The trailer for Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut, K-Pops! was released, which is written, directed, and stars the Grammy-winning artist.
The film follows musician BJ (.Paak) and his quest for stardom. The film’s synopsis reads: “On his journey to revive his music career, BJ lands a gig with a house band in Seoul for a K-pop competition show. While working on the show, he discovers his long lost son, Tae Young (Paak’s real-life teen son, Soul Rasheed) is also chasing stardom. Additional cast members include Jee Young Han, Jon “Dumbfoundead” Park, Yvette Nicole Brown, Cathy Shim, Kevin Woo.
.Paak shares of the film: “Welcome to K-POPS!, a fun, light-hearted film born from my love for music and inspired by my family while we were quarantined during the pandemic. During that time, I spent a lot of time with my son, Soul, learned more about him, his interests and his dreams of being involved in the K-pop world (inspired by his mom’s love for BTS). I started to tap into what I was learning about my family and thought, ‘Maybe there’s something here, maybe it could be fun to develop a script around what I’m discovering about my son and myself as a father.’”
.Paak adds: “K-Pops! marks my directorial debut and I learned so much about film through this process. Sure, I’ve directed music videos, which helped prepare me going into the process, but I learned so much more because of the incredible teams that took care of me along the way, including Stampede Ventures, Live Nation Productions, Big Dummie and EST Studios. They showed me how to approach directing a film and how to work efficiently. I can honestly say, you can’t do this without a brilliant team behind you. This project was one of the toughest things for me to complete but it’s also the most rewarding and creatively fulfilling. I don’t think I’ve been able to showcase artistry like this in my career so far and I think I owe that to the work I did with Soul and the team on this film.”
The film also features original music with DemJointz. Paak said: “I worked alongside the incredible DemJointz to create some original music based around the fictional competition show you see in the film. He was vital to the creation of these songs because he works heavily in the K-pop world and has churned out a lot of hits in that genre – he’s brilliant. We had a great time digging into my archive of music and building off of original ideas to utilize for the soundtrack. I feel like K-Pops! showcases some dope, exclusive music from Anderson Paak that is infused with K-pop and I can’t wait for people to hear it. I also had the opportunity to work with iconic K-pop artists that I’ve been looking to collaborate with for years like Suga (from BTS), Vernon (from Seventeen), Crush, The Rose, Jessi and G-Dragon. The fact that I get to do these collaborations in my directorial debut and bring these idols and artists into the world of K-POPS! just brings a whole new level of excitement to the project.”
K-Pops! is set to hit AMC theaters nationwide on February 27th. See the trailer – HERE.
Editorial credit: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com
