The Poetics of K-Pop

“In poetry, I realized again and again that ‘failures’ were in fact openings to more possibilities.” Emily Yoon reflects on the poetic consequences of K-Pop for the Paris Review. K-Pop, with its “beautiful cinematography and puzzling stories, dazzling choreography, jazzy outfits, dashing looks, catchy tunes, and gender performances that maybe seem refreshing and hopeful to an American audience,” steadily grows in popularity outside of Korea, causing Yoon to wonder if the foreignness of language is part of the attraction.

Image credit: Official album cover for BTS’s Love Yourself Answer

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