Imagining South Korea through Musical Borrowing: Agust D's "Daechwita" in K-pop

This article examines musical hybridity using local musical materials in K-pop as a way of imagining South Korea in the twenty-first century. I analyze the plot and visual-aural aspects of the music video for Agust D's "Daechwita" (2020) in conver- sation with the discussions it inspired in public forums. The national mentality around contemporary success illustrated in this song upholds the values of developmentalism, material success, and military culture that were constructed throughout the Park Chung Hee regime. Hence, Agust D's musical borrowing manifests his own postmodern eclecti- cism through his engagement with the modern sense of urbanity in South Korea as well as with premodern aurality and imaginary.