Maybe Mitch will care about this. Girls' Generation just made their American television debut on David Letterman with "The Boys." There's also a remix featuring Snoop and a different beat. I'm not sure if they'll make it in America and I don't think this song is as catchy as some of their old stuff, but I'm kind of rooting for them.

Anyway, here's an article I just read about the next wave of K-Pop to hit America. (Maybe I've spent too much time in Miami, but the 2NE1 song sounds the best to me).

Yeah I was aware of them debuting in the US and to be honest, I'm not sure it's a great move. SNSD is not the sort of thing the US is ready for, for purely sociological reasons. Western audiences are simply not willing to accept that (straight) men can enjoy girl-groups as cutesy as SNSD. Sure, The Boys is one of the most "Western-style" songs they've done so far, but the English translation is corny, and the choreography will seem dated to most Westerners.

If any group can make it in America, it is 2NE1. They have the edge that might make them appeal to a select group of men, and they have the production that will most readily please Western ears. Even so, they will be hated by a huge portion of the mainstream audience for how openly manufactured they are, and for their less-than-perfect English.

Boy groups however have a precedent set by recent successes such One Direction, so it is possible they could see some success. (Big Bang, B2ST, Possibly B.A.P.) Unfortunately, unlike Asian girls, Asian guys have very little sexual pull among white women, the only audience they could conceivably target. So if they were successful, it would only be niche success.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for K-pop to be popular in the English-speaking world, but until certain attitudes change, it never will be.

k-pop won't ever break the western world in a big way because of the language barrier. not like it matters anyway because k pop is fantastic and its influence is already wide-reaching and the internet is ensuring that it's here to stay.

That's very true. Even though no artist would ever promote a non-English song to a Western audience, the minute imperfections in their pronunciation, and the amateurish lyrics will completely turn off the majority of listeners.

For me, the fact that I can't understand Korean is a big reason I love k-pop, I'm never distracted by the trite lyrics like I frequently am with Western pop.

i've learnt to be able to ignore bad lyrics altogether. unless of course i'm listening to spoken word.

I think as long as it's not the focus of a song, it's ok. If Bob Dylan had bad lyrics, no one in their right mind would listen to his music

when i listened to enough music i realised that sometimes you come across people in the game who either are not very good at expressing themselves by means of the word (some mainstream pop, a lot of sensitive indie fare, 'political' music) , or the other extreme where they're horrible people as far as ideology is concerned (aryans, race supremacists etc). sometimes the music is actually good, and you learn to just tune out to the sounds of the words as opposed to the literal meanings of what is being said.

Yeah that's a good point. For example, folk tends to be a genre that focuses on the lyrics a lot. Kings of Convenience are one of my favourite folk groups, and because they are not native speakers, their lyrics tend to be pretty straightforward, without any complex wordplay or deep exploration of themes. Still, I have learned to take the music for what it is, and not hang off every word like I would with say, a Neutral Milk Hotel song, by comparison.

Even with K-pop, I find myself enjoying the English lyrics for the simple reason that I feel they are a good effort for a non-native lyrics writer. If they were penned by someone who had always spoken English, it would probably affect my enjoyment of the song.

I looked up the English translation of Hyuna's "Bubble Pop" and actually laughed out loud. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect.

I gotta see this shit...

"Your heart lies are like bubbles
Bubble bubble bubble pop
Bubble bubble pop pop"

That's deep man. Fuck, now I want to listen to Bubble Pop.

I always try to sing along in Korean, it's tough

god every single one of them is so fucking hot

That's one incredibly fine group of Asian ladies right there.

Said Bill Murray, minutes before the photo was taken.