I didn't tell him this when we spoke, but Niel, aka Ahn Daniel, aka a member of popular 2.5 K-pop boy band Teen Top, was the soundtrack to my college years. My mornings, in particular, because Teen Top's "Supa Luv" was my phone
It's Wednesday night, May 14, as I write this. I spent the prior weekend in LA, and arrived home to NYC yesterday morning after zooming to a redeye from the Monday night launch party of Lee Soo Man: King of K-pop, directed by Ting Poo and now streaming
Who is talking about K-pop anymore? Do you know? Do I know? Sometimes it feels like nobody, and everybody. I'm sitting here drinking coffee on Sunday morning and eating some amazing rugelach from my favorite bakery (if you're in NYC ever, try their babka I swear
Over the past few weeks, a few big major Korean entertainment-oriented stories have broken: * The five member group that debuted under Hybe subsidiary ADOR as NewJeans, then claimed they could go on their own to fulfill their dreams and potential while becoming NJZ, lost the right to go by the
It's March 2025, and Blackpink's members as soloists now have more songs than Blackpink as a group. BLACKPINK as a team have 32 original songs (some were recorded again in Japanese, or re-released in live or remix versions). Between solo albums and singles where they'
It's Tuesday morning before 9am as I write this now. I'm going to head to work, and then hopefully come home and hit publish on it Tuesday night after I re-read and edit a bit. I began it on Sunday night at nearly 9pm. I had
What makes something a "Best of" release? To me, I think about this a lot, as someone who is very confident discussing the business of music but not necessarily discussing music itself. I was raised in a home where popular music wasn't listened to, and oftentimes
G-Dragon released his first album today in 12 years. I desperately want to listen to it, to hear what he has to offer. The reviews that I've read so far have been great. I also am horribly reluctant to listen due to the framing of the album, and
Last year, K-pop hit one of the messiest eras I have ever witnessed since becoming invested in the industry back in 2008. That's been a lot of mess! But last year was a bit different, as it wasn't as much about contract disputes or even criminal
As I mentioned in my year-end check-in post, I'm never quite sure what I want to accomplish with this newsletter, but I keep working on it. I could write yet another newsletter about the messiness of the business and legal sides of K-pop last year, or go on
It is very late on January 1, 2025, and I'm just sitting down to write up my 2024 year-in-review pieces for Notes on K-pop after taking a break from newsletter writing accidentally these past few days. I hope everyone had a very happy end-of-2024 season, and hope that
Happy holidays, and happy end of 2024. I hope lightsticks help light a way to a better 2025, and future for us all. I'm a bit late on sharing thoughts about the recent protests against now-impeached South Korean president Yoon, but I started writing this a few weeks
I never in my entire life thought I’d die at 33 in Washington Square Park, but for a brief second on Friday afternoon around 2PM I thought it was a possibility. I tripped, and really imagined for a split second that I might get trampled as Mark Lee was
2024 has been a rather tumultuous year, whether Mini Note #7: The Reason I Became a Witch or in the K-pop realm. Inspired by that, this year's Notes on K-pop gift guide is built around the ideals of finding comfort for yourself and those around you, and making
What a timeline we’re living in. This year has been full of great music from the world of K-pop, but all of the hits have been simultaneously awash in drama and messiness. Rosé being asked in an interview about NewJeans’ situation while promoting her upcoming album really honed in
If you're a K-pop fan, or someone interested in the world of K-pop and therefore reading this newsletter, you probably know a bit about the world of J-pop, and likely know the brand name "AKB48," and know that some K-pop acts and companies have taken nods
For many years when I went to karaoke/noraebang with friends, one of my go-to's was a song called "The Reason I Became a Witch" by NS Yoon-G/Yoon-ji, now known as actress Yunjee Kim. It's an intensely 2010s song that's very
I was out with a few industry folks last week, celebrating the release of my friend Ilana Kaplan's book on Nora Ephron. A bunch of entertainment and music journalists were there, and someone who I had never met before heard that I covered K-pop for about a decade
Taylor Cross (who also writes under the name Carmen Young) is one of Notes on K-pop's summer fellows. She is a Bay Area-based freelance writer and Crunchyroll News contributor with a passion for K-pop, K-dramas, and intersectional pop culture conversations. She previously wrote a guide for getting K-pop
Bonus newsletter for the week! Because I may not have a chance to write next week, but also because I have a lot of thoughts on my mind. This question, "who protects K-pop stars?" may seem facetious: K-pop stars, at least the ones at the top of the
On October 11, it was announced that RIIZE's Seunghan would return to the group after nearly a year's hiatus, and would perform again for the first time in November. On October 13, he withdrew from the group permanently. The shocking speed of things is somehow not
A little trigger warning right here that Tamar Is Getting Very Personal in this Newsletter. Feel free not to read. I'll be back with normal, a bit more fun programming, next week (hopefully!) In my email to myself about a month ago, I wrote, "Eaj, Elul, and
Taylor Cross (who also writes under the name Carmen Young) is one of Notes on K-pop's summer fellows. She is a Bay Area-based freelance writer and Crunchyroll News contributor with a passion for K-pop, K-dramas, and intersectional pop culture conversations. Tamar: As we all know, ticketing is absolutely
And by life, I mean my phone and computer. I'm infamous among my friends and peers for screenshotting my computer to reveal a hundred-plus tabs open on my browser. What most people don't realize is that I actually have two browsers open (Chrome for general use,