K-pop genre gains popularity in the United States with teens

Pop, which stands for Korean Pop, is one of the growing genres of music. Now, Central students have created a club that focuses on this. Every other Wednesday, they meet to bond with people who love the same kind of music, learn more about Korean Culture and occasionally dance.

Although many people believe PSY’s “Gangnam Style” started K-Pop, which broke YouTube records and received worldwide attention, it began in the 90s according to billboard.com. This is because of idols, who are the Korean stars of music, fashion, and choreography, started to appear. Since the idols could combine both Korean and American music they slowly became more popular and eventually reached many nations around the world.

In K-Pop club, students will listen to the music and watch the YouTube videos, complete with lyrics and choreography, up on the screen. Although the overwhelming favorite band amongst fans of K-Pop is BTS, there are others like EXO, Girlfriend, and BlackPink. Along with listening to music, they also are adding different elements like playing games, learning more about Korean Culture, going to festivals and Korean dinners once or twice a year. One of their favorite games is a K-Pop version of telephone. In this case, they divide into two teams and one person shows a dance move to one member on each team. The two teams race to finish the fastest with the most accurate translation of the move, and whichever team wins gets treats.

One of their goals is to perform a K-Pop dance for the Road Show, a talent shows with a twist, that has run for over 100 years at Central. The girls did a dance to a mashup of three K-pop songs by EXO and Twice last year but weren’t accepted into the final cast. “Hopefully we’ll be in the roadshow this year,” says Melessa Brings Him Back, the president of the club. “We plan to dance to either BTS’s Go Go or DNA.”

Since leaders Joanna Glesmann-Albright and Melessa are seniors and won’t be coming back to Central next year, one of their hopes for this year is to have enough people come that the club will have a legacy. “My goal is that the club will keep going after the senior, like me, leave,” says Melessa. They’re looking for 10-20 new members, especially those who would like to help with the dance for the Road Show. The promotion manager Abigail Huffman will be putting up fliers and having the club be announced on the morning announcements.

K-Pop club is just starting its second year at Central, and hopefully there will be many more to come. To people wanting to join, “Come and enjoy diverse music and have fun with us,” Melessa said.