There are a lot of game shows out there, and two involving Megan Thee Stallion’s level of involvement. The first one being Legendary, and the second being KPopped, when Megan performs just once. iMDb credits her as one of the Western collaborators who performs her songs but KPopped, and joining her are artists like TLC. Others include Patti Labelle, Vanilla Ice, J. Balvin, Boy George, Boyz II Men and more. They collaborate with KPop bands who ‘split’ to see which half brings the more popular performance.

Blood, sweat, and tears come forth on stage – no just kidding they make this look easy, some of the girl bands including BILLIE, STAYC, BLACKSWAN and the boy bands including J01 and ATEEZ. The split group performs, and after each performance, the other half congratulates the first half, and yes, the split groups do some of the lightest trash talking that one can capture on television. But I guess that makes sense because no one actually wants to hurt each other’s feelings.

Feeling good is what this show is about – the Western collaborators are actually much nicer to each other, and this is opposite of Western fandom where genre policing is a much bigger thing. KPop is a debatable, nebulous genre but KPopped shows music with a musician’s perspective of quality. A reggaeton star can see the good in Aussie pop who sees the good in KPop music. That open minded perspective is also evident whenever the Western stars rehearse with their KPop counterparts.

KPopped is the brainchild of a few creators including Lionel Ritchie, Megan Thee Stallion and Miky Lee, Lee, by the way, produces both Park Chan Wook films and music game shows like this. High and low art are in constant permutation, the former only designated because of age. And what’s old is new again as a new country and generation learns jams from the 1990s. A part of me is cynical, noticing KPop’s uptempo bias, but why not, everybody loves dance. Especially Psy, who explains the voting process of who wins the singing battle.

And KPopped shows that everybody wants love, the kind that audiences can only give to musicians. Watching the camera capture Boyz II Men’s members smile and Koreans cheer them feels like a balm. The same goes for these KPop idols who still have a lot to prove to others about their genre. BLACKSWAN member NVee lets a worldwide viewership know that ballads exist in KPop. She and the other idols prove that they can sing and they have ideas outside of beats.

Apple TV is the only place to stream KPopped.