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Say hello to Alex Reid, an African American K-pop idol

November 11, 2015

Alexandra Reid (Yonhap)

A new K-pop idol is making waves just a week into her debut. Why? She’s African American.

Alexandra Reid, who joined girl group RaNia for their first comeback in two years and eight months, hails from Los Angeles.

Reid, a rapper, was born to a white father and a black mother. Before flying out to South Korea to join the K-pop world, she was a songwriter and model in the United States who appeared in Jamie Foxx’s “You Changed Me” music video.

She told Yonhap through a translator that she feels as though her dreams have come true.

“Koreans are kind, and I love their fashion and food,” Reid said. “Because K-pop is now famous all over the world, I didn’t have a hard time during training. Everyone was kind to me, so I was able to adapt.”

She enters the group alongside two more new members, Seul-ji and Hye-mi, for the album “Demonstrate.”

On her personal blog, Reid wrote about how she discovered K-pop under the title “Being In Love With K-pop.” It started with one YouTube video.

“K-pop is a sound, a visual, and a world all of its own,” she wrote. “It’s where you can still see powerhouse performers deliver world-class performances, and feel the discipline and work ethic that went into them. … This is literally a dream cone true. Something I fantasized about, but never believed could come to fruition because it had never been done by someone with my background before.”