I thought I would just share this proud little acknowledgement 😉

From the title alone, there would be almost no need to clarify further, but no, I will go on to express my opinion.

I grew up listening to all sorts of music. I listened to these; The Beatles, Boney M, Bob Marley, Take That, U2, Michael Jackson, The Scorpions, Nirvana, Metallica, Whitney Houston, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Sheila Majid, M Nasir, etc. I used to love listening to the OST from the Hindi movie Taal. I love OST loads. Now, I expanded to listening to OST from Korean drama series. Oh, I even started listening to Anuar Zain and that did kind of surprised my sister a little bit. I attended Indonesian bands shows and the International Jazz Fest. I listen to Mariah Carey, David Guetta, CN BLUE, Ning Baizura, John Newman, Shakira, Florence and the Machine,  Pink, Dido, Coldplay, Muse, Kelly Clarkson,  Regina Spektor, Lana Del Rey, Padi, etc. Well, the point I am trying to get to here is that I listen to all sorts of music of all sorts of genres. I cannot seem to put a limit to what I listen to. I do not believe it is because I do not have a “music or genre identity”. It all depends on my mood. I was introduced to The Neighbourhood by my brother and I am currently liking them loads.

However, I still do not quite understand what it is meant, this genre falling under K Pop. I know some of the songs because they are that famous, like Girls Generation and of course, Wonder Girls, from that global hit song Nobody. I have never really bothered to find out and understand what the wave is all about. To be honest, I was afraid to be called a K Pop fan. I thought it was uncool. Nonetheless, I continue listening to and loving OST from K drama series. Bit by bit, I discover how talented some of them are. Some if not most of them are highly educated. I have to say, I am not afraid now to say I like Baek Ji Young, although her genre is not really that of K Pop. Did you know that Psy studied music at Berklee or have you been to busy trying to avoid being labeled as K Pop fan. The very fact that he got in, that to me is good enough. I suppose because I think highly of Berklee. Well, what do I know. I cannot sing like a brilliant singer nor can I play musical instruments like Alicia Keys.

My second point there is the answers to these questions; is it so shameful and uncool to like K Pop?; why is it okay to love English/American songs/artists but not Korean songs/artists?; why was it okay for the Indo Pop or J Pop wave to happen but not K Pop?

I have learnt to not be too quick to judge. I will learn more about what K Pop is all about before I decide whether or not to avoid being labeled a K Pop fan. My thoughts on why there is such strong sentiments here against K Pop are either because the K Pop wave happened like the tsunami only that the waves continue on strongly or because it is not very cool to like people who look pretty all the time especially boys looking pretty. I personally have no problem with either. The wave can be like the tsunami and if it brings good things with it, the waves might as well continue on. Boys looking pretty, why should it be a problem?

Anyway, I hope like me, people will learn to appreciate the art in music, regardless of where it is from, what language it is in or what genre it is. Music is art and it is global. It has the ability to unite nations by uniting people of different nations, through the love they share for the music and artists they love.

More love and peace are what we need as the world becomes a harder place to live in.

This is of course, my personal point of view.