American Kpop group EXP EDITION has officially made their debut in Korea!
On April 17th KST, the group released their MV “Feel Like This.” The boy band is unusual because they aren’t just foreigners who have joined a Korean-based group, but they are actually four non-Korean guys who formed a band in NYC and moved to Korea in order to become idols. The main problem people seem to have with them? Three of the members are white.
The group actually formed as an experiment for a Columbia University student’s thesis. She wanted to see if she could take American guys, teach them Korean, how to “act” Korean, and then see if she could make them a successful Kpop group.
While some people are happy to see non-Asians breaking into the Kpop scene, others are less than thrilled. While many foreign idols are present in Kpop (BamBam of GOT7, Momo of TWICE, Lay of EXO, and many more), most of them have an Asian background. While those foreign members are totally accepted and loved as Kpop idols, it seems people are less accepting of non-Asians breaking into Kpop.
Check out the MV below, and let us know what you think! Is this cultural appropriation as some people say, or is it no different from CL breaking into the American pop music scene? Should Kpop be more diverse? Or should Americans generally stick to American music? Let us know your opinions in the comment section below!
Media: EXP EDITION TV