“I started [my dancing career] as a backup dancer for K-pop idols”, says Sea Ni while sipping his drink in one of the restaurants in Tower Bridge, London. Despite the fact that it wasn’t the exact kick-start he wished for, this first opportunity marked the beginning of his career and helped him to become a…
Category: General
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “Hostage: Missing Celebrity” Review
Breaking news! Hwang Jung-min, Korea’s top star, has been kidnapped by a gang of thugs and taken to a remote location. Well, not really, but that’s the concept of Pil Gam-sung’s action-thriller Hostage: Missing Celebrity. As per the previous (joke) announcement, Hostage: Missing Celebrity is what you probably expect it to be about: It follows…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “One Day You Will Reach the Sea” Review
Mana Kotani’s (Yukino Kishii) world is turned upside down the moment she learned that her best friend, and first love, Sumire Utsuki (Minami Hamabe) has died. The bright and bubbly woman she met on her first day of college has gone, there one moment and gone the next. It takes everything she has to keep…
MCND Brings Cosmic Energy to London’s O2 Islington – Concert Review
“They were truly born to be on stage”, one of MCND’s fans exclaimed after the gig. [twitter handle: HUIJUNLVR]. And she was right! It is very rare for me, a person who is quite particular about the K-pop music they enjoy, to be absorbed by a new up-and-coming boy-group’s performance. But let’s start from the…
Pachinko Review
It’s the beginning of the 20th century and the Korean peninsula is under Japanese rule in Apple TV+’s new drama Pachinko. Sunja (Yeon Yu-na), a young girl, although poor, has a decent life. She has a good mother, Yangjin (Jeong In-ji) and a father for whom she is the apple of his eye. After her…
“Lyrics That Hit Me More Profoundly Are the Lyrics That I Thought a Lot about and Invested a Lot of Time Into.” – In Conversation with Kyle Lo, a South Korean Singer-songwriter and Producer
It is said that long-term contact with music improves cognitive function. There is no denial that music is the embodiment of beauty; it makes everyday activities more pleasant and often transfers the listener into “another dimension”. I have never thought that I would be grateful for social media, such as Instagram. Searching for new artists…
“I Want to Have More Freedom with Music. I Want to Enjoy Myself More and Feel at Ease with Making Music” – In Conversation with Sway D
There is no denial that hip-hop culture is now a global phenomenon. Although hip-hop originated in the US, it has always changed within a local [country’s] context. Since BTS came to light, the South Korean music industry has been taking the world by storm. But let’s not forget, the country is more than just K-pop,…
CL Brings Immense Energy to London’s Village Underground
Who is CL? It is hard to describe her in one word – to the majority, she is a queen of K-pop, to some she is the ultimate Korean Hip-Hop gem. I don’t think I want to put her in any sort of category as CL tends to be versatile when it comes to her…
In Conversation with Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr., Director of “Wild Indian”
While the world is consumed by greed, hate and other unnecessary things, those who deserve attention are passing almost unnoticed, including Native Americans. They are often invisible, and so is their suffering. In the United States of America, one of the richest countries in the world, Native Americans have suffered, well, since the day colonists…
“I Feel That Listening to Different Music Expanded My Mind to Being Open to Trying New Sounds as Well.” – In Conversation with Deshawn Visionz
Much of the conversation around what it means to be an original artist centres around being “yourself”— being genuine and authentic without attempting to be someone you’re not. Deshawn Visionz, a hip-hop artist based in California, is unafraid to speak the truth with his songs. He has the confidence to vocalise his own feelings, and…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 