K-pop Takes on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Headfirst
The social media fad that has swept up awareness for the ALS disease -- the ice bucket challenge has been gaining major press for how many people are t…
Culture
The Sunday Social: 8/24, So is 2014 a bad year for K-pop or what?
2014 has not been kind to K-pop. Or, rather, K-pop and people have always been like this, but it's been so easy to bury skeletons when everyone foc…
5 Things I Learned from Writing for Seoulbeats
Five years ago, K-pop was a very different place. DBSK was still five members strong and had just played Tokyo Dome for the first time. Jay Park was st…
Music & Lyrics: Just the Way You Are
As far as beauty standards go, South Korea ain’t exactly a beacon of aesthetic diversity. There’s a certain “norm” that pervades society and manages to…
Gag Concert and Foreigners: Not A Good Mix
Gag Concert has a grand history as the longest running comedy show on South Korean television. Beginning in 1999, Gag Concert has managed to keep up wi…
Epic Rap Battles of K-pop: Kemy vs. Bom
Kemy: I’ve got 2NE1 problems but an itch ain’t one Addiction leads to conviction, just ask the guy at Samsung That is unless you’re famous or…
Music & Lyrics: Postfeminism and “Strong Women”
Often misunderstood because of its immense multiplicity of meanings, postfeminism is a highly contested and nebulous place to be in feminism. The term …
Notes on a Scandal: What Can SM Entertainment Learn from 2014?
All is not well in the house of SM Entertainment. To be fair, 2014 thus far has given us a host of scandals across the entertainment companies, but SM …
K-pop and Biases: When You Lose One
I went through a bad breakup recently. It involved a lot of crying, whining and pleading at the other end but I had made my decision. His questionable …
Park Myung-soo and the Growing, Global Korean Food Culture
It's summertime in the Northern hemisphere, and it's apt that Park Myung-soo is making a comeback to the music scene with a song about food. Park, perh…