Ever since Seo Taiji and Boys broke onto the scene in their baggy overalls back in 1992, Korea has been working to cast as wide a cultural net as possible on the world stage. And, by placing young talent through rigorous game show incubators and pumping out dozens of attractive, talented, and universally appealing musical artists, they succeeded. With the meteoric rise of groups like BTS and Blackpink, K-Pop now had a hoard of die-hard fans in the West - a cross-cultural exchange to challenge Beatlemania. In this bonus episode, Hannah and Maia talk about K-Pop stans, who have become some of the loudest voices on the internet, and often use those voices for good. But when the conservative K-Pop industry subjects its artists to unprecedented levels of public scrutiny and input, and leaves them at the whims of a rabid global audience, can it spawn a new, dangerous form of parasocialism that we may never come back from? Tangents include an incredibly sophisticated T-Pain impression, and the tragically overlooked Lonely Island cinematic masterpiece, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
FULL episode can be found on Patreon:
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