001. GEE // GIRLS’ GENERATION
There are a few different places a project like ours might begin. First to mind is Seo Taiji’s “난 알아요 (I Know),” the 1992 single that introduced K-pop as a youth phenomenon and codified many of the...
View Article002. I AM THE BEST // 2NE1
We began last time by discussing Girls’ Generation’s 2009 epoch “Gee,” one of the most influential and immaculate recordings in Korean pop history. But it wouldn’t take long for competing girl group...
View Article003. NOBODY // WONDER GIRLS
[Click to vote for which artist we discuss next.] To accurately summarize the impact “Nobody” had on K-pop, as both domestic and international phenomena, is no mean task. It is the 8th best-selling...
View Article004. NAN ARAYO // SEO TAIJI AND BOYS
[Click to vote for which artist we discuss next.]In the great big book of pop history, a number of televised milestones all but rise off the page. There’s Elvis’ early broadcast performances in 1956;...
View Article005. YUN SHIM-DEOK // DEATH SONG
[Click to vote for which artist we discuss next.] We here at the K-Pendium like to write in the plural first person. We write in this way to acknowledge that more than one person’s time goes into the...
View Article006. AEGUKGA
[Click to vote for which artist we discuss next.] When we introduced the K-Pendium (with Girls’ Generation’s 2009 “Gee”), we identified Yun Shim-deok’s 1926 “Death Song” as the outer limit of what...
View Article007. OH MY GIRL // CLOSER
Trust us (at least try): we hate to use a word like “gesamtkunstwerk.” It’s one of those long, compound German words that sound ridiculous probably even in Germany. We’ll admit we’ve been caught with...
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