Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Although my Thanksgiving break was pretty much a drunken blur, I do remember bits and pieces of it. One of the more interesting conversations I had with a family member (over a couple of Woodchucks, of course) was concerning the topic of K-pop.
It occurred to me in this conversation that, aside from the occasional “Gangnam Style” listen on the radio, I hadn’t actually seriously listened to a K-pop song or seriously watched a K-pop performance or been seriously following K-pop news for a very, very long time.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I still get my fill of what’s going on across the pond, but now more than ever before, at least for me, it has become more of a source of satirical inspiration than a source of pure entertainment.
Rewind a couple of years back and you’ll a find a side of me that you all probably never suspected existed. That guy was one that religiously followed groups like 2NE1, listened to K-pop on an hourly basis, watched the fuck out of Korean dramas, and tons of other shit like that. No longer.
So … what happened?
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1. Getting too old for this shit.
I think a big part of my disenchantment with the genre comes purely from the fact that that was then and this is now. As teenagers, I think we all seek to find a place to belong, but, at the same time, we search for a place that makes us an individual, somewhere that makes us distinct. For a lot of people, I think K-pop is that outlet.
Now look at me: on the verge of starting the eleventy trillion years of hell known as med school. As I reflect and start taking a closer look at things, the whole idea of idol groups has gotten a little silly. Moreover, friends that have previously been interested in K-pop with me seem to have gone through the same disenfranchisement; K-pop is just not something we revel in anymore.
Once your friends start dropping out, you can no longer talk about it with them seriously, so unless you’re extremely dedicated, it starts to fade to the periphery of your priorities.
2. It’s become a little sweatshop of horrors.
Honestly though, K-pop has had its days. Hell, back in the era of around 2005 to around 2007, there was some seriously legit shit being produced. It was stuff that was original, bold, and new. I feel as if I’ve been driven away from K-pop as of late, however, by the transition of the industry to an almost entirely manufactured state.
People have made arguments against it being any more manufactured than America, of course, recently even, but that doesn’t change the fact that America isn’t debuting literally around 150 fucking idol groups this year.
Is it just me, or are there like a million fucking new groups debuting every two weeks? Is it just me, or is every “new” track released something that I’ve already been hearing for the past year? Is it just me, or are the new “fashion trends” in K-pop fucking ridiculous?
I mean, what happened to shit like this?
At least take SOME risks like that.
It can’t be just me, right?
3. Them fans be cray.
I love all you Asian Junkie readers to death, but some of the K-pop fans out there (on YouTube and some unmentionable news sites, especially) are fucking nuts. Like legit nuts. There’s very little that I abhor more than pre-pubescent tweens getting up on soapboxes to defend their oppars and unnirs with “facts” that are actually just strongly-stated opinions.
It happens with almost anything, you say, but the sheer blindness with which some of these K-pop fans follow their idols is really quite frightening, and it’s honestly extremely off-putting when you like an artist and become grouped with these fanatics.
Preach on, girl. PREACH!
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Have no fear though, for I will not be retiring from my works of art on this website anytime soon. I think I still have a few Freudian analyses and drunk ramblings up my sleeve.
However, like I said, K-pop, for me, has become less of a passion and more of a source of things to poke fun at. There are some truly talented artists in the midst of K-pop, but, with the direction that the industry has taken as of late, I feel as if that talent and originality will inevitably be mistakenly tossed into the winds.
It’s sort of like how America flooded “Gangnam Style” EVERYWHERE until it became resented and cliche. Just feels like K-pop is doing that to itself with all these groups, and if you think it’s just because I’m a foreign hater or something, don’t take my word for it, just ask Koreans themselves.
Oh well!
