Featured Photo by Disney+
Story by Larry Rincon
K-POP is one of the most popular genres of music, not just in Korea but internationally. I somehow managed to avoid getting sucked into the genre when it became popular until recently.
With my newfound interest in groups like ZeroBaseOne, NewJeans, and (G)I-DLE, I decided to give Disney’s most recent series a try, “L-POP”.
The Disney+ original series was released on September 27. Unlike most Disney television series, “L-POP” is actually a Mexican original series. I suggest that anyone wanting the authentic experience change their language settings to Spanish and be prepared to read subtitles.
The show follows the main character Andrea (played by Andrea De Alba) whose sister Paulina (played by Alicia Jaziz) is making a documentary on K-POP, with Andrea at its front and center. In this documentary, Andrea gets kicked out of her K-POP dance group, starts her own group, and competes in a dance cover competition.
Throughout the whole experience, Andrea also struggles to get her life together as she can’t decide between following her passion for K-POP or a career in dentistry.
“L-POP” is a really short series. It has six 30-minute episodes, but the film style and story are not your typical Disney series. Where Disney Channel really caters to young children and tweens, this series feels like it’s meant for teenagers or older audiences.
K-POP is of course the main selling point of this series. Whether you’re new to the genre or have been a fan for years, the series does a pretty good job of explaining the culture that surrounds it.
There’s terminology that people may not be familiar with, and even aspects of Korean culture that make their way to be talked about as well.
I will admit that at times, some of the monologues and speeches the characters would make were a bit cringe, but I understand from a fan perspective that what they say is true for fan culture.
Most of the characters are already at least 20 years old, so it is a bit cringy to watch people my age obsess over music and idols. However, what young adult doesn’t have a favorite music artist?
The only issues I have with the series are the wardrobe choices for when the group would perform. Maybe I haven’t watched enough K-POP music videos, but the clothes were all very plastic-like in appearance.
So much of the character’s personality came across in the way they dressed themselves, but the performance outfits just were not it. I found myself questioning the comfort and ability to move that I couldn’t focus on their dancing.
For a show based entirely on K-POP fan culture, these characters I felt didn’t do idols justice with their dancing. This is honestly kind of sad considering that a lot of the choreography was based on K-POP choreography done by a Mexican choreographer.
The addition of the music video style filming and editing, while they performed, was disappointing, because I really wanted to see their choreography in its entirety like in dance practice videos.
Another big problem I found was how difficult it was to find the music for this series. No amount of Google searching or YouTube searching allowed me to figure out what the music used was called or who sang it.
As far as I know, the K-POP music used was all original which makes sense. It would cost a lot of money to get copyright permission to use songs by groups like BTS, TWICE, Red Velvet, or even Stray Kids, but the least Disney could do is make a playlist on YouTube.
I tend to not use Disney+. As someone who dislikes a lot of Disney’s production choices and even social views that get excluded, I’m surprised that this series even made it to the streaming service.
Disney as a company is really bad at making honest content with decent to good representation. They’re also really bad at promoting series and movies that have good representation.
The fact that I didn’t know this was a series until I logged onto Disney+ is ridiculous. Maybe it got more promotion in Mexico than in the United States. The point is Disney needs to do better.
This is a fun, charming series with a lot of fun characters and a great story. It’s a wonderful binge, and it might even be your gateway into K-POP.
If you have time to spare, give this series a watch. You’ll fall in love with the colors and music, and you’re bound to learn something new.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
