A few weeks ago, I had the immense privilege to be interviewed for an up-and-coming K-pop focussed podcast called Mansae!. Hosted by Zia.J, the podcast “[Brings] you the latest South Korean pop news and reviews, as well as interviews and discussions about K-pop and it’s fandoms.” With an eclectic focus on fan debates, industry news, and discussions with scholars such as myself, I would encourage everyone to give this podcast a follow.

I contributed to an episode entitled “Queerness and K-pop” where I discussed a lot of the work I have done charting the reception of K-pop among LGBTQ fans in Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea. The questions I answered were:

• why are sexual minority consumers so drawn to K-pop?
• how can we understand gender performance in K-pop and its impacts on LGBTQ fans in a variety of contexts?
• what is shipping and why do many LGBTQ fans find it emancipatory?
• why is it important to take fandom seriously?
• what are the potentials of K-pop fandom for queer liberation?

My episode follows on quite well from Zia.J’s previous topical episode on queer K-pop for Pride Month 2021, so I’d recommend you give it a listen too.

Thanks so much to Zia.J for reaching out to me and providing me the opportunity to share my thoughts on this not only as a scholar, but as a gay male fan of K-pop myself!