Those who have enmeshed themselves in the K-pop world long before BTS and BLACKPINK set milestones in the international music scene would by now be familiar with the rich diversity the genre has to offer.
Over time, in ideal conditions, a K-pop act develops his/her/their own unique style, either by building upon a core concept (think TWICE, SEVENTEEN, Red Velvet and the Orange Caramel) or experimenting with fresh elements to set a new trend (cue NCT, GOT7, f(x) and SHINee).
It follows that different K-pop acts make different types of music, which then draw different kinds of fans — the most notorious of which have no qualms about chasing after their idols in airport terminals with barely any clothes.
Then, there are those who eventually wish to be K-pop stars themselves, even going as far as spending a fortune on plastic surgeries to try to look like their idols:
For the vast majority of fans who can live well enough with making song and dance covers of their favorite artists’ tracks, a new opportunity awaits in Seoul — all thanks to AirBnB.
Two unique experiences based in the South Korean capital’s Seodaemun District are currently teaching people how to sing and dance like a professional K-pop idol.
The singing experience, taught by professional vocal trainer Yoon Jong, is an individualized, three-hour session that begins with a voice lesson and culminates in an actual recording that you can bring home.
“We’ll begin with a short vocal lesson and you will try recording a verse of a song,” Yoon Jong says in her listing. “We’ll take a 30-minute break in the middle of the recording time to check out where to make some changes.”
Yoon Jong holds a degree in contemporary music vocals and has been offering vocal lessons since 2015.
The dancing experience, taught by Bryan Dongwoo, features a class of 20 people that runs for 2.5 hours, with each group learning a different K-pop song than the rest.
“I’m an avid traveler and K-pop dance lover. A lot of people I met while traveling around the world wanted to have a hands-on experience with K-pop culture, so I created a dancing team called ‘Fanxy’ with my friends. We are passionate K-pop dancers with many years of teaching experience. We want to share our vibe with not only Koreans but also people from all over the world,” Bryan says in his listing.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the experience is a culminating music video, which would at least put you on par with your ultimate bias dancing to your favorite track in a choreography practice video.
Many people might not know this, but NextShark is a small media startup that runs on no outside funding or loans, and with no paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on help from our community and readers like you.
Everything you see today is built by Asians, for Asians to help amplify our voices globally and support each other. However, we still face many difficulties in our industry because of our commitment to accessible and informational Asian news coverage.
We hope you consider making a contribution to NextShark so we can continue to provide you quality journalism that informs, educates, and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for supporting NextShark and our community.