Open Your Eyes

K-pop is a music genre that is not only popular in South Korea and Asia, but in other various parts of the world with the exclusion of America. Unlike other countries, America refuses to accept K-pop and we, the supports of K-pop, have had enough. Because of this closed-minded way of thinking, most Korean artists will not hold concerts in America for the fear of being rejected. This has to end now. Recently, a Korean girl group named T-ARA performed at Palms Pool in Las Vegas, but they weren’t greeted with warm smiles and loud applause like they would have received in Korea. No. they were booed off of the stage. This rejection was started because of Chris Brown’s action. While they were performing, he interrupted their performance to announce his own album. The music was started again and the girls of T-ARA had to scramble around to find their positions. They were eventually booed off of the stage. What Chris Brown did shows how afraid of change most Americans think K-pop is unimportant. He deemed himself worthy enough to interrupt a performing group to promote himself. Did the audience mind? No. of course they didn’t. They were so star struck by the oh so famous and spectacular Chris Brown that they didn’t even care about T-ARA’s performance. If Chris Brown hadn’t have interrupted, the crowd might have gained knowledge of a whole new world and culture. Instead kept to their roots and booed right along with everyone else. Another girl group named The Wonder Girls decided to test their fame in America. Needless to say, they weren’t very popular. The music industry in America and in South Korea differs in many ways. In America, girl or boy groups aren’t popular anymore whereas in South Korea they’re more popular than solo artists. The costumes and hairstyles don’t grasp the American market either. But the most intimidating thing to Americans is the language. “I can’t listen to something I don’t understand.” We are supposed to be a country of all different cultures yet we can’t accept South Korean music because we “don’t understand the language”. This is said more times than I’d like to hear. Half of the time, no one understands these pop singers at all due to the amount of auto-tune used to make their voices sound somewhat decent. In the end, you still have to look up the lyrics to their song. How is listening to Korean any different? For a diverse country, America is very narrow-minded. We stick to our electronic, auto-tuned, gaudy pop music sung by people who have probably never had a singing lesson in their life. We cling to the awful rap music with lyrics speaking of sex, drugs, money, and women. These artists are worshipped and loved by all when they’re not really artists at all. I can name ten artists that sound so much better than your beloved pop celebrity, but will you give them a chance? No. why not? Why not listen to something that will not only put you in a great mood with their amazing vocals, but could introduce you to a whole new genre of artists like this rather than listening to two different songs with the same instrumentals and meaning but sung by different artists? America, you need to open your eyes! We the K-pop supporters are ready to take a stand. We’re tired of being criticized for our love of K-pop and the Korean culture. We’re tired of hearing our genre of music being called ‘ching chong’ music. We are tired of being treated like outcasts. No, we don’t want to be Korean. No, we aren’t acting like Koreans. NO, we aren’t denying our own cultures and races. We are simply enjoying music. Why can’t that be seen? We, the K-pop supporters, have come up with a solution to this problem. We demand that at least one K-pop song be played on the radio a day. This way, Americans can be more exposed to K-pop. This will allow people who are intimidated by change to warm up to the idea of this new world of musical culture. We also demand that derogatory comments toward K-pop be blocked. Saying that K-pop sucks or is stupid adds no constructive criticism nor is it even relevant. These comments should be blocked and removed by the site. We, the k-pop supporters, will not rest until k-pop is included in the Billboard’s Top 100 and other American music charts. If k-pop was advertised in these charts or on the radio, k-pop would have more publicity and then maybe k-pop artists would have more publicity. They’d have a chance to be successful in the one country they desire to please the most. Allowing k-pop to become a part of our world would show that we indeed ARE as diverse as we say we are. It would show that we can be accepting towards other cultures and their music. We, the supporters of K-pop, request that K-pop be considered a genre and taken seriously. Korean artists work just as hard as American artists, if not harder, just to get some recognition. They want to be famous and known worldwide and they deserve it. For years, they train with other aspiring stars. They’re giving singing lessons, dancing lessons, even acting lessons. It high time they receive the respect and acknowledgement they’ve worked so hard for. To the narrow-minded Americans, can you hear us now? Can you see our determination to change the way you think? Are you ready to succumb to the world of K-pop? Well, you have no choice. We, the supporters of K-pop, will see to it that our idols, the Korean stars that we love, will receive the love they receive from other countries. We will make sure to shower them with praise when they perform concerts here in America. We will show them that yes, they are wanted here. The Hallyu wave is here and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.