SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Videos in which people go about random places asking simple questions to passers-by like “What song are you listening to?” are gaining popularity among viewers in their 20s and 30s.
A 3-minute and 30-second video in which a person carried around a sketchbook with a written question that said ‘What song are you listening to?’ that featured 15 people riding on Seoul’s Subway Line 1 garnered more than 1 million views.
The YouTuber who created the video was inspired by a video from 2011 in which a person asked the same question in the streets of New York.
The question is the same, but the answers are different depending on where you are.
“I can take a sneak peek into other people’s ordinary lives. I like it because it’s simple,” said Kang Min-kyung, a 31-year-old office worker.
“People’s preferences were far more diverse than I thought, and there were so many great songs from genres that I normally wouldn’t listen to.”
Experts say that the video’s popularity derives from people’s curiosity about others.
“Curiosity is a basic desire for humans,” said Kwak Keum-joo, a psychology professor at Seoul National University.
“Some may have become used to the contactless practices in the post-pandemic era. Others have become more curious about other people’s lives.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)