Internet personality and Mukbang legend, Trisha Paytas, recently released a K-pop song. The song is somewhat controversially titled “사랑해 Saranghae (I Love You)” and sees Paytas singing entirely in Korean.
Produced by Alex Wright alongside Korean songwriters Amy L. Stillwell and Danbi Kim, the song has landed on the US K-pop chart at number two alongside K-pop Demon Hunters and BTS. While some on the internet have been quick to praise Paytas’s evolution since her early days on YouTube and the David Dobrik vlog squad era, many have voiced concerns about Paytas’s appropriation of Korean culture and music.
In a statement released to Instagram, Paytas credits the impetus of the song to her two young daughters: “My girls listen to so much K-pop and [I] was so inspired … I love learning new languages and this was such a challenge to do the whole song in Korean.”
While K-pop is slowly becoming more inclusive and diverse, with shows like Pop Star Academy and girl groups like KATSEYE and Saint Satine, some fans are concerned about Paytas involvement in the foreign genre, as she is known for creating culturally offensive characters in skits — having dressed up as Ice Spice for Halloween in 2023, appearing in recently resurfaced pictures of her dressing as an IDF soldier in 2023, and starring in an Israeli docu-series The Americans.
Nevertheless, K-pop has become more inclusive and accepting, with many members of K-pop groups being American, Thai, Japanese and more. While most K-pop songs by groups such as KATSEYE and Blackpink are sung in English, Paytas sang completely in Korean, a difficult feat for which Paytas thanked producer Alex Wright in an Instagram post: “Thankful to writer/producer AlexWright for being so patient with me and teaching me the cadence, meanings and more behind the beautiful language and culture.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source exclaim.ca ’
