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Weekly K-pop playlist: October 24 – 30

October 30, 2016/in Fans, Playlist Sunday /by KultScene

October is just about over, and with it is one of the busiest month for K-pop in the past year! This week, our KultScene Weekly K-pop Playlist overlooked some of the biggest names in favor of musicians who we feel could use a bit more attention. Like EXO’s Lay (Just kidding!). Also included in this […]

Op-ed: Trump, BTS, & the state of K-pop journalism

October 27, 2016/in Features, OPINION /by Tamar Herman

A few minutes before I planned to go to bed last night, I noticed something funny trending on my twitter feed: fans of the K-pop boy band BTS appeared to be getting riled up over a tweet the US presidential candidate Donald Trump allegedly shared in August, where he complimented the boy band and mistakenly […]

Weekly K-pop playlist: October 24 – 30

October 30, 2016/in Fans, Playlist Sunday /by KultScene

Op-ed: Trump, BTS, & the state of K-pop journalism

October 27, 2016/in Features, OPINION /by Tamar Herman

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Weekly K-pop playlist: October 24 – 30

October 30, 2016/in Fans, Playlist Sunday /by KultScene

October is just about over, and with it is one of the busiest month for K-pop in the past year! This week, our KultScene Weekly K-pop Playlist overlooked some of the biggest names in favor of musicians who we feel could use a bit more attention. Like EXO’s Lay (Just kidding!). Also included in this week’s playlist are songs by Korean-American singer Grace, Crucial Star and Kim Na Young, and indie artist Mugamgak.

“Trick or Treat” by Grace (Released Oct. 26)

Female rappers came out in force this week, but few can boast the personality of every cool person’s favourite New York born Korean artist Grace. Just in time for Halloween, she has released “Trick or Treat,” a filthy slice of hip-hop. Extremely heavy synths and bass kick in straight away, proving unstoppable as the song goes away. It’s a fearsome concoction of deep sounds that bring the scary atmosphere. The best thing about Grace is that she can swap between rapping and singing with seemingly no effort. It gives an extra dimension to her music, with little need for features and showcasing her talent. Like Azealia Banks, minus the problematic fave syndrome.

–Joe

Also on KultScene: What’s Killing ‘Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo’?

“Lose Control” by Lay (Released Oct. 27)

I don’t care that this song is not K-pop. Lay is a K-pop star, from an important K-pop company in the country that produces K-pop. So yes, we’re going to talk about “Lose Control” and how it’s a good apology from SM Entertainment to fans who have been suffering from their neglect of one of their best talents. In “Lose Control,” Lay got to show off what he’s good at: sexy dancing and good enough (let’s be real, he’s not the best) R&B vocals. The whole concept fits him like a glove and proves he can pull off a solo without the need of the rest of the EXO members in a sub-unit (#shadenoshade). “Lose Control” is a pretty standard R&B track, but when you look at the whole package — the smooth moves, the body rolls, the no-shirt scene, and all the silk — it’s golden.

— Alexis

“The day my heart fell apart” by Mugamgak (Released Oct. 25)

This debut release from Madeleine Music’s newest artist is a gentle and emotional ballad which is perfectly suited to Mugamgak’s sentimental voice. His beautiful voice has a high register, which makes reaching climactic high notes effortless for him, creating a wonderfully enjoyable listen. I’m more than happy to report that this song is quite well-received in Korea, partly owing to the fact that the singer had a sizeable fanbase from posting covers on Youtube before officially debuting. His experience as an artist is evident through this debut and I can’t wait to hear more from him.

— Anna

Also on KultScene: Op-ed: Trump, BTS, & the state of K-pop journalism

“Fall” by Crucial Star feat. Kim Na Young (Released Oct. 27)

K-pop is good and all, but I’m always a fan of Korea’s affinity for coffeehouse music, especially when it’s seasonal. Every year it feels like there’s a song or two that perfectly reflect the mood of a season, whether it’s a song like the infamous “Cherry Blossom Ending” or Kyuhyun’s “At Gwanghwamun.” I think that “Fall” by Crucial Star and Kim Na Young is that song. But unfortunately, I doubt this one will ever truly gain popular. The melodic hip-hop track is a bit too under the radar to garner a large following, but when I first heard it, I felt like I was sonically being enveloped in the changes of autumn. (And it doesn’t hurt that it has one of the most beautifully shot music videos of the year).

— Tamar

What was your favorite song of the week? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.

Op-ed: Trump, BTS, & the state of K-pop journalism

October 27, 2016/in Features, OPINION /by Tamar Herman

A few minutes before I planned to go to bed last night, I noticed something funny trending on my twitter feed: fans of the K-pop boy band BTS appeared to be getting riled up over a tweet the US presidential candidate Donald Trump allegedly shared in August, where he complimented the boy band and mistakenly called them Chinese.

But it wasn’t the Orientalist racism that sparked the outrage. It was the fact that this tweet had never been tweeted, and one of the most well-known K-pop news outlet wrote an article about it. I searched Twitter, spending a whole three minutes using the site’s Advanced Search function and couldn’t find anything except for a tweet that was clearly photoshopped. Trump, who is extremely outspoken on Twitter, hasn’t deleted any of his past faux pas, so it seems unlikely that he would have deleted (or ever tweeted in the first place, really) anything on his Twitter feed dealing with K-pop or BTS. But this website didn’t take those few moments to determine that and instead ran it as news, which many fans took as fact.

To reiterate the fact: Donald Trump has never, to my knowledge and the best of my research ability, ever tweeted about K-pop or BTS.

After getting frustrated at the fact that a website that presents itself as a reliable news source didn’t even do the basic minimum fact-checking on what was clearly a click-bait timely news peg, I went to bed. While I slept, the article was later deleted from the site. A quick perusal of the news outlet’s social media revealed that no apology or clarification was issued regarding the original publication. Another website with a less-than-stellar track record at reporting K-pop-related stories also wrote about the tweet, but instead more fully expressed how the tweet was clearly inauthentic.

Also on KultScene: What’s Killing ‘Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo’?

As KultScene is not a news site and is based around the opinions of several writers who feel the urge to discuss their favorite topic, Hallyu, I typically wouldn’t address anything about the mistakes of other websites. But this morning, a reputable Korean newspaper picked up the article by the US-based K-pop “news” source and published a piece on their website about it. As a well-respected site with a credible reputation, this is extremely unfortunate. Despite fans tweeting to the outlet that the original source was faked, it has yet to be updated or corrected as of 10:00 p.m. EST on Oct. 27.

Clearly, the Korean outlet didn’t check facts itself, which is problematic for its own sake, but the article was written on the word of an allegedly reputable source. Since the modern state of journalism is an aggregate-heavy environment, it is probable that the Korean outlet expected that a reliable K-pop news outlet based in the US would do proper legwork to research claims that may possibly relate to the US election.

Journalism has always been about telling stories based on facts and research. The outlet that wrote the original piece about the alleged tweet has a track record of regurgitating information without doing research or — even worse — releasing information obtained off-the-record. I personally was unsurprised by the website’s article, since it’s clear they hire writers based on speediness and translating skills rather than any journalistic capabilities. When output and hitcount becomes King, basic steps of newsgathering, like fact-checking, will be disregarded.

The sad thing is that just about every US-based K-pop news source struggles from this. Aside from a handful of outlets, most of which have few reporters but rely on Korean news sources or international wires, none are truly able to be dedicated to Hallyu media and maintain a journalistic edge. Outside of Korea, newsgathering is nearly impossible and there just isn’t a large enough audience to support multiple news sites. Instead, websites depend on keeping their numbers up by spending the least amount of resources possible on the most amount of content.

Until K-pop journalism becomes a more viable, economical field, we’ll continue to see misreporting like this.

What do you think about the situation? Share your opinions in the comment section below. Be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.