Love Yourself: Tear

A journey into K-pop

One good thing about having a young person in your life is that you are introduced to the latest and greatest. Well, this is my experience of being introduced to BTS and the world of K-pop. The first time I heard of BTS was when their cd, Love Yourself: Tear came out. I did not know who or what BTS was or what army my daughter was talking about (BTS fans are ARMY.) As I listened, at first, I did not catch that the lyrics were being sung in Korean until I realized I did not understand what was being sung. Maybe I should not put this in this review, and not to be too personal, but this happened to me and may happen to someone else: I thought I was hearing certain words and asked my daughter if they were rapping a little too comfortably (cultural appropriation was a big topic at that time.)  My daughter assured me I was not hearing what I thought was. She showed me the lyrics and online translations. This cd has a range of musical genres. Smooth ballads, R&B, hip hop, rap, and pop. My favorites songs are 34340; Paradise and Love Maze. Well, to make a long story short, over the years I have learned a lot about the world of BTS and K-pop in general. I know of other K-pop groups, learned about K-pop style, makeup, and dramas. While I have not been to a concert, I hear they are a lot of fun. I even knew immediately it was BTS when the cell phone commercials started with their songs Dynamite and Butter in the background. A positive outcome of K-pop has been the interest in learning about Korean culture, food, and language. If you are interested in learning more, you might also like the following library titles: K-pop Style: Fashion, Skin-care, Make-up, Lifestyle, and More by Dianne Pineda-Kim. Through the library online catalog:Keyword search K-pop and subject search Popular Music Korea South should bring up a variety of results.