Chapter 4 (@nayoungbishoff.bsky.social): Sunmi’s “Gashina” begins with han, a Korean language of sorrow shaped by gender and memory, but it does not leave her there. Bishoff shows how the song turns abandonment into something else: self-definition, agency, and transformation. #SUNMI #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 4 (@nayoungbishoff.bsky.social): Sunmi’s “Gashina” begins with han, a Korean language of sorrow shaped by gender and memory, but it does not leave her there. Bishoff shows how the song turns abandonment into something else: self-definition, agency, and transformation. #SUNMI #CriticalKPop
Chapter 9 (@lillyluwrites.bsky.social): TXT’s storyworld keeps circling back to five people, closed loops, repeated images, and intimacy. Lu finds queer possibility in that enclosure, while also asking when a closed story starts to look too much like closed working conditions. #TXT #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 9 (@lillyluwrites.bsky.social): TXT’s storyworld keeps circling back to five people, closed loops, repeated images, and intimacy. Lu finds queer possibility in that enclosure, while also asking when a closed story starts to look too much like closed working conditions. #TXT #CriticalKPop
Chapter 5 (@sharonbeckerphd.bsky.social): ENHYPEN’s vampires are doing more than looking cool. Across videos, choreography, albums, and webtoons, Becker reads their undead world as a way of thinking through adolescence, idol life, identity, and the uneasiness of becoming. #ENHYPEN #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 5 (@sharonbeckerphd.bsky.social): ENHYPEN’s vampires are doing more than looking cool. Across videos, choreography, albums, and webtoons, Becker reads their undead world as a way of thinking through adolescence, idol life, identity, and the uneasiness of becoming. #ENHYPEN #CriticalKPop
Chapter 6 (Zeb Khalid): BTS’s HYYH universe has never belonged to one text—or, really, to one storyteller. Khalid looks at how official narratives, fan theories, fic, blogs, and collective detective work all help keep the story alive, messy, and continually unfinished. #BTS #HYYH #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 6 (Zeb Khalid): BTS’s HYYH universe has never belonged to one text—or, really, to one storyteller. Khalid looks at how official narratives, fan theories, fic, blogs, and collective detective work all help keep the story alive, messy, and continually unfinished. #BTS #HYYH #CriticalKPop
Chapter 2 (Joseph T. Salazar): BTS’s “Dynamite” feels bright, familiar, and deliberately easy to enter. Salazar looks at what that familiarity costs, tracing how Korean identity and masculinity are softened, repackaged, and made comfortably legible for a global pop market. #BTS #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 2 (Joseph T. Salazar): BTS’s “Dynamite” feels bright, familiar, and deliberately easy to enter. Salazar looks at what that familiarity costs, tracing how Korean identity and masculinity are softened, repackaged, and made comfortably legible for a global pop market. #BTS #CriticalKPop
Chapter 8 (Sara Taghvaeishahroodi and Fatemeh Salehivaziri): Hwasa and Jessi have built careers around pushing back on how women in K-pop are supposed to look, move, and speak. This chapter asks what that self-expression opens up and what it can still cost. #HWASA #JESSI #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 8 (Sara Taghvaeishahroodi and Fatemeh Salehivaziri): Hwasa and Jessi have built careers around pushing back on how women in K-pop are supposed to look, move, and speak. This chapter asks what that self-expression opens up and what it can still cost. #HWASA #JESSI #CriticalKPop
Chapter 1 (Osarugue Otebele): Is K-pop in its Afrobeats era? Looking at TXT and LE SSERAFIM, Otebele asks what it means when African sounds travel easily through K-pop while the bodies, histories, and places attached to them do not. #TXT #LESSERAFIM #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 1 (Osarugue Otebele): Is K-pop in its Afrobeats era? Looking at TXT and LE SSERAFIM, Otebele asks what it means when African sounds travel easily through K-pop while the bodies, histories, and places attached to them do not. #TXT #LESSERAFIM #CriticalKPop
My second edited K-pop collection, The Cultural Politics of Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop, officially came out yesterday from @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social. I am a day late to my own publication announcement, but very happy to finally have this one in the world. A thread! #CriticalKPop
The Cultural Politics of Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop
Foregrounding the ways in which stories are created and circulated across media forms and cultures, this volume approaches K-pop as a narrative system rather th…
www.bloomsbury.com
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
My second edited K-pop collection, The Cultural Politics of Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop, officially came out yesterday from @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social. I am a day late to my own publication announcement, but very happy to finally have this one in the world. A thread! #CriticalKPop
If any of this sounds like your kind of thing, I hope you will check out the book—or ask your library to order it. Library orders really do help edited collections find their way into classrooms and future research. And please share the thread with anyone who might be interested! #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
If any of this sounds like your kind of thing, I hope you will check out the book—or ask your library to order it. Library orders really do help edited collections find their way into classrooms and future research. And please share the thread with anyone who might be interested! #CriticalKPop
Chapter 3 (@emarlow.bsky.social): Taemin keeps returning to the cruciform “T-pose.” Marlow follows that gesture across videos and performances to show how sacred imagery can shift as it circulates, gathering new meanings around vulnerability, desire, and transgression. #TAEMIN #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 3 (@emarlow.bsky.social): Taemin keeps returning to the cruciform “T-pose.” Marlow follows that gesture across videos and performances to show how sacred imagery can shift as it circulates, gathering new meanings around vulnerability, desire, and transgression. #TAEMIN #CriticalKPop
My edited collection *Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop* is out soon (January 8!) with @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social and available for pre-order now: rebrand.ly/kpop-stories. This volume grew out of years of thinking with (and teaching) K-pop storyworlds. #CriticalKPop
Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop
In Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop, contributors present a variety of compelling case studies to argue that K-pop has evolved beyond a m…
rebrand.ly
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
My edited collection *Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop* is out soon (January 8!) with @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social and available for pre-order now: rebrand.ly/kpop-stories. This volume grew out of years of thinking with (and teaching) K-pop storyworlds. #CriticalKPop
Chapter 12 (Megha Solanki): BIBI’s Oh Geum-ji is bloody, ambitious, monstrous, sexual, and very hard to contain. Solanki reads Lowlife Princess: Noir through the femme fatale to ask what happens when female empowerment gets too unruly for K-pop’s cleaner scripts. #BIBI #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 12 (Megha Solanki): BIBI’s Oh Geum-ji is bloody, ambitious, monstrous, sexual, and very hard to contain. Solanki reads Lowlife Princess: Noir through the femme fatale to ask what happens when female empowerment gets too unruly for K-pop’s cleaner scripts. #BIBI #CriticalKPop
Chapter 11 (@theogray.bsky.social): Moon Byul’s 6equence tells a queer love story across songs, videos, and more. Gray shows how the story becomes legible only when those pieces are read together, making queerness visible while leaving room for protection and ambiguity. #MOONBYUL #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 11 (@theogray.bsky.social): Moon Byul’s 6equence tells a queer love story across songs, videos, and more. Gray shows how the story becomes legible only when those pieces are read together, making queerness visible while leaving room for protection and ambiguity. #MOONBYUL #CriticalKPop
The first volume asked how K-pop stories move across songs, videos, performances, platforms, and fandoms. This one asks what happens politically as they move: what gets carried with them, what gets left behind, who performs the labor, and when/where refusal becomes possible. #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
The first volume asked how K-pop stories move across songs, videos, performances, platforms, and fandoms. This one asks what happens politically as they move: what gets carried with them, what gets left behind, who performs the labor, and when/where refusal becomes possible. #CriticalKPop
Chapter 10 (me!): A concert sign declared that “KARD challenges all bisexuals.” In this chapter, I take that seriously. I look at how KARD builds queer desire through bodies, choreography, innuendo, and touch, creating stories that stay sticky, messy, and hard to straighten out. #KARD #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 10 (me!): A concert sign declared that “KARD challenges all bisexuals.” In this chapter, I take that seriously. I look at how KARD builds queer desire through bodies, choreography, innuendo, and touch, creating stories that stay sticky, messy, and hard to straighten out. #KARD #CriticalKPop
Chapter 7 (Patricia Cove): K-pop idol, indie rocker, YouTuber, farmer? Kim Hyun Joong’s No Solid Answers and “Cage” run into all the other stories told about his career. Cove asks what happens when those narratives refuse to settle into a neat celebrity “comeback.” #CriticalKPop
October 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Chapter 7 (Patricia Cove): K-pop idol, indie rocker, YouTuber, farmer? Kim Hyun Joong’s No Solid Answers and “Cage” run into all the other stories told about his career. Cove asks what happens when those narratives refuse to settle into a neat celebrity “comeback.” #CriticalKPop
If this thread speaks to your interests or your work, I hope you will grab a copy for yourself (or a friend). Please also consider recommending it to your academic library. Library orders are often how edited collections make their way into classrooms and future research. Share widely! #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
If this thread speaks to your interests or your work, I hope you will grab a copy for yourself (or a friend). Please also consider recommending it to your academic library. Library orders are often how edited collections make their way into classrooms and future research. Share widely! #CriticalKPop
Chapter 2 (@courtneylazore.bsky.social): BTS’s Bangtan Universe is built through return. Reading the BU through Nietzsche, this chapter shows how recursion is not just a structure, but an ethical demand on the audience. You go back, you piece things together, you care. #BTS #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 2 (@courtneylazore.bsky.social): BTS’s Bangtan Universe is built through return. Reading the BU through Nietzsche, this chapter shows how recursion is not just a structure, but an ethical demand on the audience. You go back, you piece things together, you care. #BTS #CriticalKPop
Chapter 6 (Lila S. Roussel): NCT 127’s *Cherry Bomb* shows how an artwork can spread across a semiotic ecosystem. Meaning coheres through styling, choreography, images, and performance, not a single “master” text. #NCT127 #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 6 (Lila S. Roussel): NCT 127’s *Cherry Bomb* shows how an artwork can spread across a semiotic ecosystem. Meaning coheres through styling, choreography, images, and performance, not a single “master” text. #NCT127 #CriticalKPop
The premise of this collection is simple: K-pop storytelling rarely lives in a single “text.” Meaning moves across songs, music videos, performance, platforms, and fandoms. This volume traces that movement—and why it matters. An oversimplified introduction to the chapters follows. #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
The premise of this collection is simple: K-pop storytelling rarely lives in a single “text.” Meaning moves across songs, music videos, performance, platforms, and fandoms. This volume traces that movement—and why it matters. An oversimplified introduction to the chapters follows. #CriticalKPop
Chapter 4 (Netta Huebscher): Classical excerpts in K-pop are not just decoration. They act as intertextual interventions, steering interpretation and affect, especially in restaging and competitive performance contexts where borrowed sound carries real narrative significance. #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 4 (Netta Huebscher): Classical excerpts in K-pop are not just decoration. They act as intertextual interventions, steering interpretation and affect, especially in restaging and competitive performance contexts where borrowed sound carries real narrative significance. #CriticalKPop
Chapter 3 (@thekpopprof.bsky.social and @nabibabi.bsky.social): A translation choice becomes a cultural argument. Calling SEVENTEEN’s “Son Ogong” (not “Super”) sharpens the intertext and exposes unequal access to knowingness in global fandom. #SEVENTEEN #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 3 (@thekpopprof.bsky.social and @nabibabi.bsky.social): A translation choice becomes a cultural argument. Calling SEVENTEEN’s “Son Ogong” (not “Super”) sharpens the intertext and exposes unequal access to knowingness in global fandom. #SEVENTEEN #CriticalKPop
Chapter 9 (Wonseok Lee): “Next Level” is not just a comeback; it is a storyworld argument. This chapter shows how aespa’s narrative matters culturally, reworking idol identity through avatars, doubles, and the friction between human and virtual selves. #aespa #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 9 (Wonseok Lee): “Next Level” is not just a comeback; it is a storyworld argument. This chapter shows how aespa’s narrative matters culturally, reworking idol identity through avatars, doubles, and the friction between human and virtual selves. #aespa #CriticalKPop
Chapter 1 (@uncannydazzler.bsky.social): The Billlieverse treats instability as a feature, not a flaw. “Generative unruliness” names how contradiction, recursion, and strategic confusion drive the story forward. This is not broken storytelling. It is world-becoming. #Billlie #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 1 (@uncannydazzler.bsky.social): The Billlieverse treats instability as a feature, not a flaw. “Generative unruliness” names how contradiction, recursion, and strategic confusion drive the story forward. This is not broken storytelling. It is world-becoming. #Billlie #CriticalKPop
Chapter 5 (Olga V. Lazareva): Universal transmedia models do not always fit K-pop. This chapter shows how local media practices set the terms of “coherence,” often grounding story in persona, format, and industry logics rather than linear plot. #CriticalKPop
December 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Chapter 5 (Olga V. Lazareva): Universal transmedia models do not always fit K-pop. This chapter shows how local media practices set the terms of “coherence,” often grounding story in persona, format, and industry logics rather than linear plot. #CriticalKPop