Sliding into: Music

This month, we are sliding into MUSIC! Read this editorial for an introduction to the topic and to explore what SLIDING will publish this month.

This article explores K-pop as more than a musical genre, framing it as a global cultural system shaped by performance, fandom, digital media, and transmedia storytelling. Tracing K-pop’s evolution across generations, the piece examines how groups such as BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, and others reshaped the global music industry. It also analyses the Netflix animated film K-Pop Demon Hunters as a turning point that signals K-pop’s transition from the music industry to a globally legible cultural language.

Children are not exempt from experiencing music as something lived and felt, after all, why would such a universal human experience bypass them? What interests me most is how that experience varies across cultures, and how children around the world learn and are socialized through music. In this article, I explore how music is experienced in Latin America and invite our readers to reflect on how their own experiences may differ from or resonate with these rhythms.

The words “raves” and “children” are not usually used in the same sentence. However, the concept of “Family Raves”, or “Baby Raves”, has changed that by building a considerable fanbase with its high-intensity techno music, often enjoyed in colourful, playful parties for young ones.

“Did you hear? Mama Mable’s band is coming to town!” – If you are curious to learn more about her, come listen to this read-aloud of Annie Sieg’s joyful picturebook Mama Mable’s All-Gal Big Band Jazz Extravaganza! (2019).