"Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?"

Lisa's "Rockstar" features the lyrics "Lisa, can you teach me Japanese? I said, hai, hai". The chorus line appears within 15 seconds of the song's start and is repeated four times during the 2:40 minute. I consider this lyric to be the key to "Rockstar".

The Thai word "ให้" is pronounced "hai". It means "to give (something)" or "to give". The Japanese word "はい" means "yes". So this lyric plays with the Thai and Japanese languages and makes fun of the previous lyric, "Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?" Because Lisa is Thai, she's a member of a K-pop group and is often mistaken for Korean or Japanese in the West. Lisa's real name is Lalisa Manoban(ลลิษามโนบาล).

The lyrics may not mean much to Koreans or Americans, but if you're Thai, it's a different story. Thai words appear in a new song released by a world-class artist and are used as a device for self-esteem and identity. You can't help but be enthusiastic. It takes on a political context of its own.

English songs in K-pop also have Korean lyrics, but they're often done to make them more accessible to non-Koreans by utilizing interjections and pronunciation. The big difference is that they rarely assert their contextual identity as strongly as "Rockstar" does.

This is also evident in YouTube comments. Out of the more than 390,000 comments, here are the comments (2,000+ likes) that were featured in Thai. (Translated using YouTube translator.)

Very different from K-pop

"Story" is becoming increasingly important in pop culture. Historically, every successful artist has a story. That story is presented to the world in songs (lyrics, melodies, sounds, instruments, etc.) and music videos (crew, scenes, objects, etc.).

Narrative creates empathy in the listener, and empathy extends to relationships, not just consumption. So gaining fans is not just about gaining followers; it's about creating a relationship that exchanges value.

Three years ago, I analyzed the "5 stages of a fan" and explained how storytelling is an important part of the process of connecting with music. (Read more in Korean)

So the power of the singer-songwriter is, and will always be, powerful. While it's become common knowledge that music production is complex (there are six songwriters on "Rockstar," including Lisa), it's still important to capture the artist's narrative in the song. The same goes for the rise of "artist documentaries" in the STREAMING era (music documentaries have increased on all streaming services over the past few years, not just K-pop).

So Lisa's "Rockstar" isn't just about her solo career. It's a manifesto of sorts. A declaration that she's different from BLACKPINK, different from K-pop, and more precisely, different from K-pop idols.

This declaration of differentiation is made even more intuitive in the music video.  

The three women are transgender influencers in Thailand. (From left to right) Chinnawat Promsri(Chini) is a makeup artist with a brand and a "ladyboy" identity. Aëffy is a broadcaster who hosts a variety show on GMMTV, a large Thai television station and talent agency, and Bruze Kachi-sarah is a model who was the runner-up in the 2024 Miss Tiffany Universe(มิสทิฟฟานี่ยูนิเวิร์ส: a beauty pageant for transgender women in Thailand that has been held since 1998).

On June 18, 2024, the Thai Senate approved the legalization of same-sex marriage, making Thailand the first Southeast Asian country and the third country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. The worldwide release date of "Rockstar" is June 27th. As you may know, June is "Pride Month," when rainbow flags are unfurled around the world, and Thailand's June parade is the largest in the world. In such a symbolic June, the Thai Senate passed a same-sex marriage bill, and ten days later, the music video was released. For Lisa, the music video is more than just a celebration of diversity. It symbolizes Thailand's political progress and vision for the future.

Thailand already has anti-discrimination laws in place, but legalizing same-sex marriage is a step forward. This is in contrast to South Korea, where anti-discrimination legislation has been stalled in parliament for years. Prime Minister Settha Thaweesin, of the Pheu Thai Party was one of the leading candidates in Thailand's May 2023 general election. He has made "legalizing same-sex marriage" a campaign promise.

Thailand is a very important country in Southeast Asia, both economically and politically. While politically unstable due to possible coups, economically, it is the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. In addition to its export-oriented economy, it is one of Southeast Asia's largest tourist destinations, and its open and unique culture, especially based on Buddhism, makes it a country with high growth potential. While Thailand in 2024 looks a lot like South Korea in the 1990s, it's for very different reasons.  

The mega-crew scene in "Rockstar" is equally impressive. The repetitive chorus, "Gold teeth sittin' on the dash, she a rockstar / Make your favorite singer wanna rap, baby, la, la / "Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?" I said ให้、ให้ / That's my life, life, baby, I'm a rockstar," is followed by a superimposition of the faces of numerous dancers, and then a quick cut to transgender influencers. The lyrics, visuals, and characters are all dedicated to focusing on diversity.

Despite K-pop's growing influence, its support for diversity and the lack of identity and political messages from artists have been cited as problems and limitations. This is not to say that artists should necessarily perform identity politics. However, K-pop's global audience is made up of many minority groups, and these issues have come up in the process of communicating with them. Moreover, diversity is now a global trend, and in that context, identity is becoming a very important element of popular culture.

• In my last column(in Korean), I talked about how in the age of the disappearing masses, mass markets are effectively becoming 'niche' markets.

She declares that she wants to be different from K-pop by adopting a strategy that exposes points that K-pop artists, or more precisely, K-pop companies, have traditionally seen as risks (diversity, politics, identity, etc.). Her actions and practice in line with this declaration will determine her position going forward.

K-pop is ‘k<pop’

What Lisa shows us with "Rockstar" is a different face of K-pop. We often focus on the "K" in K-pop. The globalization of K-pop, or the "domination" of the Billboard charts by Korean music and the penetration of the Korean artist development system into Southeast Asia, Japan, China, and the United States, is at the forefront of this ideology. We say that culture has no barriers, but what we expect is for Korea to prove its superiority to the Western world (or the developed world), or to be recognized. It's not 'K+Pop', it's 'K>Pop'.

K-pop is often defined as an artist development system. But I define it as an alternative business model for music that creates fans first. So, K-pop creates a management structure that maximizes the appeal of the artist, values the brand value of the company as well as the artist, and expands the revenue model from there. In all of this, anything that might conflict with super fans and influence public opinion is considered a risk.  

But pop doesn't grow out of risk management. Rather, it explodes when it embraces risk. It's the process of convincing that matters. Turning risk into opportunity, and turning opportunity into a narrative. Culture is built on challenges and overcoming them, not risk management, and that's what cultural industries thrive on. That's why it's hard. That's why the industry often values cultural impact more than business results. A successful artist is virtually no different from a successful athlete, entrepreneur, thinker, or politician.  

Again, the keyword in K-pop is "pop", not "k". I'm not talking about the dictionary meaning of pop. It's about being consumed in different ways in different markets, gaining influence in the process, and reinterpreting and reproducing the original in a multitude of ways. Consumers of pop culture are inherently hackers of the production process. This is because pop is fluid. It is a shapeless, bouncy, and free-flowing concept. K-pop has always been 'k<pop'.

Therefore, what Lisa reveals is not the identity of K-pop. Her achievements as Lalisa are not the achievements of K-pop. But, she is 'not yet' completely free from the norms of K-pop. It is this contradiction that becomes her obstacle and the basis for understanding her challenge. Lisa is trying to break through the pop industry not as a soloist of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, but as Thai Lalisa Manoban (ลลิษา มโนบาล). She's a hustler. And that's where her fans go crazy.

If "Rockstar" is her declaration, it's a declaration that she's going to push the boundaries of K-pop. Or redefine it on her terms. Whatever it is, or do whatever she wants. The "K" really doesn't matter here. It depends on how well she is convinced of this challenge, then her career will be defined.

K-pop, then, is not so much a music system as it is a norm, a system, a vessel, a template, or a package for a soft landing in the marketplace. If you think about it, there are other faces of K-pop emerging from different directions (Latin America, Southeast Asia, the United States, Europe, or Korea) besides Lisa. With so much experimentation in genre, style, and strategy, it seems like we're finally at a moment where we have no choice but to redefine K-pop, I think.