How young Indians are flexing their skills through K-pop dance and music covers

"I am an aspiring musician and when I can relate to the emotions in BTS' song lyrics, it is really inspiring. They have brought me out of my introverted shell to try some new things," says 20-year-old Neel Pethani, who began by covering the band's ‘Butterfly' first and is now busy producing different versions of BTS' music. Pethani is also the co-founder of the Mumbai Club of BTS Army (MCBA), a one-stop destination where fans of the K-pop band BTS, scattered across the city, come together and engage in contests and other recreational activities.

"Many K-pop music videos have a perfect mix of rapping and vocals, which beats monotonous tunes. The amazing visuals with brilliant choreographies and different styled clothing, it's the cherry on the cake. These artists are really talented," adds Pethani, who is one among many young artists in India who credit K-pop idols for reconnecting them with their passion.

In 2016, Priyanka Mazumdar from Assam's Guwahati emerged as the country's first K-pop star when she won the third place for vocals at the World K-pop Contest. Then in 2017, a seven-member group from Mizoram, Immortals Army, beat teams from 12 countries to win the best dance award at the World K-pop Festival held in South Korea. Similarly, a rising cohort of young singers and dancers participating in national K-pop contests is testimony to how Hallyu (the Korean wave) is encouraging prodigies in Indian households to step up, take charge of their talents and maybe make it to Seoul one day.

With the release of ‘Crash Landing on You' and BTS' first English song ‘Dynamite', the year 2020 further fostered the contemporary Korean wave, which was already huge in the north eastern states and had started spreading to other parts of the country in the early 2000s. According to Hwang Il-Yong, director of Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI), since 2012, with every passing year, there has been a gradual rise in the number of people participating in the K-pop contest in Delhi.

"During the pandemic, we saw many people trying their hand at K-POP choreographies through social media apps that promote short videos," he says. "Many people turned to K-POP and K-Drama so much so that Spotify reported BTS, BLACKPINK, and TWICE amongst other K-POP artists as their most listened to artists in 2021."

Neel Pethani (extreme left) during the screening of 'Burn the stage: The movie' organised by the Mumbai Club of BTS Army. Image courtesy: Neel Pethani

In the span of five years from 2015, PinkBox Entertainment had independently organised the first K-pop concert in India, worked with over 10 K-pop artists and groups and also partnered with Korean Cultural Centre India, Embassy of the Republic of Korea, KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) and state governments in India for concerts.

According to Nikita Engheepi, co-founder of PinkBox Entertainment and Namaste Hallyu, one of the first websites that specifically tracks the evolution of Hallyu in India, says, "From double digit contestants to 1000s, the K-pop contests have definitely evolved in terms of popularity and competitiveness. Even though KPOP groups like EXO and Bigbang were already charting since 2017 in India, back then it was rare to see the KPOP genre taking over the music scene but now, whenever a good KPOP group releases music, we see them charting."

K-pop, an inspiration

"I used to do Rumba when I was young but then I quit it. K-pop was the reason why I picked up dancing again. I love the feeling when I finish the whole dance. It feels like a memory test that I must answer with body movements," says 26-year-old Tsering Palzom from Himachal Pradesh, who is the founder of the dance crew ‘Girl Crush', finalists of the 2017 K-pop India Contest in Delhi.

Tsering, whose first introduction to K-pop was in 2006 when she listened to the group ‘Super Juniors', feels she was captivated by the synchronised dances and the impressive choreography, an inseparable aspect of K-pop music videos.

Tsering Palzom (centre) with 'Girl Crush' crew members at the Korean Cultural Centre in Delhi in 2017. Image courtesy: Tsering Palzom

K-pop as an umbrella term for modern entertainment coming out of Seoul initiated by the ‘Seo Taiji and Boys' in 1992, includes an integration of Korean music with other genres such as R&B, hip hop, rock, jazz and rap, among others. For Pethani, who regularly covers BTS songs, K-pop encouraged him to explore his skills in one genre to another. The impactful lyrics and emotions communicated to him the most. From song covers to music production, the journey has been about learning and enhancing creativity.

"BTS has inspired me to start learning music production. I am still learning and experimenting on their music, but I can say they're the ones who got me motivated to try out singing and production in general and starting a YouTube Channel for the same," shares Pethani.

According to Hwang Il-Yong, the competitive nature of the K-pop contests in Delhi has further pushed the participants to put forward their best performances. And since the contest is open to all, both for contestants and the audience, there is an opportunity to interact with other artists and learn new skills.

Sasha Baptista, a 23-year-old dancer from Mumbai, discovered K-pop in 2017 and has been hooked on it since then, says, "Before I got into K-pop I wasn't dancing that much and had lost my passion. But after I got into a dance group for the K-pop contest in 2018, it brought back my interest in dancing. Watching K-pop artists work so hard on singing and dancing is a motivation for me and the reason I have improved my dance skill."

Baptista started posting K-pop dance covers on her YouTube channel, which attracts thousands of views. Following K-pop rock bands such as Day6, The Rose, TXT, Enhypen, BTS, Ateez, Seventeen and many others have strengthened her renewed interest in dancing

"My dance cover to ‘More and More' by Twice has over 50k views. I even started my dance workshops after many requests for teaching K-pop dances. My passion keeps growing and I hope I can be known as a K-pop instructor," she adds.

‘K-pop brings us together'

When Pethani and his friends started MCBA in 2018, it was all about creating a base for better organising events. True to their objectives, the group has now grown from five to 11 members and from 40 attendees to an army of over 2000 fans. Through their community club, they have organised movie screenings and conducted various charity events across the city, including Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai.

Neel Pethani and MCBA raised donations for the Hamsafar Trust in Mumbai, an NGO that advocates LGBTQ rights. Image courtesy: Neel Pethani

"We sometimes conduct events for BTS ARMY to celebrate BTS members' birthdays and other times events just for a meet-up. Through our collaborations, we donated around Rs 2.6 lakh for Covid-19 relief and $603 to a charity project for the Amazon Rainforest. We have also conducted a beach cleanup drive in Mumbai and plan to conduct more once the pandemic comes to an end," says Pethani.

Similarly, Tsering's Girl Crush crew has grown from five members in 2016 to 14 members now. The formation of the group enabled members to form friendships outside their state borders.

"We are all connected by K-pop. When I first heard about the kpop contest, I thought of participating in it and looked for members. Since 2016, we have performed at different events. The members are really close, and I am very satisfied with the fact that this group is acting like a medium in creating friendship outside schools," says Tsering.

The K-pop India Contest in Delhi has not only offered a platform for youngsters to showcase their talents, but has also provided Kpoppers across the country with a space to come together as a community and indulge in the euphoric atmosphere.

"During these contests I made a lot of friends who were also into K-pop. I either met them backstage or cheered for them performing my favourite song on stage. K-pop dancers who form groups for the K-pop contest take in people who haven't heard of k-pop. Sharing these contest videos and inviting them to the shows makes them curious about k-pop in general," says Baptista.

The Girl Crush crew members regularly participate in K-pop contests held in India and continue to make dance covers on their social platforms. Image credit: Tsering Palzom

Dark sides, but an unstoppable ARMY

With its unrealistic beauty standards and an immense control over the lives of its idols, the K-pop industry is widely criticised for creating a toxic environment for established artists and aspiring artists known as ‘trainees', who are often bound by years of harsh commercial fulfilments and contracts. Industrial pressure and expectations, often discounting the mental health of the artists, have led to a number of celebrity suicides in South Korea, thus revealing the dark side of Seoul's vibrant K-pop world.

In addition to the exploitative sides of the K-pop industry, Tsering also points out the raging ‘fan-wars' and rumour-mongering among stans.

"I consider K-pop to be the product of the entertainment industry, which means my primary purpose is to get entertained. However, there are always ‘fan-wars,' rumors and haters. Nonetheless, I eventually understand that as a part of the fan culture, it is almost impossible to filter out the toxic fans (followers)," she says.

Amid criticisms, the global impact of K-wave is also about the scores of fans, who defend their idols and even campaign for their labour rights. While they acknowledge the flaws, they hope for better conditions in the future and believe in spreading the Hallyu love with equal admiration and support for their idols. "There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes which we barely know of and that is scary. I only wish things get better for the established and aspiring artists so that they can achieve their dreams and make the most out of it," says Pethani.

You can read the third part of our series exploring impact of Korean wave on the local culture, here:

Korean chic: How fashion from K-drama and K-pop is influencing Indian wardrobes