Indian K-pop Stars? In Case You Did Not Know

When it comes to Asia tours, projects or TV shows, India used to be excluded. There is the fact that people usually think that we are not a member of Asia. Anyway, this wrong perception is about to change with the debut of a new South Korean group called Z-Pop Dream. 

First International K-Pop Idol Group Ever?

With the expectation of creating the first truly international K-Pop group, CEO Jun Kang of  Zenith Media Contents has founded the group which included several members from different countries. The detailed information is entirely unclear, but it’s a first-time Indian star become parts of a K-Pop project group.

Z-Pop Dream is a big project containing two small groups, Z-Boys and Z-Girls with 7 members in each team. The Z letter stands for their target audience, Generation Z. However, it’s not an official name, and it might change when they make their debut. Two teasers have been available on Youtube with six members of each group are revealed while the seventh member is still a mystery.

The Representatives Of India

According to that, 6 featured members of Z-Girls include Bell, Priyanka, Carlyn, Queen, Joanne and Vanya while these 6 pieces of Z-Boys are Sid, Josh, Blink, Mavin, Roy and Perry. Two faces which represent Indian in these group are Priyanka and Sid. Other members are likely to come from Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. The two secret members of these groups are expected to hail from Korean.

Apart from the vague information around the projects, another source unveiled that they will have hit-maker PSY (Gangnam Style) and producer Mad Soul Child as the advisory board. This project seems to be too ambiguous which leave K-Pop fans so confusing and curious.

Open Auditions Around Asia? I Haven't Heard About It

A montage-like video of Z-Pop audition process has been dropped, which displayed something like casting calls or open auditions for the selection. Most fans from the related countries said that they were unaware of any auditions like this in their countries.

There are only 2 members whose identities are clear. The first one is Carlyn (a.k.a Carlyn Ocampo), a Filipino Youtuber who went rival for her K-Pop dance covers. The other one is Mavin, a former member of B-Force, an Indonesian boyband. 

In the company’s press release, they also announced the establishment a chain of Star Academies to acquire talents from different countries. Apart from Korea, these academies will be opened around 10 Asia countries including the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.

It's Not Easy For Foreign Idols To Survive In Korean

K-Pop is no stranger to foreign idols. Many famous groups these days like EXO, BlackPink or GOT7 have non-Korean members who come from Thailand or China. In addition to that, South Korea is well-known for its racism, and there is no exception for K-Pop idols. In facts, it’s even harder for them to face up with harsh critics. Let’s take BlackPink’s Lisa as an example as it was just a week ago when the Thai idol became the target of netizen's critics. BP Raina’s Alexandra Reid even have to deal with more haters just because she is the first African-American member in a K-Pop group. In the last Lunar New Year, Rania had a photoshoot in traditional Korean costume. Reid right away suffered from hash critics for daring to wear their traditional outfits. Meanwhile, another Chinese member of the group was out of the attention.

Indians isn’t any better as many Korean shows and videos point at us a target of cultural appropriation and racist skits. Have been living in Korean for more than two decades, producer Abhishek Gupta has discussed this issue on YouTube channel Asian Boss earlier. The future seems not really easy for our artists making their debut in Korea.

Z-Boys and Z-Girls are going to make a debut concert ‘Z-Pop Dream Live In Seoul’ on February 23rd. We have no clue what is the music they make or even what are their exact names. Let’s stay tuned and keep updating on this ambitious yet ambiguous project.