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,
Kimberly Szeto's one of Notes on K-pop's summer fellows. She has been a passionate K-pop fan for over 15 years. She currently works in the AAPI nonprofit space, and is a freelance consultant for other clients. She is hoping to expand into entertainment journalism, with a
Since April, we have witnessed brewing tension between Hybe, the biggest entertainment company in South Korea, and Min Hee-jin, then the CEO of Hybe subsidiary, now former CEO. A very dirty, very public battle has since played out in the court of public opinion, one of several this year, which
Art means something, and the dolphin meme overlaid with the word "shibal" means something especially lately for some K-pop fans. "Shibal," or "ssibal" (씨발), is Korean for F**k, and this happy-go-lucky, Lisa Frank-esque meme overlaid by the curse feels like the exact mood
Katie Doan is one of Notes on K-pop's summer fellows. She is a multimedia storyteller with a keen focus on Korean pop culture. After graduating with a Bachelors in broadcast journalism from California State University, Fullerton, she now works in activism. Tamar: When Katie pitched doing a piece
Sarah Zhang is one of Notes on K-pop's summer fellows. She is a student at New York University studying Media & Communications and Entertainment Business. Tamar: When Sarah pitched this idea to Notes on K-pop, it excited me to learn about how different her perspective is about K-pop
Do you really need a No.1 nowadays? Or do you just need No. 1 fans? A few months ago, everywhere I went I felt like I was hearing the latest music industry buzzword: superfan. The idea of superfandom features in so many press releases that fill my inbox lately.
Sadly, the answer is "stupidly, dangerously, foolishly (and perhaps illegally) easily". When news broke that on August 6th Suga of BTS was caught with a DUI by police in Seoul when drunk driving a scooter and had his license revoked, there was a lot of different sort of
Last night*, a bit after 11:30pm EST and after hours of rain delays, ATEEZ was rushing to finish their Towards the Light : Will to Power New York City stadium show at Citifield. A lot went on that day, with the show beginning over two hours late to avoid thunder
Gen AI is taking off in K-pop, but it doesn't seem like anyone really knows what is or isn't being produced by it anym,ore. A few weeks ago, Woozi of Seventeen publicly denied a claim from an article by the BBC that alleged that Seventeen