Thank you, Asia "K-Pop" (47 days until Wisconsin)

Personally, I don't know much about K-pop music, but I know more now than I did prior to moving to Korea.  K-pop, short for Korean-pop music, is a fun, bouncy, boy-band or girl-band sort of music in which all the singers are also synchronized dancers.  No matter the gender, their appearance is often effeminate, with perfect, unblemished skin and any number of a variety of hair colors.  

The singers themselves are handpicked to become superstars. They train endlessly for their role, not only singing and dancing for the industry, but also making public appearances and keeping up social media accounts.  It is an industry planned to the Nth degree.  (Think Disney pop stars meet Janet Jackson.)

The music itself is often lyrical and schmultzy, mixing both English and Korean.  We could watch K-pop videos on our local channels.  BTS and     are big names, internationally.  In 2010 names like F(X) and Wonder Girls were on the scene. Of course, while we were in Korea, Psy came on the scene; you know, "Gangnam Style!"  While he had the dance crew with him, he himself didn't meet the usual K-pop "dollface" look of K-pop.  This may be why HIS song was more satirical than serious (even in the Koreans failed to get the satire). 

This K-pop trend in Korea was in full bloom by the time we entered the scene in 2010 and it had encroached upon the lives and looks of our students.  Leaving Wisconsin, where Friday night football was the heartbeat of the school, producing beefy, swole young men as the model body, we were entirely unprepared for the "look" of our male students.  They had soft features, were more beautiful than handsome, and sometimes colored their black hair to gray just to emulate their K-pop stars.  Many of the young men also fearlessly crooned at assemblies; (we really did have some amazing singers!) And most of all, everyone seemed to be obsessed with their appearance  - so much that the lockers came with mirrors built in for their use. 

Because our demographic at KIS included families in the music industry, we also had some students wo truly aspired to become K-pop stars.  While that didn't happen that I know of, I do still follow one student's music career: Albert Joo.  He is Flannel Albert. 

Thank you, Asia, for widening my music library.