‘K-Pops!’ Review: Anderson .Paak’s Delightful Directorial Debut Hits All the Right Notes

BJ (Anderson .Paak) is an LA-based karaoke bar drummer, passionate about making it big with his original music. On a particular evening in 2009, he encounters Yeji (Jee Young Han), a punk emo girl who struggles to find a committed man in the city. They fall in love after a duet and dinner date at a Korean restaurant. They break up after a while because of his lack of involvement with her. 12 years later, the very confident BJ is still working at the same place with no prospects. His boss Cash (Jonathan “Dumbfoundead” Park) connects him to a new gig in South Korea as his great aunt’s drummer for the show she hosts, an American Idol-like competition for the next teen K-Pop star. 

Cash tries to get BJ to meet Kang (Kevin Woo), the show’s heartthrob, and see if they can work together. While on the job, he’s rebuffed by Kang and winds up meeting one of the lowest projected contestants, Tae Young (Soul Rasheed, .Paak’s IRL son). When he sees Yeji for the first time in 12 years, he realizes that Tae Young is his biological son. In the wake of this discovery, BJ takes it upon himself to take Tae Young under his wing and teach him with his know-how about music outside K-Pop, putting the “Bla” in “Blasian”. With his skill, BJ makes every effort to turn Tae Young into a superstar.