Wednesday, 17 June 2015

The future of K-pop...



This kid was born in 2001. Her name is Ennik Douma (but she goes by her Korean name Jeon Somi), half Canadian and half Korean and part of JYP's "Sixteen", a TV show where 16 girls are put together and eliminated one by one (those who stay will be JYP's next girlband - in other words, the next Miss A.)

We're in the fifth generation of K-pop idols, and to me the sixth generation, those born in 2010 and beyond, is already visible. Rumours have it that JYP has already been eyeing Yerin and Yeseo Park (born in 2010 and 2013 respectively.) There's also another pair of kid uljjang sisters Aleyna and Ilayda Yilmaz, who are half Turkish and half Korean. Then there's Breanna Youn, half Korean and half Filipina, who's arguably the biggest kid uljjang right now. Last but not least, we have Bailey Ann Boehr, who's also half Canadian and half Korean and likely to go by her Korean name Park Gabi. Little Bailey has already walked in the footsteps of f(x)'s Krystal Jung, who starred in Shinhwa's "Wedding March" video in 2000 when she was six years old. Bailey starred in Xia Junsu's music video for "Flower", which was out in March, as seen below.


I guess I don't have to point out at what second exactly Bailey appears...

And those are just a few the of possible future idols. Don't get me started on those celebrity kids on "Superman is Back"...

Also, I see a trend in the near future of K-pop. This year, four mixed blood idols debuted: Samuel Kim of 1Punch (half Korean and half American), Vernon Choi of Seventeen (half American and half Korean), Shannon Williams (half Korean and half British) and Jeon Somi (even though being in a reality show doesn't mean she's officially debuted.) The last time we saw mixed-blood idols debuting was back in 2011 when three half American girls (Juliane Alfieri, Melanie Aurora Lee and Tia Cuevas) debuted in Chocolat. Given the fact that most of the kid uljjangs mentioned earlier are mixed blood, it's very likely that for the first time in its history K-pop will have more mixed-blood idols than ever.

This will be good not only for South Korea's image but also the mentality of Koreans...If you've been living in another planet so far, Koreans are known for not liking mixed-blood people - or any foreigner for that matter. Just ask Yoon Mirae or Lee Michelle...or wonder why Kris Wu, Luhan and Tao (real name Huang Zhitao) of EXO left the group!

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