This article is an excerpt from the 20201010 issue of The Economist. In recent years, there have been scandals in the Korean pop music industry. However, South Korea's most successful pop music group and the world's largest boy group, BTS (BTS), seems to be a clean stream in the industry and has not been affected by bad trends.
A big K-pop IPO
Woke blokes
In a business marked by misogyny and scandal, BTS trades in niceness
K-pop refers to Korean pop music
Woke blokes from a namesake song Australian singer Thelma Plum's
misogyny mean the term "misogynist", similar to the word form There are also: misogynist (a man who hates women) and the adjective misogynistic
scandal which means "scandal, scandal"
For the pop couple has of years, the biggest news in the world of scanz-unz13. Sun", a glitzy nightclub in Seoul, South Korea's capital, saw several male K-pop stars and industry executives accused last year of sexual abuse, procuring sex for business partners, drug-peddling and bribery. Later in the year two female idols committed suicide in the space of a few weeks. Both had been subject to misogynistic abuse for years.
decide dly means "indeed; sure; obviously"
glitzy means "gorgeous, flashy", and its noun form is glitz
procure means "(try to) obtain, obtain"
drugz-peddlingzrugz13" means "drug dealer" , peddle means "sell, peddle"
bribery means "bribery, bribery; accept bribes"; bribe means "bribery", can be used as both a verb and a noun
idol meaning "a person who is loved or admired "Idol", which is what we usually call "idol"
suicide refers to the noun "suicide", commit suicide is the verb "suicide"
subject is used as an adjective, meaning "dominated by and affected by..."
But the industry's biggest stars seem untouched by its seedy side. BTS, the world's most successful K-pop group and the biggest boy band on the planet, has found global success by selling something close to the opposite of the machismo and aloofness that are usually required from K-pop idols. The seven 20-something men present themselves as down-to-earth, frank about the pressures and downsides of fame, socially engaged and aware of their own shortcomings. When fans got upset about a set of sexist lyrics a few years ago, the member who wrote them apologised for his ignorance and vowed to “study more” to avoid such lapses in future (he has since been spotted reading a feminist novel). And when American fans asked the group to support the Black Lives Matter protests this year, they promptly did.
seedy meaning "dirty "Sorry; dirty; smoky; nasty"
band means "band", and it also means "band".
machismo means "macho, macho behavior"
aloofness is the noun form of aloof, aloof means "indifferent, indifferent"
20-something means "something in their early 20s; here around 20 years old" Something represents a vague concept, such as The parcel was ten pounds something. This parcel was about ten pounds.
down-to-earth means "practical and pragmatic"
frank means "frank"
fame means "famous, fame", adjective is famous
lyricz13, which is often used as a plural of lyrics. "
spot here means "see, see, notice"
BlackLives Matter is a black human rights movement, meaning "the life of black people is also life", abbreviated as "BLM"
