As the coronavirus lockdown and the spread of COVID-19 continue worldwide, the entertainment world’s live events and even music releases have slowed down a bit — but there’s always more to consume out there. In the realm of K-pop, English-language podcasts featuring many popular artists have recently started to shed some new insight into the industry, and as fun as it is to watch Friends again or play Animal Crossing, this period is also great to take a deep dive down the path of K-pop podcasts.
If you’re interested in some behind-the-scenes pods featuring industry folks, Dive Studios has recently started producing many podcasts, most of which are also recorded with video so they’re watchable along with being listenable. Here are a few:
Eric Nam’s “K-Pop Daebak” & “I Think You’re Dope”
Eric Nam hosts two podcasts: one focusing on K-pop releases, and the other focusing on some dope people.
“The Tablo Podcast” by Epik High’s Tablo
Epik High rapper Tablo talks about the world, and his topics are the sort of philosophical conversations-meet-debates about The Avengers that the coronavirus lockdown demands.
“What Would Jamie Do?” by Jimin
Jamie Park, aka Jimin, opens up about her thoughts on life and love in this fun podcast.
Jae of Day6’s “How Did I Get Here”
Jae’s podcast is classic talk-show style where the Day6 member chats about how he feels about things on the Internet.
Along with the Dive podcast lineup, there are some other formal K-podcasts floating around out there, produced by various media entities:
“In My Feels” with JRE & Emily Haydel
While not K-pop stars themselves, popular YouTuber JRE and Haydel discuss K-pop and regularly interview artists from within, and adjacent to, South Korea’s music industry. Haydel also hosts “Bleav in K-Pop.”
KBS World Radio’s “K-POP Connection”
South Korean broadcaster KBS World’s K-pop-focused radio show is aimed at English-speaking audiences in South Korea, but it’s uploaded as a podcast on many platforms with new episodes coming out almost every weekday.
And there are dozens of K-podcasts from fans themselves. For those looking to keep up to date and on top of K-pop releases, there are a whole variety of podcasts to get started with: “The Kpopcast,” “Kpop Critical,” “Not Your Average Fangirls” (not to be confused with “Not Your Average Netizens”) “Ask Me About K-pop,” “K-pop Unmuted,” “Truly Daebak,” “Jinjja Cha,” “An Album a Day,” “The Idol Cast Podcast” and “Soju Talk” offer up fun conversations about the latest K-pop hits and serious topics in the South Korean music world.
Specialized podcasts also exist, like “Melanetizens” and “106 and Seoul” that both specifically focus on sharing the voice of black K-pop fans or “Nunchi’s Night Night,” aimed at Spanish-speaking fans, while fandom-specific ones, like the BTS-oriented “Bangtan Epiphany,” “Stanning BTS” or “Noona ARMY” podcasts, also are popular, aimed at bringing together stans of the same act.
Head to your favorite podcast provider and check them out.
