Did I need to hear Boy George sing “Karma Chameleon” in warbled Korean with half of K-pop girl group STAYC dancing behind him in the background? Or two-fifths of the Spice Girls (Baby Spice and Scary Spice) attempt to remix “Wannabe” with three-fifths of K-pop group ITZY? No and no, but this is the type of strange, mashed-together, and “East Meets West” content you can expect from Apple TV+’s latest show, KPOPPED.
KPOPPED, in theory, is already a bizarre show concept. Its executive producers, which include high-profile singers like Lionel Richie and Megan Thee Stallion, most likely saw a list of major pop tracks and thought, “What if we made them K-pop?” The show then brings on two celebrity pop guests per episode, along with a K-pop group whose members are split apart to help their pop counterparts “K-pop” their songs (and yes, “K-pop” is used liberally as a verb throughout all eight episodes).
The lineup from the West is stacked, featuring the likes of Patti LaBelle, Vanilla Ice, Kesha, and Kylie Minogue trying to figure out what this “K-pop thing” is all about. Groups like Billlie, ATEEZ, JO1, and Kiss of Life are there to gently guide them through all the new choreography and beat remixes. Miss Stallion and Psy are also the show’s smiley, albeit cringey, co-hosts. However, both of them are barely present; Psy is relegated to pre-recorded introductions, and Megan only shows up during the first episode, leaving Korean-American comedian Soojeong Son on real host duty.
But does the show work? My answer is a firm, resounding, “Barely.”
‘Kpopped’ Falls Flat
On a storytelling level, each episode of KPopped offers more or less the same narrative: pop singers discover K-pop, K-pop stars help them out, and then they “compete” to see which pop song was K-popped better (I say compete, but there doesn’t seem to be any prize money involved in this singing competition). Along the way, they learn about Korean culture in segments that feel forced, scripted, and so awkward that you’d be better off skipping through them to get to the singing. The members of Billlie let Megan Thee Stallion try the extremely spicy black Samyang Buldak Ramen pack. Half of ATEEZ bring Kylie Minogue to a traditional “buchaechum” or fan dance class. Kesha and half of the boys of JO1 visit one of the tallest buildings in Seoul. It always feels like a cultural exchange where the non-Koreans leave with a polished, TV-friendly piece of Korean culture, while the actual Koreans must serve as local tour guides.
If we are to forgive these strained lessons in cultural appreciation, that leaves us with the show’s real purpose: the K-popped pop songs. While some of the hits do benefit from a K-pop face lift — Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly” sound like completely new songs — many of the show’s “remixes” sound a little too similar to the original pop songs or don’t sound like K-pop hits at all. Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” remix is just a little bit longer, with a new rap segment from Kep1er. Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” is more or less the same ballad, now with BLACKSWAN’s NVee lending her vocals. The Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There” essentially just features the two members sharing the stage with ITZY. This latter song also sees Mel B refusing to learn the more complicated parts of the synchronized choreography — a requirement of all K-pop performances — pointing to how some of the show’s pop guests just aren’t meant to perform in unison with a large K-pop group.
Who Was This For?
But this isn’t to say that these are bad songs. These are all pop classics, despite the cute but unnecessary K-pop twist. The live audience rightly loses it when Billlie and Patti “The Godmother of Soul” LaBelle perform “Lady Marmalade,” with LaBelle proving that she still has the physical power to hit the track’s notes even at age 81. Boyz II Men can still harmonize the smoothest melodies 40 years after they got their start at Motown Records. TLC still kills their rendition of “Waterfalls” with STAYC; although, perhaps a song about vices and addiction shouldn’t have been turned into a fluffed-up dance track.
It’s difficult to say who this show was made for. For pop fans, the world of K-pop may seem so distant and separate that the show’s mash-ups feel superfluous; as the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What’s more, K-pop fans don’t seem to benefit from these mash-ups either: none of the K-pop groups involved turn their songs into “pop” songs. KPopped feels like a one-sided cultural experiment, one that’s left us with some odd “Remember When” moments but ultimately adds little to either of the genres it’s trying to marry.
