Shift in K-pop Dynamics: Transition From Idols to Artists
Many newcomers to K-pop will agree that upon first impressions of the genre, the experience is something equivalent to opening a door and discovering a…
Tag: Idol
“Click, Click”: What’s In A Selca?
“People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does.” – Michael Foucault Th…
Playboy Petrarch: Racial Fetishism and K-pop
“Oh! could I throw aside these earthly bands/ That tie me down where wretched mortals sigh-- To join blest spirits in celestial lands!” -Franceso Petr…
Is There Any “Art” Left in K-pop?
What does it mean to be an "artist" in K-pop? Do they write their own songs? Perform their own dances? Perhaps they've simply been around long enough t…
Super Junior’s Mandatory Future
Followers of Korea's entertainment news may very well have heard that mandatory service in Korea is nothing to joke about -- considering that, by law, …
Counterpoint: “Idol” or “Artist,” Does the Moniker Really Matter?
Shantelle recently wrote an article about how “idols” make the grand leap to “artists,” where she discussed not only who had earned this designation o…
Counterpoint: Reasons I’d Want to be a K-Idol
Over the last two years, the idol/starlet dream has gone into overdrive. From the reality shows that promise to turn the man on the street into a singi…
Why I Would Never Want to Be a K-idol
If someone were to come up to me right now, at this very moment, and say, "Hey Nabeela, if you could be one K-pop idol -- " "Park Bom, done and done, b…
Public Ownership of Entertainers
Entertainers exist to entertain us. Regardless of whether they are acting in a movie, singing and dancing to a song, or anything in between and beyond, they exist to entertain us. But does that mean they belong to us?