This week on the show, we’re revisiting the world of pop, a genre often relegated to the realm of lesser, unserious, bubblegum music. And yet, since the airing of this show, pop music continues to make headlines and global impacts.
Shortly after we aired this piece on the rise of K-Pop and BTS, the boy group announced a long overdue hiatus from music making to focus on solo projects and to also serve their required Korean military service. They won’t expect to make a return until 2025, and this has huge economic repercussions for South Korea. While you’d think that their powerful global fanbase ARMY would be upset by the news, many have been supportive of the boys and their decision to take a break from music.
In other news, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket presale has broken Ticketmaster. An unprecedented number of Swifties (and their parents, including our own Shannon Henry Kleiber) flooded the ticketing site and were met with hours-long wait times and website crashes. This ultimately led to Ticketmaster canceling the general public sale of the tour and left millions of irate fans shut out. Several lawmakers called out Ticketmaster for their monopolistic hold on the ticketing market —now the company is facing inquiries from multiple states and the Justice Department. Looks like karma is coming for you, Ticketmaster. Anyways, stream Taylor Swift’s new album "Midnights."
And lastly, speaking of live music, I had the pleasure of seeing Carly Rae Jepsen on tour this month. Her latest album, "The Loneliest Time" is in part a reflection on the past several years of the pandemic. If you haven’t heard the title single featuring Rufus Wainwright (or at least the iconic bridge on TikTok), I highly recommend it. It’s a classic disco pop tune unlike anything you’ll hear on Top 40 radio today. Happy listening!
—Angelo