2025 Mid-Year Reading List

Like last year when I shared A reading list to clean up my life, my phone hates me right now because I have nearly 500 tabs consistently opened. But I did it intentionally (more or less), because I feel like by the time it comes to Spring I always forget what was going on in the first half of a year. So I saved the tabs of certain insightful and interesting reads from earlier this year, and even some from last year, and thought I'd share them with you.

I'm going to organize this a bit differently than last time, so you can find your appropriate section of interest: K-pop, General Music, Korea, and Writing & Journalism. I'll comment on a few, or pull quotes, and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

An interesting thing I noted while working on this is that most of my ~500 tabs on my phone are currently from 2024. Most of the things I've found worthwhile to keep going back to is not from this year. This kind of checks out with my general feeling that 2025 is a bit boring musically so far (future newsletter idea!), but there's still plenty to read and think about. I'll have a mid-year 2024 K-pop Year in Review Big 4 Company Scorecard out in a few weeks, with some insight into why I think certain business moves going on are so interesting.

K-pop

"How 'KPop Demon Hunters' Incorporates Korean Mythology Into Its Film" (K-Culture with Jae-Ha Kim) - I haven't watched the movie yet so will not read until I'm finished, but very excited to finally see the long-awaited film ever since a few years ago on Twitter when one of the creators said it was a crossover between K-pop, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sailor Moon.

"Why Don't More Journalists Want to Write About K-pop?" from Jae-Ha is also a worthwhile read.

"A look inside the K-pop design machine" (It's Nice That) - "'I believe that the Korean ‘bbong (뽕끼)’ is an important foundation for the development of K-pop, which refers to the maximisation of emotions, often through exaggeration, to bring out the best in people. I’m proud that K-pop, which is a unique way to incorporate this Korean sentiment into Western pop, is doing so well in the world”. “Bbong” definitely could be an explanation for the vivacious variety of graphic styles at work within K-pop projects, and some employ subcultural references that fans may or may not understand.'"

"From 'Echo' to 'Buck': How K-pop and Indian musicians are creating cross-border hits" (Indian Times) - This is a quick listicle, but it's interesting to see how the writer discusses certain collaborations and approaches who is and isn't K-pop.

"The K-popification of F1: How a New Generation Is Rewriting the Rules of Motorsport Fandom" - (Teen Vogue) I'm not an F1 fan, but between this and hockey, it's been fascinating seeing the female-oriented fandomification of sports leagues as industries target the growing audience of women.

"ENHYPEN are ready for global superstardom" (Dazed) - "There is an inherent genrelessness to K-pop, with albums running the entire gamut of popular music where synth-pop can sit next to a soft, treacly ballad, next to a smoky R&B jam. Done without care, it floats adrift on an identity crisis. ENHYPEN’s circumvented that risk with an infrastructure on their EPs – an experimental intro, a decadent lead single and an equally extravagant, so-good-it-could-be-lead-single track, a mid-tempo singalong, a curveball, and a definitive closer – which guides the listener from record to record and, for the band, creates a stable platform from which they can build out and play with sound."

"Faults in Our Stars" (Active Faults) - This piece is extremely interesting about how psychics and the occult interact with Chinese pop culture fandoms, and there's some interesting queries that appear regarding K-pop, and the Hybe vs. Min Heejin situation.

I also think a lot about "Lo$er Lover" from Active Faults.

"The RPF Question" (Fansplaining) - "In transformative fan spaces, there are still thousands of fans invested in writing stories about their constructed versions of celebrities, whether it be K-pop idols, F1 drivers, or Thai BL actors. For these fans, the distinction between their version and the real person remains clear. In the BTS fandom, for example, some fans refer to an “AO3” version of the characters to distinguish the fandom’s creations from the actual stars."

"JUST B’s BAIN coming out changes K-pop history" (Dazed) - "But there is a significant chasm between this coy, queer flirtation within South Korea’s greatest money-generating soft power and the reality of South Korean society, which makes Bain’s coming out both jaw-dropping and trailblazing. To put it even more succinctly: Bain is the only openly gay Korean group idol amongst K-pop’s active groups, which, conservatively speaking, numbers over 1,000 idols."

"Behind the Screens With PLAVE, K-Pop’s Biggest Completely Virtual Band Yet" (Billboard) - “The initial investment is substantial,” Lee says. “But once that foundation is in place, there are certain advantages. Unlike traditional artists, we don’t have costs for things like hair, makeup or long-distance travel. Instead, our resources are directed toward technology, creative development and content production.”

"Puma’s Bratty Little Sneaker Takes Seoul" (i-D) A piece about how street fashion, legacy brands, and Rosé engage with the city.

"Can coed K-pop make a comeback? Teddy’s ‘Allday Project’ stirs new hope" (The Korea Herald) - Bring back the era of Koyote's songs of summer please.

Music

"Music Discourse Has Migrated to Instagram" (First Floor) - "While the website formerly known as Twitter used to be the main hub where music journalists would share their work, the steady 4chanification of that platform has completely upended the status quo, sending many scribes scrambling for greener pastures.

For some journalists, those pastures are places like Bluesky and Mastadon, but given the general public’s reluctance to adopt yet another new social media platform, it seems like most music writers have made Instagram their designated landing spot."

"Fandom has the media in a chokehold" (Pass the Aux) - A piece about the New York Times' extremely questionable "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" article. "It’s easy to dismiss the media as a declining power when it comes to celebrity, but there’s no doubt that articles like these have real-world consequences for the subject in question."

"Fan Loyalty or Stockholm Syndrome?: The human cost of fan labour." (Exiled Fan) - "We end up with "sweat equity" that never delivers, and diminishing returns are inevitable."

"Timbaland Wants You To Meet His New AI Artist 'TaTa'" (Deluxe Edition) - "What’s funny to me, is that men in the music industry love to complain about female artists. There’s always an excuse, especially in hip-hop, about why a female artist shouldn’t be signed or worked with. They’re so hard to work with. They always need hair and makeup. They’re too expensive. They have so much drama!

With AI singers, these same men don’t ever need to engage with a real human woman ever again. Like puppet masters, they can make TaTa sing, perform, act, and do whatever they want— without worrying about her rights or feelings! What could go wrong?"

"When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis" (Stat Significant) - I'm apparently in the unluckiest of years, musically, statistically: "This study identifies 33 as the tipping point for sonic stagnation, an age where artistic taste calcifies, increasingly deviating from contemporary works." But, there's hope: "Maybe music paralysis is a feature, not a bug. Running on a never-ending treadmill of cultural exploration may be a recipe for discontent. There is nothing inherently wrong with 'liking what you like.' Is it my waning music discovery that's making me unhappy or the fact that I've yet to accept this reality?"

"How Kendrick Lamar Went From BLM Symbol to Super Bowl Star" (Vulture) - Came for the timeline analysis, stayed for the comments. "Geez did Drake write this" may be my favorite, because it says so much with so little.

Billboard Japan is changing how they do charts. H/T Patrick St. Michel.

"Why it’s Time to Support Grassroots Venues with a £1 Ticket Levy" (The Quietus) - Music venues that aren't tied into major powerplayers like LiveNation or AXS are struggling. There's a really interesting push in some parts of the music world to essentially tax powerplayer artists for a small amount per each ticket to help fund the continued smaller scenes, where many big names are initially born.

Korea

"Brain Rot in the Blue House: South Korean politics has a YouTube problem" (The Baffler) - This is one of the best, most engaging and insightful things I read about Korea's politics in 2025.

“The Cold War Ended, and Orion’s Choco Pie Won” (Ment Magazine) "The choco pie’s mobility has made the snack a highly visible commodity, permitted to cross the DMZ while Korean people have been repeatedly prohibited from reuniting with separated family members and from visiting their hometowns in the North. Media commentators and jingoist politicians in the United States and South Korea have clamored to comment on the circulating snack, eager to make claims about the so-called “Hermit Kingdom” to serve their own agendas."

Writing & Journalism

"What Happens When a Romance Writer Gets Locked Out of Google Docs" (Wired) - I read this last year, and keep thinking about it. It goes hand in hand with a recent article on archiving the Internet that I referenced last week.

"'Andor' is Shakespearean 'Star Wars'" (Writer's Brain) - I love this focus on how Andor's use of monologues elevates the Star Wars universe. It's a good reminder for all of us writers about how the mode and method of our craftn elevate or hinder

"Is the ‘internet culture reporter’ job dead?" (Embedded) - Lots to consider here, especially the callout that editors are opting to not provide the dignity of Internet reporters full-time roles. As I now have a day job in tech, in the AI spaces a lot of these outlets do want reported on, specifically because I was unemployed as an entertainment reporter closely covering niche Internet culture... I feel this. Am very curious how other people feel.

"What Words Are For" (Harper's Bazaar) - I'm an armchair historian, and have spent much of my life considering the ramifications of the political events we've lived through ever since I was a fifth grader when 9/11 occurred. This piece explores some of that, and how it relates to writing. This piece is addressed in "Call Yourself" (Dirt), which also resonated with me, and is how I originally came across it.

Things I'm looking forward to reading that are currently in my TBR tabs

"Act Your Age: A zine about fandom at 35+ and beyond" Vol. 1 & 2 (Wild Ramp Publishing) - They're seeking people for another edition too, so reach out if you're interested. Keidra Chaney is one of the most insightful fan writers I know, and I'm also going to read "Fandom for Us, by Us: The Pleasures and Practices of Black Audiences" by Alfred L. Martin Jr. based on her rec

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of The Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly

Going to stop here for today. May make this a monthly series, because I still have nearly 1,000 tabs opened across different devices...