Notes on K-pop • 15th May 2025

What story is SM telling?

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 on Amazon Prime. Although I'm featured in the film as a talking head briefly, I had not actually booked my LA trip to attend the premiere of the film. I had booked it because of SMTown, SM Entertainment's roster-wide concert, taking place on Sund...

Notes on K-pop • 4th May 2025

Schrödinger's discourse

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 it's amazing) and thinking about how we're all talking about pop culture differently than we were a few years ago. It's not just a pivot to video like past eras; it feels like we've pivoted to parveness. "Pareve" meaning neutral in term...

Notes on K-pop • 6th April 2025

The Failure of Fantasy

Over the past few weeks, a few big major Korean entertainment-oriented stories have broken: At this point of reading, you're probably asking yourself, "Tamar, what is the connection here? Legal battles, pedophilia, and insensitivity seemingly have nothing bringing them together?" And that's a good question! But I think there is one tie: each of these situations reflect a fantasy that has been sold to audiences. And it's a terrible business model ultimately, even as lucrative as it may be before...

Notes on K-pop • 26th March 2025

Unlocking the BLACKPINK Expansion Pack

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're the lead artist, according to Apple Music (and my count) the members have a combined 55 songs: Lisa-17, Jisoo-6, Rosé-14, Jennie-18. (If I miscounted or am off on any of these numbers, please do let me know in the comments or v...

Notes on K-pop • 19th March 2025

Mini Note #9: The joy that comes with hard work

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 the whole weekend to write it, and then also Monday before and after work. I have three other newsletter editions I need to write, edit, and publish. I've written over 100 newsletters up until today, 111 editions of Notes on K-pop according to the site, though that includes...

NME • 14th March 2025

Yeji on going solo: “All the experiences of working with ITZY have led me to this”

A few years ago, South Korea singer Yeji – a member of K-pop girl group ITZY – became the star of a meme where fans compared her to a Light Fury dragon from the animated film franchise, How to Train Your Dragon. More specifically, these memes had fans photoshopping Yeji’s hairstyles to the dragon, with her hair becoming a stand-in of sorts for her singular identity. It makes sense, then, that the first trailer for Yeji’s debut solo project, ‘Air’, featured her going from flowing long locks to cu...

Notes on K-pop • 2nd March 2025

The Best K-pop of 2024

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 wasn't even allowed. So even though I've spent years attempting to educate myself about music, I doubt I'll ever be confident that my opinions and music taste are legitimate, let alone valuable, or that I can write about them eloquently...

Notes on K-pop • 26th February 2025

Mini Note #8: I don't know how to stomach 'Übermensch' in 2025

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 so am not listening today. It is, after all, titled Übermensch. According to a statement by GD, "Übermensch means ‘Beyond-Man,’ representing an individual who transcends themselves. This album embodies the idea of presenting a stronger and more resilien...

Notes on K-pop • 2nd February 2025

K-pop diss tracks are targeting the corporate machine

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 behavior, although there was plenty of that, but it was about business and perceptions of artists. And amid it all it was revealed during legal proceedings that Hybe had essentially its own regular negative, and even damning, reporting analysis of other...

Notes on K-pop • 21st January 2025

2024 K-pop Year in Review Big 4 Company Scorecard

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 about trends we saw last year, or major moments that deserve way more thoughtful discourse than we've seen before (topics like BIGBANG's return, PLAVE's ascent, the response to the new Fifty Fifty, etc.) But... Instead... I'm going to try so...

Notes on K-pop • 2nd January 2025

Looking back at writing in 2024, and forward to 2025

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 the new year brings you health, happiness, and a world that is perhaps less messy than last year's (though I doubt it). I have a few 2024 retrospectives I'd like to share, but due to day job/life, I'm constantly behind on this new...

Notes on K-pop • 24th December 2024

Art, Protest, and Lightsticks

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 ago and as many of us around the world are about to spend the next week or so celebrating holidays of light and joy, or just taking some time off, I wanted to reflect a bit on how important art and pop culture are to me, and, honestl...

Notes on K-pop • 16th December 2024

Chaos & Introspection At Mark Lee Lookalike Contest

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 swarmed by fans rushing him, as he raised hands together, showing both appreciation for them and simultaneously seeming to ask them to step back. This was my overly anxious brain working in overtime, and there was never a real danger, but it took...

Notes on K-pop • 1st December 2024

Emotional Support K-pop Gift Guide

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 space for the softer, sweeter moments of life. While albums and seasons greetings are amazing gifts, here are some other suggestions to help you through all the days ahead. If you're interested in more suggestions, please check out last y...

Notes on K-pop • 29th November 2024

NewJeans Never Die vs. The K-pop Paradigm

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 on the fact that the music has taken a backseat in 2024. And that, to some degree, is at the heart of NewJeans’ decision to attempt to part ways with Hybe subsidiary Ador, under which they were formed and are currently...

Notes on K-pop • 25th November 2024

Everything is AKB: A Convo with Patrick St. Michel

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 from AKB48. Nothing was as big of a moment as 2018's Produce 48, the third edition of Mnet's Produce series where dozens of K-pop hopefuls would compete (despite the series' ultimately being rigged). Produce 48, or P48, brought contestants fro...

Notes on K-pop • 10th November 2024

Mini Note #7: The Reason I Became a Witch

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 of the moment of its release musically, and features a female perspective focused on being bitter and aggressive while simultaneously sexy and empowering in its revenge dreams. Although it's about love and, perhaps embarrassingly, I've never been in love, I have been pissed...

8th November 2024

YUTA's Road To 'Depth': How The NCT Member Created A Clean Slate For His Solo Debut | GRAMMY.com

NCT 127 .body-text { max-width: inherit; } .body-text strong > a { font-weight: 600; } Photo courtesy of SM Entertainment FacebookTwitterE-mailNCT 127 Essential Songs: 14 Tracks You Need To Know From The K-Pop JuggernautsFacebookTwitterEmailEight years after their debut, NCT 127 have released their sixth studio album, 'WALK.' Before you dive in, press play on this chronological list of NCT 127 hits and deep cuts that show...

Notes on K-pop • 5th November 2024

Hybe's Burn Book Culture

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 now. "Are you a fan?" they asked. "I am," I said. "Wow, I've never met anyone who covers K-pop who is a fan before," they responded. While that threw me off quite a bit, I did understand the sentiment: dealing with K-pop - the industr...

Notes on K-pop • 16th October 2024

Who Protects K-pop stars?

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 field, are rich people, richly invested in by major companies. They're accompanied by managers and security guards, and they often live in apartments owned or leased by their company. Then there are the less fortunate K-pop stars, the "nugu" stars -...