Society, Law & Politics

��riosity: Why is K-pop so popular in the United States?

Yvaine Ye — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:21:39 +0000

��riosity: Why is K-pop so popular in the United States? Yvaine Ye Tue, 03/10/2026 - 13:21

Yvaine Ye

In ��riosity, experts across the �� Boulder campus answer questions about humans, our planet and the universe beyond.

Stephanie Choi, assistant professor of ethnomusicology at �� Boulder and a K-pop fan, talks about why this music genre has gained widespread popularity beyond South Korea.

Girl group Huntr/x in Kpop Demon Hunters. (Credit: Netflix)

Since last summer, few songs have been as inescapable as “Golden.”

In the Netflix blockbuster film “KPop Demon Hunters,” animated girls in stylish outfits, who slay monsters, belt out the anthem, “We’re goin’ up, up, up, it’s our moment / You know together we’re glowing,” a chorus that countless American children (and plenty of adults) can now sing on cue.

South Korean popular music, or K-pop, is having a moment in the United States, and 2026 could be its biggest year yet.

“Golden” recently became the first K-pop song to win a Grammy Award. It is also nominated for Best Original Song at the upcoming Academy Awards on March 15. Two of the genre’s biggest acts, BLACKPINK and BTS, are releasing new albums this year, while groups I-DLE and Twice are touring across North America.

BTS (Credit: BIGHIT MUSIC)

Stephaine Choi saw the K-pop wave coming for years. An assistant professor in the College of Music who studies K-pop’s global influence, Choi is also a fan of the genre.

On top of a pastel-pink cabinet in Choi’s office sits a small shrine to her fandom: photos of EXO, a South Korean boy band she has followed for more than a decade, stuffed animals representing members of SHINee, another favorite, and souvenirs from K-pop concerts she’s been to.

Her most prized piece is a lipstick shaped like SHINee’s lightstick, an aqua-colored glow stick that resembles a diamond perched on a microphone.

“There are lots of social functions in music,” Choi said. “It could be for entertainment. It could be for ritual. It could also be for community building. K-pop culture makes you want to be part of the community.”

Despite its name, K-pop isn’t defined by a single musical style. Instead, Choi describes it as performance-centered music presented by idols. These artists are trained by entertainment companies, often starting in their early teens.

In the United States, K-pop first gained traction among Korean Americans before spreading through other Asian American communities in the early 2000s. In 2012, Psy galloped his way into the American mainstream with his viral hit “Gangnam Style.” The music video was the most viewed video on YouTube for five years.

The real turning point came in 2017 when the boy band BTS won the Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist, a fan-voted category.

Unlike traditional celebrity culture where the musicians are often viewed as gifted, Choi said the relationship between idols and fans feels more equal in K-pop culture.

Previously in ��riosity

Why does Colorado have so many hot springs, and are they at risk?

Or read more ��riosity stories here

Through livestreams, social media and subscription messaging platforms, fans can communicate with idols directly on a daily basis.

Because most idols debut as teenagers, fans often watch them grow, mature and eventually become full-fledged artists launching their own solo careers. Fans ride every high and low with the artists, and growing alongside them is what makes K-pop so irresistible.

“It feels like you’re building a history together,” Choi said.

This connection motivates fans to organize campaigns, translate music videos and promote their favorite artists. According to a 2024 survey by the South Korean government, more than 200 million people across 119 countries identify as fans of Korean culture, with the majority focused on K-pop.

By 2022, BTS had taken home 12 Billboard Music Awars, breaking a 17-year record previously held by Destiny’s Child. BLACKPINK headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2023. Another girl group called Twice is currently on a world tour with a Denver stop in April.

The popularity of Korean music also encouraged people in the United States to take up language lessons. Duolingo, a language learning app, saw a 22% growth in Korean learners in the United States last year.

“You can definitely enjoy music without understanding the language,” Choi said. “But K-pop opens up a whole new world for people to learn about other cultures.”

Stephanie Choi, assistant professor of ethnomusicology at �� Boulder and a K-pop fan, talks about why this music genre has gained widespread popularity beyond South Korea.

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Judge Susan Blanco named to Colorado Supreme Court

Megan M Rogers — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:38:43 +0000

Judge Susan Blanco named to Colorado Supreme Court Megan M Rogers Wed, 02/25/2026 - 12:38

Gov. Jared Polis named the Honorable Susan Blanco, who has ties to �� Boulder, to the Colorado Supreme Court.

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Exploring the ethics of AI: Can we use tools like ChatGPT consciously?

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 22:10:38 +0000

Exploring the ethics of AI: Can we use tools like ChatGPT consciously? Megan M Rogers Tue, 02/24/2026 - 15:10

As tech advancements speed up, how can we best incorporate AI tools at school and work? Read more from Nikolaus Klassen, a business analyst at Google, who teaches Applied AI Ethics at the ATLAS Institute.

As tech advancements speed up, how can we best incorporate AI tools at school and work? Get Nikolaus Klassen's take. He's a business analyst at Google, who teaches Applied AI Ethics at the ATLAS Institute.

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Nextdoor labor

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:38:37 +0000

Nextdoor labor Megan M Rogers Tue, 02/24/2026 - 13:38

Does using Nextdoor make you more likely to support aggressive policing tactics? A new paper from two College of Communication, Media, Design and Information experts sheds interesting light on the platform.

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Scholar considers language, identity and the fight over shared symbols

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:20:01 +0000

Scholar considers language, identity and the fight over shared symbols Megan M Rogers Thu, 02/19/2026 - 14:20

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

�� Boulder linguistics researcher Kate Arnold-Murray studies what a Facebook fight reveals about identity.

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As ICE arrests reach record highs, percent with criminal record plummets

Lisa Marshall — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 22:58:11 +0000

As ICE arrests reach record highs, percent with criminal record plummets Lisa Marshall Wed, 02/18/2026 - 15:58

Lisa Marshall

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested more people per day in 2025 than at any time in the past decade, according to new research by �� Boulder economists. Meanwhile, the percentage of ICE arrests involving people with a criminal record reached a near-historic low.

Labor economist Chloe East

The analysis of hundreds of thousands of arrests, published as part of the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series, also shows that ICE tactics changed substantially between the first and second Trump administrations, with more arrests now made in community gathering places like schools and workplaces. Previously, ICE typically detained individuals who were already in law enforcement custody, the authors said.

“There has been a lot of rhetoric and news coverage in the past year about what ICE is doing, but there has been a gap in comprehensive, data-driven evidence,” said author Chloe East, a labor economist and associate professor of economics. “We wanted to know: What is ICE doing that is different? And is the political promise of going after the ‘worst of the worst’ truly bearing out? Our results reveal that the reality of immigration enforcement diverges sharply from the public narrative.”

For the study, East analyzed federal data, obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, on all ICE arrests from October 2015 to October 2025.

The study found that, early in each of President Donald Trump’s terms in office, his administration delivered on its promise to increase immigration enforcement. For example, in the first 10 months of Trump’s first term, average daily ICE arrests rose to 435, up 43% from President Barack Obama’s final year in office. In the first 10 months of Trump’s second term, average daily ICE arrests soared to 821, up 170% from President Joe Biden’s final year in office.

But that increased enforcement did not translate to increased arrests of convicted criminals, the study found.

Just 37% of ICE arrests during Trump’s first 10 months in office in 2025 involved individuals with criminal convictions. That’s down from 52% in Biden’s final year in office, 70% in Trump’s first year of his first term, and 79% in Obama’s final year.

“We found that there is an inverse relationship between the number of arrests that ICE makes and ICE’s ability to target people with a criminal conviction, and this pattern has been much more dramatic following Trump’s second inauguration,” said East.

Top regions for ICE arrest surges in 2025

Atlanta: Up 228%
Boston: Up 224%
Denver: Up 211%
El Paso: Up 283%
San Diego: Up 530%
Washington, D.C.: Up 312%

Note: These figures pertain to broader ICE Areas of Responsibility headquartered in these cities.

Targeting communities

The study also found stark changes between the first and second Trump administration in the way ICE arrests are being conducted.

During the enforcement surge after Trump’s first inauguration, only 22% of arrests were “community arrests” (made in public places like schools, churches, workplaces and on the street). The rest were “law enforcement arrests,” in which ICE collaborates with local law enforcement to detain someone already in custody. In contrast, in the first 10 months of Trump’s second term, nearly half of ICE arrests were made in the community (up from only 19% in 2024 under the Biden administration).

“We found that ICE is acting at a much larger scale in the second Trump administration than the first, and that as arrests in the community spike, the percentage of those with criminal convictions falls,” said East.

Enforcement activity has not taken place evenly across the country, the study found. In 2025, Democratic strongholds were far more likely to see dramatic spikes in arrests, particularly community arrests.

For instance, in the enforcement area that includes Denver, which has a democratic mayor and governor, ICE arrests increased 211% at the beginning of Trump’s second term, with law enforcement arrests increasing 81% and community arrests increasing 265%.

Other exponential increases in arrests occurred in enforcement areas which include Boston; Atlanta; Washington, D.C; El Paso and San Diego.

Impact on public safety, economy

Previous studies have consistently shown that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are less likely to commit crimes than are people born in the United States.

East fears that by increasingly arresting those with no criminal record, heightened ICE enforcement efforts could backfire and make communities less safe by making law-abiding citizens afraid to interact with law enforcement to report crime.

Such efforts also hurt the economy, her other research has found.

“When you remove thousands of people from the labor market through arrest, detention and deportation, that alone has a harmful effect. But we also find that those who remain work less because they are afraid,” she said. “At the same time, we see no increases in any employment or number of hours worked for U.S.-born workers.”

East hopes that her findings will help policymakers from all parties develop more effective immigration policies.

“Overall, our data provide important new evidence that simply increasing the funding and scale of ICE activity is unlikely to improve public safety.”

Arrests in Colorado January 2024–October 2025

Graph illustrating the total daily ICE arrests in Colorado during Donald Trump's second presidential term, as well as the percentage of arrested people with criminal convictions.

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A new analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests confirms that ICE tactics have changed since Trump’s first term, with more arrests made at workplaces and schools and in Democratic strongholds like Colorado.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers participate in an operation in Los Angeles, Calif. in June, 2025. Credit: DHS photo by Tia Dufour

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers participate in an operation in Los Angeles, Calif. in June, 2025. Credit: DHS photo by Tia Dufour

Project aims to improve multilingual emergency alerting in Colorado

Daniel William Strain — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:10:35 +0000

Project aims to improve multilingual emergency alerting in Colorado Daniel William… Thu, 02/05/2026 - 16:10

Daniel Strain

Burned buildings in Louisville, Colorado, in the wake of the Marshall Fire. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/�� Boulder)

On Dec. 30, 2021, people living Colorado’s Boulder County began receiving urgent alerts on their phones. The Marshall Fire, which had started that morning, was growing, and county officials were urging some locals to evacuate their homes.

Those warnings likely saved lives. But, in the years that followed, reporting from several news organizations revealed flaws in the alerting system. Many residents never received an alert, while those that did only received one in English.

A team of researchers at �� Boulder’s Natural Hazards Center has been working to understand how alerts can become more inclusive in Colorado. The group recently launched a new project to further address such shortfalls.

Timely emergency alerts should go out to all people in Colorado who need them, the researchers say—including people with disabilities and people who speak languages other than English.

From left to right, Natural Hazards Center researchers Mary Angelica Painter, Melissa Villarreal and Carson MacPherson-Krutsky stop for a photo at the Colorado State Capitol before presenting their findings on inclusive emergency alerts. (Credit: Carson MacPherson-Krutsky)

“We know from the Grizzly Creek Fire in 2020 and the Marshall Fire a year later that when alerts don’t go out in multiple languages, it can cause real harm,” said Mary Angelica Painter, a research associate at the Natural Hazards Center. “When people do not receive alerts, they often seek information elsewhere, which might delay responses or provide inaccurate information.”

Alerting authorities can include emergency management offices, fire departments, 911 dispatchers and others. They may send out emergency alerts during wildfires, flooding, tornadoes or even hazardous traffic conditions. Alerting authorities may use avenues like cell phones, social media, TV and radio, word of mouth and other channels.

In a study published last year, Painter and her colleagues reported that alerting authorities across Colorado want to expand their alerting systems—reaching people who speak a non-English language or have auditory and visual disabilities. But authorities frequently lack the funding, staffing, training and guidance to make those changes.

To expand on that research, Painter and her team will host a series of focus groups to hear how residents who speak non-English languages receive, perceive and process emergency information.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to save lives,” Painter said. “To do that, we need to be sure that we’re communicating emergency information so that everyone can take protective actions.”

Patchwork of alerts

In 2023, the Colorado legislature passed House Bill 23-1237, which tasked the Natural Hazards Center with conducting a survey of the state’s emergency alert systems. The bill recognized that such systems “need to reach and better support at-risk communities in a time- and language-sensitive manner.”

In Colorado, roughly 900,000 people speak languages other than English. Spanish is the most common language spoken, followed by Chinese, Vietnamese, German and Russian. Additionally, about 500,000 people with auditory and visual disabilities live around the state.

For this first phase of the project, the Natural Hazards Center surveyed 222 emergency response personnel from 57 of Colorado’s 64 counties.

In a 2024 report, the researchers discovered a patchwork landscape, in which officials use a wide range of channels and resources to warn Coloradans about emergencies. Because of this, alerting varies from county to county, and even town to town.

Click to read the 2024 report from the Natural Hazards Center on inclusive emergency alerts.

In many cases, residents must sign up to receive emergency alerts through a third-party system, which often involves downloading an app. Across Colorado, alerting authorities reported sign-up rates below 40%.

More than a third of survey respondents didn’t know if their alert systems could support languages other than English.

“We know the information that's going out, but we don't have a sense of how that's landing or whether communities are even aware that they need to sign up for alerts,” said Carson MacPherson-Krutsky, a research associate at the Natural Hazards Center who led the 2024 project and report.

Among other issues, many emergency personnel in Colorado don’t have access to basic demographic information about who lives in their regions and what languages they speak.

On the ground

In the new project, which is funded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, MacPherson-Krutsky and Painter have set out to address some of those gaps.

The research team partnered with the Spring Institute, the Colorado Language Access Coalition (CLAC) and the City of Boulder to work directly with communities on the ground in Colorado. The researchers and their partners are hosting 13 virtual and in-person focus groups across the state. The team already led one focus group this month in English for community organizations. Six of the remaining 12 focus groups will be in Spanish, three in Chinese and three in Vietnamese.

The team will ask multilingual Colorado residents how they get information during a wildfire, tornado or similar emergency. Do they know how to sign up for alerts? Do those alerts provide the information they need to take action during an emergency?

“What we’re hearing from emergency personnel is that we need more information about what’s happening on the ground,” MacPherson-Krutsky said. “Are these communities actually receiving alerts? If they’re translated, is the way that they’re translated understandable?”

Across the state, many regions are already trying to expand how they send alerts.

Boulder County, for example, has made a wide range of updates to its system since the Marshall Fire. Residents can now receive translated emergency messages in more than 130 languages by downloading an app from the company ReachWell.

Painter hopes that the team’s research will one day help keep communities safe beyond Colorado.

“How Colorado has set up its emergency alerting is emblematic of what’s happening in the rest of the country,” Painter said. “We hope that these lessons could be applied across the United States. Colorado could become a leader in multilingual emergency alerting and risk communication.”

When disasters like wildfires or flooding strike in Colorado, many residents never receive emergency alerts, and those who do often receive warnings only in English. Researchers at �� Boulder say that multilingual alerts can save lives.

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When retreat trumps the rise of global free markets

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:40:22 +0000

When retreat trumps the rise of global free markets Megan M Rogers Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:40

A historian and labor expert says companies like IBM typified how the United States dominated the post-World War II global order. President Donald Trump's retreat from that stage, she says, "undermines the free markets corporations want."

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Scholar highlights the Venezuela-Cuba connection

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:06:12 +0000

Scholar highlights the Venezuela-Cuba connection Megan M Rogers Fri, 01/23/2026 - 13:06

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

The two countries have developed deep ties over the past two decades, but it's unclear what impact recent actions by the United States against Venezuela will have on Havana's government, �� Boulder Latin America researcher Jen Triplett says.

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Flashpoint: Taiwan

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 19:59:36 +0000

Flashpoint: Taiwan Megan M Rogers Thu, 01/22/2026 - 12:59

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

In a new book, �� Boulder political scientist Steve Chan highlights the dangers of a Sino-United States war over Taiwan and why the Chinese believe time is on their side in their goal for reunification.

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