Amazing music can be easy to find, but a lot of it goes unrecognized. Because there’s so many artists in our world that aren’t recognized for how great they are. Some Olathe East students have chosen some artists that have so far gone unfairly recognized from varying genres, such as Kpop.

Kpop, or Korean pop, has become a very popular type of music that incorporates English phrases and dancing into their music. One band mentioned was NCT, less of a typical band and more of a regiment of singers that are divided into sub-groups. The group’s concept is the idea of an unlimited amount of members in their group, shown through their several subgroups. Another band in this genre, LOOΠΔ, has an all-female cast in the same form of NCT, incorporating different sub-groups. They believe in only using female artists to support their Korean name, Idarui Sonyeo, meaning girl of the month.

Similar to Kpop, pop singing, another popular genre with unrecognized artists, such as Joji. Joji, also known as George Miller, started his career on YouTube as Filthy Frank, and later released comedic music through his online persona, Pink Guy. Eventually he abandoned both Filthy Frank and Pink Guy titles and became known as Joji. In the same genre, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a Mexican-American artist, model, actress and fashion designer, grew to be one of the most influential Latin artists of all time and became a major influencer in changing  music tropes. She was tragically shot and killed in 1995 at the age of 23 by an employee and friend who embezzled money. 

Also in 1995, an artist by the name of Kehlani was born. This mixed race artist was born and grew up in Oakland, California and started her career in highschool with a pop cover kids band known as PopLyfe. She and the band had a falling out and she moved to L.A. and eventually became homeless for two years, spending most of that time all over L.A. and Oakland couch surfing and resorted to stealing just to live. She then got an offer from Nick Cannon and took it and expanded her music career over the years up until present day. 

Another L.A. based artist, Syd the Kyd, has been rooted in pop for most of her life due to her brother being a member of Odd Future, which she also joined and eventually left to continue with her “The Internet” sub-band. Odd Future was a collection of several rap artists, with the original artists being Tyler, the Creator, Left Brain, Hodgy Beats, Jasper Dolphin, and Syds brother Taco Bennett. Similar to this group, there are such things as musical projects that are not full bands, but big collabs between artists. One example of a musical project would be KIDS SEE GHOSTS, a collab between Kanye West and Kid Cudi, while still being considered semi separate from their individual music.

All types of music includes these types of collabs, with the original three-person band,  Sleeping at Last, being one of them. Sleeping at Last was described as a musical project and consisted of Ryan O’Neal, his brother Chad O’Neal and his friend Dan Perdue. They released one official album and two side extended play records, before they eventually split. Ryan O’Neal has used the band’s name for his independent music and continues to use it under that moniker. Similarly, Misterwives have opened for several bands such as X Ambassadors and Twenty One Pilots, and have made several of their own albums. They were also signed by Fueled by Ramen and include the uses of wildly different musical instruments including a saxonist on a saxophone. The band started as a cover band for the lead singers birthday party and grew from there. This band’s a very clear example of the unrecognized music in the world, The Hawk’s Eye hopes to gain some correct recognition for these and several other unknown, talented artists.