Jessica Perez-Salinas, Writer

“I get money, I’m a star, star, star, star, star, star, star”

On Oct. 25, American rapper Megan Thee Stallion released a remix of her newest song “Mamushi” with one of South Korea’s biggest girl groups, Twice. The song appears on Megan’s album “MEGAN: ACT II” and is a remix of the song originally performed with Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba. The remix is chill, fun and you can’t even tell that there are 13 people in one song. Twice, the South Korean Girl Group, is composed of 12 members and each member has a chance to shine in this remix. This is not Megan’s first collaboration with a South Korean artist, as she released a song with BTS member “RM” titled, “Neva Play” earlier this year. Still, it might seem like this collaboration is unexpected. 

To understand the importance of these collaborations and what they represent, we must travel further back. The term Hallyu, or Korean wave, might not sound familiar to many of you, especially those outside the K-pop space. However, it has been an ongoing phenomenon since the mid 1990s. Hallyu refers to the expansion of South Korean culture in explosive ways. 

Hallyu can be intentional or a gradual effect of globalization. The Hallyu is often seen as an example of soft power diplomacy, in which a country will use culture, values and non-coercive tactics to gain allies. A good way to visualize this is to think of a company’s “brand image.”

Countries want to be perceived in a positive manner and will use soft diplomacy to drive political and economic ideas. South Korea has embraced this wave of popularity, especially as it has had a significant impact on the tourism industry and the Korean group BTS has generated $4.6 billion towards the country’s GDP. This phenomenon has also been driven by globalization, which refers to the increased global interconnectedness through political, economic and social structures. Therefore, it can be intentional or driven by the increased accessibility of foreign media nowadays.

We see this through the popularity of Korean food, music, shows and webcomics. Hallyu was coined back in the mid 1990’s to describe the boom of Korean media into China and later Japan. A decade later, another boom would occur, but this time it extended beyond Asia. Everyone remembers the global hit “Gangnam Style” by PSY, but it became more ingrained than that. In 2013, I became a fan of the groups Girl’s Generation and EXO before knowing they were under the same entertainment company. Since those days, K-pop has exploded in the West with artists selling out stadiums around the world. Charlie Puth, Bruno Mars, and Rosalia are just a couple of the major western artists that have embraced the Korean Music scene and released recent collaborations.

In fact, Megan Thee Stallion was not the first rapper to collaborate with a South Korean artist. I still remember the shock of playing my first Girl’s Generation album. I was so excited that I did not bother to check the track list. I put the CD into the player as I studied and let myself get carried away by the music. Suddenly I heard a very distinct voice, but also the last person I expected in a 2012 K-pop album:Snoop Dogg. I heard the delicate tones of all the Girl’s Generation members followed by the melodic lyrics of Snoop Dogg singing “Girls, Girls Generation.” That would be enough to stop anyone in their tracks. If you wanted to check it out, it is track 14 on the album, “The Boys,” and is truly a masterpiece.

Now we are in 2024 where we get Megan Thee Stallion and Twice. It is highly unlikely that while they were in the studio, they were considering the cultural and political implications between theU.S. and South Korea. It is a fun song that anyone can listen to and feel like a baddie. There might not be any deeper meaning to the song, but I believe it is an interesting example of how interconnected we are becoming. We can also see this occur in many different genres. Latin music and Afro beats have become more common in mainstream music, receiving love and well-deserved praise. “Mamushi” is one song, but it builds on decades of cross-cultural exchange. So, pop in an earbud and listen to Twice and Megan.