1VERSE is the primary Ok-pop group on the earth to function North Korean defectors. The group is the most recent in Ok-pop to market multiculturalism in a cutthroat business.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
1Verse is the primary Ok-pop group on the earth to function North Korean defectors. Its different members have roots in Laos, Thailand, China, Japan and the U.S. They’re the most recent Ok-pop idols to market multiculturalism on this cutthroat business. Haeryun Kang tells us extra about this uncommon group from Seoul.
HAERYUN KANG: (Non-English language spoken).
1VERSE: (Non-English language spoken).
KANG: After I meet 1Verse at their company in Gangnam, a ritzy district in Seoul, the very first thing I ask is how they overcome language boundaries.
SEOK KIM: (Non-English language spoken).
(LAUGHTER)
KANG: Physique language. That is vocalist Seok Kim, one of many North Korean members.
HYUK YU: Whats up. My identify is Hyuk. I am from North Korea. I am the rapper of 1Verse.
KANG: There’s additionally the primary dancer, Aito Murata from Japan, Nathan Kousol, a Lao Thai pc science main from Arkansas and final however not least…
KENNY HAO: Hello, my identify is Kenny Hao. I am from California, and I am the persona rent (laughter).
KANG: This sort of variety is now not uncommon in Ok-pop. Now, all of them stay collectively in a dorm in Seoul, chasing the Ok-pop dream.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ORDINARY PERSON”)
1VERSE: (Rapping) Look, I mentioned I’m wondering who I might be, ‘trigger heaven ain’t for me.
KANG: The 5 members, who go professionally by their first names, all listened to totally different music as youngsters. Kenny grew up with The Beatles. Aito cherished Justin Bieber. Nathan listened to Lao and Thai music. And the North Koreans?
KIM: (Talking Korean).
KANG: Seok, who defected in 2019, listened to Ok-pop, illegally downloaded on USBs. He is from Ryanggang province, bordering China, the place overseas items are smuggled in additional simply. However Hyuk lived a lot additional inland in Kyongsong, a poorer area.
YU: (Talking Korean).
KANG: Beginning when he was simply 9 years outdated, Hyuk reduce down timber and even stole to outlive, he says. Music was a luxurious. The little he heard was state-sanctioned, like this revolution tune.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).
KANG: Hyuk was the primary trainee to affix 1Verse. It took government producer Michelle Cho six years to seek out all of the members. She tells me about conceiving of the group together with her co-founder, Joe Lim.
MICHELLE CHO: Joe was fascinated by, hey, do you suppose it will be cool to, like, do a Ok-pop group with some North Koreans? Why not? If there’s gifted sufficient individuals, there is no such thing as a purpose why we will not do it.
KANG: Again then, Hyuk was working in eating places and factories. When Michelle Cho met Hyuk, she mentioned she heard expertise in his voice. From there, her company, Singing Beetle, held a number of auditions for the others. For every spherical, they obtained a whole lot of purposes from all around the world, regardless of being a small company simply beginning out.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
1VERSE: (Talking Korean).
KANG: 1Verse already has over half one million followers on TikTok, and their first single is not even out but. On-line, they’re very lively, making foolish reels, singing cowl songs collectively, like “Fools” by Troye Sivan.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FOOLS”)
1VERSE: (Singing) Solely fools fall for you.
YU: (Talking Korean).
KANG: Earlier than defecting, Hyuk had by no means heard of South Korea, not to mention Troye Sivan. He was simply 13 in 2013 when he left his hometown, simply 200 miles from Seoul, throughout some of the fortified borders on the earth. At the moment, he’s considered one of some 30,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ORDINARY PERSON”)
1VERSE: (Rapping) Find out how to be one, identical to an bizarre particular person. However are you able to present me…
KANG: This tune, “Abnormal Particular person,” was cowritten by Hyuk. He wraps in English, true to Ok-pop’s technique to achieve a worldwide viewers. That is the one tune the group has gone public with, as a teaser. Like different Ok-pop teams, 1Verse could be very secretive about its official debut music. They will not inform me something – the title, the lyrics, the dates, even the genres. Nathan simply cheekily says…
NATHAN KOUSOL: We won’t wait to share our music (laughter).
KANG: We might know their multicultural backstories, however for now, an important a part of 1Verse – their sounds – is as much as our creativeness.
For NPR Information, I am Haeryun Kang from Seoul.
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