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KBS bans Akdong Musician’s ‘Galaxy’

April 17, 2014 - 20:22 By Korea Herald
Akdong Musician. (YG Entertainment)
Akdong Musician’s new song “Galaxy,” a track from the duo’s recently released debut album “PLAY,” has been ruled inappropriate by the national broadcasting station KBS.

The KBS Popular Music Standards Commission announced on Wednesday that “the word ‘galaxy’ is repeated several times throughout the song, so that it could be mistaken for a smartphone commercial,” apparently referring to Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone series.

The rest of the tracks on “PLAY” have passed screening by KBS.

Akdong Musician’s agency YG Entertainment has officially stated that it will not request a reevaluation from KBS.

One entertainment official criticized KBS, saying that “Akdong Musician’s song ‘Galaxy’ undeniably refers to the galaxy of stars in the sky. Applying a blind standard to the lyrics without considering its context and meaning is a narrow-minded move.”

As a public broadcasting station owned by the government, KBS retains a particularly strict standard in determining which songs are appropriate to air.

This week, along with Akdong Musician’s “Galaxy,” STi’s “Accelerator,” rapper New Champ’s “Gaebul,” Julia Hart’s “Ariel,” Sultan of the Disco’s “Kakdukki,” Twelve Tone’s “This Number Does Not Exist” and 2BiC’s “Your Love” were deemed unfit for broadcast by KBS for various reasons.

By Sohn Ji-young (jiyoung.sohn@heraldcorp.com)