What do the trends in CHS concerning K-Pop seem to be lately? It’s hard to tell, seeing as there are many K-Pop stans roaming around in Cresskill High School who express their love of the genre through collecting a variety of photocards, lightsticks, plushies, and more. Although K-Pop has always been a popular music genre, it has become even more prominent in the last few years, quickly becoming some students’ favorite genre of music. Perhaps the increasing popularity is due to the incredibly talented trainees who have been debuting in K-Pop groups, or from the rise in social media coverage by the K-Pop companies. Regardless of the reason though, the fact is that K-Pop has quickly become a wide craze in CHS.
Within 9th grade alone, there are many K-Pop fans raving about groups like Enhypen to solo idols such as IU. For one, 9th grader Ellie Kim says her favorite K-Pop group is TXT, which stands for TOMORROW X TOGETHER. It is a 5 member group with members Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Kai, and Taehyun. Their songs are mainly quite bubbly, giving Ellie a burst of energy whenever she listens to them. Beyond TXT though, she is an avid fan of Jungkook, a member of BTS who has made multiple solo albums and a name for himself beyond the fame of his group. Some of Jungkook’s popular songs include “3D,” “Seven,” “Standing Next to You,” and more. In his GOLDEN album, he has also featured other artists such as Jack Harlow and Latto, expanding his music style for more listeners to enjoy.
There may only be one other 9th grader who loves Jungkook more than Ellie – 9th grader Miles Forero. He has anticipated every drop Jungkook has done since the idol has returned from mandatory Korean military service, as well as watched the music video of “Standing Next to You” so many times that he can do part of Jungkook’s choreography for the song. Although I am not as big of a Jungkook fan as these two students, I also greatly enjoy K-Pop, with my favorite group being Straykids. They are an 8 member group with members Hyunjin, Felix, Bangchan, I.N., Seungmin, Leeknow, Han, and Changbin, whose music revolves between energetic rock and emotional, softer themes.
In conclusion, it seems that there is a wide range of K-Pop trends running rampant in CHS, with Jungkook and BTS being a particularly common theme. If you end up making a new friend at CHS, there’s a big chance that they will have an idol, or multiple idols, that they passionately support. Even better, they might even have the same biases as you. The positive side to this is that you’ll always know what to get them for their next birthday – an album or two should do the trick!
