[LETTERS to the editor]Give us some credit

On reading “Emotional teen pop gets too big for its britches” (Oct. 8), I was in absolute agreement with the observation that our K-pop is becoming an imitation of our booming Japanese neighbor. However, to characterize teenagers’ preference for this type of music as being based on “hormone-crazed feelings” sounds rather stereotypical. In fact, it is the distinctive features of soul music that draw us closer to K-pop, not the singers’ appearance or the expression of teenage love.
Additionally, stating that the current teenage generation is unable, or too immature, to understand that love ends is nonsense. Although we may not fully understand it now, adolescence is when we begin to learn to completely understand this part of a relationship. What I am saying is that teen singers singing about farewell or separation shouldn’t be a matter of discussion.
It is wrong to generalize and keep a conservative view about teenagers. We are now starting to make individual opinions about the music we enjoy listening to. For a lot of teenagers like me, “hormone-crazed feelings” are not what attracts us to K-pop.
Kim Jin Mo, a student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Vancouver, Canada