Contemplations on AAPI Heritage
by Isaac Choi Moon
I lay on the ground, a nine-year-old educated in the classical arts of piano, flute, and violin and not having listened to much other than jazz, classical, and pop forms of music. My mother knelt down next to me, offering a song that she said would interest me greatly. A moment later, the song began: “Fantastic Baby,” by the K-pop boy group Big Bang! The cool vocals washed over me like a wave on a summer day, and the raps of the genre felt like the cold ground after a sunny day. I began singing along and learning the dances.
While I had never fully been exposed to K-pop before that moment, I had always been interested in dancing. My family had “dance nights” where my siblings and I would get up and dance to random music, though it was always American or European. Dancing to K-pop music awoke something in me that I had not thought I would experience. It felt like an epiphany, like I was looking at a connection to my heritage.
Today, I am a singer and a dancer, and that is how I express myself. This can all be attributed to listening to K-pop. Had I not listened to K-pop that day, I would not be who I am today as someone who pursues singing as a musical art and dance as an athletic art. It’s also made me more interested in my Korean-American culture: that which I had descended from as well as caused me to look more into the musical arts, something I currently enjoy and love.
Being a third-generation Korean American and ethnically wholly Korean, my family has been well-assimilated into American society. However, we still have a strong connection to our roots. As such, I speak Korean as well as English at home. It is a balance of being both Korean as well as American.
As a member of the AAPI community, it is very easy to be lumped together with other different members of the community, particularly those with origins near the region of one’s own inheritance. Therefore, with this sense of difference, the AAPI community comes even closer together through similar experiences. My current friend group consists mostly of Asians, and of that mostly East Asians. And of those, most enjoy listening to K-pop. K-pop has therefore given me a connection not only with my identity, yet socially as well.
To me, AAPI means my culture, my social life, as well as the paths that I will pursue in my life. AAPI is something that has given me the ability to find my passions and talents as well as something that has given me the friends, acquaintances, as well as connections I have today.
Judges' Comments
Through vivid writing, we get to see one moment where the writer connects with their identity. Wonderfully done. - A.K.
An engaging narrative from the beginning to the end. It is wonderful to witness through the essay how culture, family, friendship, and identity intersect, from K-Pop to far beyond. - N.M.
What a beautiful reflection on music and community! The writer set the scene so well, with a wonderful hook and moment you could visualize. I’d push the writer to focus their discussion a little more in the middle of the essay. I’d love to see some specific examples of how KPop has helped change and fuel their interests in music and assimilation as they’ve grown older. That said, the author’s reflections on the power of music and KPop as a unifying force were fabulous, and their passion for music danced off the page (sorry – couldn’t resist the pun). All this to say – beautiful work! - S.T.
by Isaac Choi Moon
I lay on the ground, a nine-year-old educated in the classical arts of piano, flute, and violin and not having listened to much other than jazz, classical, and pop forms of music. My mother knelt down next to me, offering a song that she said would interest me greatly. A moment later, the song began: “Fantastic Baby,” by the K-pop boy group Big Bang! The cool vocals washed over me like a wave on a summer day, and the raps of the genre felt like the cold ground after a sunny day. I began singing along and learning the dances.
While I had never fully been exposed to K-pop before that moment, I had always been interested in dancing. My family had “dance nights” where my siblings and I would get up and dance to random music, though it was always American or European. Dancing to K-pop music awoke something in me that I had not thought I would experience. It felt like an epiphany, like I was looking at a connection to my heritage.
Today, I am a singer and a dancer, and that is how I express myself. This can all be attributed to listening to K-pop. Had I not listened to K-pop that day, I would not be who I am today as someone who pursues singing as a musical art and dance as an athletic art. It’s also made me more interested in my Korean-American culture: that which I had descended from as well as caused me to look more into the musical arts, something I currently enjoy and love.
Being a third-generation Korean American and ethnically wholly Korean, my family has been well-assimilated into American society. However, we still have a strong connection to our roots. As such, I speak Korean as well as English at home. It is a balance of being both Korean as well as American.
As a member of the AAPI community, it is very easy to be lumped together with other different members of the community, particularly those with origins near the region of one’s own inheritance. Therefore, with this sense of difference, the AAPI community comes even closer together through similar experiences. My current friend group consists mostly of Asians, and of that mostly East Asians. And of those, most enjoy listening to K-pop. K-pop has therefore given me a connection not only with my identity, yet socially as well.
To me, AAPI means my culture, my social life, as well as the paths that I will pursue in my life. AAPI is something that has given me the ability to find my passions and talents as well as something that has given me the friends, acquaintances, as well as connections I have today.
Judges' Comments
Through vivid writing, we get to see one moment where the writer connects with their identity. Wonderfully done. - A.K.
An engaging narrative from the beginning to the end. It is wonderful to witness through the essay how culture, family, friendship, and identity intersect, from K-Pop to far beyond. - N.M.
What a beautiful reflection on music and community! The writer set the scene so well, with a wonderful hook and moment you could visualize. I’d push the writer to focus their discussion a little more in the middle of the essay. I’d love to see some specific examples of how KPop has helped change and fuel their interests in music and assimilation as they’ve grown older. That said, the author’s reflections on the power of music and KPop as a unifying force were fabulous, and their passion for music danced off the page (sorry – couldn’t resist the pun). All this to say – beautiful work! - S.T.