Chasing K-pop: Music Industry & Fan Culture

Graduation season is here. For Brandon Yoon, graduating from UCLA is not just the end of college. Before he became one of the most beloved Korean American creators online, there was a kid at school opening a lunchbox filled with kimchi, jjigae, or kimbap and immediately feeling the room react. Years later, one of those family spaces became the center of his story. Sunny Cleaners, his grandmother’s...

BTS took over Mexico this weekend. and the reaction showed just how powerful K-pop has become across Latin America. The excitement grew so intense that Mexico’s president reportedly even asked BTS to add more concert dates. When the group appeared on a balcony at the presidential palace to greet fans, nearly 50,000 ARMYs erupted into tears and cheers for the seven young men who had traveled from t...

What does it mean to grow up Korean American, and build a career bridging two cultures through K-pop? Skyler was nine years old when she moved from Korea to Omaha, Nebraska. With no Korean friends or culture around her, she had only a laptop, sketchy streaming sites, and BIGBANG playing on loop in the dark. She forced herself to listen to Britney Spears just to make friends. She kept her K-pop obs...

HYBE announced on Tuesday that Heeseung would be departing from ENHYPEN to pursue a solo career, catching fans off guard. In this emergency episode, ENGENEs from Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. come together to share how they’re processing the news. A global fan conversation about ENHYPEN, fandom, and the future of K-pop. Audio Editor: Patrick Lei (@heysaylei) Coordinator & Assistan...

BTS songs are mostly in Korean. So how did women in their 40s, 50s, and even 80s become deeply connected ARMYs? In this episode of Chasing K-pop , host Chase talks with Carol, founder of the BTS ARMY Over 40 Club, a global community of 5,000+ fans that began with a late-night TikTok post during the 2020 pandemic. We explore how BTS’s music helped fans find self-love, healing, and belonging across...

What makes K-pop blow up in the West? We’re breaking it all down. This episode wasn’t even supposed to happen. Over Christmas, I threw together a last-minute coffee chat in San Jose. And somehow, we ended up recording a full episode right there. We dive deep into KATSEYE: why they’re dominating right now, how Korean fans really feel about them (spoiler: the reactions are wild), and whether they’re...

In this first episode, Chase revisits the questions behind her Genius article, “What’s the K in K-pop?” and sits down with industry professional Hwang to dig into the stories that never made it to print. From the quiet forces shaping today’s global K-pop strategy to the lived reality of being a bilingual fan, we explore why the ‘K’ is far more layered and visual than most people assume. Is Korean...