- California Assembly OKs highest minimum wage in nation
- S. Korea unveils first graphic cigarette warnings
- US joins with South Korea, Japan in bid to deter North Korea
- LPGA golfer Chun In-gee finally back in action
- S. Korea won’t be top seed in final World Cup qualification round
- US men’s soccer misses 2nd straight Olympics
- US back on track in qualifying with 4-0 win over Guatemala
- High-intensity workout injuries spawn cottage industry
- CDC expands range of Zika mosquitoes into parts of Northeast
- Who knew? ‘The Walking Dead’ is helping families connect
[Billboard] ‘Make It Pop’ star Megan Lee talks K-pop & diversity
Nickelodeon hit the casting jackpot for the lead of their K-pop-inspired show “Make It Pop.” The series snagged Korean-American Megan Lee whose resume boasted singing credits on Kidz Bop albums, cameos on Disney show, along with a full-fledged pop career in South Korea. Playing one of three female boarding school students who come together to create a pop group, Lee’s helped deliver strong, consistent ratings in Nick’s young demographic for the Nick Cannon/Thomas W. Lynch-produced show.
Ahead of the first season finale on May 1, Billboard chatted with the 19-year-old (whom Cannon tells Billboard was a “blessing” for the show) about its main inspiration, diversity on television, her wild ride in the entertainment world and more.
Can you talk about the difference between Make It Pop being a show about K-pop and it being inspired by K-pop?
The producers of the show made it very colorful, fun and very bright K-pop imagery — like some concepts by Girls’ Generation and f(x) — and they added that on the show fashion, hair and makeup and things like that.
You won’t see it in every part of the show, that it’s inspired by K-pop, but [when] you can see it, it’s obvious. Some production numbers we have outfits inspired by actual K-pop stars. There’s this one outfit like f(x)’s “Rum Pum Pum Pum” video outfit. There’s this whole plaid, red and white concept and we actually got inspired by that. You can see that as an obvious inspiration to K-pop idols.