Since PAPER was last at BIAS, the party bringing K-pop to the club, it had just traveled the world and came home to Brooklyn for its biggest rager yet in the Main Hall at Elsewhere. One year later, it's celebrating its second anniversary and doing a full takeover of the entire club. It's also birthed a different kind K-pop group that's expanding the boundaries of the genre.
BIAS has brought K-pop stans together to dance to mixes of their favorite tracks, watch performances and compete in their own choreography competitions. More than that, it's created a home for a wholesome community with a shared love for joyful music thanks to co-founders Sammy Kim and KA WAI. "We wanted an IRL space for these connections to happen easily through a shared love for K-pop, and it ends up playing out in a very joyous way as K-pop spaces are blossoming," said Kim to PAPER. "And we’ve been adamant of keeping it a safe space for all, especially centering QTBIPOC folk, which has happened organically because us queers love K-pop!"
BIAS includes concepts for each installment, including special nights for different generations of K-pop, and, more recently, it's expanded to rave nights, focusing on harder sounds without any performances. For its next event, throughout Elsewhere, DJ friends and family from New York City to Seoul and Tokyo will mix their own interpretation of the genre, and then late in the night, there will be a special performance by KHSS (pronounced like "kiss") — an all-queer Korean group consisting of members Kim Lips, Henry Bae, Sammy Kim and Snix.
KHSS chatted with PAPER about their longtime love for K-pop, their performances, how their group hopes to further expand the boundaries of the genre.
Tell me all about this performance and what KHSS is all about.
Snix: KHSS is an unapologetic queer Korean group consisting of four members living in NYC. This performance is our most ambitious one yet: For the past three months we have been rehearsing a 10-minute K-pop medley performance as our official comeback to Elsewhere’s Main Hall. Some may remember us performing last year, so to be welcomed back from where it all began, we are very grateful for this opportunity. We’ve grown so much as individuals and a group. I think you all will be quite impressed with the surprises we have in store come January 10.
How did KHSS form?
Snix: I brought together a group of friends around July 2023 to really just dance to K-pop. It was always a dream of mine to have a couple friends to learn choreography with. But I didn’t get the motivation until BLACKPINK was going on their world tour, and BIAS was going to throw a party the weekend they were performing at MetLife. So I grabbed the only queer Korean performers I know in Brooklyn and pitched them this psychotic idea. Surprisingly, they all said yes. We got together once or twice a week and got to know each other more every practice. We ended up realizing this was more than just us dancing to K-pop. We were becoming our own little family, supporting each other, battling our traumas and healing our inner child. It isn’t easy. We have many tough conversations and heated arguments, but in the end, we have each other's backs and want to do the best to protect each other like a real family.
Where does your love for K-pop, the music and choreography, come from?
Snix: Since I was three, I would watch Music Bank and just be obsessed with the world of K-pop. I would learn the choreo in my living room and perform it for my grandparents. As I grew older, I would listen to K-pop CDs on my walkman and be in my own world. Fast forward to today, nothing’s changed!
Henry Bae: K-pop is personal. It’s directly linked to growing up as a gay Korean-American. K-pop has been around since the ‘90s, which was when I was introduced to early acts like H.O.T., Fin.K.L and Shinhwa in my mom’s minivan on our way to elementary school drop-off. But my home life was tumultuous, and moving to different cities and attending various public schools chipped away at my confidence as a closeted Asian-American and chronic new-kid. Throughout these troubles, I privately had Jewelry and BoA playing in my headphones, which confirmed I was indeed a girly weirdo, but it felt like home. With the advent of YouTube and the subsequent age of internet globalism, acts like Big Bang, Girls’ Generation and 2NE1 introduced this kooky Korean industry to diverse audiences worldwide. In 2024, K-pop was headlining Coachella and reaching No. 1 on Billboard. It’s not just for freaks anymore. There are so many people I can now share this space with — one that’s so glorious and liberating but also lonely. It’s incredibly bizarre but fascinating to see how much this industry has grown.
Kim Lips: Honestly, when I was like eight, my life was changed after listening to “Tell Me” by Wonder Girls. Since then, I just became obsessed and fell more and more in love with K-pop, the culture, the outfits, the dance, the music videos, everything.
What do you hope for the audience to get from your performance?
Snix: I hope the audience just feels more connected to us as friends, like we gave them a good luck "KHSS" to start 2025 powerful, confident and loved.
Henry: The whole concept of our performance is an homage to K-pop’s history and lore. I hope those who get it will appreciate it, but even if some in the crowd don’t have the context and can’t understand the cheekiness of our choices, I hope they will still be impressed and joyful to see four queer Asian bitches getting their absolute Asian life and serving absolute cunt.
Kim: I just hope the audience can see how much work and effort we’ve put into our performance, and not only that but how much heart we put into it as well. We’ve grown so much since last year, and we’re so excited to showcase how much cuntier we all became!
Sammy: I think what makes KHSS special is our story of how and why we came together to form this dance group. As queer Korean-Americans, K-pop is a part of our culture that we get to project our fantasy of becoming performers onto, and somehow turn it into a delusional reality. None of us are trained dancers, we’re not backed by any major company or labels, we’re not your typical look of what a K-pop idol is. But connecting over a shared obsession of K-pop has brought this unlikely crew together, and we want to show our own star power through a structure that would usually pass over us. What makes us special is our queer sisterhood and our commitment to support and stick it out with one another despite the odds. We’re a pseudo K-pop group and are running with the delusion that by continuing to perform together, maybe we can create small changes in the K-pop industry in how queer people are included and legitimized in these spaces.
Are there some goals that you have for BIAS and for KHSS for the future?
Snix: My ultimate goal is to make real music with these girls, and hopefully get the opportunities to travel the world together, whether that’s with BIAS or KHSS. We each have so many personal achievements we want to reach, and I can’t wait to see how we help each other get there. I want us to still continue to keep being true to ourselves. Although we may never fit that K-pop mold, I truly believe that we can make an impact for our country and show Korea that times are changing.
Henry: I try to remember that KHSS is first and foremost a group of friends. We can get opportunities and make some money, but I’m not a part of KHSS to use and abuse my members’ talents and push ourselves with capitalistic grit. I care about these girls, and I care about the way they make me feel. My member Sammy taught me this through some difficult and challenging conversations. But KHSS isn’t about dancing or performing or making content, it’s a space to grow and cultivate our love for one another.
Kim: I definitely want to establish ourselves more as a group and hopefully even travel to other states, maybe countries! But a true goal of mine is if 2NE1 does a US tour, I would love to somehow perform with them on stage. Being the ultimate Blackjack, to be on stage with them, especially Park Bom would genuinely change my life forever.
Photography: Sam Kang
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