K-Pop Dreaming, hosted by writer-performer and K-pop fan Vivian Yoon, is premiering on February 23!
LAist Studios announces February 23 premiere date for the new podcast - K-Pop Dreaming, part pop culture history lesson and part immigrant story, host Vivian Yoon tells the story of K-Pop’s coming of age. Full of heart, nostalgia, thoughtful analysis, and a little bit of fangirling, the podcast examines the origins of K-pop from traditional Korean music and American post-war influences, to its global popularity today, told through the lens of Yoon's coming of age in Los Angeles' Koreatown at the turn of the century.
WHEN: K-Pop Dreaming premieres on February 23, 2023. The first and second episodes will both be released at that time.
WHAT: From LAist Studios, K-Pop Dreaming is a new podcast about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles. Host Vivian Yoon takes listeners on a journey from K-pop’s origins in Korean trot music and American presence in post-war South Korea to the 1992 LA Uprising and the booming global popularity of K-pop in the present day, all juxtaposed against Yoon’s own coming-of-age as a second generation immigrant in Los Angeles, struggling to fit in and come to terms with her own identity.
A pop culture history lesson, a coming-of-age second-generation immigrant memoir, and a love letter to the city of Los Angeles blend into one educational and heart-warming podcast in K-Pop Dreaming.
WHERE: K-Pop Dreaming will be available on the LAist Studios hub page at LAist.com. The podcast will also be available in video format on LAist Studios’ YouTube Channel and can be heard on all platforms where podcasts are found.
K-Pop Dreaming is the second season of the acclaimed series California Love with new episodes being found in that feed. The first season was a coming-of-age story in Compton that wove together memoir, pop culture, and oral history. This new season continues in the same intimate tone, but this time, we are centered in Los Angeles’s Koreatown.
Official Showpage: www.LAist.com/kpop
WHO: Vivian Yoon, host of K-Pop Dreaming, is a Korean American writer-performer from Koreatown, Los Angeles. Vivian has written on various animated shows for Netflix, Amazon, and Verizon Media. Recently her original dramedy series was the subject of a bidding war between two major studios. She is repped by 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
SPECIAL EVENT: In partnership with GYOPO, LAist Studios will be hosting a special live event for the new podcast on Thursday, March 16th from the Crawford Family Forum in Pasadena, California. Expect a live K-Pop DJ, and a vibrant discussion led by Vivan Yoon on the evolution of Korean pop culture and its relationship to Southern California. More details to be revealed in the coming month!
Check out the teaser!