By Honorary Reporter Raphina Onyekachi UBAH

 K-pop has become a truly global phenomenon thanks to its distinctive blend of addictive melodies, slick choreography and production values, and an endless parade of attractive South Korean performers who spend years in grueling studio systems learning to sing and dance in synchronized perfection. Hallyu also known as the Korean Wave has been building for two decades, but K-pop in particular has become increasingly visible to global audiences in the past five to 10 years. South Korean artists have hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart at least eight times since the Wonder Girls first cracked it in 2009 with their crossover hit “Nobody” (released in four different languages, including English). Ingenious approaches to music videos, genuine talent, and pure hard work set K-Pop apart from any other genre of music present nowadays.

  Today in countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Togo, Ethiopia, Angola, Egypt etc.  K-pop is viral; there are huge amounts of k-pop fans who listen to k-pop. Let's take a look at Nigeria, In the year 2017 when the popular K-pop group EXO released their 2017 Winter Album 'Universe', it charted #1 on iTunes in Nigeria and RM (of BTS) had a collaboration with Wale (who is a Nigerian American) which they released the song "CHANGE" on March 19. Also in 2018, EXO's fifth album ' Love Shot' reached #1 on iTunes charts in a sixty different regions around the world including Nigeria. Let's not forget about the Pacific Starz who took home the grand prize at the 2015 K-pop World Festival, Supreme Task Dance Crew who won 7,000 dollars best prize in performance category at the 2016 KWF and the Fragile Dance Crew who made it to the finals of the 2017 KWF in Changwon. This brings me to my next point, Korea in Nigeria.

  The Korean Cultural Centre Nigeria (KCC NG) was established by the Republic of Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in May 2010 under the aegis of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Abuja. Being the first of its kind in Africa and one of thirty two (32) in the world, it introduces opportunities to expand Korean cultural programs in Nigeria and encourage cultural exchange between the two countries. It has facilities which include a Conference room, Lecture rooms, Exhibition hall, Taekwondo training hall, Library and Studio etc. The office itself is a manifestation of the Korean culture in Nigeria, with the gallery a home for the best works of Korean and Nigerian Artists. The library, on the other hand, carries a number of Korean literature as well as Korean films that would provide the Nigerian people a wider and deeper view of Korea’s rich cultural heritage. KCC NG conducts Korean language classes, also supporting speech competitions in the hopes that Nigerians would further understand the nuances of Korean speech and communicative forms. And like language, food is also a major part of a nation’s culture, a universal language that connects cultures. At KCC NG, projects include the Korean Food Festival and Korean Food Cooking Classes to feed the hearty eater in the Nigerians, and as a response to the ever-growing popularity of K-pop in Nigeria, the KCC NG also organized a K-pop dance academy to acquaint Nigerians with knowledge and skills of the Korean entertainment industry, and other k-pop entertainment related events.

 In 2017, 20 young Nigerian graduated from the 2017 Korean Pop (K-Pop) Dance Academy after six weeks of training and coaching. During the course, two K-Pop experts from Korea trained students on different K-pop-dance basis and routine.  Mr Han Sungrae, the former Director of Korean Cultural Centre said that the academy had inculcated into the graduates K-Pop dancing skills which would help them compete at the world stage during K-pop Dance Competition. He praised the young Nigerians for their commitment and dedication to learning the dance and called on other youths to enroll in the next academic year.

From my perspective, I'd say that why K-pop is becoming popular in Nigeria is because people love and enjoy it. Being a K-Popper or K-pop fan makes one accept the weirdness, imperfections, and differences of people. The connection of two to millions of souls across countries through K-Pop is extraordinary. Being a K-pop fan is not an obsession, it's a passion.

 I really want to know what Kpop means to you! Does it make your life better or do you just listen to it for leisure purposes? Let's all have a deep talk as to what draws us to K-pop compared to other styles of music.

For me, I got into K-pop late 2014 thanks to BTS. Ever since then my love for K-pop grew even stronger every day. I really love K-pop and there are loads of reasons as to why I do (and it goes beyond just enjoying the music) but I'm only going to mention a few of the main ones.

• It makes me really, really happy! No matter how sad or angry you are K-pop never fails to make you smile, laugh and be happy again. Although I'll admit that I dislike a few of Korean songs (as I do with some Western songs), the songs that I do love and listen to makes me feel a certain way that I never really feel when listening to Western music... I don't know how to describe it, but I know some of you can agree that once you get into K-pop, you don't listen to English music anywhere near as much as you used to!

• K-pop idols can not only sing and dance but, they can also perform dance numbers so complicated that it would usually require professional dancers. This takes an insane amount of hard work, practice, and skill, but they are well-known for performing these routines live.

• "Even if you don't understand the language, you can still love the music." - CL(2NE1) 2015. Even though I can't understand it, I think the Korean language is really beautiful and emotive so it fascinates me sometimes to just listen to it.

• It has allowed me to be a part of an amazing like-minded community, who isn’t afraid to fan girl/boy with me when it's necessary. This also boosts my happiness a lot because it's always nice to talk to people who have the same mindset as you and share a common interest!

• It has taught me so many things so far, BTS taught me something that's very important in life and that's to Love Yourself, I'll admit that I once hated my skin color but ever since K-pop came into my life it all changed, I learned to accept myself for who I am and what I am.

• For me personally (I'll use BTS as an example since they're my Ultimate Bias group), it goes way beyond the music. Watching their MVs, Bangtan Bombs, live streams and funny compilations and really getting to know the members individually makes me so incredibly happy. I don't know how to explain it, but I'm sure you all understand what I mean anyway, regardless of your Ultimate Bias group. When I watch these kinds of videos, it instantly improves my mood and in a way, makes me feel less lonely. With BTS, sometimes I feel as though they're not even that far away from me because of how much love they extend to the ARMYs, and that makes me really happy.

Those are a few of the main reasons why I think it enhances my life... what are your reasons?