APT and Korean traditions
Apateu, Apateu! Apateu, Apateu! This has been ringing in my ears, since the day Rosé and Bruno Mars decided to drop this banger, reaching Billboard No.1 for a second week running. The catchy tune has become an ear worm, with netizens calling the song, to have extended the BRAT summer.
But the interesting thing to note about this song, is that it’s based on a Korean drinking game. Played as a group, an individual calls out a number and everyone stacks their palms one over the other, forming the resemblance to an apartment (APT- Apateu) and start re-stacking from the bottom. The individual whose hand lands on top on the count of number called, takes a shot of alcohol.
Bringing a very niche, region specific tradition into music, and making it international, kudos to Rosé. Kpop has been pioneering this and has achieved it with big stage laurels. BTS’s ‘IDOL’, ToppDogg’s ‘Arario’, ‘Shangri-La’ by VIXX, are just some of the examples of a long list that depict Korean traditional attires, feature traditional instruments, and samples of songs from folk.
The music in general always covers topics such as Love, romance, friendships, but Kpop has re-defined it by sharing the history, traditions, and topics such as Mental Health that were once considered taboo to be talked about. It has changed the course of music industry, showing that music is truly an universal language. Though divided by a hundred different attributes as humans, music brings us together. And by sharing one’s cultural differences, presenting it in the form of music makes it palatable to the masses.
This in turn has fed into multiple different channels for South Korea as a country. Tourism boom, export of foods, cosmetics, skin care, etc. A lot of countries are trying to recreate this phenomenon, now that the benefits are clearly profitable. To name a few, US has tried its hands, with the girl group, KATSEYE. With branding them as global, they stand true, as the members are from 4 different nationalities. Another nation to follow this footsteps, is India. With coining the genre as I-Pop, India, has finally produced the girl group- W.I.S.H. Although, a lot of their music, fashion, and dance is influenced by K-Pop, it’ll be interesting to see what these groups would achieve.