As more locations devoted to the musical subgenre continue to come up, K-pop fans claim they are discovering a feeling of community in Birmingham.
In April, the city’s first music studio opened, and new businesses serve the local fan base.
With bands topping the UK album chart for the previous three years, K-appeal pop has only grown.
Hannah, one of the fans, stated, “Watching it grow and having a location to go and buy my albums is extremely great.”
On December 4, KPOPPINUK, which bills itself as Birmingham’s first K-pop specialty store, hosted a photo-trading-card gathering for fans to mingle and shop.
“We have a really strong community,” the store’s proprietor Jane Langley said, “and it’s about having a place to buy music physically and also being able to communicate personally with other fans.”
Fan Lexy claimed that she was teased at school for like the top songs, but that this has changed, and “the environment at K-pop events is incredibly pleasant.”
The new locations, according to the fans, were enabling people to discover a feeling of community.
Hayoon, a student from Korea on an exchange, expressed her appreciation for the increased interest in Korean pop culture in Britain.
She credited it with giving her confidence and calling it “a fantastic way to make new acquaintances.”
Even though Birmingham’s K-pop dance studio XI just opened there in April, enthusiasts have already found methods to practice routines together and perform in public.
One of several K-pop dance groups in Birmingham is IVIX, whose leader Emily Hancocks referred to them as her second family.
We get together very regularly on the weekends, and it just makes me so happy, she added.
The band Blackpink became the first K-pop girl group to top the UK album charts, three years after boyband BTS did the same, demonstrating the appeal of the genre.
According to the nonprofit organization International Socioeconomics Laboratory, the sector contributes around $10 billion to South Korea’s economy each year.
Fans in the West Midlands are optimistic that this will change soon even though none of the biggest K-pop acts have performed in Birmingham to date.
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