I said I’d never do a podcast. I’ve turned down offers before, not out of some sense of inflated importance but because the very thought of it gave me anxiety. I’m much more comfortable behind the keyboard. But, it’s important to stretch outside your comfort zone, right?
Well, Filmigirl from Idol Cast (a personal fave of mine) finally lured me out with the promise of a fun chat about J-pop and Johnny’s – two topics rarely discussed in English-language media.
So, if you’re interested in hearing our thoughts regarding the differences between K-pop and J-pop, the appeal of Johnny’s Entertainment, and the general awesomeness of pop music, take a listen. And when you’re done, make sure to subscribe to her podcast and listen from the beginning. She does a great overview of the history of J-pop and K-pop on her first few episodes.
Plus, we each selected five tracks to discuss in detail. If you’ve been a longtime Bias List reader, you’re likely to recognize most of mine!
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I have been a reader of your blog for almost 2 months, and I have to say that I’m really excited to listen to this podcast. Thanks for stepping out of your comfort zone, and thanks for the reviews you do. I love reading your blog entries and learning more about music. I used to listen to J-pop in my teens, and now at 29 I’m finally coming back around to listen to it again. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the genre.
Also I’m really enjoying reading your top 100 kpop songs. Thanks to you I’ve listened to Crooked again, found more B1A4 songs to love, found even more reasons to love SHINee’s Sherlock, and discovered that I really like Infinite’s The Chaser.
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Okay, I have no idea how I *did not* see this post but I always thought you had a British accent…
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Have you seen his interview on youtube tho? LOL, I’ve watched it too many times now. (I hope he’s okay with me exposing him like that..?). Man was looking fresh af 9 years ago, and probably still does.
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not to be that kind of guy and ik this was three years ago, but i still cant believe you did a collab with this person when she’s been exposed as a racist bts anti who went on nyt to shame bts for trying to go global while praising second gen groups for doing the same thing, as well as say some genuinely awful things about yoongi during his “scandal” and other stuff she’s said
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfjJW2GsA88
https://x.com/o_biennis/status/1784932437740384315
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I just randomly found out about that because I was doing more research on her after an article she posted just yesterday (horrid article btw) and I came across this collab… Nick, I know you both share the 2nd gen appreciation and the criticism for kpop’s westernization. I respect that. However her blog is basically a black hole of BTS hate and has been so for literal years. She is a full blown hater. Not a critic. A hater, of BTS and of every single thing released under Hybe, ever, with no exceptions. Her posts are basically endless conspiracy theories about BTS full of misinformation, bias and occasionally racism. The entire point of her blog is to talk shit about BTS, she’s literally getting money and clout from that and purely from that. The article she posted yesterday is full of actual lies and misconstructions, like the B-Free diss incident that she mentions. Literally 8/10 of her posts are about BTS, I am not even kidding. Is this the type of self proclaimed “idol expert” you want to associate yourself with? I know you dislike BTS and Hybe for the last 6 years and maybe this has clouded your judgment concerning Idolcast but, come on. And yes, her podcast on Jungkook was downright appalling. It was literally “why should we give a shit about a korean artist when we have Justin Timberlake, that’s like Justin Timberlake from TEMU lmaoo”. Yeah, that was the vibe of that podcast. If this is something that resonates with you then, fair. I just didn’t think that was the case, and I may have to reconsider. Your blog is the only kpop space I follow religiously for quite some time now and I love it, but that collab was really not it and I hope there won’t be another one.
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holy fucking shit i just read that article and my god, that just confirms it; she has a huge hate boner for bts, even more than she has for bang pd probably
im not even gonna give her the proper time of day to debunk or debate her cuz whats the fucking point
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ik he doesnt have to but i hope nick can address all this and why he chooses to be friends with this person who spouts blatant xenophobia to hate on bts
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Her article gave me second hand embarrassment. What do you mean Namjoon is fake because he was “desperate to be accepted by a label”? Sister, that was a 16 yo kid. What do you mean B-Free “demolished” Namjoon and Yoongi by calling them fakes? The same B-Free, the one who ridiculed two 19 yo boys calling them “women” for wearing make-up, laughing with his bros about it, the one who said they were fakes for having a *female* fanbase, that B-Free? That is the true authentic hip hop artist who represents the rap scene “rejecting” BTS? Have we lost our minds? Like, your favs wear make-up too. They are idols too. Why is B-Free’s homophobic rant a win for you? What the fuck.
Yes there is no point in debunking anything, she knows she’s full of shit and she dgaf because that gives her clout. And yes she really truly hates BTS and each member individually. She’s just an extremely bitter stan of a certain 2nd gen group, who cosplays as an objective kpop critic slash “idol expert” where in reality her whole reasoning is just twitter stan war narratives/snark subreddit content, with fancier vocabulary and a faux leftist rhetoric. And yes she has no hesitations jumping on the racist hate train BTS has been repeatedly the object of, as long as that’s a win for her favs and a loss for BTS. Disingenuous doesn’t even begin to cover it. I understand the BTS fatigue, and everything that comes with it. BTS are my ults, but I genuinely love so many groups and deeply respect so many artists, I always want to discover new music – or old. And it is such a deep disappointment, coming across new kpop blogs only to discover that they’re just hate cesspools. They give me the ick about the whole industry. If *this* is how a very well-researched objective “idol expert” thinks, then, do I really want to be part of that general space? I’m tired, seriously. I sincerely hope Nick does not share these opinions because this is the only kpop blog that I love and genuinely appreciate but giving space to kpop stans of her ilk is a hard limit for me.
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im with you 100%, i’ve been following this blog religiously for years at this point but even then platforming ppl who spout this kind of rhetoric is a hard line
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Coming back to this one last time to say that the funniest article she wrote is probably this one: https://www.theidolcast.com/posts/on-kpop-journalism where she literally states, verbatim, that BTS were never the object of brutal homophobic or racist remarks in other countries and that they were instead guaranteed acceptance and success from the get-go because their fanbase is primarily comprised of middle-aged rich Twilight mums (she wanted to say “rich old hags”) who essentially bribed media outlets to give them visibility. The funniest part is where she says that the racist and homophobic attacks BTS have recieved were just “snarky comments”, and that well, “there’s always going to be some dumbass commenting under a YouTube clip” so it’s not a big deal. Of course, what could I expect from someone who, explicitly and intentionally, congratulates B-Free for calling them “women”. Oh, also, according to the idol expert, we shouldn’t single out Bangtan’s attention to skin care and make-up because we have Prince at home who does the same but better.
It’s truly an admirable piece of work. Of course I shouldn’t be drawing attention to this individual, and this is def not the right place to talk about that, but well. Since she unfortunately got some visibility here, I felt that I have to point out certain things that I think are relevant to understand more thoroughly what this person’s “expertise” truly is.
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ah yes who could forget about all those racist comments they got in the west, such as being made fun of on chile tv, being compared to covid by jimmy kimmel, and other anti-asian comments
she needs to go fuck herself
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I still remember being a baby army around 2019 and watching greek TV (I’m greek) and seeing the TV show host being all shocked over JK and Tae’s ranking in a “most handsome men” list. She and her panel called them “women”, “objectively ugly” and repulsive. I watched this, live, as it was happening on national TV btw. It’s also on Youtube, you can find it. And now we have a (white) usamerican woman claim that the homophobia and racism they suffered is just harmless “snark” and that they faced no real struggles abroad because they just bribed their way into mainstream popularity through rich fans, because in her (highly privileged and purely US-centric) little bubble the world starts and ends with Jimmy Fallon’s and the Rolling Stone’s positive coverage. And all of this over what? She herself had defended BTS against racist coverage in the past, but that was before they surpassed her fav group in international popularity. Which is the *only* thing she actually gaf about and the *only* reason why she has dedicated an entire blog to BTS hate. Imagine resorting to pure racism apologia just because another group is getting the spotlight you wanted for your (already highly successful and influential) faves. Terminal twitter stan condition, she’s beyond help.
The infamous greek coverage I mentioned is in the beginning of the video, which exhibits exactly how easy and smooth Bangtan’s rise to popularity and recognition was in the West:
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seriously nick this is the kind of miserable asswipe you collaborate and associate yourself with? why??
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