Tamar Herman

Notes on K-pop • 28th September 2023

Mini Note #4: An ode to Jaeminbun

But I was tipsy last night when I emailed this to myself after talking to friends about how this random viral turtle devil emoji picture reminded me of the soft chaos of Jaeminbun. (I saw it first mentioned in the always excellent Music Journalism...

Notes on K-pop • 27th September 2023

K-pop stars are setting their own terms regarding the second stage of their careers

On Monday, Korean media reported that BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Jisoo will be setting up their own companies to focus on solo activities, while remaining with the act’s longterm company for group activities. There have been reports for ages about...

Notes on K-pop • 20th September 2023

What in the world is happening with the K-pop concert market in the US

A few weeks ago, I got an email from a concert promoter about Keane’s upcoming tour. I, a basic bitch with an older brother who is even more basic and who let me rip all their early albums while I was an impressionable teen into my iTunes library,...

Notes on K-pop • 11th September 2023

The reports of K-pop's fifth generation arrival are greatly exaggerated

While I was at KCON, I kept hearing people talk about how the newest Mnet-produced group, ZEROBASEONE (ZB1), are the part of the fifth generation K-pop group. Entertainment companies and media entities have been proclaiming the arrival of the fifth...

Notes on K-pop • 5th September 2023

The immense joy of seeing your favorite K-pop stars see their K-pop stars

I’m about 4 hours out from seeing aespa at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn tonight, and very much looking forward to it. I’ve seen aespa perform twice since their debut, first at their Good Morning America concert last summer and at KAMP 2022, also...

Notes on K-pop • 31st August 2023

Who is KCON USA For nowadays?

It’s probably to be expected, but KCON LA 2023 was quite an experience. There was a near-hurricane that turned into a tropical storm, and an earthquake (my first!) There were reports of a ridiculously, disturbingly smelly concert pits after fans...

Los Angeles Magazine • 29th August 2023

KCON Descends on Los Angeles: On the Ground for the Gathering of K-Entertainment's Buzziest

GRAMMY.com • 29th August 2023

9 Thrilling Moments From KCON 2023 L.A.: Stray Kids, RIIZE, Taemin & More

K-pop recently entered its third decade since pioneers Seo Taiji and Boys upheaved South Korea with 1992’s nonconforming "Nan Arayo" — considered by many the inception of the industry. Propelled by the Hallyu (or Korean Wave, the phenomenon driving...

Notes on K-pop • 25th August 2023

Post KCON Existential Exhaustion

Hello! I know I’m a bit late with this week’s newsletter. Please forgive me, as the early part of this week was dedicated to first All Things KCON and then covering Blackpink’s show in San Francisco. I arrived back in NYC Thursday morning, a week...

SFGATE • 23rd August 2023

Blackpink fell in love with San Francisco at sold-out concert

“Blackpink in Bay Area,” declared the hit K-pop group, localizing a lyric from their 2016 song “Boombayah.” Blackpink would repeat the phrase throughout the night, blatantly enjoying the play on the original lyrics (“Blackpink in your area”) and...

NME • 15th August 2023

Huh Yunjin knows how to spot when life brings her a “blessing in disguise”

Through a series of original songs, Huh Yunjin has been sharing her perspective about life as a K-pop idol. The LE SSERAFIM member kicked things off last year with ‘Raise Y_our Glass’, which she released to commemorate the first 100 days of the girl...

Notes on K-pop • 14th August 2023

The American pop industry is deadish. Long live K-pop

“The American pop industry is deadish. Long live K-pop. “ Just joking. But also not, considering that there was a very buzzy article from Billboard earlier this month that was making the rounds on music journalism Twitter (what is left of it that’s...

Notes on K-pop • 8th August 2023

Mini Note #3: Oh, the humanity!

Yesterday, I wrote a pretty grim newsletter about the dehumanization of female K-pop stars as sexual objects, and was going to include in my What I’m Watching section a video I had just seen that struck me. But I decided I wanted to talk about it a...

Notes on K-pop • 7th August 2023

Flowers of Fire, and objectifying female K-pop stars online

Please proceed to read this edition of Notes On K-pop with caution if you are sensitive to certain themes, as this newsletter is discussing topics relating to women’s rights and the way women are treated in society, including objectification, sexual...

Notes on K-pop • 3rd August 2023

NOTES ON K-POP RE-EDIT: GOT7 Discusses Breaking Records, Selling Out Shows & Dabbing

This is the second edition of my rewrite and re-edit series, where I look at stories I previously wrote or edited. The first one featured a SHINee interview from KCON 2016, and my second is also based around an interview from that year, but featuring...

Notes on K-pop • 31st July 2023

Challenging Bias

Before I get any further, I want to open this newsletter with the disclaimer that this is a very personal edition, and kind of feels like I should have some sort of tag like “feeling cute, may delete later,” or whatever the oversharing equivalent is....

Notes on K-pop • 25th July 2023

The designer K-pop idol is alive and well

When I graduated college a decade ago, I wrote a thesis titled “Transmedia and Fan Interaction in South Korea’s Entertainment Industry.” It’s embarrassing to see how poor of a writer I was at the time, and I cringe at how I relayed some thoughts. But...

Rolling Stone • 20th July 2023

The 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music

BTS, Blackpink, NewJeans, and many more.

Notes on K-pop • 17th July 2023

Maybe The Real Treasure Was the Concert Friends We Made Along the Way

Last week, I was supposed to be attending Jungkook’s performance at Central Park as part of Good Morning America’s summer concert series. I say supposed to, because I never made it in. Between a confusing press access situation and an intense, but...

Notes on K-pop • 11th July 2023

Why are K-pop stars singing children's songs?

What do NCT 127’s Cherry Bomb, NMIXX’s Young, Dumb, Stupid, NewJeans’ Zero, EXO’s Kokobop all have in common? Aside from being pretty great songs, they all reference nursery rhymes and/or hand games. They’re far from the only K-pop songs that...