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K-pop Essays

K-pop, also known as Korean pop music, has taken the world by storm in recent years. With its catchy tunes, vibrant choreography, and charismatic performers, it has captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. Therefore we will discuss some K-pop essay topics, ideas, and tips for writing a K-pop college essay. Here are 5 K-pop topics to write about:

• The evolution of K-pop – This topic explores how K-pop has evolved over the years, from its early days in the 1990s to its current global popularity. You can analyze the various stages of K-pop and how it has changed over the years.
• The impact of K-pop on Korean culture – K-pop is not just a music genre; it is also a cultural phenomenon that has influenced Korean society. You can discuss how K-pop has influenced Korean culture, such as fashion, beauty standards, and language.
• K-pop and globalization – This topic analyzes how K-pop has become a global phenomenon and its impact on globalization. You can discuss how K-pop has introduced Korean culture to the world and how it has influenced other cultures.
• The business of K-pop – K-pop is not just about music; it is also a massive business. You can explore how the K-pop industry works, from training programs to music production and marketing strategies.
• K-pop fandom culture – K-pop has some of the most passionate fans in the world. You can explore the fandom culture and the role of fans in the success of K-pop.

When writing a K-pop essay, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the topic. It is also crucial to research and gather relevant information to support your arguments. You can use K-pop news articles, academic papers, and documentaries as sources.

In conclusion, K-pop is a fascinating subject to explore for students looking for unique essay topics. Remember to conduct thorough research, organize your thoughts, and present your arguments clearly to impress your professor.

Intellectualism In K-pop: Hidden Intellectualism

In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he discusses his view on intellectualism by describing it through the lens of a sports fanatic, arguing that intellectualism is found in other places rather than only in academics. He goes on to explain that through sports such as...

• Hidden Intellectualism

K-Pop: Unveiling Its Discourse Community and Influence

The major difference between humans and animals is the ability to communicate with each other. Throughout the course of human development, people need a way for mass communication to reach a final decision or to represent a certain point of view or belief. This can...

• Discourse Community

The Star Of K-pop, Bts, And Their Relation To Fans

In today's generation, music with various languages has gain traction with the international audience. One of them is Korean music, or what is often referred to as KPOP. Not knowing the language doesn't stop us from enjoying it. KPOP has become a global sensation that...

• Music Industry

Understanding The Negative Sides Of K-pop Industry

The era of Korean pop music (shortly K-pop) began in the 1990s with the rise of Seotaiji and the Boys – a hip-hop group with their hit single Nan Arayo/I Know – who brought a new audience to music: teenagers. Idols’ job is not merely...

The Reasons Why K-pop And Korean Music Are So Popular

South Korea is well-known for beautiful places, delicious foods and modern technology. However when people talk about South Korea, they will mention about K-pop as well. K-pop is an abbreviation of Korean pop, according from an encyclopedia, K-pop “is a genre of popular music originating...

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The Visibility Of K-pop As A Music Genre And Wave

“There are three things that make K-pop such a visible and unique contributor to the realm of pop music: exceptionally high-quality performance, an extremely polished aesthetic, and an “in-house” method of studio production that churns out musical hits the way assembly lines churn out cars”...

Exploring Why K-pop And Korean Wave Is So Popular

Intro Hello everyone. Today I will be discussing how the integration of social media into Kpop fandoms, particularly through video streaming platforms like Youtube, has affected fan participatory culture, by altering the interaction and behaviours of fandoms and the distribution of Korean content throughout the...

The Relationship Between K-pop's Popularity And Self-esteem

Scholars have analyzed the impact that K-pop has on its audience and listeners (Lie, 2012). The popularity of South Korean popular music (K-pop) has since spread from “Japan and Taiwan” to “the Americas and the Middle East” (p. 340). This is because of the gradual...

The History of K-Pop Popularity in Latin America

K-pop means 'Korean pop', however this concept refers in general to the popular music industry in South Korea. It can be said that K-Pop is not a specific musical genre, but a mixture of different western musical styles such as rock, jazz, hip hop, among...

• Pop Culture

K-Pop Fandom as a Subculture: Comparing K-Pop and Western Fandoms

Subcultures are when individuals join specific groups to collectively carry out certain activities that deviates from mainstream culture or society (Grinnell College, n.d.). Whereas the term ‘scene’, is often used to — particularly in the context of music — capture the relationships between members, such...

Analysis of the K-Pop Industry and Its Eye-Catching Marketing

K-Pop (Korean pop music) refers to 'Korean pop music, or popular music from Korea, including dance music, modern rhythm, and blues, pop music, hip hop music.' (Wikipedia, 2019) This industry can fit in Richard Caves' seven economic properties. Firstly, in terms of A list/B list,...

The Dark Side of K-Pop Industry

The day I started writing this article was also the day I happened to visit a book fair in my hometown. I was more than surprised when upon entering, I could hear ‘Fake Love’ by Korean boy band BTS blasting on the speakers. While I...

Effects of Patronizing Korean Pop (KPOP) Songs in the Philippine Music Industry 

Abstract Philippine music, with its famous OPM and other genres of music brought by the influence of the westerners, have been affected when foreign music like Korean pop songs became famous to the Filipinos. It has been affected in a sense that only a few...

The Popularity and Love of Kpop Culture Among Teenagers

The world has many cultures trending nowadays, most of them help on shaping “the world”, what I mean is that many of these culture flow in our lives and bring impacts to our society, maybe also economic markets. One in that many cultures are becoming...

Understanding the Influence of K-Pop on Filipino Teens

Kpop are becoming more popular in Asia especially in the Philippines more particularly on Filipino Teenagers or what we call nowadays as millennials. The influence of Kpop on Filipino teenagers is gradually increasing. The visual, music, choreography, and artistic content of Korean music and videos...

My Attitude To BTS, Korea Boyband

BTS, Korea boyband, arguably the biggest boyband in the world today. Maybe you've heard it, maybe you saw it at Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. A group of sweet-faced young people who took k-pop to the next level. I've written a bit about how k-pop...

Best topics on K-pop

1. Intellectualism In K-pop: Hidden Intellectualism

2. K-Pop: Unveiling Its Discourse Community and Influence

3. The Star Of K-pop, Bts, And Their Relation To Fans

4. Understanding The Negative Sides Of K-pop Industry

5. The Reasons Why K-pop And Korean Music Are So Popular

6. The Visibility Of K-pop As A Music Genre And Wave

7. Exploring Why K-pop And Korean Wave Is So Popular

8. The Relationship Between K-pop’s Popularity And Self-esteem

9. The History of K-Pop Popularity in Latin America

10. K-Pop Fandom as a Subculture: Comparing K-Pop and Western Fandoms

11. Analysis of the K-Pop Industry and Its Eye-Catching Marketing

12. The Dark Side of K-Pop Industry

13. Effects of Patronizing Korean Pop (KPOP) Songs in the Philippine Music Industry 

14. The Popularity and Love of Kpop Culture Among Teenagers

15. Understanding the Influence of K-Pop on Filipino Teens

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The Literary Life of K-pop Lyrics

Myeong-dong, Seoul at night. Photo © therealrealjd . CC BY-NC 2.0.

If you know me, you know I love K-pop. You’d think a man in his midthirties would learn to step back from the front lines of popular culture, but I still check the Billboard 100 and K-pop charts every week (and get the thrill of my life when these two charts have the same No. 1). I also listen to almost every new release and have the latest hot music video on repeat in the background while I write—at the time of this writing, it’s “Lalisa” by Lisa from BLACKPINK.

In all my stories there are mentions of mainstream pop music, from the shimmering names of Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, and Jennifer Lopez to the first-generation Korean wave artists S.E.S (the TLC of Korea) and Fin.K.L, to 2NE1, Girls Generation, f(x), T-ara . . . In my field, which is literary fiction, pop music, especially K-pop, is looked down upon, but this music is such a part of my daily life that I naturally include it in my work. How did my life come to this, I find myself wondering, and I can only come up with one answer: genetics, or household tradition.

My father, who was something of a decadent man of leisure, would fill up our tiny house with fancy audio equipment and hoarded music like it was running out. Every day of my childhood, I’d wake up to the strains of Yo-Yo Ma’s cello or to Lee Dong-won, Park In-su, or Whitney Houston, which perhaps made it inevitable that I’d become obsessed with pop music. Ever since I was ten years old and bought my first albums—S.E.S’s debut and Mariah Carey’s Music Box —I always had a “favorite singer,” and even today, when I don’t have a means of playing CDs anymore, I still try to squeeze another new album into the crammed shelves of my own little apartment. And thus, the aficionado (or hoarder?) doesn’t fall far from the tree.

“The resultant strains of beauty sear the solitude of the city deep into the listener’s bones.”  

My loud declarations of belonging to fandom culture got me a regular spot on MBC’s This Starry Night , a Korean radio program that’s been on since 1969. For the past couple of years, I’ve done the pop classics segment, where we examine lyrics from ’70s and ’80s K-pop, tracking their influence on contemporary songs. Not a difficult job considering my upbringing, and hardly a job at all considering how much I love doing it.

By the time I was six months into this gig, I’d accumulated what is surely the biggest collection of gem-like K-pop lyrics in the world. For example, I discovered that contemporary singer-songwriters Yozoh and Lee Sora have the most famous poetic lyrics of all Korean musicians; Yozoh’s song “We Lay Down Like Lines” seems on the superficial level like a love song, but going deeper, it reveals an existential layer as well as a metaphysical aspect regarding time and space. Lee Sora has her famous breakup anthems “The Wind Blows,” “Please,” and “Belief” as well as songs of aching self-realization and solitude like “I Am a Star” and “Track 9”—a true poet through and through. Indeed, these two artists topped a list of “Greatest Songwriters Picked by Poets” a year ago.

Aside from these famed singer-songwriters, I also hold a special place in my heart for Cho Yong-pil, an artist whose ability to capture urban life continues to amaze me. Even before the release of my novel Love in the Big City, about a young man navigating life in contemporary Seoul, the word “city” was very meaningful to me. I was born in a big city and then moved to another big city, where I live to this day; the ecology of cities has shaped every aspect of my thinking, writing, and way of living. And the first thing I think of when I hear the word “city” is always Cho Yong-pil’s 1991 song “Dream”:

Here I remain alone Wandering through the buildings and shabby alleys Eating hot tears Do those stars know my heart, my dreams When I’m sad I want to close my eyes And listen for the fragrance of home

The speaker in “Dream” probably left their home deep in the country and now lives a life among concrete buildings, holding onto their dreams as they endure a meaningless daily grind. To “eat” one’s tears instead of letting them flow or swallowing them, to use the verb “listen” to shake up the familiar phrase “fragrance of home,” the skillful spatial imagery, the sounds one immediately imagines coming from one’s faraway home on a summer night, all these sentiments fuse with the yearning in Cho Yong-pil’s unique, slightly nasal voice, and the resultant strains of beauty sear the solitude of the city deep into the listener’s bones. Searching for a similar song, I came upon “Dear Moon” from 2018, written by IU and sung by the genius artist Jehwi:

Dear moon, my moon, you never get any nearer. No matter how I run to you, you elude my grasp like the moon. Oh moon, like [the] moon, why do you not disappear. Even when I turn my back and run from you You follow me like the moon.

This song looks simple at first glance, but in one line evokes the moon as seen from the city. The sky we look up at amidst our lonely and difficult lives, the moon floating there, the speaker projecting their emotions and situation onto it—this image is not so different from that of “Dream.” It’s fascinating to me that these two songs, written thirty years apart, are evoking two very similar emotions.

Cho Yong-pil is a singer-songwriter known as the “King of Songs,” but IU is less known for her songwriting prowess; she still lives in our minds as an adorable teen idol, even when she’s penned hits like “See You on Friday,” “23,” “Palette,” “Heart,” “Night Letter,” and “Dear Moon” for other artists.

I especially love her “Night Letter” and “ Ait .” Jehwi was one of the composers of “Night Letter,” and judging from just the music, it’s more of a slow-tempo, soulful tune. IU added the words of someone writing to their lover or crush, creating a sad but sweet emotion, one you can’t quite define in so many words. Her new song “ Ait, ” on the other hand, is an up-tempo dance song that has the saddest and most desperate loss in its lyrics:

It’s hard to forget this one handspan of a memory Just because someone tells you to move on Time may keep passing but That place keeps me trapped where I am Under the orange sun we dance Together, throwing no shadows There’s no such thing as an inevitable goodbye I’ll see you there in our beautiful memories

In life, our emotions can’t be simplified into words like sadness, joy, anger, or love. Sadness can make us laugh, and laughter can leave us empty. And IU happens to be a precise lyricist of these familiar yet obscured emotional dynamics.

Recently I went to my father’s house to look at his music collection. Among the usual classics, old pop, and popera, I found a recently purchased copy of IU’s Chat-Shire album. The thought that I wasn’t the only one who would discover in IU’s music the echoes of a thirty-year-old moment made me smile.

This publication was facilitated with the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.

Related Reading: 

Anton Hur Interviews Sang Young Park

“The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta” by Sang Young Park, translated by Anton Hur

“Korean Literature Is Stepping Out” by Anton Hur

Sang Young Park

Sang Young Park was born in Daegu in 1988. He studied…

Anton Hur has received PEN Translates and PEN/Heim grants.

The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta, Part III

The same river twice: notes on reading, time, and translation, international graphic novels: volume xiii.

How to Write a Scholarship Essay – What I Learned from BTS J-Hope

How would the soundtrack of your life sound like? What songs will be playing in the background of your life as you look back on the life you lead? What songs have been there for you through the toughest moments of your life? For me, one of the most impactful songs in my life is BTS’s “Dope.” Even though “Dope” is a fast-beat and playful song, the lyrics are incredibly meaningful.

And most importantly, this song accompanied through my final year in college, which was not a regular senior year by any stretch of the imagination. For an entire year, I toiled away at my 80-page honors thesis while juggling a full load of classes, and trying to launch my first company in both China and the United States at the same time. It was a grueling, emotionally-draining, and precarious time – but also a time of tremendous growth and character.

No other year in my life has been met with so much scrutiny and harsh criticism at the same time that I received unquantifiable amounts of love and support. All these years later, I am unsure about how I should feel I reminiscence about the stressful and high-pressured days in that final year. But one thing is for sure, I am unbelievably thankful for BTS to have released the music that they have.

It helped keep me company throughout this period of time in my life and it still brings me back flashbacks every time I listen to “Dope.”

OK 우린 머리부터 발끝까지 전부 다 쩌 쩔어 작업실에 쩔어 살어 청춘은 썩어가도 덕분에 모로 가도 달리는 성공가도

Ok we’re dope from head to toe Over half of the day, we drown in work Even if our youth rots in the studio Thanks to that, we’re closer to success BTS, Lyrics to “Dope”

Because of my appreciation for BTS, I was very eager to write a blog post about them. But instead of writing it about all of them, I decided to write on J-Hope today, who with his namesake has brought a tremendous amount of optimism and hope in my life. So this blog post will be dedicated to exploring J-Hope’s life and presenting it in the form of a scholarship essay. Hopefully, it will entertain you guys as you learn more about J-Hope’s life while also picking up some tips on how to write a killer scholarship essay. DISCLAIMER: I based the majority of this hypothetical scholarship on research I conducted on J-Hope’s life. But since I wasn’t able to directly interview J-Hope (maybe one day I will though!), I don’t know how accurate everything is. So take everything for a grain of salt! I am only writing this for educational purposes.

Scholarship Prompt

Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership abilities outside of school.

Suggested Essay Outline

Before I dive in to share my tips on how to write this scholarship essay, I would advise J-Hope (and anyone else that has a leadership story to share) to use this outline to structure your essay.

I don’t have enough time to go through each section individually to explain how you should write them, but this outline should help guide you through the writing process.

When it comes to this type of scholarship essay, there is only one “bulletproof” way of writing a bomb essay. And that is to select a killer leadership story to write about it. Picking a good story is not only half the battle, but a good story will also basically write itself without too much effort and will help guide you in laying out the rest of your essay.  As you sit down to mull over which leadership story you want to write about, try to keep these qualities in mind:

• Presents a Clear Problem that You Need to Help Solve: The leadership story has a clear challenge that requires you to help solve.
• Requires teamwork: The leadership story is not a story about how you overcame obstacles on your own, it’s always about how you help lead a team of other people to defeat the challenge.
• The Story is Concise: Even though the challenge may be multi-faceted, the story is generally straightforward and easy to tell without having to explain an excessive amount of background information and characters involved. You don’t want a story that turns into 100 other little background stories before you can get to your main point. 
• Had a Profound Impact on You: The leadership story needs to be meaningful to you and played a big role in influencing your leadership style.
• Bigger Implications: The leadership story is bigger than the story itself, its impact can extend to other areas of your life, career, and the people that you want to influence in the future.

When it comes to J-Hope, I think one of his most memorable leadership stories is about how he helped lead BTS members through some of the most difficult times before and after they first debuted.

One of my favorite BTS performances of all time is when they sang “DNA” at the American Music Awards (AMA) back in 2017.

Not only was it beyond incredible for BTS to be the first-ever Kpop group to perform at the AMAs, but their song, “DNA” was also a show-stopper with swoon-worthy lyrics:

우리 만남은 수학의 공식 종교의 율법 우주의 섭리 내게 주어진 운명의 증거, 너는 내 꿈의 출처

Our meeting is like a mathematical formula Commandments of religion, the providence of the universe; The evidence of destiny given to me You’re the source of my dream BTS, Lyrics to “DNA”

What I really like about these lyrics is that they are creative in describing how ingrained a feeling is. Instead of just saying, “I felt it in my gut and it felt right,” they turned to singing about mathematical formulas, religious commandments, laws of the universe, and their DNA to make a point. Similarly, you want to make sure you are equally creative when you explain how you stepped up as a leader. Here are some questions that you may want to answer in this section:

• How did you step up as a leader?
• What leadership qualities did you demonstrate?
• How did you lead your team?
• How did you convince your team to believe in you?
• What type of leader do you think you are?
• What insights did you gain about what it takes to be an effective leader?  

Here’s how I think J-Hope can write about his leadership style and abilities:

As you near the end of your essay, take some time to write about the outcome of your story. Explain how your leadership skills helped the team overcome the big obstacles and share some details to illustrate how that looks like.

You can also talk about your grander leadership goals for the future or the challenges that you hope to be able to help tackle in the world. And then before you end your essay, make sure you leave a big “mic drop” moment for your readers.

Or in other words, leave a memorable last line or message to your reader that is so powerful that they are likely to keep thinking about it even after they’ve moved on to reading someone else’s essay.

Now that’s a real swag right there. #swagalicious This is how I think J-Hope could write his final few paragraphs:

And there you have it! I found J-Hope’s story extremely inspiring and it was a real honor to write about him!

Make sure you leave a comment for me down below and let me know which celebrity you’ll like me to write about next! Cheers!

STAR IN YOUR OWN STORY

Figure out how to Make Your Story Shine on Paper

“BTS love yourself world tour 180826 Jimin jungkook jin namjoon suga yoongi jhope hobi V Taehyung RM”  by  Jimin Memories gallery  is marked with  CC PDM 1.0

“Album LYS Answer ver F – BTS”  by  Yun_Q  is marked with  CC PDM 1.0   “iwm9ks1lc-mx83ej-nx-dje3-jdxm-bts-lal-72j-kdi3-2018-bb5-billboard-su7-1500”  by  Yun_Q  is marked with  CC0 1.0

“d257ffe6ly1fog4y144haj235s23uwu4”  by  Yun_Q  is marked with  CC0 1.0  

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How to Write Your College Essay About Kpop

An old client recently reached out to us a few weeks ago about how to write your college essay about Kpop. It’s not exactly their essay per se. Instead, it was a sibling of theirs who was beginning the college process for the current year.

As the turn of a new generation comes to fruition, modern institutions are beginning to accept the intricacies and individual elements which make up people’s identities. This is especially true with the rising popularity of holistic admissions, which dictates that admissions officers must take a critical look at the “whole applicant” past the numbers.

Thus, our client’s question, “How do you write your college essay on Kpop?”, is actually quite a valid question to ask. Because Kpop is a rather unconventional college essay topic, you’ll need to tread lightly and take careful precautions when writing about this topic. It’s easy to fall for the common pitfalls when writing about personal interests that can be seen as unconventional.

So, we’ve listed some valuable advice below (plus how to actually write the essay well enough that it stands out amongst other applicants.)

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Table of Contents

A Kpop College Essay is Still About You.

What did kpop do for you that made you a strong applicant, stand out amongst the other stans, really, don’t lose track of the main prompt., weave your story into a narrative format..

One of the things people forget when writing their college essay about Kpop is themselves.

Consider what purpose a college admissions essay serves to begin with:

Many applicants apply to top-tier universities with highly competitive GPAs. This leads to higher competition, which leads to admissions officers needing extracurriculars and essays to help distinguish between students. So, it’s imperative that the college essays are written about YOU.

The topic can be anything you choose. However, because admissions officers must distinguish between applicants, they need to know enough about their unique traits and personal qualities to make a proper decision on their acceptance.

So, let’s say you want to write a college essay on your favorite Kpop group: Ateez.

Who takes the spotlight? You, or Wooyoung? Yup, that’s right. Unfortunately, this is about you —not Wooyoung.

You can talk about how you fell in love with him. You can also talk about how seeing him inspired a fire in you to pursue your current aspirations. Maybe his charm gave you the spark you needed to take care of your fashion sense, clean up your act, and stay fit to take care of your body.

Whatever topic it is you choose to write about, writing your college essay about Kpop MUST be more about you and your character than about Kpop. This is what admissions officers will use as a metric to measure your value as a potential candidate for their school. This brings us to our next section.

To look for a strong applicant, the admissions officers will comb through your application with a fine-tooth, well, comb. This means they will deeply analyze each paragraph and sentence you write to better understand the character behind the writing.

Imagine the admissions process in the same way as your typical high school English class. Your teacher asks you to read pages 15-17, and provide a deep analysis of the character’s personality traits. This is essentially the same process in the admissions office.

“What can I make out of this person’s character?” “What does being president of Science Olympiad and founding a nonprofit at their local high school mean?” “Does it mean they are very conscientious? Does it mean they’re just looking for things to write in their application?”

With this in mind, you need to input some proper characteristics into your application essay.

If you are writing your college essay about Kpop, then it needs to show how Kpop made you a strong candidate for the school. What were the elements of your journey with Kpop that brought forth unique characteristics in your personality that would make you a great fit for the school?

Let’s say for instance you want to get into UCB Haas for Business. You write the “how do you express your creative side” essay prompt by talking about how Kpop brings out your creative side. Maybe Kpop brought forth a rabbit hole of new hobbies into your life that you normally would have never considered. This includes listening to the music, drawing the art of your favorite members, and taking the time to write popular fan stories on platforms like Webnovel and Wattpad.

What can someone learn from this? Well, this essay not only shows your creative side. It also shows that your creative hobbies are more than just times to relax. It shows you are someone who is able to take initiative to conduct big projects with your free time and truly go the full measure on your creative outlets.

Thus, someone getting into UCB Haas may truly benefit from this topic. Why? Well, what makes a great potential applicant to Berkeley’s business school? Is it the Kpop? Nope. It’s the conscientiousness of the student to take action and build things off of hobbies that they truly love.

Berkeley will not read your college essay about Kpop and think, “Perfect! We needed someone who was interested in Kpop!” Rather, they will read your essay and think, “Perfect! We needed someone who could take action and start projects that they’re truly passionate about!”

Many other fans will have reasons to appreciate Kpop, that’s for sure. However, you need to do some introspection to discover why your interest in Kpop differs from the rest.

In the college admissions process, where competition is fierce, standing out amongst the rest is crucial. You can’t get away with a generic college essay talking about Kpop that says, “I was always interested in E’Last.” It’s critical that you mention what your unique journey was in getting into that group.

“But, I got into the group because they had good music and one of the members was super cute! That’s no different from everyone else, right?”

This observation is perhaps true. However, there are typically small details that, if you zero in on them, can make your experience with Kpop unique compared to the rest. Think of HOW Kpop made you feel and WHAT those emotions were in your experience. The more you zero in on the details, the more you’ll start to realize that your experience with Kpop is actually quite unique and special compared to the rest.

Here’s an example.

“The first time I found out about BTS, I wasn’t really all too excited at all. It was with my friends during a sleepover. Samantha would roll over from her side of the bed and poke at me with the plastic corner of her phone to say, ‘see this man, he’s a fine like wine isn’t he?’ That’s when i’d reply with a muffled ‘mmmhm…’ before drifting once again to sleep. I don’t know why I did that. In fact, I don’t know why I never really bothered to listen or appreciate the next great glimmering object in the distance. It was like there was some invisible block in myhead telling me to just stick with what was safe. Why bother with anything new to begin with anyway? But, that’s seldom how Kpop works. It always finds a way to meander itself into one’s life; and I am very, very grateful for that… “

The reason this set of sentences works well is that the admissions officers may infer that the applicant used Kpop as a medium to discover more of the unknown. The applicant had a conservative temperament that was unwilling to try new things; but, Kpop made them into someone who is able to appreciate the new and experiment more.

So, maybe you had the chance to see Dreamcatcher in your Youtube recommended list. Perhaps that first click is what got you enthralled. It may be the case that their music just made talking about them impossible without getting into a big, giggly fit. Hey, that’s understandable!

Everyone has their favorite group to obsess about. Everyone has their biases. Everyone gets a little bit too captivated sometimes.

However, it’s very common for people who are very passionate about their hobbies, interests, and projects to get tunnel vision about their particular subject. This can be quite devastating, especially if you lose track of the main prompt.

For instance, a university may require you to answer why you deserve to attend their school in a 650-word response. Instead of circling back to answer the question, it can be very easy to think that we need to dedicate 450 words to just how amazing one idol was to you. This would be too much, and it takes away from the main purpose of the college essays.

When writing a college essay about Kpop, one of the best ways to stay on track with the main essay prompt is to implement this rule: every time you write a sentence, look back at the prompt to see if your sentence answers or at least follows into the prompt’s question. If your sentence either answers the prompt or leads into it, then you know you’re on the right track.

So, an essay that only dives deeper into the history and lore of an idol group without answering the main prompt probably isn’t a good idea.

The college essay narrative format is exactly what it sounds like, a narrative. This means that your college essay will be structured much like how someone tells a story. This is not in a practical or overly-formal structure.

The narrative format typically works for anyone writing about meaningful hobbies, personal experiences, interests, and personal projects. This is because these topics help paint a good picture for admissions officers to see more of “you” in your character rather than just the scores you’ve earned and your academic performance.

Kpop as a college essay topic typically works very well for narrative formats. It gives you the chance to show more of your personality through your deep passion and interest in Kpop. However, most stans and fans have a special journey connected with their relationship with Kpop. It may have started with an off-handed recommendation from a friend. Or, it could have started from sheer curiosity after hearing about a certain idol.

No matter how you were introduced to Kpop, most if not everyone has had a journey with it. The narrative format will help you build the proper foundation for your story. The important thing to consider when doing this is making sure your narrative story dives deep into what you felt and what it made you into. How did your personal Kpop journey mold and change you into the person you are today? How do those qualities contribute to making you a great candidate for this school?

If you are still struggling with writing your college essay about Kpop, or have any questions at all about the writing process, don’t be afraid to contact us for a free consultation . Our 30-minute college admissions phone consultation will help you navigate the essay writing process and create a strong essay that will stand out amongst the rest of the applicants.

4 thoughts on “How to Write Your College Essay About Kpop”

Thank you so much for writing this article!! I’m considering writing about kpop for my common application since it’s just had such a huge affect on me as a person. All of this advice will come in super handy when I start writing! 😀

Thank you! It’s good to see people using this topic because there truly is a lot of potential in it! Let us know if you need any help with your writing too; you can reach us on our contact page!

Hi! Great article and definitely helped me FINALLY finish my essay 🙂 Is there a way you guys could read the final draft that I have for extra feedback?

Hi Jenny! Thanks! I’m glad it helped and I’d be happy to provide some feedback! I just sent you an email!

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The rise of k-pop, and what it reveals about society and culture.

Initially a musical subculture popular in South Korea during the 1990s, Korean Pop, or K-pop, has transformed into a global cultural phenomenon.

Characterized by catchy hooks, polished choreography, grandiose live performances, and impeccably produced music videos, K-pop — including music by groups like BTS and BLACKPINK — now frequently tops the Billboard charts, attracts a fiercely dedicated online following, and generates billions of dollars.

Yale sociologist Grace Kao, who became fascinated with the music after watching a 2019 performance by BTS on Saturday Night Live, now studies the subgenres of K-pop and its cultural, sociological, and political effects.

Kao, the IBM Professor of Sociology and professor of ethnicity, race, and migration in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and director of the Center on Empirical Research in Stratification and Inequality (CERSI), recently spoke with Yale News about the kinds of research her interest in K-pop has prompted, why the genre’s rise has been important to so many Asian Americans, and why she urges today’s students to become familiar with various musical genres.

The interview has been edited and condensed.

You have said that watching BTS on Saturday Night Live changed your view of K-pop. How did that performance transform your interest in K-pop from a personal one into an academic one?

Grace Kao: I saw that performance, and it stayed in the back of my mind. Then, when we were on lockdown because of COVID, being stuck at home set the stage for having time to watch more K-pop videos. At first, I was just watching them for fun. I knew K-pop was something important, but I didn’t know anything about it. I thought “I should educate myself on this.” My current research collaborator, Wonseok Lee [an ethnomusicologist and a musician at Washington University], and a Yale graduate student, Meera Choi, who’s Korean, offered guidance.

I’ve always been interested in race and ethnicity and Asian Americans. I knew in my gut that K-pop was important, but it was hard to figure out exactly how I could work on it, since I’m a quantitative sociologist. What's fun about being a researcher and being in academia is that we can learn new things and push ourselves. I think that’s the best part of this job.

Grace Kao recommends this playlist to get started.

When I started working on it, I tried to learn without having a clear research question. Then, along with my collaborator, Lee, we started thinking about papers that we could work on together. I was also able to take first-semester Korean, so now I can read Korean, and Choi and I can begin working on different research papers.

What kinds of research are you doing?

Kao: One paper is about the link between ’80s synth-pop and very current K-pop. Others have argued that K-pop borrows heavily from American Black music — R&B, hip hop, and so forth. And it’s true, but we’re arguing that K-pop has links to all these different genres because the production is much faster. We also finished another paper looking at the links between New Wave synth-pop to Japanese city pop [which was also popular in the 1980s] and a Korean version of city pop. And we’re probably going to start a reggae paper next.

In another project, with two data scientists we’re looking at Twitter data related to a 2021 BTS tweet that happened about a week after a gunman in Atlanta murdered eight women, including six of Asian descent. The tweet, which was about #StopAsianHate, or #StopAAPIHate, was the most retweeted tweet of the year. Everyone in that world knows that K-pop is extremely influential, but there are moments now where it seems like it’s ripe for political action because fans are already really organized. We’re looking at how the conversation about the shootings before and after they tweeted changed. The analysis involves millions of tweets, so it's very data intensive work.

Last March you gave a talk on campus in which you talked about the role of K-pop in “transformative possibilities for Asian Americans.” What is an example of those possibilities?

Kao: Partly it’s just visibility. The SNL performance by BTS was really important for people. Especially people my age, we had never seen a bunch of East Asian people on the stage singing in a non-English, non-Western language. I knew that was an important moment regardless of whether or not you like the music or the performance.

I think during COVID, BTS made Asian faces more visible. They were on the cover of Time magazine, every major publication. They were everywhere. But it also brought up questions of xenophobia. People were making fun of them because of how they looked. At the time there was also the extra baggage that comes with being Asian. But any time BTS were attacked, because their fandom is so big and so passionate, their fans would jump on anyone who did anything to them. Then journalists would cover it, and suddenly there were all these stories about how you shouldn’t be racist against Asians.

Many of us who study Asian Americans have observed over time that it often seems acceptable for people to make fun of Asian things. Just by virtue of the fact that it’s [BTS], that their fans are protecting them, and that that gets elevated to the news is a big deal. President Biden invited them to the White House. These are all things I would have had trouble imagining even just five years ago.

You teach a first-year seminar, “Race and Place in British New Wave, K-pop, and Beyond,” which focuses on the emphasis on aesthetics in both genres’ popularity. What understanding do you hope students walk away with?

Kao: I want students to take pop culture very seriously. Sometimes pop music seems not serious, but so many people consume it that it can have pervasive and serious consequences on how people see folks of different race, ethnic, gender, and national identities.

Another thing I wanted students to learn about is genres of music. Students today like music, but they consume it very differently than people did when in college. We listened to the radio or watched MTV, so we were fed something from a DJ or from actual people who were programming the content. You’d end up listening to a lot of music that you didn’t like, but you’d also have a better sense of genres than students now. Today students consume music through Spotify or YouTube and so forth, which use algorithms to give you songs that are similar to the songs you liked, but not necessarily from the same genre. Students can have diverse and wide-ranging experiences with music, but I found that they have trouble identifying that any particular song is part of a genre. So I feel like it’s important for them to listen to a lot of music.

I want them to consume it because sometimes we think we can comment on things that we don’t know anything about. We don’t actually consume it. I think it’s important for students to walk away knowing something about these genres and to be able to identify them: this is a reggae song, this is a ska song, this is synth-pop, et cetera.

What K-pop groups are you currently into?

Kao: Besides BTS, I enjoy listening to groups such as SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, NewJeans, Super Junior, and new group TRENDZ.

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BTS: The Phenomenal Iconic South Korean Music Band

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