Your Korean needs to be seriously good, as does your general knowledge on Korea, to take on the international finalists. Take a look at last year’s televised final in Korea. Still, you get to meet Lee Teuk. If you think you’re good enough, or if you just want a bit of fun in the UK […]
Category: Hallyu
LKL chats with Tiffany Kwok, organiser of the Easter K-pop party at Scala
LKL doesn’t generally post articles about the plethora of all-night K-pop parties that seem to be a regular feature of the London calendar nowadays – and increasingly in other cities too. Why? Well, it’s partly because there are so many of them (we have limited writing hours in the evening and limited storage space at […]
Embodiment, Performativity and Subjectivity: The Best of BTS’s Music Award Show Stages
Winning end-of-year music award shows is important for Korean idols and groups as it helps to cement their importance and popularity not only in Korea but across East and South East Asia. This is demonstrated by the fact that MAMA 2018 – one of the biggest music shows – took place across multiple countries with […]
Korean Language & Culture Course Launch Party
This is a course and an organisation we haven’t come across before. Launch event is free, but there’s no indication of the pricing for the course itself. Launch Party for Korean Language & Culture Course Venue: European School Of Economics | 4 Mandeville Place | London W1U 2BG Friday 22 March 2019, 18:00 – 20:00 […]
15th K-pop Academy announces its programme
The Application Window for the 15th K-pop Academy is open from 16 January to 6 February 2019. Don’t miss your chance to join this ever-popular programme: The 15th K-Pop Academy Date: 16 February – 27 April (10 weeks) Time: Every Saturday afternoon Venues: Korean Cultural Centre UK and various off-site venues Tuition Fee: Free This […]
Radio Kimchi Kpop fair
Radio Kimchi UK hosts what is said to be the UK’S only K-Pop radio show from their base in Kingston / New Malden. This is their first major physical event. Stay up to date by checking out the event’s Facebook page K-POP Fair 2018 Sun 25th Nov at 2:00pm – 5:30pm O2 Academy | Islington […]
The Top 5 Gothic KPOP Music Videos
Dr Colette Balmain applies her specialism in Gothic Cinema to the world of KPOP – perfect for the Halloween season… ‘Gothic forces its readers, viewers, and listeners to identify the ghosts that haunt them…’ (Isabella van Elferan, 2012, Gothic Music, p. 15). 1. SHINee “Married to the Music” (2015) “Married to the Music” doesn’t sound […]
Affective becomings and musical transformations: BTS take London
Dr Colette Balmain, or maybe a ghost writer, reports from the biggest KPOP event in the UK this year: Taking the Plunge This is the first concert review that I have written although I have been to many concerts, some of which I have good memories of and others which I wish I could press […]
BTS’s busy couple of weeks
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Korea’s biggest band: A speech for UNICEF at the United Nations on 24 September. The speech, by the band’s leader Kim Namjun (aka RM), ended as follows: Like most people, I’ve made many and plenty mistakes in my life. I have many faults and I have many […]
The end of the journey: desire, recognition and redemption in BTS’s “IDOL”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the culmination of the BTS Love Yourself series: “IDOL” is the lead single from BTS’s final album in the “Love Yourself” series. The series comprises one extended storyworld music video, Love Yourself 起 Wonder; one mini album, Love Yourself 承 Her; one full length album, Love Yourself 轉 Tear; and one […]
The Garden of the Forking Paths: Difference and Repetition in BTS “Epiphany”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the BTS comeback trailer for Love Yourself 結 Answer: “Epiphany” is the comeback trailer for BTS’ last entry in the LOVE YOURSELF Series: Love Yourself 結 Answer. LOVE YOURSELF is a transmedia and multimedia project involving the expansion of the BTS Universe through the construction of a metafictional storyworld established by Music […]
Artistry, Creativity & Emotionality: Choreographies of the self in “Fake Love”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the lead single from BTS’s Love Yourself 轉 Tear: “Fake Love” is the lead single from BTS’ third studio album Love Yourself 轉 Tear (they have also released three Japanese studio albums, two repackages, five EPs and two single albums to date) and follows, both temporally and thematically, the comeback trailer “Singularity” […]
Trajectories of Meaning in “Singularity” – the BTS Comeback Trailer: Love Yourself 轉 Tear
Dr Colette Balmain analyses the comeback trailer for BTS’s third studio album: From Serendipity to Singularity: A Universe of Meaning “Singularity” is the comeback trailer for BTS’ third studio or full length album, Love Yourself: Tear which will be released on 18th May 2018. This follows up the mini album or EP, Love Yourself: Her […]
BTS featured in BBC K-pop documentary
Adele Roberts, who hosts BBC Radio 1’s Early Breakfast Show, thrilled UK K-pop followers and BTS Army members on 2 October 2017 when she played BTS for the first time on the BBC as part of a Best New Pop feature. That track, DNA, along with Mic Drop, have featured several times on the BBC […]
Think Korea 2006 – an introduction
Think Korea 2006 was an ambitious programme of cultural and other events organised by the Korean Embassy as part of the “Korea-UK Mutual Visit Year”. There was, I believe, a reciprocal series of UK-related events organised in Korea, but I never saw any publicity about it. One event I do know of: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra […]
London Korean Festival 2006 – an introduction
The London Korean Festival 2006 was the last of the festivals organised by Oh Tae-min and his team, which included Stephanie Seung-min Kim who would go on to be the first curator at the Korean Cultural Centre before moving into the art curatorial world on her own. Previously working from within the Korean Anglican Community […]
Conference news: the 4th World Congress for Hallyu
The 2016 World Hallyu Congress will take place at Oriel College, Oxford, 26-28 September. You can register to attend here. Students free, others $50 (plus accommodation). Draft timetable is below. Keep an eye on the conference website for updates. Time Harris Lecture Theatre Harris Room Sanders Room Monday Sep 26 14:00-18:00 Registration 18:00-20:00 Reception Dinner […]