Summary
Ever since Seo Taiji and Boys broke onto the scene in their baggy overalls back in 1992, Korea has been working to cast as wide a cultural net as possible on the world stage. And, by placing young talent through rigorous game show incubators and pumping out dozens of attractive, talented, and universally appealing musical artists, they succeeded. With the meteoric rise of groups like BTS and Blackpink, K-Pop now had a hoard of die-hard fans in the West - a cross-cultural exchange to challenge Beatlemania. In this bonus episode, Hannah and Maia talk about K-Pop stans, who have become some of the loudest voices on the internet, and often use those voices for good. But when the conservative K-Pop industry subjects its artists to unprecedented levels of public scrutiny and input, and leaves them at the whims of a rabid global audience, can it spawn a new, dangerous form of parasocialism that we may never come back from? Tangents include an incredibly sophisticated T-Pain impression, and the tragically overlooked Lonely Island cinematic masterpiece, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
FULL episode can be found on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/rehashpodcast
Our Sponsors: * Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/rehash for a great deal: https://www.quince.com * Check out Ruggable and use my code REHASH for a great deal: https://ruggable.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsTranscript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | these labels have also established like a particularly competitive atmosphere between groups, |
| 0:06.8 | which sort of leads fans to feel an increased pressure to show constant support for their idols, |
| 0:13.2 | which means like financially supporting them and like buying the most of everything they put out |
| 0:19.6 | so that they're constantly like at the top of the charts. |
| 0:22.4 | But it also means by those fan communities, like, making sure that they have the biggest |
| 0:27.9 | online presences, like, compared to other fan communities. |
| 0:33.1 | And then the groups themselves are literally placed in constant competition because like I said earlier, |
| 0:39.5 | like they're constantly competing and appearing on these talent shows that are just a staple |
| 0:45.9 | of K-pop. |
| 0:47.5 | An incubator, some might say. |
| 0:49.9 | Yeah. |
| 0:50.4 | And so like each talent show will have their own voting system. |
| 1:04.6 | So like fans have to make sure they're watching that system and like really like putting in all their effort to vote for their favorites to make sure that they like stay on top and ascend. |
| 1:10.2 | Oh, did you ever call in to vote for a reality show? I used to do it with a so you think you can dance Canada. |
| 1:12.9 | No, I didn't. Or like text to vote. Oh my God. So exciting. No. I feel like most of the things I watched were American and I was |
| 1:18.0 | I was always left out. Elbows up, Hannah. Well, you know what though? I've been in the UK and having |
| 1:24.8 | a Love Island. I was watching Love Island live for a bit, |
| 1:27.9 | and I was like, I could technically vote, but then I didn't. |
| 1:31.9 | True. |
| 1:32.7 | It's the first time that's been a possibility. |
| 1:35.2 | And then also just like, we talked about this earlier, |
| 1:38.8 | but like the process of getting into a K-pop group is also very competitive. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rehash, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Rehash and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.