Asian Pop Nation

In a similar vein of bringing back a classic APN special that has been neglected for far too long, we are welcoming our Member Mixtape back to this year's APN rotation! If this is your first time seeing these words thrown around, it is an annual tradition in which each of our team members will have the spotlight to chat & play whatever they want; all rules are off the table! From casual catchu...

Call this episode a little throwback to a topic that hasn't been getting as much love as usual here at APN, aka all things anime/manga related! Given how much talk there has been about a series of long-running manga's reaching their end in 2024, we wanted to take a look back at a large variety of endings that didn't really hit the mark for us personally. We will also take a slight detour this epis...

If you are looking far and wide for an incredible Asian artist who was able to look at a real life ceramic bear, and make it the inspiration for one of our favourite new tracks of the week, look no further than the LA-based Singaporean singer-songwriter, Linying! She joins Tracy & Annabella in dissecting through the behind-of-scenes creation process of her latest single, "Donovan" , as well as...

And the ball doesn't stop rolling here at APN as we have another exciting interview, this time from Los Angeles-based Singaporean artist, Linying, joining us for a chat about her latest single, "Donovan" ! But if you also love to fall into deep rabbit holes into certain niche, but well-loved films & music, you are going to love the many movie retrospectives that are all occurring at once in li...

After releasing a joint collaboration album back in July titled, "AAA" , indie powerhouses HYUKOH & Sunset Rollercoaster are ready to bring their album to life with their upcoming November tour across Australia! In preparation for an once-in-a-lifetime concert experience, Tracy sat down with frontmen Oh Hyuk from HYUKOH and Kuo Kuo from Sunset Rollercoaster to chat all about the work that went...

A brand new month also comes with a brand new season of APN! With the power of uploading episodes back to back, it probably doesn't feel like a big break for you, dear listeners, but over here in APN, we have been cooking up a bunch of surprises behind the scenes & are finally ready to reveal it now! Starting with our very special interview with both HYUKOH & Sunset Rollercoaster in the le...

Once upon a time, the APN team sat all together in the SYN studios, to record the final episode of Season 3 back in September... and now you get to hear exactly what we chatted about on that faithful night! There will be plenty of tales about the concert experiences to come from both the Laufey & aespa shows last month, and for the anime enthusiasts out there, you will also get to hear our tho...

Have you ever wanted all of the behind-the-scenes tea from being in a televised documentary about becoming a manga creator or maybe you wanted to relish the past "joyful" memories of being an Asian kid going to your daily Kumon class? Well, this episode of APN will have some special guests here & there, who are ready to spill on their personal experiences going through these core memories of t...

Some unfortunate technical issues in the past couple of weeks has led APN to have a few miscellaneous topics that might seem old news now as we reach the end of August. But please bare with us as we take a trip down memory lane to APN's collective first reactions to seeing the hit Thai film, 'How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies' in Australian cinemas, while also hearing some insane tales to c...

In classic APN fashion, we will be returning to our good old friend aka the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF for short), to highlight some of the films in their 2024 line-up that were done by Asian filmmakers across the globe! 📽️ For some bonus shenanigans, the team decide to interrogate Ethan on his trip to Jakarta & Singapore whilst also looking into the Hatsune Miku Australian ta...

There has been an influx of shows, movies, books & pop culture events that each of our team members have wanted to yap about on APN for AGES but it all kept being put into the backburner until now! So listen in to hear all about it, from some of our general thoughts about hit TV series, Shogun & The Sympathizer to books such as Yellowface by R.F. Kuang and even the phenomena of K-pop enter...

After a tiny little hibernation period of us here at APN, we are officially back for Season 3! 🥳 Just like everyone else in the year of 2024, whenever there is any sort of break time, Japan seems to be the top destination for people across the globe to travel straight to and... we were definitely no different as one of our team members, Jessie, visited this buzzing country for the very first time...

In honour of our last episode for Season 2, we are going to look back into some of the most memorable music videos that shaped us! From the ones that made us cry when we were kids to the ones that made us scratch our heads a bit, we will be taking a trip down memory lane to revisit some of our personal faves and maybe some of yours as well!  (01:09) Angsty 2nd-gen K-pop MV's (K.Will, Big Bang, JYJ...

With the weather getting colder every single day, you might need a little remedy for the sickness you might have caught and what's a better cure than the brand new single titled 'cold medicine' released by the Western Sydney bedroom pop artist herself, tiffi! She joins Le & Lisha to chat all about the inspiration behind her latest tracks as well digging into what made tiffi the young musical g...

I wonder what has been the talk of the town lately? Would it be our full interview with the Australian singer-songwriter, tiffi or Tokyo's local government creating their own dating app or Chinese video games that has recently piqued the interest of some of our team members aka JP & Le? Guess you have to listen to this episode to hear all of the goss...  (01:56) APN's interview with tiffi! (38...

There seems to be two very specific topics that the APN team can't seem to stop thinking about these last couple of weeks: sports anime and why Haikyuu reigns supreme (allegedly) & the first studio album release to come from South Korean girl group, aespa. So, it only makes sense that we yap all about it on this episode! (01:46) Mini deep dive into the genre of sports anime  (22:24) Aespa titl...

Have you been feeling like there are a million concerts happening in Australia all at once? Well the APN team can definitely relate heavily to this sentiment as this week, we will be going through the long list of Asian acts heading down under very shortly and who you should keep tabs on! Sticking to things locally happening in our part of town, Jessie & Ethan gives us all the details from thi...

If this seems like we are slightly late to the game when it comes to chatting all about the Asian celebrities who attended this year's Met Gala... you would be right as this week, we are bringing you an episode that was semi-late to the party! 😅 But hopefully you will forgive our poor timing since we also brought some fun local topics revolving around a throwback television series, a more intimat...

Are you looking for the insider scoop into the latest feud between the Korean entertainment companies, HYBE & ADOR or what might have happened during this year's DreamHack? Or maybe you just wanted to hear the APN team chat about an old but beloved topic aka Asian food? Well, this episode will definitely serve up all of those dishes straight to you! (01:43) The HYBE vs. ADOR controversy (24:01...

It's time to relive the sadness that certain anime fans might have experienced in the month of April, especially if you were a fan of shows such as, Yuri!!! On Ice and Jujutsu Kaisen . But if you are someone who is looking for a humorous cure to this devastating blow, maybe APN's review of the latest ABC TV series, White Fever , might just help you out. 😉 (01:52) Yuri!!! On Ice the Movie: Ice Ado...

Coming to you semi-live from the SYN studios, the APN team has returned with an all new season alongside an all new member! Not only will you meet Annabella, but you also get to hear us go bananas over Dev Patel's directorial debut film, Monkey Man , the madness of Coachella 2024 and the Melbourne pop-up shop takeover. (02:08) Hi Annabella! 👋 (06:50) Monkey Man (33:12) Coachella 2024 Weekend 1 -...

And just like that, we have reached the end of our first season of APN 2024! 🎉 Join us as we take a trip down memory lane to the plethora of live events we attended such as the new Souled Out Fest, Thuy's solo show & the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Speaking of reflecting on the past, Le & Lisha also take us through some of their personal faves from the first quarter of the ye...

If you want to hear our thoughts about the latest Netflix show, based on an award-winning Chinese novel, called 3 Body Problem , the ITZY concert in Melbourne & us revisiting an old friend known as the 2024 live-action Avatar series... you better listen to this episode!  (01:42) 3 Body Problem (28:40) Revisiting Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender (39:50) ITZY "Born To Be" Tour in Melbourne F...

Before we officially say goodbye to the month of March, the APN team gather around to pay our respects to Akira Toriyama, the iconic creator behind Dragon Ball , while also highlighting some of the small Asian wins from this year's Oscars ceremony & some of our favourite recent music!    (01:30) Asian wins at the 2024 Oscars (10:54) Current music faves - Atarashii Gakko!, Jude Chiu, NMIXX (20:...

We are diving deep into all things fictional-related on this episode of APN as we not only chat about 3 shows ( Marry My Husband , A Sign of Affection & Frieren ) all in one go but also take a look into all the fictional/real people that we might have accidentally thought were Asian when we were younger...   (01:46) Marry My Husband (11:37) A Sign of Affection (24:16) Frieren (32:28) Fictional...