Ashley, can we talk about our driveway encounter the other day? I realize we don’t know each other very well, but let me just come right out and say it: Please don’t judge me for the fact that I was blasting the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack in my car.
Was it necessary for me to keep the music cranked to full volume while waiting for the track “Golden” to finish? Possibly not. At any rate, I recognize that my own singing may have impeded your full enjoyment of the song, given that the high notes are at least an octave out of range for my alto voice. But as an experienced high school choir girl who in 1998 was given a one-line solo in “Stormy Weather”—well, how can I keep from singing? And after hitting “repeat” on that track approximately a hundred times while driving around town the past week, I feel confident in saying that those high notes are starting to resemble a more human and less squeaky or animalistic sound. If I may say, I’m going “up, up, up with [my] voice.”
However, I did not mean to upset your dog.
Perhaps the quizzical look you gave me as I awkwardly exited the vehicle indicated that you are unfamiliar with the movie—nay, the cultural phenomenon. Let me summarize. It is a high-concept film: There is a K-pop band, and they are also demon hunters. I admit, when my kids started talking about it, I was skeptical. But last Friday night, one impulsive click of the “watch now” button opened my world. And as I quickly learned, it’s a short road from absent-mindedly bopping one’s shoulders to the beat of “Soda Pop” to learning the Hangul alphabet so that one can properly sing along with the soundtrack.
I realize that I may also have disturbed your baby when I was dancing along to the soundtrack earlier this morning. My sincere apologies. My kids are older now, and I completely forgot that when they’re Quentin’s age, they still take morning naps. I’ll be more careful to close the window in the future.
Is it ridiculous for a forty-three-year-old woman to have watched a children’s cartoon movie multiple times—sometimes multiple times a day—for the past week? Perhaps. And is my singing voice not what it used to be, and my K-pop dance moves awkward? Even more likely. But in today’s terrifying hellhole of a world, is it nice to find a dreamy, pastel-haired oasis where evil forces can be defeated and the world protected through the magic of song? Definitely.
You know, after laying all of this out, I’m not sure why I was so embarrassed. In the words of Rumi, the film’s protagonist, “I’m done hiding, now I’m shining, like I’m born to be.” This is who I am, so I hope you can do me the courtesy of withholding your judgment.
What’s that you say? You’re also a superfan and have an extra ticket to an in-theater sing-along? Okay, let’s go—but only if we can sing along in the car.