WHEN I was in high school, K-Pop was just starting to become a part of my consciousness. I remember one of my friends listening to Girls’ Generation, SHINee, and 2NE1, but they were not a dominant part of the music landscape of the day, at least not in Guyana.

However, with the rise of Generation Z (kids born around the mid-90s to the early 2000s), there has certainly been an increase in both the output of K-Pop (Korean Pop) music as well as the number of listeners who indulge in this new and very modern form of music. K-Pop’s prevalence and impact on the world stage can be measured by the fact that there is a rising group of young people in Guyana, in this little South American/Caribbean country of all places, who listen to the genre and contribute to the conversation surrounding this particular brand of music in Guyana. An example of the influence of K-Pop on young people in Guyana can be seen in the way Caribbean Cinemas at the Giftland Mall recently announced that they would be showing the documentary film, “Burn The Stage,” which chronicles the story of the immensely popular Korean boy band, BTS, on tour.

Furthermore, tickets for this film are more heavily priced than those for regular films at the same cinemas. Clearly, K-Pop is a trend that is making its mark on pop culture and it is a genre of music that we all need to pay more attention to.

Perhaps one of the most interesting of all the features that govern K-Pop music, and perhaps the most easily identifiable of them all, has to be the presentation of many male members of K-Pop bands as forms that highlight the more delicate forms of what we do consider to be masculine. There is no doubt that “pretty [often straight] boys,” with their willowy frames and soft features, form an important crux of the K-Pop musical-movement and while that aspect of the genre no doubt stems from the culture from which the music has emerged, it is still remarkably dissimilar from what has, for a long period, been the stereotype for the popular male musician in the West. Of course, this disparity is welcome, especially as we live in an era where acceptance is thankfully making its way in and homophobia is slowly, but surely, being shut out. The idea of effeminate men being hounded and obsessed over by thousands of beautiful women while their hyper-masculine counterparts glower in the background is one that is appealing to me and to many young people in the world, undoubtedly, and we all have K-Pop to thank for that. It is an indicator of the modernity of this peculiar artistic style, highlighting a changing world, in the way art is supposed to.

Another interesting thing about K-Pop is the way it transcends global boundaries. There are K-Pop fans all over the world. Recently, several popular Western artistes have started to collaborate with K-Pop bands. Such artistes include heavy hitters such as Nicki Minaj and Dua Lipa. What is it about K-Pop that makes it, unlike other niche musical genres that emerge out of particular cultures, able to evade borders and to find welcoming hearts in people all across the world? Could it be the integration of English words and phrases into the songs or band-names that makes them feel accessible even though they might not entirely be? In my opinion, the answer lies in language, but not only of the spoken kind.
K-Pop is also addictive because one of its most important elements is dance.

The choreography is always slick, honed to perfection, precisely certain and sharp. This sort of perfection is unusual and it stands out, as something that is attractive and alluring, as something that is interesting because of all the skill and hard work that goes into it. Similarly, K-Pop relies heavily on the aesthetics of costume and character – often shaping the band-members’ look in such a garish, colourful, overblown and cartoonish way, that just the sight of a K-Pop band, on account of its strangeness is enough to pull audience members and viewers in.

Of course, to suggest that K-Pop is nothing more than pretty boys and girls in bright clothing, dancing to pop synth sounds is nothing but reductive. It takes actual talent to succeed as a K-Pop band, and an equal amount of hard work – as it is well known that the formation of these bands can take several years, with talented teenagers being trained, in an almost industrial fashion, for a long time until they are ready to be presented to the world. So, no, K-Pop is more than just the visual. K-Pop is definitely about the music as well – and K-Pop music is darn good.

BLACKPINK’s “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du,” for example, is a sassy, groovy number that will make you want to dance as soon as they announce their name in the opening bars of the song, and it will keep you going until the very end even though you might not understand any of it until you Google a translation of the lyrics. Meanwhile, “Kiss and Make Up,” their collaboration with Dua Lipa is a spunky, sexy, fun number that showcases the girls of BLACKPINK to be right on par with British superstar, Dua Lipa. However, the most popular K-Pop band making the rounds right now is undoubtedly the boy band, BTS. Their “Fake Love” is a grungy ballad that does not require any translation whatsoever to make you feel the tenderness that underlies the tough outer demeanour of the music. My favourite BTS song, however, is “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” which is an addictive, smooth-as-butter, champagne-pop, number that just makes you sway and twirl and sing. However, the choices are not limited to these two bands – there are many, many more out there. To find them, all you have to do is conduct a simple Google search – or, better yet, ask for recommendations from one of the many, many young people in Guyana who are currently into K-Pop.