Ivanka Trump's 'incredible' encounter with CL, EXO

Ivanka Trump, third from right, a senior White House adviser, smiles during a conversation with Korean rapper and singer CL, right, and first lady Kim Jung-sook, second from right, at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium after the closing ceremony. President Moon Jae-in, left, and EXO members were there too. / Yonhap

By Yun Suh-young

K-pop was quite a big deal during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, especially with K-pop singers CL and EXO appearing during the closing ceremony, Sunday.

Their popularity was global and influential -- with even U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter honored to meet K-pop boy band EXO after their performance.

Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to the U.S. president, met with K-pop stars CL and EXO after the Olympic closing ceremony on Sunday, after having asked for an introduction through President Moon Jae-in and the first lady with whom she watched the closing ceremony. Following the ceremony, Trump and the presidential couple met the singers in the Olympic Stadium's fourth floor reception room, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official.

Trump reportedly said, "My children are your huge fans. I can't believe I'm meeting you," to EXO during their encounter. EXO prepared gifts for her children -- candles, air fresheners and tea. They reportedly told her they would like to invite her family to their performance in the U.S. and she asked when it would be.

Previously during her dinner with President Moon on Feb. 23 at Cheong Wa Dae, Trump told Moon she introduced her children to K-pop, and since then they have dance parties every day. She said she would teach them Korean to sing in front of the presidential couple someday.

Nine-member boy band EXO performs during the closing ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium in Gangwon Province, Sunday. / Yonhap

K-pop closes Olympic curtains

CL, former leader of girl group 2NE1 and now a solo singer, was the first of the two K-pop acts to headline the closing ceremony Sunday. She opened her performance with "Baddest Female" followed by her former band's hit song "I Am the Best."

She wore a gothic black leather-and-chains outfit, evoking the provocative and powerful Lady Gaga, with a team of backup dancers dressed similarly. Her performance on top of an altar backed by flames was as powerful as it could get.

"I wanted to introduce myself with 'Baddest Female' because that's my song, my first single, and it represents me," CL said during an interview with Billboard after the ceremony. "And the 2NE1 song is world-known and everyone could sing along. I wanted to do something like that."

She said it was an "amazing" experience to take the stage at such an important event, as it was her first performance in Korea in several years.

CL drew attention from the beginning of the Olympics when Korean-American gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim said during a recent interview with ESPN that she listens to CL's music when she competes. On Saturday, two pairs of South Korean figure skaters used 2NE1's songs including "I Am the Best" as a soundtrack for their routines.

CL's captivating performance Sunday, however, also drew some criticism among netizens who commented that her choice of song was "inappropriate" and that she looked like she was promoting herself instead of the country. The choice of "Baddest Female," which has rather provocative lyrics, was criticized as bloggers said it referred to herself and that she shouldn't sing it at such a global event. Others, however, raved at her performance, saying it was powerful and captivating.

Boy band EXO was the second K-pop group to perform during the closing ceremony as they performed "Growl" and "Power." EXO's member Kai opened the performance, dancing to semi-traditional music in modernized hanbok (traditional Korean attire). An image of a tiger was projected on the stadium floor after which EXO members rolled out in buggies. Then they started "growling" which transitioned into their next song "Power" which was actually less powerful than their first piece.

EXO has an extensive fan base overseas, especially in Southeast and Central Asia. Russian figure skater and silver medalist Evgenia Medvedeva is also known to be a huge fan of EXO and BTS. She has videos of her cover dancing to both EXO and BTS on her official YouTube channel and she told the Washington Post she listened to EXO before performing on Sunday.

Psy? BTS?

K-pop music started off the Olympics when several K-pop songs by BTS, Psy, Twice, BIGBANG and more were played while athletes paraded into the stadium during the Feb. 9 opening ceremony.

However, the presence of K-pop stars wasn't as dominant as it could have been, and speculations that Psy or BTS would make an appearance at the closing ceremony were proven to be false.

According to Song Seung-hwan, executive creative director of the event, Psy refused to perform at the closing ceremony for fear of criticism. "He felt burdensome about performing Gangnam Style all the time as well as cautious about appearing in the Olympics since he received criticism about his appearance at the Asian Games (in 2014)," Song said during an interview with TBS radio. "It's ironic that people are critical about him not appearing this time. There will always be criticism this way or that."

As for BTS, it is unknown why the globally popular boy band did not make an Olympic appearance. Many fans expressed disappointment in their absence on social media.

Visual media feast

The closing ceremony overall wasn't as impressive as the opening, but it did leave an impressive mark in Korea's Olympic history.

This Olympics was truly a visual media feast from beginning to end. While the opening ceremony had prerecorded images of around 1,200 drones dancing to create the Olympic logo, the closing ceremony had a "live" drone show of 300 Shooting Star drones studding the sky, drawing the Olympic mascot Soohorang and a heart. This Olympics began with drones and ended with drones.

While the various dance performances backed by fantastic media art on the ground and sky were impressive, it seemed Chinese director Zhang Yimou's eight-minute preview performance of the 2022 Beijing Olympics stole the show with simple yet captivating visuals and sequences.

The ceremony ended with electronic dance music (EDM) which was an unexpected addition. DJ Raiden of Korea and DJ Martin Garrix of the Netherlands fired up the ending, but it seemed as if the ending was best appreciated by just those on site, as TV viewers couldn't really feel the energy.