Kitty Empire on music
You may need mimed using a pony, Gangnam Type, in 2012. However some argue that Psy’s Ok-pop gateway drug was a novelty report and never a real expression of the precision-tooled, gendered group phenomenon that's Ok-Pop. Sonically, Ok-pop beats western pop at its personal sport, taking the busier, upbeat finish of US R&B and supercharging it, stuffing every monitor with a number of melodies, umpteen pre-choruses and, generally, a sprinkling of Korean custom: TikTok was made for Ok-Pop, and it seems Korean is a terrific language to rap in.
Past established stars like BTS, BlackPink and upstarts Monsta X, the Ok-Pop universe is huge and deep. New-ish woman group Loona ram dozens of meme-worthy snippets collectively whereas Aespa’s 2020 hit Black Mamba launched a band with parallel universe alter egos. The boys favour all-caps names like EXO and, maybe frustratingly for the UK’s Nationwide Childbirth Belief, NCT; TXT have taken the style extra pop-punk and emo of late.
However there’s rather more to Korean music than pop on steroids. The superlative Park Jiha is an ambient producer who combines western minimalism with conventional Korean devices. The duo Dal:um are much more minimal, buying and selling traces on the gayageum and the geomungo, the areas as vital because the notes.
Park Jiha and Dal:um play London’s Ok-Music 2022 pageant, 24 November and 5 October
Man Lodge on movie
Parasite’s historic finest image Oscar win introduced fashionable Korean cinema into the mainstream, however Bong Joon-ho’s wily class-war thriller isn't any remoted spotlight. New converts must also hunt down the richly philosophical work of Lee Chang-dong (peaking with the masterful Murakami adaptation Burning), the playful, time-collapsing comedies of Hong Sang-soo (Proper Now, Mistaken Then), the wild style stylings of Kim Jee-woon (by no means extra accessible than in his lush espionage saga The Age of Shadows) and, after all, the various oeuvre of Park Chan-wook, from brutal manga-inspired actioner Oldboyto his coolly erotic Sarah Waters remix The Handmaiden.
Michael Hogan on TV
Korean drama went stratospheric throughout lockdown, due to viral hit Squid Sport, however the nation’s TV trade has lengthy been on an inexorable rise. Melodrama Winter Sonata and interval epic Jewel within the Palace kickstarted the Ok-wave within the 00s. Streaming service Rakuten Viki is now house to later gems like romance Guardian: The Lonely and Nice God and retro romp Reply 1988.
Netflix launched in Korea in 2016 and has ploughed hundreds of thousands into native manufacturing. Ye olde zombie thriller Kingdom was its first Korean authentic, earlier than horror chiller Candy House grew to become the primary Ok-drama to interrupt into the US prime 10. Final autumn, apocalyptic fantasy Hellboundovertook Squid Sport within the Netflix most-watched charts, whereas Apple TV+ launched its first Korean present, sci-fi thriller Dr Mind.
The Ok-drama deluge reveals no signal of slowing down. Gangster saga Narco-Saints drops on Netflix subsequent Friday. Assume Breaking Unhealthy with added bibimbap…
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