With less than a month left until the Iowa caucuses officially kick off primary season, it seems like we've spent the last decade slowly whittling away at an endless list of candidates.
Many voters have already seen their favorite contenders drop out of the race. Others have yet to figure out which person on a crowded debate stage best represents their interests. Obviously, there are a number of axes on which you can compare the candidates, and countless articles that can help you navigate their differing economic policies, their stances on health care, or their various approaches to foreign policy. If those are the factors by which you judge a candidate, you should have no problem finding what you need to make up your mind. People like me are not so lucky.
I have always been a single-issue voter—consistently casting my ballot for the best dancer. In 2008 and 2012, I had an easy time of it. Barack Obama's blend of smooth and corny dance moves struck a perfect balance for my sensibilities, easily winning out over Mitt Romney's "Gangnam Style" convulsions, or John McCain's high-intensity robot. 2016 presented a more difficult choice. I nearly didn't vote at all, but ultimately decided that Hillary Clinton's stiff Whip and Nae Nae represented the lesser of two evils when considered against Donald Trump's apocalyptic rendition of "Hotline Bling."
SNL
Sadly, some 60 million voters didn't see what I saw and made the wrong call. I won't let that happen again. The American people deserve to see every candidate dance before they go to the polls. Until the DNC finally listens to wisdom and converts one of their debates to a dance-off, I've compiled this list so that you can make an informed decision.
Elizabeth Warren
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We'll get the top-tier candidates out of the way first. Senator Elizabeth Warren has nothing to hide. She has been the most upfront, transparent candidate when it comes to her big, structural dancing. And while it may not be everyone's first choice in style, you can not fault her fun-aunt-at-a-wedding energy. The latest example of her eclectic blend of fist pumping and hula dancing comes from last night's Brooklyn rally with—recent dropout and competent dancer in his own right—Julian Castro. She probably just needs a couple more glasses of zinfendel from the open bar before she really loosens up.
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders is surprisingly spry. You might not expect a man in his 70s with heart problems to cut a rug, but Bernie is not your average senior citizen. He has the energy of a man half his age, and the timeless consistency of his dancing allows him to keep up with his young supporters.
Joe Biden
Former vice president Joe Biden dances exactly as you'd expect—slow, old fashioned, and "sweet" in a way that's uncomfortably intimate.
Andrew Yang
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Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Yang has more than enough spring in his step to keep up with any roomful of middle-aged women on the dance floor. His universal basic dance moves aim to remind us that we all share one dance floor.
Tulsi Gabbard
Congressional representative for Hawaii Tulsi Gabbard doesn't exactly dance—she dance-fights. Just as with her approach to debates or to the war on terror, her Capoeira moves may be a bit more aggressive than some voters want.
Amy Klobuchar
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Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is known for her no-nonsense pragmatism. She strives not to make any promises she can't keep, so she will appear to be the adult in the room...but her dancing tells a different story. Klobuchar dances with the energy of a happy toddler who could enter full-blown tantrum mode at any moment.
Marianne Williamson
You may be surprised to find that spiritual guru Marianne Williamson is still in the race, but once you see her dance moves, you'll be surprised she isn't the front runner. She is as one with the music as she is with the vibrations of the universe.
Cory Booker
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker hasn't done much dancing lately, but we can look back at his record as Mayor of Newark to see where he stands on the issue of Salsa dancing. As in politics, Booker is competent, but not dazzling.
Pete Buttigieg
Does Mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg, dance at all? His campaign has a now-infamous official dance to the song "High Hopes," but I've been unable to uncover any evidence of Pete participating. His youth and energy are vaguely suggestive of someone with dance moves, but as long as his actual record remains cloaked in shadows, many voters will be hesitant to support him. Until that time, the above simulation is the best we can do. What are you hiding, Mayor Pete?!
Michael Bloomberg
Is Michael Bloomberg actually running for president, or is he just trying to spoil everyone's fun? His dancing with Lady Gaga at 2011's New Year's Rockin' Eve suggests the latter.
Tom Steyer
Who?
Michael Bennet
Michael Bennett is a defensive lineman in the NFL. As far as I can tell, the rumors that he's running for president are completely baseless, but based on his moves... maybe he should.
The story of psychedelics is intertwined with the story of music, and tracing their relationship can feel like going in circles.
For thousands of years, artists have been using naturally-grown herbs to open their minds and enhance their creative processes. Since LSD was synthesized by Albert Hoffman in 1938, psychedelics have experienced a reemergence, blooming into a revolution in the 1960s, launching dozens of genres and sounds that focused on acid, shrooms, and all of the portals they opened. Around the 1960s, scientists also began studying the relationship between psychedelics and music, and even back then, researchers found that, when combined, music and psychedelics could have therapeutic effects on patients.
More modern studies have discovered that LSD, specifically, links a portion of the brain called the parahippocampal—which specializes in personal memory—to the visual cortex, which means that memories take on more autobiographical and visual dimensions. Other studies have found that LSD can make the timbres and sounds of music feel more meaningful and emotionally powerful. Today, psychedelic music still thrives, and you can hear flickers of those early trip-inspired experiences all across today's modern musical landscape.
"There is a message intrinsically carried in music, and under the effects of psychedelics, people seem to become more responsive to this," said the psychedelic researcher Mendel Kaelen. "Emotion can be processed more deeply. It's a beautiful narrative. It's like a snake biting itself in the tail."
All that said, psychedelics can be as dangerous as the archetypal live-fast-die-young rock and roller's average lifestyle. They can destabilize already fragile minds and can encourage further drug abuse and reckless behavior. Often, psychedelic revolutions have coincided with colonialist fetishizations, apocalyptic visions, and appropriations of Eastern culture.
However, sometimes psychedelics and musical talent can come together in a synergy so perfect that it can literally create transcendent and healing experiences. Hallucinogens affected each of these following musicians in a unique way, but their experiences with hallucinogens produced some of the greatest music of all time.
Harry Styles — She
In his revelatory Rolling Stone profile, Harry Styles spoke out about how magic mushrooms inspired his most recent album, Fine Line. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the 25-year-old apparently spent a lot of time at Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles tripping and listening to the old psychedelic greats.
"Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms here," he said in the interview during a tour of the studio. "We'd do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney's Ram in the sunshine."
Things even got a little violent, as they often can when dealing with hallucinogens. "This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place," he reminisced affectionately.
Kacey Musgraves' dreamy song "Slow Burn" was apparently inspired by an acid trip. Listening to the lyrics, you can hear the influence of psychedelics twining with country and singer-songwriter tropes. "I was sitting on the porch, you know, having a good, easy, zen time," she said of the songwriting experience, which she said happened out on her porch one evening. "I wrote it down on my phone, and then wrote the songs the next day with a sober mind."
LSD, she said, "opens your mind in a lot of ways. It doesn't have to be scary. People in the professional worlds are using it, and it's starting to become an option for therapy. Isn't that crazy?" Her affection for the drug also appears in her song "Oh What A World," which contains the lyric, "Plants that grow and open your mind."
A$AP Rocky — L$D
While A$AP Rocky's affection for LSD isn't a surprise given his propensity for writing about the drug, apparently the rapper has an intellectual approach to his psychedelic experimentation.
"We was all in London at my spot, Skeppy came through," he told Hot New Hip Hop about his experience writing LSD. "I have this psychedelic professor, he studies in LSD. I had him come through and kinda record and monitor us to actually test the product while being tested on. We did the rhymes all tripping balls."
Apparently his first acid trip happened in 2012. "Okay, without getting anyone in trouble, I was with my homeboy and some trippy celebrity chicks and…" he said in an interview with Time Out. When asked how long it lasted, he said, "Too long, man. Twenty-three hours. I was trippin' till the next day. When I woke up, I was like, Damn! I did that shit! That shit was dope. It was so amazing. It was a-ma-zing. Nothing was like that first time."
Acid changed his entire approach to music and success. "I never really gave a f*ck, man, but this time, I really don't give a f*ck," he said. "I don't care about making no f*cking hits." Instead, he focuses on creating. "It's so hard to be progressive when you're trippin' b*lls," he said. "You make some far-out shit!"
The Beatles' later music is essentially synonymous with LSD, and the band members often spoke out about their unique experiences with the drug. According to Rolling Stone, the first time that Lennon and Harrison took it was actually a complete accident. A friend put LSD in their coffee without their knowledge, and initially Lennon was furious. But after the horror and panic faded, things changed. "I had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God, and I could see him in every blade of grass. It was like gaining hundreds of years of experience in 12 hours," said Harrison.
Paul McCartney had similar revelations. LSD "opened my eyes to the fact that there is a God," he said in 1967. "It is obvious that God isn't in a pill, but it explained the mystery of life. It was truly a religious experience." Of LSD's effect, he also said, "It started to find its way into everything we did, really. It colored our perceptions. I think we started to realize there wasn't as many frontiers as we'd thought there were. And we realized we could break barriers."
Using the drug not only helped the band create some of the most legendary music of all time—it also brought them closer together. "After taking acid together, John and I had a very interesting relationship," said George Harrison. "That I was younger or I was smaller was no longer any kind of embarrassment with John. Paul still says, 'I suppose we looked down on George because he was younger.' That is an illusion people are under. It's nothing to do with how many years old you are, or how big your body is. It's down to what your greater consciousness is and if you can live in harmony with what's going on in creation. John and I spent a lot of time together from then on and I felt closer to him than all the others, right through until his death."
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Ray Charles — My World
The soul music pioneer allegedly once described acid as his "eyes." Charles was blind, but LSD is said to have allowed him some version of sight. Though he struggled with addiction, Charles eventually got clean, though his music always bore some markers of his experiences with the subconscious mind.
Actually, blind people on LSD and hallucinogens can experience hallucinations of different kinds, though it's somewhat rare. According to a study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, this happens because during a trip, "the plasticity of the nervous system allows the recognition and translation of auditory or tactile patterns into visual experiences."
Clapton struggled with drug abuse throughout his life, and LSD certainly had an influence on him. While he was a part of Cream, he frequently played shows while tripping, and according to outontrip.com, he became "convinced that he could turn the audience into angels or devils according to the notes he played."
Before he was creating the ultimate dad rap, Chance the Rapper was an acidhead.
"None of the songs are really declarative statements; a lot of them are just things that make you wonder...a lot like LSD," said Chance the Rapper of his hallucinogen-inspired album, the aptly named Acid Rap. "[There] was a lot of acid involved in Acid Rap," he told MTV in 2013. "I mean, it wasn't too much — I'd say it was about 30 to 40 percent acid ... more so 30 percent acid."
But the album wasn't merely about acid; like much of the best psychedelic music, it was more about the imagery and symbolism associated with the drug than the actual drug itself. "It wasn't the biggest component at all. It was something that I was really interested in for a long time during the making of the tape, but it's not necessarily a huge faction at all. It was more so just a booster, a bit of fuel. It's an allegory to acid, more so than just a tape about acid," he said.
Jazz great John Coltrane was a regular LSD user who used the drug to create music and to have spiritual experiences. Though he struggled with addiction throughout his life, LSD was one drug that had a major artistic influence on him. While it's not known for sure if the album Om—which includes chanted verses of the Bhagavad Gita—was recorded while Coltrane was on LSD, many rumors theorize that it was.
"Coltrane's LSD experiences confirmed spiritual insights he had already discovered rather than radically changing his perspective," wrote Eric Nisenson in Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest. "After one early acid trip he said, 'I perceived the interrelationship of all life forms,' an idea he had found repeated in many of the books on Eastern theology that he had been reading for years. For Coltrane, who for years had been trying to relate mystical systems such as numerology and astrology, theories of modern physics and mathematics, the teachings of the great spiritual leaders, and advanced musical theory, and trying somehow to pull these threads into something he could play on his horn. The LSD experience gave him visceral evidence that his quest was on the right track."
Jenny Lewis — Acid Tongue
Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis wrote the song "Acid Tongue" about her first and only experience on LSD, which happened when she was fourteen. She told Rolling Stone, "It culminated in a scene not unlike something from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—the scene where Hunter S. Thompson has to lock the lawyer in the bathroom. I sort of assumed the Hunter S. Thompson character and my friend – she had taken far too much – decided to pull a butcher knife out of the kitchen drawer and chase me around the house… At the end of that experience, my mom was out of town on a trip of her own and she returned to find me about 5 lbs lighter and I had—I was so desperate to get back to normal I decided to drink an entire gallon of orange juice. I saw that it was in the fridge and decided that this would sort of flush the LSD out of my system, but I didn't realize that it did exactly the opposite."
The Beach Boys' mastermind Brian Wilson was famously inspired by psychedelics, which both expanded and endangered his fragile and brilliant mind. After his first acid trip in 1965, an experience that he said "expanded his mind," Wilson wrote "California Gurls." After the trip, however, Wilson began suffering from auditory hallucinations and symptoms of schizophrenia, and though he discontinued use of the drug, he continued to hear voices; doctors eventually diagnosed him with the disease. Wilson later lamented his tragic experiences with LSD, stating that he wished he'd never done the drug.
Though it led Wilson on a downward spiral, LSD inspired some of his band's greatest work—namely the iconic Pet Sounds, which launched half a century of "acid-pop copycats."
The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is widely believed to be the product of lead singer Wayne Coyne's LSD experimentation. This theory is corroborated by the fact that the album's cover features the number 25 (and LSD is also known as LSD-25). They also frequently reference LSD in their music, which includes an album called Finally, the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
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Jimi Hendrix — Voodoo Child
While there is still some general contention on whether Jimi Hendrix hallucinated frequently, nobody really doubts that he did. According to rumors, the legendary musician even used to soak his bandanas in acid before going onstage so the drug would seep through his pores.
According to one source, Hendrix did more than just play music while tripping. He was also an expert at (of all things) the game of Risk.
"Jimi would play Risk on acid, and I never — and me personally — ever beat him at all," said Graham Nash in an interview. "He was unbelievable at it. He was a military man, you know, he's a paratrooper, and I don't know whether you know that about Jimi, but no one ever beat him at Risk."
The Doors — The End
Jim Morrison was a documented LSD user, and it eventually led him out of his mind. "The psychedelic Jim I knew just a year earlier, the one who was constantly coming up with colorful answers to universal questions, was being slowly tortured by something we didn't understand. But you don't question the universe before breakfast for years and not pay a price," said John Desmore in Riders on the Storm: My Life With the Doors.
Morrison used many different drugs during his lifetime, but apparently LSD had a special place and he avoided using it while working. "LSD was a sacred sacrament that was to be taken on the beach at Venice, under the warmth of the sun, with our father the sun and our mother the ocean close by, and you realised how divine you were," said Ray Manzarek. "It wasn't a drug for entertainment. You could smoke a joint and play your music, as most musicians did at the time. But as far as taking LSD, that had to be done in a natural setting."
Morrison himself—a visionary who was also a drug-addled narcissist—was kind of the prototypical 1960s LSD-addled rock star. Alive with visions about poetry and sex but lost in his own self-destruction, he perhaps touched on something of the sublime with his art, but in the end he went down a very human path towards misery and decay.
Like many of these artists' stories, Morrison's life reveals that perhaps instead of using hallucinogens and psychedelics as shortcuts to a spiritual experience, one should exercise extreme caution when exploring the outer reaches of the psyche. When it comes to actually engaging with potent hallucinogens, that might be best left to the shamans, or forgotten with the excesses of the 1960s.
On the other hand, we might do well to learn from the lessons that people have gleaned from hallucinogens over the years—lessons that reveal just how interconnected everything is, that shows us that music and memory and nature may just all stem from the same place.
In a recent New Yorker article, Jia Tolentino addresses the phenomenon of the "Instagram face."
This social media-optimized visage, she writes, is a "single, cyborgian face. It's a young face, of course, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips. It looks at you coyly but blankly, as if its owner has taken half a Klonopin and is considering asking you for a private-jet ride to Coachella."
If you've spent any time online, you probably know what Tolentino is talking about. "Instagram Face" is a term that refers to any of the artificially beautiful faces we see that could only exist online and thanks to a great deal of surgical enhancement. It's deeply linked to money, to plastic surgery, and to the utilization of light, texture, and power through image manipulation. It's inspired by Kylie Jenner and her brood. It's white but tanned, often freckled and always pouty-lipped. It is "as if the algorithmic tendency to flatten everything into a composite of greatest hits had resulted in a beauty ideal that favored white women capable of manufacturing a look of rootless exoticism," writes Tolentino. It is everything and nothing at the same time.
Handsome Squidward and Bella Hadid: Beauty as Pain
While thinking about these faces—shaped by highlighter and lip kits and edits and plastic surgery, blown-out and contoured and often captioned with Lizzo lyrics or quotes about either sadness or female empowerment or some combination of both—I began to realize that they reminded me of something.
Admittedly, they reminded me of a lot of things. Humans have always idealized unattainable beauty, and, in a way, the Instagram Face is like a modern iteration of ancient Greek sculpture. They symbolize humanity's aspiration to physical perfection, refracted through capitalism and technology—but they also resemble the iconic Handsome Squidward from the SpongeBob episode "The Two Faces of Squidward."
In the episode, Squidward gets hit with a door and after two weeks in the hospital, he finds himself converted to a Chad-type, complete with a very strong jawline. He is immediately photographed and thronged by groups of fans who attack and injure each other in an attempt to steal his clarinet and clothing. Unable to escape the rabid crowds, Squidward runs to the Krusty Krab and begs SpongeBob to change him back, so SpongeBob smashes him in the face with a door until he becomes...something surreal and bloated, something doomed and too beautiful for this Earth. He becomes Handsome Squidward.
As a crowd of onlookers gazes on in awe, Handsome Squidward dances across the screen. He moves like a drugged ballerina, bogged down by the weight of his beauty.
He bears a striking resemblance to Michael Phelps in stature and Bella Hadid in features. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Hadid is the first result that comes up on Google when you search "Instagram Face." Hadid, like Handsome Squidward, didn't always look like she does.
Instagram Face is a product of money—of plastic surgery, injection, or incision. Like Handsome Squidward, its beauty is artificial and painful and precarious.
Perhaps Handsome Squidward's defining characteristic is that he is always falling. He carries an air of doomed glory around him. His beauty is apocalyptic and self-annihilating. In the modern world of the Instagram Face, beauty is pain, collapse, falling, breakage. It's breaking one's face open and filling it with collagen and chemicals and projecting it through software in hopes that what blooms from the wreckage might garner attention, acceptance, adoration, and eventually, compensation.
The Instagram Face and Capitalism: Beauty as Collapse
When I see Instagram faces, digitally manipulated and paid for in order to sell, I experience a feeling of falling. Instagram faces are inherently doomed, as we all are, to age out of their beauty, to fall prey to the passage of time, to slip down and hit the earth. The bearers of Instagram faces, I assume, are forced to deal with the ugliness of the ordinary: the way faces peel and breathe and sweat and bleed, the way bodies contort and sag and excrete. For a brief moment, in the free-falling sphere of the online vortex, they are beautiful. For a moment, they are infinite, immortal, not-alive.
In that, they bear a resemblance to the most elusive and tantalizing aspects of capitalism, which—for all I criticize it—can look truly beautiful. That's part of its charm. Though, of course, we know that capitalism is killing people and killing the planet, brainwashing us into idealizing completely arbitrary traits, and always has been. Capitalism has motivated everything from colonization to trauma on the Internet, because it works. It is so difficult not to aspire to its promises and not to hoard the wealth and objects that one has. It is so difficult to extricate ourselves from it, even though we know it's killing the planet and so many people.
Still, the idea that we might be able to streamline and photoshop and buy ourselves into a life that feels like a Goop catalogue looks will never stop being tantalizing. No matter how much we preach self-love, our culture is still confused by a desire to transcend our human limitations even at the cost of our humanity. No matter how much we preach radicalism and liberation, we still live in a society built on competition. This sick mindset may be guiding us towards total climate collapse; but then again, have we ever not been falling?
Empowerment and Shifting Possibility: Beauty as Power
Of course, not everything about the Instagram Face is bad, or, at least, it's not implicitly worse than the beauty standards we've always glorified. The Face is becoming increasingly attainable to all genders. In a way, it does level the playing field, offering people the opportunity to change themselves on many levels. And it can offer confidence boosts. "On one hand, some people may find that conforming to a beauty standard can help with confidence and self-esteem," writes Julia Brucculieri for The Huffington Post. Still, even that self-esteem and confidence (like most of what gives us thrills within beauty-obsessed capitalism) teeters on thin ice. "That confidence boost, though, will likely be short-lived, especially if you become increasingly obsessed with presenting an altered version of yourself on social media."
There is, of course, the argument that we shouldn't criticize girls and women for posting selfies or for editing themselves, which makes a valid point. There is a tremendous amount of sexism inherent in a lot of criticism of women owning and celebrating their beauty, sexuality, and flesh prisons.
Still, when I see these faces I can't help but feel like capitalism has devoured female empowerment, regurgitating it just like it's capitalizing on social justice without really changing anything while whiteness has remained in power; it's just morphed. The modern era was supposed to be post-feminist, a time of body positivity and liberation. When did it become about mutilating ourselves, about endlessly deifying "glow-ups"? Has the human algorithm always leaned towards competition, and will we ever successfully hack it?
Are the Kardashians' billions a sufficient balm for knowing that their fans are harming themselves and ingesting toxic diet products in order to achieve a look similar to theirs? Most likely.
But when I scroll through Instagram, I still can't help but feel like those fish watching Squidward fall through the glass. I can't look away from this dazzling, collapsing world.
Unless you've been living without wifi, television, or any access to the world at large for the past several years, you probably have at least dabbled in the world of K-Pop by now.
K-Pop, simply put, is Korean pop music. But in reality, it's so much more than that. It's an art form, a spectacle, a phenomenon, and a multi-billion dollar industry. K-Pop groups eat, sleep, and breathe their craft, dancing more skillfully than just about any western group and releasing pop songs so catchy that you don't need to speak Korean to get the words stuck in your head. But with so many K-Pop groups out there, is it possible to say which group is the absolute best? Well, we'll leave that up to you. Vote below for your favorite K-Pop group!
EXO
EXO is made up of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai and Sehun. SM Entertainment formed EXO in 2011 and debuted in 2012. Their music is a mix of hip-hop, rap, EDM, and R&B, and they release music in Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese.
BLACKPINK
This incredible South Korean girl group was formed by YG Entertainment, debuting in 2016 with single album Square One, which included "Whistle," their first number one hit. The group is comprised of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa.
BTS
Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook form perhaps the most popular K-Pop group: Bangtan Boys AKA BTS. This 7 member group formed in Seoul in 2013, and have since gone on to help popularize K-Pop across the world.
MONSTA X
MONSTA X is composed of seven members: Shownu, Wonho, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney[2], and I.M.
From South Korea and assembled by Starship Entertainment, the boy band was formed through the 2015 reality show No.Mercy.
TWICE
This group of talented musicians was formed in South Korea by JYP Entertainment through the 2015 reality show Sixteen. The nine members of the group are Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. The group debuted on October 20, 2015, with The Story Begins.
TVXQ (DBSK)
This duo, whose name stands for Tong Vfang Xien Qi, is comprised of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. They offer a wide multicultural appeal, releasing songs in many different languages. They are known as Tohoshinki for their Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as DBSK, an abbreviation of their Korean name Dong Bang Shin Ki which roughly translates to "Rising Gods of the East."
GOT7
Got7 is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment, composed of JB, Mark, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam, and Yugyeom. They've been around since January 2014 when they released their first EP, Got It? They're known for their incredible stage performances which incorporate martial arts.
SEVENTEEN
Members of this boy band—which debuted in 2015 with Pledis Entertainment—are Woozi, Wonwoo, Vernon, Mingyu, Jun, Hoshi, The8, Joshua, Jeonghan, Dino, S.Coups, and Seungkwan. This group is known for self-producing, as many of the members are actively involved in songwriting, choreographing, and producing their own work.
TXT
Tomorrow X Together (TXT) is a South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment. The group consists of 5 members: Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Huening Kai.
Western awareness of K-Pop music has come a long way since Gangnam Style first went viral on YouTube, but if the 2019 Grammy Awards were your first time hearing of BTS you have some catching up to do.
No worries, though! We got you covered. Allow us to take you on a journey into the musical genre that's taking over the world.
What is K-Pop?
K-Pop stands for Korean pop, a broad genre encompassing pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, and electronic music. The genre dates back to the 90s, during which similarly styled South Korean pop music was referred to as "Gayo." The movement was largely influenced by the group Seo Taiji and Boys, formed in 1992, who began experimenting with different styles and genres within their mainstream pop music. But it wouldn't be until the 2000s that the genre now known as "K-Pop" would fully come into its own.
In the same way, the songs blend many genres into one, K-Pop is a holistic experience. In spite of massive radio play, the actual songs are inseparable from their music videos, their dance numbers, and the personalities of their various group members. In K-Pop culture, fashion, choreography, and fandom are just as important as the music, so to fully understand the genre, you need to recognize its moving parts.
And what better way to do that than by checking out K-Pop's biggest group…
BTS
BTS (also known as the Bangtan Boys) is easily the most popular K-Pop group in history. While other K-Pop groups experience wild success, none can even approach the levels of BTS, especially on an international level. Their fandom is so huge that they've broken multiple records formerly held by the likes of Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. They also have the most Twitter engagement in history.
In many ways, BTS is the quintessential ideal of a K-Pop boy band. They're so popular they've been called the modern-day Beatles, and as such, we can use them as a case study to understand the intricacies of the genre.
The Members
While some K-Pop stars are solo artists, most major acts are groups, usually put together by one of three major agencies – YJ Entertainment, SM Entertainment, or JYP Entertainment. These agencies are essentially all-in-one management firms for their artists, serving as record labels, talent agencies, concert producers, and event managers. Most commonly, the same agency will discover young talent, train them, group them, debut them, and foster their careers.
Competition is fierce within the K-Pop industry, and the artists who ultimately make it into major groups need to be multi-talented singers and dancers. They also need to synergize well with other group members. Of course, each member has an area of expertise.
RM (Rap Monster)
The group's leader, RM, lives up to his namesake. He's a talented rapper in his own right and was the first member of the group to release his own mixtape.
Suga
Suga also got his start in the underground rap scene and is especially well known for his rhyme speed.
J-Hope
J-Hope initially focused on dancing, but since joining the group, he's begun rapping and songwriting too.
Jimin
Having formerly attended art school to focus on modern dance, Jimin is considered by many to be the best dancer in the group. He's also the lead vocalist, or the best singer in the group aside from the main vocalist.
Jin
Known by his fans as "Worldwide Handsome," Jin is a sub-vocalist (or supportive vocalist).
V
Another one of the group's sub-vocalists, V is renowned for his smooth voice.
Jungkook
The "Maknae," or youngest member of the group, Jungkook is the main vocalist (best vocalist) and a constant presence onstage.
Choreography
Dancing is a huge part of K-Pop. The groups perform stylized dance routines in both their music videos and live performances. In fact, the dance routines are so important that groups like BTS oftentimes release "dance practice" videos so fans can watch their rehearsals.
Here's BTS's dance practice video for their hit song "IDOL."
As you can tell, the dance routines are fast, technical, and high-energy. Unlike a lot of Western boy bands, dancing isn't a secondary or tertiary concern. To pull off routines like these, K-Pop groups like BTS need to be at the top of their physical game.
Aesthetics
K-Pop is, above all else, an aesthetic art form. Music videos tend to be incredibly colorful and, artists are known for frequently changing their styles and outfits, allowing them to popularize new looks and fashions.
For instance, in their "Blood Sweat" music video, BTS donned fancy jackets and ascots, along with platinum blonde hair.
Then in "Fake Love," they adopted an artsy street punk vibe with lots of torn denim.
Finally, "Idol" shows an entirely fresh aesthetic with loud, bright suits and full bright hair to match.
The aesthetic choices translate throughout entire music videos, making each song look and feel incredibly distinct.
The Music
We can talk about K-Pop music all day, but there's no better way to learn about it than to experience it for yourself. At this point, you're familiar with BTS, and you've seen the dance practice and aesthetics behind "Idol." So let's see how it all comes together.
As we said, words can't adequately prepare you for that―all the costumes, set changes, dance sequences, and energy pulsating throughout the video. It's not just great to listen to. It's great to watch. K-Pop is a full-on sensory experience. The craziest part is that each song offers something unique.
Other Groups to Watch
As amazing as BTS is, they're not the only K-Pop band. The genre has lots of other great acts too, so let's check a few of them out.
The 4-woman girl group, BLACKPINK, is currently one of the biggest names in K-Pop. The music video for their hit song, "DDU-DU DDU-DU," provides a great example of elaborate set pieces, fashionable outfits, catchy music, and fun dance segments.
One of the most influential boy bands in K-Pop, BIGBANG's 2012 hit "FANTASTIC BABY" received unprecedented international airplay and is largely responsible for the genre's international spread. Its EDM style was considered groundbreaking at the time it came out and the hook―"Fantastic baby"―is arguably the most famous line of English in a K-Pop song.
On the more poppy side of K-pop, Twice's "Likey" is the pinnacle of the cutesy girl group aesthetic famous in Korea. The bright colors and high school setting do a great job appealing to the target demographic of teens and young adults. And the focus on fashion and makeup connect exceptionally well with female fans.
Conclusion
K-Pop has a diverse, exciting, stylish culture full of diehard fans and groundbreaking music. Now that you've been introduced, we hope you'll enjoy the multitude of great songs the genre has to offer. But even if you don't like the music, here's something everyone can appreciate.
BTS's Jungkook is the most adorable human to ever live and is basically an anthropomorphic bunny rabbit. If that's not enough to make you love K-Pop, we don't know what is.
Dan Kahan is a writer & screenwriter from Brooklyn, usually rocking a man bun. Find more at dankahanwriter.com
Kingdom Hearts is a classic. It's admittedly a little too hokey at times, and definitely confusing, and through it all they've still managed to create some of the most memorable characters in gaming. Whether they be heroic protagonists, intricately woven anti-heroes, or bad-to-the-bone antagonists - they've always managed to be both compelling and fun. So, in light of the recent news and the ever approaching release (hopefully!), I have created this list of some of the best characters ever created for this game.
I know, I know, there are a lot of really good characters that have appeared. But, most of them were already established as good characters way before they were dropped into the Kingdom Hearts canon. So, unfortunately characters like Maleficent, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey will not be appearing on this list. But hey, this is a bi-weekly column, so who's to say there won't be another list up in the future?
10. Terra (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
Oh Terra, you flawed character, you. Terra is one of the three protagonists of the prequel game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, set ten years before the original KH game. And honestly, he would have made it higher on this list - but his story seemed just too familiar. Much like Riku, Terra struggles throughout the entire game with his draw to the darkness. And also, much like Riku, he is eventually consumed by it and his body is stolen by the game's main protagonist.
Terra is a great character, and it's interesting to see the rivalry between he and Aqua - and the brother-like relationship he has with Ventus. Not to mention, that unlike Riku, he is still stuck under the control of his evil Master. And we don't really know how he's doing or where he is.
So, despite the predictability of this story, Terra still manages to make this list for being a tragically flawed character.
9. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Kingdom Hearts)
You can't beat the original. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, is one of the many people in this game who take on the moniker of Ansem. In the original game, this dastardly villain is the ring leader behind everything - and one of the driving forces of darkness that is consuming worlds. However, we find out later that the Seeker of Darkness is not Ansem - but his heartless. Which is crazy, because Heartless are not supposed to be this intelligent.
In fact, he's the only Heartless that is this intelligent, as far as I know.
AND THE YOU FIND OUT THAT THIS ISN'T EVEN ANSEM'S HEARTLESS! Ansem never got turned into a Heartless. No, no. This is the Heartless of Xehanort, one of Ansem's lab assistants. It's an interesting web, and the web only makes Ansen, Seeker of Darkness, more compelling as each game gets released.
8. Xion (Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days)
Xion is probably a surprising entry on this list. She is a one-off character who only appeared in a handheld, midquel about Roxas' time with the evil (or misunderstood) Organization XIII. She appears as a fourteenth member, and a surprise keyblade wielder, making her the second Nobody to have the ability. She works alongside Roxas, and forms a strong relationship with both him and his best friend, Axel.
Alas, close to the end of the game, you find out that she was manufactured as a near-replica of Roxas, in case both Sora and Roxas are unable to collect hearts for the Organization. In the end, she decides to sacrifice herself by fighting Roxas and dying to give Sora back his memories. As depicted in the scene above, she dies in Roxas' arms, as he forgets their time together.
It's one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the game's history, and one of the deaths of one of the more interesting characters in the game's canon. I still cry when I watch it.
7. Roxas (Kingdom Hearts II, 358/2 Days)
ROXAS! I love Roxas - he's a wonderfully broody foil to main protagonist, Sora's, chipper attitude. He is the Nobody of Sora that was created when Sora became a heartless in the original game. He is also one of the only Nobodies to have the power to wield the keyblad, and bears a striking resemblance to Ventus (a protag from Birth by Sleep). His story is a sad one, and we are treated to the last week of his life at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II.
What makes Roxas so compelling is his quest to exist. He is constantly searching for his purpose and why he exists, and when he finds out, he decides to take his destiny into his own hands. He fights against the organization, and even when his memories are taken from him, he continues to fight for his life.
Until the end, when he realizes that he must reunite with Sora.
His story is one of the most tragic in the series and it needs to be on this list.
6. Axel/Lea (Kingdom Hearts series)
Axel ranks higher than Roxas, because he's a Nobody who cares so much. He first appears as an antagonist in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and later as a unlikely ally in Kingdom Hearts II and 3D. What defines him most is his relationship with Sora's Nobody, Roxas. His entire quest is driven by his need to find and protect his best friend - and in the end he sacrifices himself to do that very thing.
Only, he isn't dead. After his Nobody and his Heartless (who we never see) are killed - he forms again into his original self, Lea. We find out that most of the Nobodies have returned to normal, and with that, Lea goes again to search for his friend. And actually ends up saving the day and becoming a Keyblade wielder?
Axel's transformation from a villain to a hero, and his later reclamation of his original self is one of the most satisfying storylines in the series. And I can't wait to see what they do with the character in Kingdom Hearts III!
5. Kairi (Kingdom Hearts series)
Kairi's story is also one that improved as the games moved forward. She started out as nothing more than a love interest and damsel in distress for Sora to save - and has now become a more fully fleshed out character. In the first game, Kairi is one of the Sora and Riku's best friends. She is also the object of both of their affections - and later in the game, you find out that Kairi is a Princess of Heart (one of the seven of the purest hearts in existence), and that she was once princess of Hollow Bastion.
Her background is expanded more in Birth by Sleep, when you see her interact with Aqua. You also find out that Aqua bequeathed the ability to wield a keyblade to her, and forged a special bond with her.
My favorite part of about Kairi though, as to be in Kingdom Hearts II. When she regains her memories of Sora back, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and jumps through a dark portal, which eventually leads her to Twilight Town. It's a lovely moment, and a signal the Kairi is not going to take things sitting down anymore.
Plus, SHE CAN WIELD A KEYBLADE TOO! And I hope she is one of the seven lights that will fight the final battle with Xehanort.
4. Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts series)
And here is the guy that started it all. Xehanort is the mastermind behind Kingdom Hearts' entire convoluted storyline. He first appears as a keyblade Master in Birth by Sleep - as the master of the mysterious and evil, Vanitus. He is shown to be at one with the darkness, and we later find out that he seeks to summon the powerful x-Blade, to ignite a Keyblade War, which would allow him to shape the world in his image.
He is a powerful foe, which is proven by his longevity. You find out that every major antagonist from Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, to Xemnas, to the lab assistant of Ansem, Xehanort were all forms of his. He has done this, by putting his heart into those whom he deems a worthy vessel.
It's crazy, and it doesn't always make sense, but I'll be damned if Xehanort isn't a damn good bad guy. He even looks super evil, you know what I mean?
3. Sora (Kingdom Hearts series)
I know, he's the main protagonist of the whole series, so he should be at the top - but honestly there isn't a lot to Sora. We first see him in Kingdom Hearts, he is the unlikely chosen wielder of the keyblade. He dreams of seeing other worlds and getting of his small island - and boy does he ever. Eventually, we find out that he has the power to protect the world - and that's what he sets out to do! Of course, he also plans on finding his friends, Riku and Kairi.
Sora is defined by his heroic nature and his goofy exterior. He is relentlessly optimistic, and is shown to bring out the best in people. His heart is so strong, in fact, that it can call out to other people and help protect their hearts. And he's also an incredibly powerful keyblade wielder, who has managed to fight off the entire Organization XIII and a slew of very powerful heartless.
But, he's not a complicated character. He just loves everybody and wants to help, and that's what he does. Sure, he wants to save his friends, but he never does it at the expense of other people. He is a friend to everyone and loyal to those who he deems worthy of his friendship. And that's about it.
And I mean, let's be honest, they made him really dumb in KH: 3D right? Is that just me? I don't think it's just me.
2. Riku (Kingdom Hearts series)
Riku gets the number two spot for being a flawed character, who comes into the hero role a little bit late in the game. Originally, he was one of the chosen to wield the Keyblade - but it quickly did the old switheroo when Riku opened his heart to darkness and got consumed. This set Riku on a path that had him betraying his friends and getting possessed by an evil Heartless man.
But, our man Riku didn't let that keep him down. And after being locked behind the Door to Darkness at the end of the first game - worked for a year to atone for his sins and help his friends from the shadows. He ends up becoming one of the strongest wielders of his age, and a valuable ally and friend to Sora and the ever on the run, King Mickey.
What makes Riku so great is that we see his story so clearly, and see him feel both guilt and regret for his actions. He works tirelessly to make up for it, and does his best to keep the darkness in his heart in check. And in the end, he actually ends up saving Sora - and making sure that the Organization's plans are thwarted.
His arc is sad, but unlike Terra's, it has a positive resolution and will hopefully receive a powerful conclusion at the end of Kingdom Hearts III.
1. Aqua (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
So, hear me out, Aqua is the best character in the series for a lot of reasons. She first appears in Birth by Sleep, as one of the three main protagonists and the only one of the three to be considered a Keyblade Master. After Terra leaves to figure things out with Master Xehanort - Aqua keeps trying to find him and also protect Ventus. Her story is a sad one, and it's constantly defined by sacrifice.
During the game, we see Aqua constantly fighting every bad guy under the sun to help her friends. After her climactic final battle with Xehanort and Vanitus - Aqua saves her friend and in the end, after Xehanort consumes Terra - she fights him and wins. But, before that, Aqua puts Ventus in a locked room - and creates Castle Oblivion to keep him locked away.
Afterwards, Aqua ends up saving Terra (and also Xehanort) by pushing herself into the World of Darkness, where she still resides. In the most recent extended demo of Kingdom Hearts III, released on Kingdom Hearts 2.8, we see Aqua constantly throughout the World of Darkness.
It's upsetting, and heartbreaking, but it's also a story of triumph. Aqua constantly struggles against herself and the world around her - but she never loses hope. And I know that she's going to come back with a vengeance, and it's going to be amazing.
So, there you have it! My list of some of my favorite original Kingdom Hearts characters! Did you not see your favorite character on this list? Did you disagree with me? Do you have a character you want to add? Tell me all about in the comments below!
Shann Smith is a lover of video games and has played games since he could hold a controller. He is a freelance writer, playwright, screenwriter, and also writes the Video Gay-Mer column on Popdust! If you have any games you'd like him to unpack, hit him up!
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