Back in September, we shared with you the news that hip-hop singer MRSHLL was gearing up to debut as the first openly gay singer in the Korean music industry. Sadly, it now looks like someone beat him to the punch.
The Korean music industry is suddenly getting a wave of LGBTQ representation lately. First, MRSHLL announced his upcoming debut into the Korean hip-hop music scene, next Hansol, a former member of the K-pop boyband Topp Dogg, came out as asexual, then K-pop girl group Loona featured a lesbian romance story in their music video this past December.
Now, newcomer Holland has debuted with his first single and included not only a gay romance in the music video, but a gay kiss.
Despite it seeming fairly ordinary to our American and Western mentalities, this is a significant moment in Korea’s music scene.
The video in question, which can be seen below, is so revolutionary that it’s been rated as 19+, according to Billboard.
The general perspective on LGBTQ life in Korea is still grasping to understand LGBTQ people, though they acknowledge the existence of their queer neighbors. This mentality is what allows the Korean military to still be openly imprisoning gay men in service (even though all men are required to serve for at least three years), and have a president who says he’ll do nothing to support LGBTQ rights.
That said, this video is already garnering praise for openly celebrating gay love as the hashtag #HollandDebutDay trended worldwide on twitter after the video’s release.
You can check out what caused all the jubilation in the video down below.
This is very good!!!
This is very good!!!