On this week... It's another special episode and this one is an all English episode. Now while "English K-pop" may seem like an oxymoron, it's still an aspect of K-music and K-pop I'd like to explore. And how it's used has changed significantly over the years.

On this episode, I start off with more current songs that are performed in English and end with more classic "English version" K-Pop. In past years, English versions of K-Pop were generally used as a tool to garner more Western listeners. This is especially true in the late 2000s to early 2010s, where companies tried to create English versions of the biggest K-Pop songs in an attempt to make a significant push into the Western mainstream. However, most of these "English versions" were pretty terrible, and understandably so. It's difficult to directly translate Korean to English and the songs would actually be more off-putting than relatable.

Thankfully, in recent years this practice appears less often. Now it seems that instead of an "English version" of a K-Pop song, we get a English song by a K-Pop artist, which are two significantly different things. This may be due to two things:

1. K-Pop has risen to extreme popularity not only in the west, but globally, all the while releasing and performing songs solely in Korean. So the K-Pop industry has realized that it doesn't necessarily need to put out English songs in order to have a wider appeal. Which absolutely makes sense. K-Pop isn't K-Pop if it isn't in Korean right?

2. There seems to be more of an embrace of and by foreign-born K-Pop artists to perform in English. Which also makes sense. While they are K-Pop stars, artists like Jay Park, Tiffany, Amber, and Eric Nam are all American and native English speakers. At some point, it makes sense for them to create music that is wholly relatable to them, and because of that it comes off more authentic, rather than a loosely translated version of a Korean song.

I'm not trying to make some grand thesis here, but these are simply some of my thoughts on the matter based on personal observation. So check out some these great "English versions" from K-Pop artists and let me know what some of your favorites are. Enjoy!

P.S. Remember that every episode is available for free download! So click that "More" tab so you can listen offline and save dat data.

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BSKP 026 Tracklist:

1. Amber - Need To Feel Needed

2. Tiffany - What Do I Do [English Version]

3. Henry - That One

4. Yoon Mi Rae - JamCome On Baby [English Version]

5. Dean - Here & Now feat. Milla J

6. Jackson Wang - Papillon

7. Ten (NCT) - Dream In A Dream

8. K.A.R.D. - Don't Recall (Hidden Ver.)

9. Gallant x Tablo x Eric Nam - Cave Me In

10. Jay Park - Me Like Yuh

11. Dean - I'm Not Sorry feat. Eric Bellinger

12. CL - Lifted

13. Far East Movement - Don't Speak feat. Tiffany, King Chain

14. Wonder Girls - Nobody [English Ver.]

15. BoA - Eat You Up

16. Big Bang - Big Bang [English Ver.]

17. SPICA - I Did It

18. Wonder Girls - So Hot [English Ver.]

19. Girls' Generation - The Boys [English Ver.]