The "Curry" Song in K-Pop

This song has had a chokehold on the idol industry since 2010. I spoke with one of my friends, who is Indian (specifically Rajasthani), so I will include some of her commentary/information as well.

When “Curry” by Norazo came out in 2010 in South Korea, it was a massive hit. I won’t link the video, as to not give it more views/revenue, but in it, the singers partake in brownface and mock Indian culture. Here are the lyrics so you can understand just how horrible this song is. https://lyricstranslate.com/en/%EC%B9%B4%EB%A0%88-curry-%EC%B9%B4%EB%A0%88-curry.html

I want to note that British colonizers created the term “curry” and used it in a generic fashion to name all Indian stews. My friend said that,

“There is no such thing as curry anywhere in India; we have no such dish. A side note, Britain’s national dish is literally “Chicken Tikka Masala”, which is not even from India. Chicken Tikka originated in North India, and it has no gravy. Chicken Tikka Masala was created by a chef of South Indian origin in Britain to fulfill the British people’s desires to heat their chicken in gravy and have it be less spicy. Curry is more well known in South Korea (Kare rice) and Japan (10+ curry dishes), so if anything, curry would be an East Asian dish, not a South Asian one.”

Right off the bat, the song does not accurately portray Indian culture; the video is full of stereotypes and mocks traditional Indian dances. The lyrics include things like yoga, “namaste”, and the Taj Mahal. The creators reduced centuries of rich Indian culture to four things in this song. To many people, they don’t see the issue with the song, but when K-pop idols sing this song, they laugh like it’s the best joke they’ve ever heard. That’s why this song is so disrespectful. It sees and treats Indian culture as a joke, and it teaches people to do the same. Many people look up to these idols and see them as role models, and when they see them mocking Indian culture & seeing it as a joke, they are going to assume it’s acceptable and do the same (if they don’t know anything about Indian culture). It’s a harmful, racist song that perpetuates stereotypes and misconceptions about Indian culture. 

Like I mentioned earlier, it was a hit in South Korea. There wasn’t a single person that didn’t know about it, and multiple K-pop idols spanning generations have sung the song. Side note: we’re currently in the 4th generation of K-pop artists; the first generation was in the 1990s. Most of the groups I’ll speak about will be 3rd (Blackpink, Seventeen) and 4th generation (ATEEZ, Loona) idols, but there have definitely been idols in the 1st and 2nd who have happily danced to and sung this racist song.

So why now? If this was created in 2010, why are we still talking about this today? Recently, ATEEZ was called out because two members (San, Yunho) sang a part of this song, while another member (Seonghwa) mentioned it in a broadcast. Not even 24 hours after the incident, their company (KQ Entertainment) took down the video and issued an apology for the members’ actions.

ATEEZ

Apology here: https://twitter.com/kqent/status/1677871941779353600?s=20

Hello,

This is KQ Entertainment. We would like to address the issues in regard to the online content of MBC R <IDOL RADIO> released yesterday afternoon, featuring ATEEZ.

The artist had no specific intent with their actions in the scene in question, but unknowingly hurt many of the fans. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the fans who have felt such discomfort and disappointment.

We will work diligently to establish a management system that better educates and prevents recurrence of such actions so that we do not cause any worries to our fans in the future.]

While such actions make me uncomfortable, I’m glad that the company listened to fans calling out such behavior and took accountability for their actions. Hopefully in the future, something like this never happens again regarding ATEEZ. [I like that they say that even though there were no intentions behind it, it doesn’t matter because they still hurt people and they’re gonna do better – which there is evidence of because in the past, they apologized for appropriating Black culture, and it has not happened since!] In reality, this incident is unprecedented. An entertainment company has never apologized for their artists signing the “Curry” song. Stray Kids, Seventeen, StayC, Blackpink, Oh My Girl, and more have sung and laughed to this song. Even when fans have called these artists out and tried to receive an apology, they were met with silence. I find it disgusting that they would find such a stereotypical and racist song hilarious, but most, if not all, of these groups have disrespected other cultures as well, so it’s nothing new.

oh my girl, stayc, stray kids, blackpink, and seventeen

Seventeen sang and laughed to the song in 2020. While there has never been an apology issued, the creator of the song, Norazo, released a statement apologizing for the song and even defended Seventeen’s actions. Seventeen’s company, Pledis, declined Teen Vogue’s request for a statement about this situation but carried on with the interview with their artists [https://www.teenvogue.com/story/seventeen-south-asian-fans-op-ed].

I’m going to summarize Norazo’s apology, but you can read the full apology here: https://www.allkpop.com/article/2020/07/norazos-jobin-dedicates-lengthy-apology-for-racism-concerns-in-the-duos-2010-hit-song-curry 

He says they had no intentions of being racist or mocking religions, and they had no idea curry wasn’t a traditional Indian dish. He tried “accentuating the ‘feel’ of India” but didn’t realize the words he used were important to Indians and admitted his wrongdoing. He continues by saying he had no intentions of degrading or undermining cultures and traditions and apologies for offending Indians across South East Asia. At the end, he says that younger generations are unaware the song is offensive and he hopes that the song won’t damage the artists moving forward. 

[Note: India is not a part of South East Asia. India is a part of South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — so he didn’t even name the correct region in his apology].

However, in 2023, three years after this apology was issued, no group (besides ATEEZ) has apologized, and ATEEZ still sang it. Most of his apology is saying he had no intention, but the intention isn’t important – the impact is, and it has perpetuated stereotypes and disrespect towards Indians for over a decade. The song will continue to do damage when it's sung because it’s a damaging song; it baffles me that instead of trying to emphasize the song is damaging and harmful so that his juniors don’t sing it – he just hopes it won’t be. Like????

My friend said, “Why did he feel the need to “accentuate the ‘feel’ of India? If he really wanted to he would’ve spent the time (days, months, years) to learn about the language and culture if he was interested. He should have just left our culture alone.”

I agree. If anything, his apology seems more like an excuse than an actual apology. Instead of focusing on the harm he caused, he just keeps reiterating that he had no bad intentions, but at the end of the day, he still treated Indian culture like it was a joke, mocked it, and reduced it to stereotypes while wearing brownface. 

Anyway… There should be no excuse or justification for this singing the song or finding it hilarious. Thankfully, ATEEZ is known well in both Korea and globally, so hopefully future groups see their apology and think not to sing the Curry song.  

The disrespect for South Asian cultures doesn’t stop there: (G)-Idle and I*ZONE have performed with a picture of a mosque behind them. Blackpink put a statue of Ganesha, a Hindu god, on the floor [next to an Aladdin lamp. . .] while one of the members (Lisa) sat on a throne in their music video “How You Like That”. This was seen as the highest disrespect in Indian culture because statues of gods are never supposed to touch the ground, and she was above it on a throne. All Blackpink members have partaken in doing stereotypical depictions of Indian dance moves whilst laughing, and 3 out of 4 mocked the traditional dance Bharatanatyam. Twice, NCT, and Loona have all done the stereotypical depictions, mocked Indian culture, and laughed as well. Out of everything I just listed, only two cases were resolved – the Blackpink music video was edited so that the Ganesha statue was taken out, and members of Loona apologized for their actions during a fansign when a fan spoke to them about their harmful actions. And don’t even get me started on NCT U’s Make a Wish performances… a whole stereotypical, disrespectful, tasteless mess. 

(g)-idle, i*zone, twice, nct, loona

Side note, for the Ganesha statue on the floor, YG Entertainment [Blackpink’s company] didn’t even apologize for it… they just called it an “unintentional mistake”... as if the action itself wasn’t disrespectful enough. Laughable, truly. 

A common thread between all of these incidents is that fans are actively vocal about calling out such behavior, wanting to hear an apology from their favorite artists, and encouraging them to do better. In the case of both Blackpink [only the music video incident, nothing else] and ATEEZ, fans emailed the company and were listened to. However, many companies (like Seventeen’s company, Pledis) refuse to apologize or own up to their actions. As a result, such disrespectful and disgusting behavior is brushed under the rug and continued, with many fans feeling too uncomfortable with such disrespect to continue stanning the groups. 

It’s mind blowing to me that the creator himself has apologized (if you can even call it an apology) and people are still having the time of their lives singing such a racist song. If I noticed someone apologizing for a song they wrote, I would think, “Oh, this song must be really bad. Let me do some research and never sing it again.” NOT “Let me keep singing it!” Due to BTS’ major success, there is a push for K-pop to become global. It’s hypocritical and illogical – how are you going to advertise yourselves as being global when you can’t even respect the cultures and people you’re interacting with? When you can’t even see them outside of stereotypes? When you don’t take the time to question the presentation of that culture within your own and to find out if it's correct, just, and right? How are you going to be “global” and ignorant of the world around you at the same time? 

Apologies like the one KQ issued should be the standard, not ignoring your fans when they want accountability. In order to grow, change, and do better, past actions need to be acknowledged so they aren’t repeated. It’s also baffling that in 13 years, KQ Entertainment has been the only company to sincerely apologize and acknowledge their wrongdoings… how has nobody else done this before?

A common argument used to defend the idols being disrespectful towards other cultures is “They don’t know any better! They aren’t aware! They don’t know!” because Korea is a homogenous society. Norazo’s apology was in Korean, so people are aware the song is wrong and harmful. And it’s not like K-pop idols and the general Korean public don’t have an understanding of racism and cultural sensitivity. During 2020, there were multiple Black Lives Matter protests in Korea, and there have been other companies that have apologized on behalf of their idols for disrespecting other cultures, so those arguments are invalid. Google and tons of media that aren't stereotypical and harmful exist. If idols truly cared about respecting other cultures, they could take the time to learn about them. There are so many avenues to learn from, so there’s no excuse. It’s blatant, willful ignorance, and I choose not to interact with groups that do such harmful things.

Also, there is no need to take inspiration from cultures if the proper research and respect is not part of the process. If you cannot respect another culture and your only wish is to take from it, mock it, and not appreciate it in its entirety, there should be no thought in your mind about interacting with said culture. Just leave the culture alone if you don’t want to/don’t have the means to do the proper research and learn about it. And even if you do have the means, you should have the intellect necessary to realize you shouldn’t be taking anything from the culture (clothing, headpieces, dance movements, etc.) and making it your own or making fun of it in the first place. 

In conclusion, the “Curry” song is a disgusting bastardization of Indian culture, and too many idols find the song funny and feel comfortable singing it. So far, ATEEZ’s company are the only idols in the industry to understand the gravity of this song and apologize for their actions. Stereotypical depictions of South Asian culture & seeing it as a joke still run rampant in the K-pop industry. Hopefully, this song is sung less and less as time goes by and more respect is cultivated for Indian culture and South Asian culture in general.