One of the most ill-timed projects of my entire career came out on March 16, 2020: Merch Madness, a Billboard deep dive series into K-pop merchandise, arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic erupted in the United States. It was a series of deep reporting into business and fan practices, the
If you've followed The Rose's career, there's no question that they're an act deserving a documentary. The Rose: Come Back to Me, in theaters now, was released over Valentine's Day weekend, and centers on the band's trials and
Happy Lunar New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! I am hitting publish on this to go out on February 17, which means are we are well into 2026 as we're literally starting the Year of the Horse today, but I'm still sonically back in 2025. In
ENHYPEN released their new THE SIN: VANISH album today, January 16, in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese versions. A 23-minute long, 11-track album released in not only Korean but English, Japanese, and Chinese, it leans heavily into the immersive narrative surrounding ENHYPEN since day one: vampire romance. Already told through
Over the past twelve months, K-pop has been fascinating to witness for what it’s turning into and what it’s reacting to. I think this year truly belonged to rookie groups, with many rising acts really getting their presence known in a moment when many more senior acts didn’
I was in Korea last month, and spent a lot of my time running around to have coffee with industry friends. One journalist and I were talking about the success of K-pop Demon Hunters, and what 2026 would bring, and I keep thinking about something he said to me: "
Key's show at Kings Theater on December 10 felt like a celebration of himself, even in the moments when he had to catch his breath. Because, as he says, he's "not 18 anymore." But, as the night went on, it felt like the moments
Thoughts, stories and ideas.
It's December 2025, which feels like an impossibility, but this year is nearly over. We live in a period of immense darkness, and sorrow, and I am sending you all well-wishes for light. It was a weird year for K-pop in my opinion, though I'll get
I'm in Seoul at the moment, so a bit slower to write than I usually am, but have spent a lot of my time walking through shopping centers and outside of stores blasting music thinking about what K-pop sounds like in 2025. The answer, I feel, is unclear,
“How often do you see a concert?” a friend asked me on Saturday (Nov 1) after I mentioned I was going to RIIZE's show that night. I had seen him earlier in the week, and had mentioned I was going to DC to Seventeen. The week prior, I
The best time to interview a K-pop group is just around their second anniversary, in my opinion. They’re no longer so new that they stick to all their media training, but can relax a bit and answer questions off the cuff, but aren’t so daunted by chasing constant
If you exist even slightly in the realm of pop culture conversations online, one of the biggest topics for much of August and September was the idea that there was no singular Song of Summer, or even many great contenders, though there were some. Depending on who you asked, "
On Saturday night, November 6, Madison Square Garden had two of the hottest shows for the girls and the gays in NYC: Lady Gaga was playing the arena, and Kai was playing the theater. Both artists know how to play to the crowd, and Kai that evening put on a
This summer, it feels like all at once we saw live albums from across the industry: in July, BTS marked their return from hiatus with a several-year-old concert album from a date in Los Angeles in 2021. Then a few days later, Winner released a Best of Album featuring performances
If you were a K-pop fan back in the mid 2010s, I bet you remember Kevin Woo in one of two contexts: he was a co-host of Arirang's English-language K-pop show After School Club, or you were trying to figure out if he was still part of U-KISS
"Bullets have often shaped the course of human history. But in June 2013, it was a group of Bulletproof Boy Scouts who began a journey that would change the state of global music forever." Happy anniversary, BTS: Blood, Sweat & Tears, you're officially five-years-old today! Like
According to The Washington Post, the sound of summer 2025 is K-pop. With K-Pop Demon Hunters winning us all over, the return of BTS confirmed now that all the members have returned to civilian life, and major acts touring US stadiums, WaPo say it's a great time to
If you've watched K-Pop Demon Hunters recently, there's a likely chance that you're either listening to it right now, or possibly humming its soundtrack. If you haven't watched it yet, take a break and go watch before reading because I'm
The US postal service's claim to fame is that "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays" its couriers from delivering mail. The Stays of Stray Kids, however, had plenty of heat, rain, and gloom of night amid the recent SKZ North American