My Night with Young Posse
Refracting Sound attends a Kpop concert in the shadow of the U.S. Presidential Election
Young Posse
Ever since my daughter got into Kpop around 2020, she steadily scours the internet horizon searching for upcoming concerts in the Bay Area. When she relayed that Kpop/rap upstarts Young Posse were scheduled to perform at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco, I was intrigued. I had been to there almost 35 years ago, seeing indie sludge stalwarts The Melvins. The Victoria Theater is a 100+ year old small theater with a capacity of less than five hundred people, very different for a Kpop show, which seem to usually be at larger venues such as the 19,000 capacity Oakland Arena. I was excited for my daughter to have a more personal concert experience with the artists being physically closer. U.S. Kpop tours seem to focus on fewer dates at arenas in major markets (New York, Los Angeles, Bay Area, etc.), but Young Posse’s 2024 run mimicked smaller independent American artist tours, hitting fifteen shows across the US, starting in Florida, going north up the East Coast, then traversing through the Midwest to a trio of California dates.
We bought tickets about a month in advance and it wasn’t until about a week before the show that I realized the concert was on November 5th, which was presidential election night in the United States. The American political landscape has changed drastically over the last couple decades, with more polarization from Democrats, Republicans and other non-party affiliated voters. The 2024 election seemed even more emotionally charged, especially considering that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump faced not one but two potential assassination attempts during the campaign. I was a little trepidatious as the weeks leading up to November 5th were tense, with many American citizens feeling passionate about their candidate of choice while, at times, deriding the “other side”. The show was ½ a block from 16th and Mission Street, which is a major transportation hub in San Francisco where you would think you would see people campaigning, but, as we arrived at the show around 7:00 PM, there was little evidence of the election even happening, with no signs anywhere.
Victoria Theater marquee
Our tickets were general admission with “open seating” so we basically had to grab whatever best spots were available. My daughter and I were lucky enough to score some seats in the third row (!) on the left hand side sandwiched between some other folks, but we were happy to be so close to the stage.
Victoria Theater stage
Merchandising is a big part of Kpop, but, being that it was near the end of a longer tour, the merch booth was a bit lean. Young Posse still had a variety of show posters, photocards (of course), a pretty cool t-shirt with a spoof of the Cadillac logo, autographed albums and more. I saw online that they had an amazing goofy t-shirt with donuts on it, but those were sold out, unfortunately.
Young Posse “Macaroni Cheese” video
Young Posse presents as a Kpop version of Kriss Kross meets TLC, with both sounds and looks heavily cribbed from a bevy of 90s hip hop acts, but light-hearted, fun and tongue-in-cheek, with lyrics mostly about food. “Macaroni Cheese” lives up to the title, a slower, 808-driven track with a surreal video of the group members playfully traveling inside a bowl of mac and cheese. One of their most popular songs, “Ate That” is a fun, uptempo West Coast banger (complete with vocoder) that borrows generously from Dr. Dre’s playbook, most specifically Dre and Snoop Dogg’s song, “Nuthin’ But A G Thang”. The cover and title track of their XXL album seems to pay tribute to the long-standing hip hop magazine of the same name, with lyrics that describe themselves as a “baby version of the Wu Tang Clan”.
Young Posse “Ate That” video
Young Posse on stage
Although Young Posse have released less than twenty songs, their live show extended to almost two hours, with the five young women energetically performing most of their released material, speckled with covers of Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Miguel, Avril Lavigne (!) and more. Their performance ebbed and flowed with high points coming during the fan favorites “XXL”, “Macaroni Cheese” and their newest single “Ate That”. Rapper Sunhye was a clear standout with her infectious and energetic stage presence not dissimilar to Da Brat. During the show, I would reluctantly steal glances at my phone, checking the election stats, seeing how the highly-coveted electoral votes were rolling in. At one point, I saw that Republican candidate Donald Trump was about 50 points ahead of Democrat Kamala Harris. Although I knew Harris would probably take California, which has 54 electoral votes, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to continue to close that gap. As I put down my phone, Young Posse announced that San Francisco would be the last show of the tour, snipping off the dates in Portland and Seattle. Group member Jiana began crying so hard she had to turn away from the crowd and be consoled by another member. The set ended and the group left the stage.
Although Kpop and pop music in general doesn’t seem to be inherently political (Aside from Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris) there is evidence that Kpop fans may tend to swing a little more to the left. In 2020, presidential candidate Donald Trump was left in a lurch at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma when almost 1 million people RSVPed for the event, but attendees barely filled the 19,000 capacity venue. There was much speculation that Kpop fans communicated on social media to reserve seats then not attend to potentially embarrass him. Also, in 2020, Kpop A-list male act BTS donated a million dollars to the Black Lives Matter movement and their fan base matched that amount within 24 hours. Kpop fandoms have also launched donation drives to help feed children in third world countries. Fans are also super diverse across all ages, genders, races, with a strong, noticeable LGBTQ contingent and an open, positive culture based on respect, tolerance and celebration of each other, regardless of differences. Young Posse didn’t mention anything from the stage.
The hyped crowd shouted for an encore and, after a brief break, Young Posse reappeared to (re)perform their hits “XXL” and “Ate That”. During “XXL”, the group members descended from the stage and performed in the audience, walking down the aisles, high-fiving fans, taking people’s phones and singing and rapping while filming themselves. It was an incredible moment in such an intimate environment. For that five minute period, nothing else mattered… no election… no politics… no stress and worry… just five young Korean women having fun performing their songs, while the diverse, multiracial audience sang along, catching the positive vibes. It was truly transcendent. But, alas, the encore ended and Young Posse again left the stage. The crowd emptied out, basking in the performance, quietly waiting for rides home. At 16th and Mission, there was still almost no evidence of the election, other than a noticeable tension hanging in the air.