A Breath of Fresh Air

I’ve had a new Kpop song rolling around my head these days: “I Don’t Need a Man” by Miss A. I don’t talk about Kpop that often here, but in a world where most of the songs by girl groups sound like they fell of the Taylor Swift Princess truck, this is a breath of fresh air.

While teaching 3rd-6th grade in Korea, Kpop was a great vehicle for me to relate to my students and keep them interested in a lesson. Two years ago when Miss A‘s first song “Bad Girl, Good Girl” came out, I rocked a similar pink wig to one of the girls in the group.

Now that I teach younger students with a higher level of English, Kpop is a less useful classroom tool. I don’t know as many as the songs or the dances as I once did, but since these songs are everywhere some are impossible to miss.

Even though this song is a bit reminiscent of the late 90′s wave of “Independent Woman”, “No Scrubs”, type of songs, it is a huge leap for Kpop. When so many of the songs revolve around topics of love and boys (and this one is no different) it is nice to see a message that is different from the seemingly endless stream of dreamy princesses waiting to be rescued. I LOVE that there is something out there telling the girls who fill their brains with this ear candy (which can be fun, but if consumed exclusively can rot your teeth) that it’s okay to depend on yourself. Plus it is super catchy.

I hope you all have a great Sunday, and this is what I’m listening to today, so I thought I would share.