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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Zoe Williams

Squid Game, Blackpink, kimchi pancakes … How did South Korea become such a world power?

What just happened? Blackpink, whose UK shows are sold out, performing in the US earlier this year.
What just happened? Blackpink, whose UK shows are sold out, performing in the US earlier this year. Photograph: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount Global

Two weeks back, while the world was marvelling at the Great British Queue, I was in a queue of a different sort – Ticketmaster’s – trying to get tickets to the South Korean band Blackpink. There was a countdown, there was an app, I had Mr Z on the case trying a different date, and it was completely fruitless, thank God, because I had no idea when I started how expensive they were.

My kid, along with my niece, is a “blink”, which means a fan of Blackpink, a girl band that US and UK media always call the most successful “South Korean” act of all time, omitting to mention that – as the most followed music act on YouTube – they really don’t need the national qualifier. The second most followed act, incidentally, is BTS – AKA the Bangtan Boys, also South Korean.

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