E7: Wrapping Up 2024 - Katy Perry Gives Us Hope, Kraven The Hunted, & K-Pop Chaos

As we wrap up 2024 and prepare to step into a brand-new quarter-century, join Sean on Episode 7 of BibimPOP with Sean! This episode, we reflect on the highs and lows of the year, celebrate new beginnings, and dive into all things, you guessed it, pop culture. From Katy Perry’s uplifting new single and exciting tour announcement to the flop of Kraven the Hunter, Sean has the updates you need. Plus, a deep dive into the buzz and controversies surrounding the K-Pop survival show Starlight Boys, featuring a special guest appearance by Sean’s husband, Matt. Get ready for pop bites and bold opinions as we gear up for 2025!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Episode 7
• 4:37 Katy, Give Us Hope
• 8:09 Kraven The Hunted
• 12:17 A K-Pop Controversy
• 28:39 Subscribe, Follow, Like, & Share

Transcript

Hello, Pop Tarts, and welcome to episode seven of BibimPOP with Sean. Where pop culture ate. Can you believe that we are just moments away from closing the chapter on the 2024 calendar year. It is honestly so crazy to think that we are quickly headed into 2025, which marks a whole quarter of a century. I feel like this is a milestone that we should be celebrating and talking about more.

I'm not hearing enough people talk about it. It feels like a big deal to me. I don't know, does it feel like a big deal to you? I'm excited. How are we feeling going into 2025? I am definitely feeling some good energy. 2024 definitely had a lot of great highs for me, really enjoying my career. I went on some fun travels, including Rome, Italy, London, England and Seoul, South Korea.

I feel like my physical health has been at an all time high. I've been really consistent about exercising, going to the gym and also just eating better. My diet feels healthier. I also got to see a lot of K-pop artists this past year, which has been really fun for me, including Tomorrow by Together, 17, Aespa and more. And 2024 also brought a lot of growth opportunities and even difficult times can be really great opportunities of growth.

Unfortunately, a few months ago I was targeted by an extremist group that just said some really discriminatory and hateful things about me, and it was really the first time I had experienced this level of hate on what felt like such a national scale. And that was really hard for me. And it also reminded me that in my everyday life, I am surrounded by people who support, care about and love me and that's what really matters.

And so even though it was difficult in the moment, I came out stronger and more resilient because of that experience and discovered that I really am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my everyday life. Okay, but let's not focus on that for too long. What about you? What did you love about 2024? What joy did you experience?

What did you learn? I would love to hear all about it. 2025 is exciting to me for so many reasons, and actually one of the reasons I am excited is because of this podcast BibimPOP with Sean. This adventure has been so fun for me. I have been able to enter a creative space and learn some new skills that are very outside of my familiar, yet familiarity.

While it's a hard word to say, familiar, familiar, familiarity, familiar rarity, and all of you who have been listening have been so supportive. Thank you so much. It took a lot of vulnerability for me to share my podcast and your hype is everything. Thank you. To quote the legendary Miss Britney Spears, kind of. There's only two types of people in the world, and now I'm off scripting here.

Ones that set New Year's resolutions and ones that do not. So which one are you? Some people like to set resolutions because it allows them to be intentional about meeting goals, gives meaning and purpose, and setting a goal can just give people a lot of energy and excitement, because it feels good to accomplish something that you set out to do, and then other people don't like to set resolutions, because it can seem like when you set lofty goals that are maybe unreasonable, that it only brings about stress, expectations, and disappointment.

And some people just really want to live in the moment without any sort of agenda of having to meet a goal. So I would like to know what type of person you are. Do you like to set New Year's resolutions? I am so excited for today's episode of BibimPOP with Sean. I have some pop updates for you, including a new Katy Perry song and a movie flop.

And then I'm going to bring my husband Matt onto the show for a shorter segment where we're going to talk about a very controversial K-pop competition show that we are currently watching called Starlight Boys. Here we go.

Attention, Pop Tarts! We have new music from Katy Perry. Her newest single is titled okay, and this song has a great upbeat, hopeful pop backdrop that supports the lyrics about supporting one another and remaining resilient. And I really like these lyrics. Quote. We got to learn to let go. We'll try again tomorrow. So cheers to the broken. And here's to the hopin.

If we just keep going. The road is gonna open. Blood, sweat, tears. Have we had enough? Take my hand. We're not giving up. And everybody say, hey, it's going to be okay. I'm always going to be around. No matter if you're up or down. Close. Quote I am loving this song. I feel like it comes at such a poignant time.

Life can just be difficult and hard, and this song is a great reminder that you're never alone. And even when things are at their worst, there is always someone, someone who is cheering you on and will be by your side. This song is on the deluxe version of her newly released album 1432, which I actually still need to give a full listen.

But this song has definitely captured my attention, so I'll be listening to her new album in full and we'll have to let you know what I think. If you haven't already heard this song yet, you definitely need to go give it a listen right now. In other exciting Katy Perry news, she recently performed at Philadelphia's Jingle Ball concert at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday, December 16th, and while at the show, she announced that she will be doing a North America tour.

She clearly could not hold her excitement because she said, quote, you know what? Screw it. I'm just going to tell you, I haven't even told you yet, and I haven't posted it on my Instagram. But I'm bringing the lifetime's tour to Philly next year. Close quote I am so excited to learn more about this tour. I'm wondering, Will left shark be making an appearance?

If so, I might need to grab some tickets. Also, are Katy and Orlando Bloom cute together? I was hesitant at first, but now that they've been together for something like eight years, I'm starting to think they're giving couple goals. Orlando a scene front row at Katy's ITV concert special night of a lifetime at the Central Hall, Westminster, and he had his phone out the whole time, recording her performances.

I don't know, I just think that's so cute. In other music news, I just discovered that David Guetta released a song. Yes, David Guetta. I'm talking about David Guetta again and he just released a song, Forever Young back in October. So really not new news, but I just discovered this song. It popped up on my suggested for you.

Gosh, I wonder why, but the song features none other than Ava max. Now that I have discovered this song, who wants to place bets that this will be my number one most listened to song in 2025? Seems pretty on brand given my lame Spotify wrapped results from this year lol. All right, Pop tarts, if you're liking our conversation, please remember to subscribe, follow, like and share BibimPOP with Sean.

All right. Going back to our analogy of there's only two types of people in the world. How about this one? People who like superhero movies think Marvel Universe and people who literally could care less. I do love superhero movies. I think they're fun. I grew up watching cartoons like Batman, Spiderman, and X-Men. Those were definitely my faves and definitely like, could not miss experiences.

I'm just Pokemon count. Does Pokemon count as like a superhero show? I actually think they could be considered in the superhero genre. They save people and cities in Pokemon. So I think yes, I'm self declaring that Pokemon is out of the superheroes genre. Well, a superhero movie tied to the Marvel Universe via Sony, kind of like venom just released.

And I guess I should say it's like an anti superhero movie, because the main character is actually one of Spider-Man's most formidable foes, formidable foe. That's like such a superhero term. I love that I just use that. Like, who actually says that in real life? I don't know, no one. Anyway, Kraven the Hunter just dropped into theaters, and unfortunately, it sounds like Kraven the Hunter became the hunted by the critics.

It got an abysmal 15%. Yes, 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic said, quote, Kraven the Hunter has something for everyone to hate. Close quote. Another says quote. Like other Sony productions in the same vein, Kraven the Hunter alternates between entertainingly awful and just bad. Often, the intended tone is anyone's guess. Close quote I don't know is this is this critic's review making anyone else think of Madame Web?

We're all just living in her web. I oh, this just makes me so sad. Kraven. Not ever really my favorite, but I was excited to see him brought to the big screen in live action. For those of you who don't know who Kraven is. He first appeared in Spider-Man comics in 1964. His name is Sergei Kraven off, and he is a Russian aristocrat and a skilled hunter.

He has superhero abilities such as incredible strength, agility, and enhanced senses. He is out to prove himself as the greatest hunter by capturing or defeating Spider-Man, who he considers as the ultimate prey. Kraven is often depicted wearing animal themed clothing. He wears like a lion's mane vest, and carries hunting tools like spears or knives. Really, I don't know about you, but I feel like he is giving Fifth Cheetah Girl.

I would actually love that. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, and he trained for months to get the physique to play Kraven. And I think he said in an interview that he gained about 40 pounds for the role as he bulked up and gained muscle. He also told people magazine that he didn't have any alcohol for two years, to ensure that he could keep his physical appearance the way it needed to be for the movie.

He describes the film as a, quote great gritty gangster story, close quote and fun fact Aaron Taylor-Johnson is not new to the Marvel Universe. He also played Quicksilver in Avengers Age of Ultron. So now I need to know, have you seen Kraven the Hunter? What did you think? If not, will you see it? The film had a reported budget of about $120 million, and projections are suggesting it will be lucky to hit a total of 60 million, which is half of their budget.

Ouch. Well, rest assured to Sony, you will be getting at least $10 from Sean because I have to see this movie. If not for my Spider-Man fandom, then at least to get some good laughs.

It's almost a ritual every night before bed for me to hop on YouTube and briefly scroll through the recommended videos, and sometimes I end up watching music videos, sometimes it's video casts, and sometimes I just find these little hidden treasures. And such was the case when I came across episode one of a show called Starlight Boys. I had no idea what this was, but the thumbnail looked K-poppy.

So obviously I clicked on it, which for the next two hours took me on an exciting journey. So what is Starlight Boys? Well, Starlight Boys is a South Korean Chinese survival competition show that premiered on October 26th of 2024 on iQiyi, and that must be a popular TV network in South Korea. Because I'm not familiar with it. I don't know what it is, but that's where this show is airing, and the program features something like 70 contestants from various countries competing for a spot in a nine member global boy group.

I really like that the contestants are from all these different countries. There's a few from North America. There's a lot from South Korea and from China. There are some from Laos and Vietnam and Thailand. And it's just really fun to see all these different contestants from different cultures come to compete in the same competition. And for the most part, the contestants come onto the show already knowing basically how to sing and how to dance.

And so these talented individuals are then trained even more in this professional academy called Starlight Academy. And they undergo this rigorous training and they face different challenges, including performances and evaluations, where they showcase their skills in singing, dancing and overall stage presence. And the competition emphasizes both individual talent and teamwork, with contestants having to collaborate on group performances while also trying to be the one who is giving the most and standing out to the judges and to the audience.

Because it is a show where the audience gets to vote and the judges of the show are notable K-pop artists themselves. For example, Eric from the boy band The Boys and Yoon from the girl group StayC. I love this show. It's so fun to see a talent competition show that will result in the formation of a new K-pop boy band.

Is this not what I would be wanting to do in another lifetime, or even this lifetime? I mean really, this show is seriously like life goals life dream for me. So I'm like living vicariously through these boys every week that I'm watching them on this show. Starlight Boys. And unfortunately, I hate to say it, but the show has been mired in controversy.

So to help us process what's going on here, I have invited my husband, Matt to join the chat. Hi Matt, welcome back to BibimPOP with Sean. How are you doing today? Good. Excited to be back again. Talking about another topic that I love. So thanks for having me. Yeah. Okay. So for the listeners, we just got back from having lunch at Cheesecake Factory.

So our bellies are full, we're feeling good, and we're ready to jump into all things Starlight boys. So, Matt, I first want to know, what do you love about Starlight Boys? Yeah. What I love about Starlight Boys is this is the first time that we are watching a competition show like this. I know we did watch KATSEYE, but I feel like this is the first, like, authentic Korean competition survival show that we've ever watched.

So it's just been really interesting to see everyone going through this process. And you kind of get attached or start voting or rooting for some of the people in particular. So yeah, just been fun. There's so many different people to that are participating in the show, so it's definitely an interesting watch. I also love that the judges provide actual feedback.

It's not just like that was bad or wow, that was amazing. I feel like that was all American Idol did, but the judges on this show actually give them feedback in terms of this specific move needs to be harder. So yeah, I just think I think they get better feedback. And I also just love yeah, like you said, you get attached to the contestants.

There are definitely some favorites that we have already. Matt, who are some of our favorite Starlight boys? Yes. Well, I'll start for myself first. My personal favorite is Sun Jia Yang. So he is from China and yeah, absolutely love him. He his focus primarily isn't dancing. And it's so funny because he's this like he looks so young for his age and he looks like he wouldn't be able to dance a hard because he kind of comes across as like shy and timid at times.

But then, yeah, during his dance performances, it's like he completely transforms into this different person. She's she's she's. Yes. Go watch him in the sheesh dance. You know, it blows my mind, honestly, how he can transform, like I said. So he's definitely my favorite. Yeah I we love Sun Jia Yang. He is so fun. And like Matt said, he just seems like he wouldn't have that K-pop like, like stage presence that you need to have.

And when he's on stage, he can. He absolutely transforms into a different person. He's really great to watch. He's also, you can definitely tell that he is the favorite of Eric, who is one of the judges on some of the episodes. They play games, and I think that's really to build a relationship between the contests and the viewer.

But it was so funny because they were playing this game of dodgeball, but it was like modified dodgeball where you had, one of the teammates had to protect another teammate, so they were in pairs. And the judge, Eric, was playing and he was protecting Sun Jia Yang. And it was so cute how he was like, you will not get this boy out.

And he was like, protecting him. And it's anyway, it was just a lot of fun. And Sun Jia Yang is great. And so we really like him. We haven't seen the most recent episode that premiered or aired recently, and so we're hoping that Sun Jia Yang is still in the competition. We're not watching spoilers. And so where our fingers are crossed, yeah, they're coming down to the final 18 in this next episode, so definitely hoping he made the cut.

I would say one of my favorites. I have a lot of favorites. I really like Duan Xing Xing from China. He has a very like classic K-pop idol look and he is very talented. He's a great dancer. He's a good singer. He just is all well rounded. And so I really like him. I also really love two boys from Thailand, Phoom and Pentor.

They are just so they're actually really very different from one another, but I really like them. You can tell that. Well, Phoom is just very like he's got like a fierce quality to him, like he wants to do really well and he's got a very great visual. And Pentor is honestly he's one of my favorites because he is always so happy.

He's always smiling. He's just very light and there's a lot of like levity with him. And I just love that because it feels like he takes the competition seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. So love Pentor. Yeah, and honestly, I feel like Phoom and yourself have like a similar facial structure. Gosh, that's like the best compliment I could ever get.

So it's almost like Phoom is you in another universe, another multiverse, I am Phoom and Phoom is me, I love that. Okay, so we've talked about some of our favorite Starlight boys. Let's talk about their signal song. So their signal song is essentially like their signature song. And it's called Good Luck. And I love this song. It's so catchy.

The lyrics will just be stuck in your head forever and ever and ever and ever. But like, in a good way. And the choreography is bouncy and it's fun and I want to learn the choreography. I actually feel like I know most of it by now. I've watched videos so many times. What do you think about the song Good Luck?

Yeah. You know, to be honest, I'm a bit torn about this one, so I like the song itself, but I feel like I have a trauma response, and each time that I hear the song, because, one of the kind of mini controversies online that have been surrounding this show is that part of the competition was that they had to perform the dance to this signal song multiple times, back to back to back for hours long, for the judges to make it through one of the eliminations, to the point where people were on the verge of passing out like it was rough.

And so, I don't know, I like the song, but now I just associate it with that insane experience. And so I don't know. Yeah. Well, okay, so the purpose of them doing the dance routine to this song over and over and over again was so that the judges could all see them doing the signal song and compare them against their peers.

But when there's like 70 contestants, you can only really focus on, I don't know, one at a time. And so they would have everyone do it, even though the judges were maybe looking at 1 or 2 people, and then they would decide after the whole, like, song had gone through. Okay, well, let's, you know, this person is going to stay, so we'll, we'll accept that person.

And then they would be like, okay, everyone, do it again, do it again, do it again. And like Matt said, some of them were having like asthma attacks and falling to the ground. There were there was one who was literally in tears. And he's dancing to this high energy, positive, happy song that's so upbeat with bouncy choreography, and he has literal tears coming down his face and he is crying.

He is sobbing because he's like, I can't do this anymore. But he's like throwing his hands in the air and pretending like he's having a good time. But like, you can see it on his face. He's having such a difficult time. And so I feel bad that they did have to perform this song so many times. And one of the contestants, actually another fave of mine, Sun Ying Hao how not Sun Jia Yang, but Sun Ying Hao he's from China and he is.

He's arguably the best dancer on the entire competition series. He was accepted in this challenge very early on, and so he was watching his friends just perform the choreo over and over and he yelled. There came a point where he yelled, stop! Stop! And then he was like, give me the microphone! And then he spoke to the judges and was like, we are not robots.

We can't keep doing this. This is not good for us. And it created a big stir in the K-pop industry. And it was a big controversy. Yeah, and it was funny because within the show, he definitely had a good attitude about going forward. Like him and the other team members or cast members would joke about it. They would all go stop during all of the like when they were practicing together, but definitely kind of emphasized, you know, the the rough conditions that everyone was in to try to make it through that challenge.

Let's talk about another controversy on the show. Speaking of Sun Ying Hao, what is the latest controversy? Mat yeah, and just want to caveat this that like Sean said, we haven't seen the most recent episode, so there might be some updates that we're not aware of at this point. And a lot of this information is just speculative or online.

But on the voting platform where you vote for your favorite person to try to get into the group, there suddenly was a group of individuals who were shown as having withdrawn from the competition within the app, and some of these people were some of the highest performing individuals that were trying to get into the group. One and specifically, you, Yoo Gwan Woo from Taiwan, he was literally in first or second place the entire competition.

So there's definitely a lot of speculation and rumors running around about what might have caused all these individuals to decide to withdraw from the group, especially now that they're getting towards the end of the process, where they actually have a good shot of actually getting into the group. I was shocked when I saw that Yoo Gwan Woo had withdrawn from the competition series because, like Matt just said, he was in it to win it like he was.

It was his competition to lose. He was first or second for multiple episodes, and so I felt like he was definitely without a shadow of a doubt, going to make it into the top nine for the final group that formed. And there's rumors that maybe he left the show because he was scouted by another label or another competition series that now he's left and is now doing, I don't know.

And another one of the withdrawn contestants is Sun Ying Hao like I just said, the one that was like the best dancer of the group, and he was consistently ranked either second or third throughout, like the entire competition. So thus far. And he, I'm just really sad about this one because I loved Sun Ying Hao he was always so positive.

His dancing was immaculate. He was so, so, so good. But you could tell that in his most recent performance that he did that something was lacking. He did it. He wasn't excited. It wasn't it didn't feel like Suning, how he's also hilarious. He's so funny. There was a competition, like a game that the group was playing where like the reward was K-beauty products like makeup.

And I have never in my entire life seen someone so excited to perform or compete for any other prize in their life. You would think it was like $1 million he was going to be receiving. Yeah, it's definitely a bummer they left. And like Sean mentioned during his last performance that we saw, he mentioned that he had been injured.

And so I think it's likely that he ended up withdrawing because of this injury. But again, that might be addressed in this next episode we haven't seen, but definitely hope he's doing well if that's the case. All right, Matt, for our listeners who want to learn more about Starlight Boys, what are some performances they can look up on YouTube that maybe can help them understand what we're talking about here?

Yeah, my two personal faves. So the first one is again and again, I definitely like that song. That was during the first big competition round that they had, and has one of our other favorites that we haven't mentioned Han Gyul is in that performance. I feel like he does an amazing job in that performance, and I feel like it has a good energy.

The other one for a little bit more fast paced, I would definitely say she's that's the one was Sun Jia Yang definitely high energy. Those were the two that I think everyone should watch to get an encapsulation of what the show is like. Those are definitely good performances, I would agree. I would also add to that watch Boom Boom Bass as well, and then also just go watch the signal song.

They did a music video for Good Luck that will show all of them, and you will get a good sense of what this show is about. And then if you're interested, you can watch the first, I think, two full length episodes on YouTube. And if you want to watch more episodes, then you need to go to the iQiyi website to watch them there.

Yeah, definitely watch the signal song. It'll also give you a good idea of just how many people are in the show. It's like just rows and rows and rows of dancers. Yeah, it kind of blows your mind. It's so fun. I love it, actually. You know, right after I'm done recording this episode of bibimbap with Sean, I. We're going downstairs to the living room and we're turning on Starlight Boys so that we can catch up on the most recent episode.

I need to find out who's not in the show anymore and who's still there, so I can cry and also be excited for those who made it. Yeah, we're hoping we don't lose all of our faves, so we'll see you all right. If you're interested in being just purely entertained and you generally enjoy K-pop or want to get into it, then I definitely recommend watching Starlight Boys.

Go check them out. And thank you again, Matt, for joining me on BibimPOP with Sean. It was fun to have you again. Yes, I loved being here. Welcome to come back anytime. You'll have me.

Okay. Pop tarts, that's a wrap on episode seven. Thank you so much for listening. So, what's to come for episode eight? Well, the turn of the new year is coming, and I really want to spend some time with my family, so I might be slowing down a little bit on the release of the podcast episodes, at least for a little while.

I don't know, maybe I'll bring my mom onto the podcast to say hi. Stay tuned! Remember to subscribe, follow, like, and share, BibimPOP with Sean and follow me on social media for updates @bibimpopwithsean on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok and @bibimpopsean on X, formerly Twitter again, that's @bibimpopsean without the “with” for X and Twitter and go to my podcast website bibimpopwithsean.buzzsprout.com. Thank you so much for listening to BibimPOP with Sean where pop Culture ate.