Hey guys, I'm here with Abby P.
She's also a youtuber in South Korea.
She looks Korean but she's actually not Korean.
So Abby, tell them about yourself.
Hi
I'm Abby P
I have a YouTube channel as well where I post very similar videos as Vicky does like language,
Korean culture
dance covers
So I'm gonna start doing dance covers like Vicky as well.
so, um, I'm actually Filipino American, not Korean.
I was born in the Philippines and
moved to the US.
Yeah, I grew up in the US and then I moved to Korea.
At what age did you move to the US?
Three years old. I lived there all my life.
And then I moved to Korea in 2015.
so I've been here almost four years.
And Abby speaks a bit of..
no not bit of, quite fluently, Korean.
She speaks multiple languages.
German, Japanese, Filipino (tagalog) and Spanish as well
So she's multilingual.
Yeah
She's awesome, guys. Check her out.
So what we're going to do today is to talk about Kpop. So Abby's really into Kpop,
specifically BTS
And she has also
auditioned for K-pop Star Season 1, which is really interesting. So tell them about that experience.
How was it?
I think maybe it was back five years ago, six years ago. I was very into kpop
That was like the peak of my kpop interest back then so I was really interested.
So that was before you started teaching in Korea.
I mean, I still have an interest in it, but as I get older, I feel like
you know my interest sort of shifted but back in the day when I was very interested in Kpop,
I wanted to like even be a kpop star as well.
Because I was also very interested in like singing and dancing.
So I auditioned for like SM, JYP and the best audition experience
I had was, the SBS right, a Kpop Star first season audition.
And it was really exciting very nerve-wracking but the best part of it was I got to see Boa.
The best, the queen of Kpop. I saw her.
She was beautiful. She was very serious. Because she was the judge. I was quite surprised actually.
Like wow she feels so cold.
But that was part of the job.
And basically I did my audition but I remember being so nervous that it probably
didn't allow me to do as well as I wanted to and so basically after the audition was finished,
it was finished very quickly
I sang I danced and then at that time I didn't understand Korean as much but she said something in Korean to the other judges
And then they translated it basically saying thank you for your audition
Let's suppose you, you know, you passed like the whole round and you actually
became a trainee for the entertainment company.
Do you think that would have made your life much happier than where you're at now?
That's a very good question because I remember at that time like all I wanted was to break out into the industry
But I feel like things happen for a reason and
I think if I did become a trainee
I would have to undergo a lot of like intensive training and be very
monitored by the company and I hear so many stories about like
trainees and k-pop idols having very difficult lives because of them
being managed, micromanaged. Every little detail about their life, not being able to express themselves fully.
So I know like I I would not be completely happy that way.
So I think yeah everything happens for a reason
I'm happy with where I am.
It was a good experience though. The whole audition process was definitely what I'm thankful for.
I think K pop's really cool and you know there many catchy songs and there are many talented individuals
but it's barely an art.
It's not an art. Yes, it's business and it's not even a culture.
That's another reason why I started to kind of turn away from kpop, because at first I was very interested
It's so like, it catches you right away. It mesmerizes you.
The visuals, the choreography,
music videos are like number one Kpop genre.
But then as I dig deeper into it it's very
manufactured. And so I think for me like because I
grew up loving art. My major in college was art.
So I feel like as an artist that's very true to the philosophy and
just the concept of art and expressing yourself genuinely and truly,
the whole manufactured kpop idol business didn't really fit well with me.
So that's why I started to kind of move away from it.
So now you just enjoy listening to Kpop.
Now I just enjoy BTS.
Are there any other kpop idols that you are fond of?
I do like black pink.
Oh, me too.
I like Lisa.
Me too! She's my favorite.
I don't know. I'm straight.
I'm completely straight.
but
ever since I was young I was like obsessed with girl groups and then when I was in middle school
my, now they call it bias, but I was just a fan, a big fan of Wonder Girls.
Yeah, they're like one of the first pioneers.
Yes and I used to like them very much but now they are separated.
Which member was your bias?
I liked Sunmi.
I don't like her as much now because I'm not interested in her songs, her style of song.
Now my bias is Lisa.
Anyways, let's move on to Kpop.
So kpop is really huge now. The biggest it's ever been.
Yes, it's ever been. Everybody knows kpop. Everybody knows BTS. Why do you think that is?
Why do you think it's so huge?
Especially now.
It's actually interesting because I thought at the time when I was really into kpop like back in
2009-2010 I thought that's what kpop was like at the peak of its popularity.
But now I'm like now, it's really a global phenomenon.
Which is interesting because that that meant that kpop was actually growing even bigger than what I thought
it was back then. The reason for that is many things, one of which is like globalization like there's more access to
different cultures. Youtube videos, social media, you know internet.
So people have more access to other
cultures and can experience other genres of music and
Also kpop idols,especially BTS is I think a big reason might be just as so popular is because
they're so connected with their fans.
Through the internet, through apps they've got V-live,
and are able to show themselves behind the scenes,
BTS of BTS
And Twitter they're very active on Twitter
They don't have instagram accounts, do they?
Not official, but there are many fan accounts.
Right. I never knew why
That's true.
It'd be really big, like 20 million 30 million.
They don't have an instagram account.
They should make one.
I think all the surface as I said before kpop is very popular
kpop is popular because of the visuals like
when you see these idols on your computer and TV screen, they look
really good. Yeah, because the kpop companies they know how to study this. Yeah
It's a science and business. Yeah, they have to study to know what people will like right away.
It's strategy.
Catchy tunes,
captivating visuals music videos
fashion, style, they just look really cool. Yeah, so it makes people
see them and yeah, enjoy them and like them right away, and make their fan base grow bigger and bigger.
And that's what kind of connects to like Korean culture in general.
So Korea is I think the country that places the most importance on looks.
It's true.
So they know
what looks good in other people's eyes.
They say "Beauty is in the eyes of beholders," but I don't think that's quite true.
because there is like, I don't know
something that catches the eyes. It's psychology.
Yes there's big psychology behind Kpop.
and why it's popular.
Yeah, so they make a lot of money, but that doesn't really guarantee
Success or fame?
Yeah, and even if it does bring them success or fame, that doesn't guarantee
happiness?
Yeah, and their ability to express themselves.
Yes. And they're kind of lost.
They think they are whom other people say they are.
Yeah, so they're made into sort of a product of other people's opinions.
Yeah
And they're more likely to be vulnerable
and care about what they look, and the more they care about their look
the more beautiful they become and the more you know bad cycle, and it's very unhealthy.
I'm not trying to like
how do you say put it down? Yeah. We try to look at both sides. Yeah, it's important to look at two sides.
And probably that's you know, the exact reason why kpop stars need our support.
They are going through hard times,
So we shouldn't really bash them or hate them.
Yes and I don't understand fan wars.
That's very childish. Oh, yeah, they're all in the same industry trying to do the same thing
with their dreams and do their best work hard. Yeah, so if you like certain artists,
support them if you don't, just move on.
Yes, it's none of your business actually.
So moving on to I guess like more
serious questions.
Those were not serious questions?
More serious questions.
So what do you think are the positive influences that kpop is making?
I think a big one is
inviting more people
of other cultures to enjoy another culture different from theirs.
So now so many people because of kpop are learning about Korean culture the language
Just because of Kpop.
They think kpop is Korea, but as I said, Kpop is not a culture, it's business.
So don't really like have this fantasy about Korea that we all look like kpop stars,
Come to Korea and see for yourself.
Because the reality's not Kpop.
When people see kpop they see these
performers that are so hard-working
they look really good. And I think it makes people wanna like learn to dance and sing
Yeah celebrate like the arts more and that's really happy for me. Yeah, I've always loved like dancing singing performing
Yeah, so it's really opened these people and invites them to try, try to danceeven through kpop dance
So express yourself through your body, your music, and your heart.
I think that's what music does. It brings people together.
That's why music videos are the most viewed videos on YT.
And it's completely understandable.
It doesn't need any effort.
You just have to lay back and listen to the music and enjoy.
Even people that don't try to learn Korean they still feel connected.
Just with the music.
People from other parts of the world will feel the same way just through listening.
These days with like social media and you know YouTube platform and Internet becoming really big
I think it's quite an important for individuals to build
their following, their audience not necessarily to gain fame,
but to share with the world what you feel good about and what you want them to feel good about
and just make their audience content.
So individuals who participate in K-pop industry can build their audience
and that's what BTS is doing like you said in your
why do I like BTS video.
They're giving out positive influence using their big following.
Yeah, I think also that's another reason why bts became so big
they do have like really beautiful messages and topics that they talk about
not just about typical love or heartbreaks like how many younger generation artists talk about,
but they talk about so many other issues like mental health and education.
And they recently gave a speech in UN
and that proves how influential they are.
And I saw one article about BTS that one of the reasons the fans think
they became so successful is the brotherhood they share so they're really
caring about each other. What do you think?
I agree.
Yeah, I think another big appeal to BTS
is they're so down-to-earth when you watch their videos and interviews.
They're very humble. They're very
they seem very normal. They're so they're silly their yeah a little awkward. Sometimes they're funny.
They're very accessible to the viewers.
That really contradicts our
conventional belief that to be successful you have to like
fake coolness, show more than who you are, perfection.
But you don't have to be perfect
I think that's the message they are indirectly sending out of the world.
How about the negative side about Kpop industry?
It helps people to learn about Korean culture
But they give people a sort of rose-colored vision of what Korean culture is actually like.
They see kpop and they assume that this is Korea.
So rich, they look so stylish all of them are good looking and they're happy and look energetic.
But when you go to Korea to the reality of Korea
not many Koreans are that energetic and they look very tired from working so many hours
Yeah
Such overtime overtime hours and actually you're forced to can overreact for the show
It's exhausting. Yeah, even as a youtuber,
I also feel very exhausted after making a video. I feel like I have to
to entertain the audience, which is good intention
But that's not like the whole me you know, yeah.
Yeah because they are entertainers. That's the first thing.
So they have to do their job, and show the exaggerated form of themselves.
So that's a negative thing
It's hard for the k-pop artists and it also shows the viewers different and incorrect
of what they actually are.
It makes us think about the problem of education. So I think art is very neglected in education.
Yeah, people place importance on math, science, and reading. I mean they are important too, don't get me wrong.
But dancing and singing is what we can all do, we're not necessarily good at it
but can do it because we have a voice and a body, unless you're physically handicapped,
But even if you are, you can still dance right so why don't we teach that to all of the people in school?
Celebrate the arts.
Yeah, I think a lot of people have misconception that dancing and singing is only for pop stars
but that's not true.
Adding on to that, another positive influence of Kpop is
they appear and are very hardworking. They put in so many hours. They're very passionate about what they do
and I think for that that also really inspired me at the time when I was auditioning for things
following my dreams.
And that passion inspires and influences you to do not just
performance or art or whatever similar kpop things there are
but also your own dreams
whatever other dreams you have, whether it be with science or math or other interests that you truly love.
Yeah, it doesn't have to be "cool" by society standard.
Just as long as you have passion and want to work hard for it.
There's something wrong with
enthusiasm of any kind.
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