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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Kitty Empire, Michael Hogan and Guy Lodge

DARK SECRETS: Our critics guide to korean culture - The Real Truth

BlackPink performing at the MTV VMA awards last month.
BlackPink performing at the MTV VMA awards last month. Photograph: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount Global

Kitty Empire on music

You might have mimed riding a pony, Gangnam Style, in 2012. But some argue that Psy’s K-pop gateway drug was a novelty record and not a true expression of the precision-tooled, gendered group phenomenon that is K-Pop. Sonically, K-pop beats western pop at its own game, taking the busier, upbeat end of US R&B and supercharging it, stuffing each track with multiple melodies, umpteen pre-choruses and, sometimes, a sprinkling of Korean tradition: TikTok was made for K-Pop, and it turns out Korean is a terrific language to rap in.

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