On April 12, BIGBANG member Daesung captivated global audiences during his performance at Coachella, an annual music festival taking place in Indio, California. A core member of one of Korea’s most famous K-pop groups, Daesung shocked viewers worldwide as he surprise-performed his solo tracks “Look at Me, Gwisun” and “Hando-Chogua” during BIGBANG’s 17-song show. Both songs were from the “Trot” genre of Korean music, a category usually tied to the older generations.

“My first thought was, is this really happening right now?” Sein Jun (10), Coachella viewer, said. “But then I realized that Daesung took a genre meant for older audiences and made it accessible to everyone, and I felt proud that Korean trot was finally gaining international popularity.” 

Daesung’s performance greatly strayed from a typical K-pop stage at Coachella, as previous performances by K-pop idols and groups had stuck to pop songs mainly sung in English, while Daesung performed his hits fully in Korean with no subtitles. While trot had normally been more popular among the older audiences in Korea, Daesung’s performance at Coachella, especially the positive reactions from the fans, showed that trot’s popularity was not limited to the local Korean audiences, but international audiences, too.