by Stephanie, co-host of The Kpopcast In our March 23, 2022 episode of The Kpopcast, we discussed (G)I-dle’s newest comeback song, “TOMBOY.” Listen to the episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1eV4ZaT3MvvdvnZgRIr3Qg?si=X4BcOWkYSjCc4kM8OObEZw Inspired by a comment by Deena from our Slack community, we dove into […]

by ghee dragon If you’re a fan of k-pop, or the broader Hallyu wave, you’ll be familiar with the criticisms from black fans about ongoing racism in the industry and from Asian celebrities in general. Just recently there was Jay […]

Hey Kpopcast listeners, As I reflect back on K-pop in 2021, I’m surprised by how much content came out despite an enduring pandemic. It’s continued to be a fun fantasy escape in contrast to our increasingly complex and changing “real […]

When I logged on to Twitter Sunday night, I was amused to see that the following phrases were trending: “CONGRATS BABIES,” “JINKOOK,” and “I love them so much!” I knew immediately that one of my favorite K-pop artists, BTS, had […]

On a recently published episode of the #Kpopchat hosted on Twitter spaces, I shared a part of my life story I don’t talk about very much on The Kpopcast. I would like to share some of it in more detail here in the newsletter. The episode was about how K-pop fandom harms communities of color, especially black people. I will not name the participants here, in case they would prefer to remain private/non-searchable. 

If we could peer into the personal lives of every K-pop star, and all of the harm, abuse, crimes, and scandalous acts they’ve committed were made public one by one, would there be a single K-pop star left in the business? What if our own lives were examined in this way?