The K-pop (Korean pop) Club at Seton Hall serves as a friendly and welcoming environment for fans of the popular music genre.
The president of K-pop Club, Victoria De Los Santos, a senior psychology major and criminal justice minor, showed enthusiasm for the sense of community the organization provides, despite some early struggles.
“To be honest, this club kind of struggled because of the pandemic,” De Los Santos said. “The K-pop club started in 2019, and then the pandemic happened in 2020, so it’s been a slow rebuild, and I think with this e-board we finally have been able to get [it] to a place where the club can feel like a fun place for people to be.”
Members of the club described the K-Pop club as a great environment for building friendships with people from all around campus.
K-Pop Club's First Meeting | Photo by Kya Kelly
“When I first joined K-Pop club, it was last year,” Destiny Preston, club secretary and sophomore elementary education, special education, and English major, said. “Everyone in the club was mostly from Boland, which was my dorm, and I didn’t know any of them. So I don’t think I would have gotten the chance to meet anyone here if not for this club.”
Although the main focus of the club is primarily K-pop music and artists, the organization offers plenty of opportunities for members to connect with Korean culture beyond the music.
De Los Santos described upcoming events that will help educate members about different aspects of Korean culture, emphasizing the importance of Korean holidays.
“Our next [general body meeting] is about the Korean Thanksgiving called Chuseok,” De Los Santos said. “We will be teaching [members] what that holiday is about, and we’ll be playing traditional games, one specifically called Yut Nori.”
Additionally, other general body meetings focus on learning the Korean language and illustrate other important aspects of Korean culture outside of the music.
Recently, the Netflix film, “KPop Demon Hunters,” has become the most-streamed movie on the platform with over 325 million streams worldwide, toppling “Red Notice’s” four-year record of 230.9 million streams worldwide. With this surge in popularity for the genre, questions have emerged as to whether or not the film has made K-pop more or less relevant to the culture.
“I think it’s great, but it’s very much a baseline movie,” Francila Mfumu, sophomore neuroscience major and the event coordinator for K-pop Club, said. Mfumu did not recommend the movie for those looking to learn more about K-pop specifically, but rather for looking a Korean culture as a whole.I think it’s a good segue into bringing the Korean culture, and K-pop in general, in a way that introduces it to American culture, so I think it’s a good place to start.”
The rise in popularity of global girl groups such as KATSEYE has also introduced a heated debate as to whether or not these groups fall under the umbrella of K-pop.
“It absolutely does,” De Los Santos said. “The only difference is the fact that not all of their members are Korean, but there are other K-pop groups that have members from different countries, like Black Swan.”
De Los Santos encourages anyone who is considering joining the club to stop by for the opportunity to forge some valuable friendships and learn more about the K-pop genre.
“Even if you don’t know much about the club, just do it and you’ll find someone else,” De Los Santos said. “In my freshman year, I only really knew my boy groups…so I had to learn about my girl groups, and that was so much fun. You really get a chance to learn about all different sides of the industry.”
Carmine Sortino is a writer for The Setonian’s Features section. He can be reached at carmine.sortino@student.shu.edu.
