Message for K-Addict and ChefBrunch (and anyone else interested): if you look back a few pages you'll see I wrote a major article some years ago on the subject of boybands, as part of a series called "Stranger in a Strange Land", the idea being for me to investigate music I was not familiar with. I'm now considering if I should do this with K-pop.
The idea is, as it was then, to break the genre up into its various periods (for boybands I had three: original ones such as New Edition, New Kids on the Block etc, boybands at their height (Backstreet Boys, Nsync etc) and "new" bands such as The Wanted and Westlife) and take up to four albums from each, to see what differences, if any, there were, both between the bands and between the periods.
The article was written, as you'll see if you look back, as a sort of travelogue, with lots of my usual writing drivel between reviews, and at the end I gave my conclusions.
Now I never was any sort of expert on boybands, but I had a vague idea through their music more or less seeping into me by osmosis through things like the radio and shows like American Idol and The X Factor, but other than the handful of albums I skimmed for my thread mentioned elsewhere, I know little to nothing of K-pop.
This is where I need your help, guys. Is, as I assume it is, the genre restricted entirely to South Korea, or is it practiced outside of that country's borders? Are there periods/styles/variations I should examine? Which bands are good (iyo) and which are bad? I prefer to feature both, so as to get a balanced review. What do I need to know that I don't know about K-pop, apart from everything?
If you're willing to help, offer advice, recommendations, sources, great. If you want to collaborate that's fine too. If you want to tell me where to stick it, well, I've struggled on before without any help from anyone so I won't be insulted and I won't be discouraged. But I would prefer to approach this with the knowledge of those who are far more familiar with the genre than I could ever be.
I will promise something - which I would imagine is a question or fear you might have - I will not, nor do I ever, go into this with the intention of ripping the genre a new one, of laughing at or dismissing it, or proving I was right when I said it was this or that or the other. I do these things as honestly and in as bipartisan a way as I can. I always give everyone a chance, and I am more than ready to admit when I have got it wrong, and to change my view of a subject. So while I doubt this article will make me a fan of K-pop, I would hope to gain a better understanding of it, and you can help with that.
You should also know this is not something that I will be rushing out. I have approximately forty journals I am working on at the moment, as well as writing short stories and a novella. Research alone for this will take time, then there's choosing the artists/albums, listening to them, reviewing them... I don't envisage this being ready till probably mid 2023 or even early 2024. I intend and expect it to be a big project.
So, if you're willing to help, great, let me know. If not, perhaps take this at the very least as an olive branch that I am going to try to understand your favourite genre, and see why it's so popular. I don't like to diss anyone's music, and I don't like anyone to think I do, so let's mend this broken fence together. In the immortal words of Richard Milhouse Nixon
