Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
As I’ve been saying over the course of the SM Remastering Project, more than anything this has allowed us to reminisce on the company’s past hits, and their latest is arguably the biggest with SNSD‘s “Gee“.
When I look back at K-pop history, this is probably a foundational moment in terms of the industry branching outward, especially outside of Asia. Not only because of the group and the massive popularity of the song itself, but it’s also the first time I started seeing people I didn’t really expect to even know about K-pop discussing it or making memes about it (seeing a rage comic about it was a trip, disappointed father as well) or whatever else.
K-pop fans who got into things recently always seem to downplay these moments because it probably doesn’t involve their faves and they didn’t go viral specifically in America, but songs like this are what helped K-pop get the attention of international outlets to begin with, not to mention spawning unlikely fans in new markets who consumed, propagated, and respected K-pop. Not unlike BoA being the reason I’m here doing this … well, so maybe it’s more of a curse now that I think about it.
