Notes on K-pop • 23rd June 2026

The nostalgic musical promise of the second gen of K-pop

If you scroll long enough on Instagram, TikTok, or Youtube Shorts nowadays, you'll probably hear the twinkling opening synths of Wonder Girls' "Tell Me" from their 2007 album The Wonder Years. Why? Because everyone, and even their bunny, is performing it lately. It is a sign of the nostalgic times, as people seem to be yearning for an earlier brand of K-pop, one that's full of electro-pop and disco, love and joy, and easy-to-follow dances perfect for TikTok masses. Here's where we're currently...

Notes on K-pop • 21st June 2026

American Award Shows, Cultural Hegemonies, & Weakening U.S. Soft Power

On June 16, The Grammy Awards announced five new categories for the 2027 69th Grammy Awards: Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album, and Best Latin Song. According to Grammys CEO Harvey Mason jr., "The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today's music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it." The rulebook for the Awards lay o...

Notes on K-pop • 3rd June 2026

The Music Press Release Hype Machine Feels Broken

It's Sunday night at 6PM. I have spent the last three hours catching up on all the emails in my inbox. I want to write about K-pop, relax with K-pop or some other form of entertainment, but I am cleaning out my inbox and trying to find some meaning in the 1,000+ press releases that have appeared over the past few days since I last sat down and went through everything. I have a full-time job, was traveling, and simply cannot fathom engaging with my inbox when it will be me sitting there just pra...

Notes on K-pop • 27th May 2026

‘The Dark Side of K-pop’ Meets ‘Is K-pop K-pop’?

A few weeks ago, it became apparent that we’re witnessing a moment of history: there is a narrative change about how K-pop is discussed. For decades, The Dark Side of K-pop has dominated western media coverage of K-pop to the point that it has become a commonly used term for nearly two decades of coverage. Born out of the grueling reality of what life is like for K-pop hopefuls and stars, critical reporting is quick to stigmatize and stereotype. Pieces like Factory Girls published by the New Yo...

Notes on K-pop • 27th April 2026

In Conversation: El Capitxn

There are many variations on the fairytale of The Little Mermaid, but in the original one as relayed via Hans Christian Andersen, it ends in tragedy. Disney made the narrative famous by providing the aquatic princess her happy ending. Producer El Capitxn is not sure what the ending of his story will be, but he's certain he's living one in a way not unlike her: he too has lost his voice. Even before speaking with the producer, referred to simply as "El" by his team, his voice was front-and-cente...

Notes on K-pop • 20th March 2026

ARIRANG, or The Era of Expectations

BEFORE BTS has gone through many eras of their career. A new one begins at midnight tonight. ARIRANG, the first post-military enlistment hiatus album, truly marks the start of a new era for the group. It’s the era of expectations, of anticipation. It must be so exciting and stressful right now. With ARIRANG, BTS isn’t just choosing to represent themselves but to represent Korean-ness to the world. The album’s title is an homage to one of Korea’s most prominent folk songs, which exists in a mu...

Notes on K-pop • 19th March 2026

2025 K-pop in Review: Big 4 Company Scorecard

2025 was a really weird year for K-pop, in that it felt like everyone in the U.S. was finally talking about K-pop between K-Pop Demon Hunters, Rosé's "APT.", Katseye and BTS's return, but generally it felt like interest in any other K-pop topics were down. And I'm not talking about just from the American entertainment industry, but generally across the board from even diehard fans I kept thinking, "Ah, K-pop is boring." That's not to say that K-pop was boring, but there was a sense in 2025 that...

Notes on K-pop • 26th February 2026

This is All For Twice

On February 18, TWICE kicked off the first of their three New York City area shows at UBS Arena in Long Island. It was a Wednesday night concert that began after 8PM, and it ended close to 11pm. The crowds energy was honestly a bit off that night, likely due to the mid-week, not so early-night festivities, but as I walked out and made a mad dash with a friend to get the train from Long Island back into the city, it felt like we had just been witness to a major moment of festive reckoning: This t...

Notes on K-pop • 20th February 2026

What Bunjang's 2025 Fan Sales Data Says About K-pop

One of the most ill-timed projects of my entire career came out on March 16, 2020: Merch Madness, a Billboard deep dive series into K-pop merchandise, arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic erupted in the United States. It was a series of deep reporting into business and fan practices, the latter of which was often accompanied by people very self-aware about their spending in the name of fandom love. Since 2020, fandom spending has taken off across every category. Everyone wants to market their...

Notes on K-pop • 18th February 2026

In Conversation: "The Rose: Come Back to Me" director Eugene Yi and Producer Diane Quon

If you've followed The Rose's career, there's no question that they're an act deserving a documentary. The Rose: Come Back to Me, in theaters now, was released over Valentine's Day weekend, and centers on the band's trials and wins over the past decade. I've been writing about the group, ever since their debut song "Sorry" won its way into my heart and those of many others', and blurbed it for Billboard's best of 2017 K-pop list. I've spoken with them a few times, and last spoke with them in 20...

Notes on K-pop • 17th February 2026

Best K-pop albums of 2025

Happy Lunar New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! I am hitting publish on this to go out on February 17, which means are we are well into 2026 as we're literally starting the Year of the Horse today, but I'm still sonically back in 2025. In a year defined by dance and rock, and shorter songs, as well as K-pop's identity, especially in relationship to America's music industry, and muted, indie-esque dreampop defined the year's singles. Albums, however, will always be important for way they package a moment o...

Notes on K-pop • 16th January 2026

Notes on K-pop Interview: HYBE / BELIFT LAB on Enhypen's 'THE SIN: VANISH' & 'VampireNow News'

ENHYPEN released their new THE SIN: VANISH album today, January 16, in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese versions. A 23-minute long, 11-track album released in not only Korean but English, Japanese, and Chinese, it leans heavily into the immersive narrative surrounding ENHYPEN since day one: vampire romance. Already told through the DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR webtoon, now an anime, and other albums, plus tie-ins like the recent Blood Pack game, THE SIN : VANISH is a hybrid album that blen...

Notes on K-pop • 6th January 2026

Best K-pop Songs of 2025

Over the past twelve months, K-pop has been fascinating to witness for what it’s turning into and what it’s reacting to. I think this year truly belonged to rookie groups, with many rising acts really getting their presence known in a moment when many more senior acts didn’t necessarily release music, or didn’t release music that really captured attention or the zeitgeist. When it came to one stand-out act… I felt that this year was the year when NMIXX really defined their sense of self, and pr...

Notes on K-pop • 29th December 2025

2025 ends with K-pop overlooked by success 'Of K-pop'

I was in Korea last month, and spent a lot of my time running around to have coffee with industry friends. One journalist and I were talking about the success of K-pop Demon Hunters, and what 2026 would bring, and I keep thinking about something he said to me: "Industry insiders think K-pop is a success when it's no longer Korean". This is not a new idea, necessarily, as it feels like everyone on the Internet has thoughts about what is or isn't K-pop, and K-pop's success, particularly in 2025....

Notes on K-pop • 22nd December 2025

In Brooklyn, Key celebrated a nostalgic, assured two-decades of artistry

Key's show at Kings Theater on December 10 felt like a celebration of himself, even in the moments when he had to catch his breath. Because, as he says, he's "not 18 anymore." But, as the night went on, it felt like the moments where he caught himself and acknowledged the length of his career were one of the main parts of Key's story as we entered Keyland. Having been born just six days after Key in a very fateful September, I've always felt an affinity for the SHINee member, and was looking f...

Notes on K-pop • 16th December 2025

Liveness, in 5 parts

It's December 2025, which feels like an impossibility, but this year is nearly over. We live in a period of immense darkness, and sorrow, and I am sending you all well-wishes for light. It was a weird year for K-pop in my opinion, though I'll get more into that in my true End of Year newsletter, but it was, at least on paper, a good year for me personally amid all the absolute terror of the world around us: I achieved two out of my six personal goals for 2025, and still hope for those four to...

Notes on K-pop • 27th November 2025

K-pop the idea not K-pop the institution reigns at the Grammy's

I'm in Seoul at the moment, so a bit slower to write than I usually am, but have spent a lot of my time walking through shopping centers and outside of stores blasting music thinking about what K-pop sounds like in 2025. The answer, I feel, is unclear, with no real consensus of hits: although historically I had found walking through Seoul to be a great way to hear what's trending, on this trip I discovered that I was more likely to hear music from a few years ago rather than this year. Even whe...

Notes on K-pop • 5th November 2025

Is the US K-pop Concert bubble bursting yet again?

“How often do you see a concert?” a friend asked me on Saturday (Nov 1) after I mentioned I was going to RIIZE's show that night. I had seen him earlier in the week, and had mentioned I was going to DC to Seventeen. The week prior, I had mentioned seeing StayC. I do certainly see more shows than the average person, partially because I get press tickets for some, sometimes writing reviews of said-shows but often not because I actually really detest most reviews. Once you take away the cost of s...

Notes on K-pop • 21st October 2025

Notes on K-pop Interview: AMPERS&ONE

The best time to interview a K-pop group is just around their second anniversary, in my opinion. They’re no longer so new that they stick to all their media training, but can relax a bit and answer questions off the cuff, but aren’t so daunted by chasing constant hit making. They have drive and energy, not yet worn down by the churn. The also have the intensity of their potential, and what will happen to them if they do not achieve that potential. They dance on the edge of a knife of success, w...

Notes on K-pop • 3rd October 2025

The K-pop Song of Summer of September

If you exist even slightly in the realm of pop culture conversations online, one of the biggest topics for much of August and September was the idea that there was no singular Song of Summer, or even many great contenders, though there were some. Depending on who you asked, "Golden" from K-POP Demon Hunters or Lewky's "I Have One Daughter" were the songs of summer, but both are atypical: "Golden" is a musical song performed by three singers who came together to perform as the fictional girl gro...