bubblegum pop to rap to R&B...it made for some great musical discoveries. :)

There you have it. The why. K-pop has become a bit of a thing for me, and I'm glad for it. It has actually become a nice little happy place. It genuinely has the ability to cheer me up. My brother pointed out that I tend to really dive into things when I discover or re-discover them. He likened my love of K-Pop to my introduction to English folk music at Faire and later, by my friend Joe.

Now I still listen to everything I've always listened to up til now, but I do spend a bit of time everyday listening to K-Pop too. :)

2 comments:

  1. One nice thing about getting older is retiring the statement "guilty pleasure". I like what I like, and if it makes me happy, I really don't care what genre it is, or what not. I've long ago grown past any music-snobbery :)

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