Sasaengs, Ulzzangs and Mukbangs? If all these new fangled terms have you culture or generation gapped or – let’s face it: you’re just a sucker for interesting popcultural phenomena, the latest installement of Strange Kpop is just for you!
If you think that the Japanese have a peculiar and intense relationship to cute things and cuteness the Koreans may well have the Japanese beat – If being “gyo”, ie cute has a special place in the hierarchical and confucianistic Korean society, then “aegyo” is the act of being cute. In its hardest to digest form, aegyo is both artificial, a part of the both the age and gender oriented social system and blatantly incentivised by gaining the performing individual something from someone else. For all intents and purposes aegyo has a lot of potential to culture-gap you to the point of being nauseous. Don’t let that deter you though – read on to enjoy all the intricacies of Aegyo!
No matter if you’re a fan of the irresistible force of the Tsundere SinB or an admirer of the ditzy yet mysterious Eunha, the month of May had some really upsetting news in store for Gfriend fans. At the height of success having released the massively popular single Mago as the follow up to a string of successful releases and hits during the past years, the Kpop equivalent of Donna Tartts Secret History: Gfriend, abruptly announced that the 6 year old group had disbanded and left Source Music, the now subsidiary of Big Hit Entertainment of BTS fame. What the heck happened?
Leader, Maknae, Center, Visual… these are just a few of the bewildering terms of the hierarchical orderliness and structure of Kpop. Learn all about positions in Kpop groups.
While a strictly personal opinion, being assaulted by a dildo-wielding overexcited south korean kpop fan will remain on the more non-threatening spectra of my “random likely assailant”-list, the whole scenario is still confusing. What the heck is going on?
