User blog:Mellowmoxie/What is K-Pop? Is EXP K-Pop?

What is K-Pop? What does it take for four non-Korean guys to be considered K-Pop? Can they actually ever achieve that status? Let's take a look at the reasons maybe yes or no.

First of all, there seems to be a double standard when it comes to non-Asians entering the K-Pop market. When it is white men, people hate it. But if you look in the comment section for a K-Pop duo made of two black females, people absolutely love it. If people can accept Coco Avenue, they can surely accept EXP Edition. Unless they're admitting that they are racist to whites and misandrous.

"They don't even speak Korean! They don't know anything about Korean culture!" EXP Edition has been working hard to learn Korean and interviews at events such as K-CON NY 2016 showed that they were excited to move to Korea and learn more about the language and culutre. They are dedicated to this, and their efforts should not go unnoticed.

Let's take a look at a definition of what K-Pop really is before we go any farther.

"K-pop (abbreviation of Korean pop; Hangul: 케이팝) is a music genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements." --Wikipedia

Wikipedia isn't always the most reliable source, but this seems like a pretty good description, doesn't it? By these rules, let's take a look at if EXP Edition counts as a K-Pop group.

First of all, K-Pop is a music genre that originated in South Korea. It is not, therefore, necessariy exclusive to South Korea. Music styles are never limited to one group of people or one area of the world. Music helps bring people, together, actually. So you shouldn't be trying to block people out from singing a style of music.

If someone sings country music, they are a country singer, right? So if anyone, from anywhere, sings K-Pop music, they are a K-Pop singer.

Does EXP Edition's music count as K-Pop? K-Pop has many different sounds, and I think that the songs that they have are pretty close to what you could say is a generic K-Pop sound. Plus, they sing in Korean, a important feature of K-Pop. By this standard, they are a K-Pop group.

It's all about the music, really. It's not about race or nationality. It's about music.

There is one more part of the Wikipedia definition: "characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements." This is referring to the interesting look that all K-Pop groups have. The outfits, the sets, the overall style. Does EXP fit this?

Bora Kim, their creator, seems to be trying very hard to give the group that very unique K-Pop style. Admittedly sometimes she may miss the mark a bit, but their music videos and style show that they are heavily influenced by K-Pop. In time as they progress as a group they will resemble more and more closely a typical K-Pop group -- race aside.