Bias & Beyond

  Apologies for the long gap between posts! I have been extremely busy with daily life here including getting ready to change jobs and hosting my sister for her first ever visit to Asia for the Seollal holidays. We are now slowly escaping the end of the extreme winter we have been having here in South Korea. At one point in January the average daily temperatures in Seoul were not creeping above -6c. For the most part I was simply trying to keep myself warm so I don’t freeze off my extremities while commuting to and from work. During one of those freezing days, I was at the gym with one of my closest friends who currently works at an entertainment company. We were on the treadmill gossiping about life when NCT 127’s Fact Check came on over the speakers. We both paused in mid conversation and ended up dancing on the treadmill, cracking up as we had realised what had happened. After our mini jam session on the treadmill, we continued as normal but a thought crossed my mind at that po...

Another thing that has died out in recent years was the formulation of sub-units in K-Pop. An idea where within a main group, there would be another group containing some (not all) of the members attempting a different sound or genre to one that the group is normally known for. Since the beginning of the 4th generation, this is a concept that doesn’t really exist anymore except for pre-existing groups to suddenly debut a new duo or trio sub-unit (such as Monsta X’s HxS, the newly debuted Astro sub-unit Zoonizini, and the entire concept of NCT - these all came from 3rd gen groups.) Whether it is because companies feel that sub-units would not work with these newer gen groups is definitely a question to be asked. Personally, I think its because there is already such an influx of groups in the market right now that having a sub-unit within all of that mess would be a waste of finances and resources for a company if that group hasn’t already made one before. But I am not here to have a de...

This is something that actually came to my mind a short while ago and I had to think about it for a long time. I was chilling out listening to some classic K-Pop tracks when some classic Girls Generation (SNSD) came through as the next track. It was the classic, “Oh” which was something that I probably had not heard fully since I moved to South Korea. But in hearing the song again and enjoying the rhythms that took me back to my late 20s, I clocked the lyrics in the chorus: Oh, oh, oh, 오빠를 사랑해 Oh! Oh! Oh! Oppa I love you Ah, ah, ah, ah, 많이, 많이 해 Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! So much, so much 수줍으니, 제발 웃지 마요 I’m shy so please don’t laugh 진심이니, 놀리지도 말아요 I’m sincere so please don’t tease me 또 바보 같은 말뿐야 Again it’s only foolish words    Oh. OH. (And no, I am not exclaiming the song title but actually realising something.) This was basically declaring their love and/or interest in a man. And that was it. After the initial shock, I sta...