The very first time I turned on the TV in Seoul years ago, I surfed the channels and ended up watching a show featuring K-pop singers. There were girl bands, boy bands and soloists. After minutes of watching, I decided to watch the news channel instead. Ha-ha-ha!
Having listened to really good professional singers all my life, I was disappointed to hear ordinary and, at times, mediocre singing on Korean TV. Although I could not understand the lyrics, I could tell whether she, he, or they weren't really singers at all. They were just dressed up, made up, and showcased as an entertainer. The formula seemed like: as long as he or she is good-looking, who cares about the horrible singing? Ha-ha-ha!
Of course, there are standouts; the real singers with good voices. Who are they? They are the ones who still have a career and an audience year in and year out, unlike those girlbands and boybands who seemed to evaporate alongside global warming.
And since I have heard people singing in almost all the places where one can impress an audience (captive or not!), I conclude that the best singers in Korea don't ever sing K-pop!
People sing at norae-bang, buses, trains, small stages, and sidewalks! But the best ones prefer to stay hidden, up there in the church choir, providing music for the soul, and music that you can't possibly compare to that heard at entertainment shows where the so-called professional singers lip-sync.
So, if you want to listen to the best singers in Korea, you know where to find them.
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