NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — At Yale University, K-pop is not just a global music phenomenon -- it is the subject of serious academic inquiry. During the recent two-day K-Pop: Musical Production and Consumption conference on Thursday and Friday, 160 participants gathered to explore the genre’s history, industry dynamics and cultural impact. Among them were students from one of Yale’s five K-pop-related courses, including a class taught by Grace Kao, an IBM professor of sociology an

K-pop Nov. 19, 2024

On Nov. 14, 2024, the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test will be administered in Korea. Approximately 522,000 Korean high school students will take the day-long exam, and their results will determine their college placement and career paths. It’s a national event where additional police are sent to test sites to direct traffic, and air traffic control limits aircraft takeoff and landing around 1 p.m., so as to not distract students during the English listening comprehension part of the

Viewpoints Nov. 12, 2024

I received a handwritten thank-you card from my childhood friend’s daughter this week. I sent a birthday check a little while ago. I very much appreciated it, and it shows that my friend has taught her daughter well, and that her daughter has good manners. I constantly remind my students to write thank-you notes (even a simple email message). I dare not ask them to handwrite thank-you cards. However, every so often, a handwritten thank-you card will appear. It is an exceedingly rare event.

Viewpoints Oct. 29, 2024

What do poet Seo Jeong-Ju and Buddhism have to do with Hallyu and BTS? A lot, according to a lecture by the President of Dongguk University, Yun Jae-woong. His lecture this month at Yale University was titled “Love and Comfort in Korean Cultural Content: The Poetry of Seo Jeong-ju and the Music of BTS.” Professor Yun argues that Hallyu has roots in the earliest ideas from Korea and Buddhism. Notably, the poems are about the attentiveness to small things in life that offer comfort thr

Viewpoints Oct. 15, 2024

Lip-synching during stage performances does not bother me. In fact, I sometimes prefer it. I know this is likely a minority opinion. Maybe it’s because I grew up on MTV and also watched shows like “American Bandstand,” “Soul Train,” and British music show “Top of the Pops.” The shows above all featured “live” performances by pop acts, but everyone knew they were lip-synching. Many acts also “played” their instruments on stage with

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2024

In Seoul, there are designer handbags everywhere. The Hermes Birkin for the ultimate flex. The Chanel Medium Double Flap for the very fancy. Lady Dior bags by Christian Dior are very popular. Of course there are the ubiquitous Louis Vuitton bags -- how many Speedy 30 bags can you see in a single day? Of course you also see Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta and sometimes Burberry too. I’ve seen YSL, Mulberry and Chloe here and there. I’m not here to judge Koreans’ love of designer ba

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2024

To know NewJeans is to love them. I don’t think I’ve ever met a K-pop fan who didn’t like them. My husband and I don’t generally agree on the K-pop groups we like, but we both love NewJeans. The songs are catchy -- my favorite is “Ditto” and his is “Attention.” We both love the orchestra hits in “Supernatural.” My mood improves after hearing their songs. Their concept conveys a retro take on the sweet and charmed world of youth. However

Viewpoints Sept. 24, 2024

I am a fan of BTS and know many American fans in the BTS Army, as the fan group calls itself. I am also in contact with many K-pop professionals and Korean fans of K-pop. I was in Korea a couple of weeks ago, and it really struck me how different American and Korean perceptions of Suga’s recent drunk-driving controversy were. The bottom line comes down to American beliefs about redemption for past personal transgressions versus Korean beliefs about equity in punishment for celebrities, at

Viewpoints Sept. 10, 2024

For the past four years, I’ve taught a first-year seminar titled “Race and Place in British New Wave, K-pop and Beyond” at Yale University. Since it’s the beginning of the Fall semester here, it seems like an appropriate time to share what my course is like. At Yale, we have special seminars that are only open to our first-year students. These courses are introductory and offer unique content. First-year seminars give our newest students a chance to interact with other st

Viewpoints Sept. 3, 2024

I eagerly waited until midnight on August 20, 2020, for the debut of BTS’ “Dynamite” on YouTube. The music video was released at midnight in my time zone -- Eastern Standard Time -- on a Thursday night. Why didn’t it debut at midnight in Korea? The reason is very simple. New singles are released at 12 midnight Thursday night (or technically Friday morning) Eastern Standard Time because the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart begins its count of weekly sales and streams startin

Viewpoints Aug. 20, 2024

Waymo One is the first “autonomous ride-hailing service” available to customers. It advertises itself as offering a safer ride and allowing the autonomy of “people who can’t drive -- whether elderly, blind, or disabled -- to get around and do the things they love.” While many of us are cautiously optimistic and sometimes fearful of technology, in this particular case, I couldn‘t agree more with Google, the parent company of Waymo One. Recently, I visited San F

Viewpoints Aug. 13, 2024

Who doesn’t love a good cat meme? In a 2021 interview with Fox News, US Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance referred to Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.” Later he adds, “It's just a basic fact -- you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC -- the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without chil

Viewpoints Aug. 6, 2024

The United States is a land of immigrants, with many racial and ethnic groups. How the US government counts them changes regularly, and the latest revisions affect all minority groups, including Asian Americans. For immigrants to the US, including those from South Korea, it is often a shocking transition for them as they are identified via the racial categories in the US. Certainly, for new arrivals from Korea, China, India, the Philippines and other countries in Asia, it’s not obvious why

Viewpoints July 30, 2024

While TV dramas may portray college classes with assigned readings, essays and tests, the truth is that professors also must adapt to technological shifts, especially in terms of media consumption. Webtoons are an important medium through which the Korean Wave flows. For those of you who are unfamiliar, webtoons are vertical “scrolling comics” built for viewing on a cellphone. They originated from and were developed in Korea. They enjoy a large fan base. For some people outside Korea

Viewpoints July 23, 2024

Immediately following BTS member Jin’s completion of his military service, he hosted an event where he hugged 1,000 fans. Apparently, he wanted to hug even more people than that, but HYBE had to talk him down. Still, the event was not without incident -- there are videos of multiple women taking the opportunity afforded by a hug to kiss him. I find this behavior disgusting and I’m glad that the suspects have been charged with sexual assault. Still, this event was one where hugs wer

Viewpoints July 2, 2024

Life is full of surprises, and you never know where it will take you. This was the theme of my recent meeting and dinner with JinJin of Astro. JinJin is the leader and main rapper of the boy group. Hit singles included their bubbly debut song, “Hide & Seek,” and later songs such as “Crazy Sexy Cool,” “Blue Flame,” “After Midnight,” and “Candy Sugar Pop.” Most recently, Astro released the single “Circles” to celebrate the eig

Viewpoints June 25, 2024

After K-pop's global success in recent years, music moguls have been grappling with the question of how to sustain the momentum. They agree that localization -- by which they mean taking the K-pop style of discovering and training talent and applying it in different overseas market -- is a key strategy. SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man introduced the concept in 2016 with a new boy band initiative that sought to expand and open up K-pop. His plans included groups based in cities around t

K-pop June 24, 2024

I first saw Trendz -- Havit, Leon, Yoonwoo, Hankook, ra.L, Eunil, and Yechan -- outside of “Music Bank” and then “Show! Music Core” during their fan meetings in April 2023. I vividly remember their stage performances of “New Dayz.” They wore baseball uniforms at "Music Bank," so Yechan’s slide at the beginning of the song was especially cute. Besides, I loved the song. However, what was most remarkable was that all seven members not only spoke

Viewpoints June 18, 2024

One of my favorite activities when I’m in South Korea is to watch the idols arrive at KBS’ “Music Bank” on Friday morning. While “Music Bank” is broadcast Friday evenings, there is a promenade of idols who arrive in the morning in preparation for prerecording and their live performance later in the day. Fans can line up near the entrance and watch them pose for the official photographers before entering the building. This may be the closest they will get to se

Viewpoints June 11, 2024