Why I Like Kpop (and other non-English music)
I like listening to music, it’s easy and accessible. Unlike video media where I have to actually pay attention, I can play music in the background and jam out. What type of music do I listen to? I listen to what sounds good to me. But I do have specific genres I like, one of them being kpop.
Immediate reaction for the average person (when you read the title) is that “kpop bad, not good music u dont even understand what theyre saying.” First thing I want to point out is that almost all music is subjective in their quality (I guess if we ignore lyricism and whether that’s top quality) so you not liking this piece of music doesn’t mean I don’t.
The second point of it being another language is arguably a semi reasonable point. I can bet that for most people when they listen to music, they don’t exactly pay attention to what is actually being sung but more just how everything sounds. This is the way (and the only way) I judge music for the most part. I’m not a music critique so I do not have to analyze.
stan
Stan is a mix of stalker and fan. Its a crazy fan who basically worships a celebrity.
A separate reason would be kpop stans. In my opinion, an average stan isn’t actually that crazy, but the very loud and vocal minority are those crazy fans that stalk idols. I don’t identify as a stan of any type, since I listen to music very casually, but this is one of the other reasons why people don’t like the music, which is because of them and the bad side of the community. The thing about music communities though is that they can basically be ignored, and you can just go through the discography of a group or idol to figure out what you’ll like. I’ve seen a fair bit of people who were put off by the music while they haven’t even heard anything simply because of these people, and once I introduced them to some of my favourites they realized that they liked it.
The first kpop song I listened to was Gangnam Style. Officially, it’s almost everyone’s first kpop song. But my actual first is Secret Story of the Swan. I was in a Discord music channel, and it came up. I thought that it sounded really good, so I looked at what was playing then looked at the group’s other music. From then is how I discovered music from LOONA, Red Velvet and all the other popular groups. If you need some recommendations, join my community Discord at the left.
Good music to me is what sounds good. Language pretty much doesn’t take any part of it. Music from other places of the world also brings even more variety to my playlist.