Black Pink at Coachella; BTS at the Rosebowl

[Nelson Ta]

The article did a great job of introducing readers to these new ideas and people.  It has been shocking to see how many students have been absorbed by the Korean wave of music.  I went to the Coachella Valley Arts and Music festival this year and saw the last few minutes of Black Pink. I had no idea who they were, but I could grasp their popularity by looking at the crowd.  I would love to speak to my students about how music can pass cultural and even language barriers. When I was in Japan a few years back, I went to a night club that was playing American pop music. Most of the crowd was singing along to every word of One Direction. When I tried to engage them in a conversation after, I was shocked to find that they didn't speak English. They were able to sing the lyrics without any understanding of what they were saying. That was fascinating.