seoulbeats » Op-Ed

Where Does K-pop Fit In?

Renie — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:23 +0000

Every now and again our readers help us to see other aspects of Korean pop culture we never thought to look for. Earlier in the week we had a discussion of K-pop’s faulty perception of a homogenous west and among the many valid points there’s one in particular I would like to expand on. Where does K-pop fit in western culture? So, I would like to go further into the discussion and try to figure out how it momentarily fares and how K-pop can actually market to its future potential audience in the West.

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Why So Overrated?

Ree — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:00:57 +0000

Another ranking by ‘experts’ has just been released. This time on singing/vocal skills. The idol who ranked number one? Taeyeon of SNSD. Overrated.

Another ranking, this time via a poll, has been released. It’s on looks. The winner? Yoona. Overrated.

Fifty choreographers come together and crown the best male dancer of K-Pop. The winner? Taeyang. Overrated.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, at the rate fans are going, who in K-Pop isn’t overrated?

K-Pop loves their polls and rankings — best dancer, best singer, best face, best person to share an umbrella with — the list is endless. And I won’t lie, it’s kind of fun. One of my favourite things about K-Pop is the fact everything is put up on a pedestal for you to analyse the stuffing out of. With the emphasis on live stages and choreography, as well as the general ‘aesthetics over everything’ attitude most K-Pop fans (meaning me) have, debate about who’s the best of the best is inevitable. And most of the time it’s all in good fun. Yet I can’t help but bite my lip in minor annoyance every time a particularly outstanding singer/dancer/good-looker is simply dismissed as being overrated.

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© Ree for seoulbeats, 2012. | Permalink | 82 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hyorin, Hyoyeon, Taeyang, Taeyeon, Yoona

K-pop Through the Years: The Best and Worst of Debuts

Ree — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:04:03 +0000

Since the summer of ’09, K-pop has seen an explosive rise in popularity. What was once simply a small niche market became, well, a bigger niche market. And with idols becoming a potential medium for profit and shameless money milking, hordes of idols group began making their debut–and backing them random agencies I had never heard of. To put it bluntly, by default I generally care not about most rookie groups making headlines today. Whether they’re from SM, Cube, or DreamSnowPassionLQ Entertainment or something, any rookie idol has five minutes to impress or they’re off the radar. (As a note, releasing fifty teasers goes well beyond the five minutes.)

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the rookie groups recently pushing onto the scene have actually been shattering my facade of hipster-like indifference. EXO has actually released a full song that isn’t 80% Yoo Young Jin, BAP had one of the most well-executed debuts I’d seen in a while, and NU’EST is well… eye catching, to say the least. This led me to two realisations:

1) I’m a meanie pants and judgmental prude when it comes to rookie groups (not that I’m going to change anytime soon).
2) These rookies are debuting with better material and production than a lot of the older bands I currently stan.

Of course a lot of this can be attributed to the fact times are changing, and technology and production value is significantly better than five years ago, but still I can not help but think back to the current big name groups and the kind songs they debuted with. So I ask you, dear Seoulbeats readers, to accompany me on my journey to the ancient past (which we all know in K-pop time is like 3 years ago).

THE WORST

Generally speaking, most debut songs from most rookie groups suck and it’d just be cruel (to you guys) and redundant to list all of them. So to keep it short and sweet, I’m limiting it to the worst debuts from groups that are at least semi-relevant today.

3. TWINS – Super Junior 05

I completely understand that Super Junior didn’t even debut with the intention of being a permanent group, which is why SM didn’t really invest, well, anything into them at the beginning. But debuting the boys with a remake? That’s a bit sad, SM. And for a group which sells themselves based on their ‘flower boy’ looks, it’s a bit pitiful to witness what I believe to be the best looking of them (Donghae) resemble a mop. Then there’s the fact the main vocalists at the time Yesung and Ryeowook get nothing but ad-libs, which would have been alright except Siwon and Hangeng, two of the worst singers in the group, are given the bulk of the lines. It doesn’t help the song gives me a headache. Let’s just say that Kyuhyun was lucky to miss this one out.

2. Oh Yeah – MBLAQ

The depressing thing about this debut was that there was so much hype for MBLAQ, but instead they delivered what is one of the most lousy debut songs ever. The constant repetition of ‘Oh Yeah’ is a terrible and lazy hook, and neither Mir or Thunder are decent enough rappers to justify their raps taking up 70% of the song. The song as a whole is simply a redundant ear-sore, it’s flat with no depth, and the ‘exotic’ concept they were attempting to pull off is executed poorly. The song only runs for 3:30 seconds, but to me it feels like it goes on for decades. And this debut was precisely why everyone hopped onto the BEAST bandwagon instead.

1. Tilt Your Head – Girl’s Day

To be fair, it isn’t as if Girl’s Day grew to become anything remarkable as a pop group, but if you thought ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ was bad, well, their debut song was another level of mind-numbing atrociousness. Remember how New.F.O teased with awesome teasers and delivered a vexing debut song? Well before that there was Girl’s Day, who gave us promising teasers of the girls and their talents and then dropped… this:

THE BEST

To be honest, it’s very rare that a group debuts with a song and executes it so perfectly that it completely blows me away. But, it’d be fair to say that these following singles aren’t bad either, and come pretty damn close.

5. Fire – 2NE1

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that ‘Fire’ made heads turn. When 2NE1 debuted, they went against the conventional route of most girl groups and suddenly bad girls became ‘in’, and fierce became the standard of fresh. The best thing about ‘Fire’ is that I believe it truly encompasses what 2NE1 is about, whether or not you believe that’s girl power and fiery charisma or ‘in your face’ obnoxiousness. Then there’s the fact I genuinely do love the song; it’s so catchy and high energy and I really do think it’s one of the best songs of 2NE1′s career. They attempted to recreate it with ‘I Am the Best’, but that missed the mark by a mile or so. Nonetheless, ‘Fire’ has scored a permanent place in my heart.

4. I’m a Loner – C.N Blue

Personally speaking I think CN Blue set the standards much too high with this debut song, because they haven’t even come close to topping it since. Although I initially approached C.N Blue with skepticism about them becoming FT Island 2.0, I was pleasantly surprised to hear C.N Blue actually had something like their own sound and could probably successfully stand on their own. Admittedly, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of ‘I’m a Loner’ is the episode of We Got Married where a girl pointed to Yonghwa exclaiming “IT’S THE LONER GUY”, if that isn’t telling of how pretty damn good and successful this song became, I don’t know what is. ‘I’m a Loner’ is a fantastic song, catchy whilst not completely succumbing to being ‘poppy’ to sell. Yonghwa’s rap is admittedly rather unwanted, but that’s a small blip. Sure C.N Blue aren’t very ‘indie’ or as ‘rock’ as they claim to be, but they’re four charming and talented guys, which is a pretty good bargain.

3. Missing Child (MIA) – IU

Okay, yes, she isn’t a ‘group’, but ‘Missing Child’ is too perfect not to mention. Oh, IU. I have no qualms with the music IU is producing now, it’s age appropriate and ideal for her image and maturity. But that being said, I’m not a fan of most of her songs because I find them rather bland and missing that ‘umph’ I need. However, I will forever stan ‘Missing Child’, and I believe it’s still the best song by IU ever. I’m not usually a fan of ballads, but this one simply soars and the melody is so dark and gorgeous, I literally get shivers down my spine. IU has a beautiful voice. I also adore the art direction for the music video, simply because of how disturbing and twisted it is (also, hi Thunder, you cutie patootie!), quite a contrast from her other material.

Unfortunately IU didn’t exactly hit the big time with this song, and it was pretty much dismissed by the public. Boo you, public!

2. Into the New World – SNSD

I’m pretty the sure the consensus is that this is the be all and end all of all SNSD songs. Now the most successful girl group in South Korea, it’s nice to go back and look into their humble beginnings. And what an amazing beginning it was. Their vocals all sound fantastic on this song (oh Sunny, sometimes I forget how your real voice sounds like), and Hyoyeon even gets an actual dance break. This really is one of the most well executed and produced girl group debuts I have ever seen, and it really brings out the best in all nine of these stars. The choreography is also one of the most difficult and energetic performed by a girl group, and what’s chilling is watching the Soshi girls execute it almost perfectly in synch. SNSD came kicking into the music scene singing, dancing, and doing everything in between. One can only wish they’d reach back into their roots a little bit.

1. Replay – SHINee

You know how I said no group has executed a debut perfectly and completely blown me away? Well, I lied. When SHINee debuted I was indeed blown away. I was blown all the way to Timbuktu. ‘Replay’ embodied SHINee’s youthful image perfectly without it becoming contrived and painful, and the boys are all so talented that the beauty of the song wasn’t lost on stage. When ‘Replay’ came out I honestly though SHINee had all the potential to surpass their SM seniors in four years and go above and beyond, unfortunately that hasn’t happened and four years later the direction SHINee have taken is, well… queer, to say the least. However, nothing will taint the perfection of SHINee’s smooth R&B debut single ‘Replay’, it is untouchable in the history of SM’s entire discography and nothing will change that, not even Minho‘s trolltastic rap.

Not to mention that I am mad jealous of Victoria for being able to star in an adorable MV for such a perfect song.

I actually feel all warm and fuzzie looking back at ‘Replay’, because it honestly feels like just last week that the little SHINee boys debuted with their skinny jeans and their noona-serenading ways. Well, I have been in K-pop for far too long. I’m actually getting sentimental. Almost to a fault. Because looking back at all these songs, I’ve also come to realise none of these new rookie groups are probably ever going to reach such a special place in my heart as the groups mentioned above (yes, including Super Junior in all their dysfunctional glory. And yes, even including creepy mushroom-haired Taemin).

Ah, well. I can still watch them try. Dance my pretties, dance.

© Ree for seoulbeats, 2012. | Permalink | 150 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2NE1, BAP, C.N.Blue, EXO Planet, Girl's Day, IU, MBlaq, NU'EST, SHINee, SNSD, Super Junior

JYJ, Sasaeng Fans, and Reconstructing the K-pop Industry

Patricia — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:00:46 +0000

Frankly, at this point I don’t really care if people look at the title of this article and subsequently choose to immediately disregard everything I’m about to write. Quite some time has passed since audio evidence of JYJ’s Jaejoong allegedly beating a sasaeng fan was released, and many fans seem eager to brush the issue under the carpet and never look at it again.

Since then, JYJ has issued an official apology in regards to the matter. Additionally, the sasaeng fan herself has spoken up about the issue, claiming that Jaejoong “barely touched [her]” and offering little more than a simple narrative as to what had happened. Nonetheless, this was enough for fans and non-fans alike to brush aside the allegation of Jaejoong being physically violent with a fan, and instead choose to cast the blame entirely on sasaeng fans instead. With the widespread internet circulation of various documents listing various terrible things that sasaeng fans have done to K-pop idols, the vilification of sasaeng fandom has been significant. Understandably, many were angry about the “sub-human” behavior of these sasaeng fans–to the point where the anger over sasaeng fandom seemed to mute the significance of the actual issue of Jaejoong hitting a fan.

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Saeguks, Why You Gotta…

Guest — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:00:23 +0000

…Start off with a bang, only to linger by a thread by the end?

I like historical fiction. I like learning about how different things were way back when. I like the pretty haenboks, the political intrigue that’s so much more interesting and cut-throat than today’s politics. Heck, I can even stomach the Mary Sue-ness of the lead females. But I’m not the only one who notices this trend, right? These dramas start off strong, keeping us refreshing our drama-supplying website of choice, making us neglect life, making us laugh, cry, and want to beat the spit out of the villains. Everything seems perfect for the first 5-10 episodes (depending on the length). But then the first major crises blows over (usually a character death or someone leaves) leaving the main/side characters scarred for life. And then, things slowly churn down to a crawl when the story fasts forward.

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Post tags: Kdramas, The Moon That Embraces The Sun

Are Idols Now Playing the Couple Game?

Ashley — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:22:00 +0000

“Love is in the air, everywhere I look around.” — John Paul Young

Love is in the air, or perhaps it’s just the musty smell of carefully orchestrated public machinations developed to gain fan interest and popularity?

Is it just me, but ever since Sunye bravely the broke the hearts of K-pop fan boys (by declaring she has a life no less) she also broke down a barrier, one that has made idols seem just a bit more human?

Not that sneaking around and posting blown-up pictures of so-called couple rings and bracelets on the internet never stopped anyone before. However, when you think about it, Sunye’s unplanned announcement was a thing of public relations beauty. She is the perfect mouthpiece for “free love, can you dig it?” — how can you hate on someone who dates a missionary?

I’m not questioning in any way the genuineness of Sunye’s relationship (she and her boyfriend seem actually quite happy and content together). However, the positive reaction from the public makes me a little leery of subsequent “paparazzi shots” and grand announcements of PDs graciously allowing their idols to date. Can we trust K-pop to not sensationalize a good thing?(...)
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© Ashley for seoulbeats, 2012. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Goo Hara, Jessica Jung, Ok Taecyeon, seulong, Sohee, Wonder Girls, Yong Jun-hyung

SHINee’s Still Got It

Patricia — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:48:38 +0000

Since their debut, there has been sufficient reason to believe that SHINee was SM’s resident darling group. Within the first few years of their existence, all the signs pointed towards SM’s dotage towards SHINee. SHINee got a killer debut song, awesome visual concepts, product endorsements left and right, variety appearances every other day of the week — anything and everything to keep SHINee in the limelight. Of course, this level of high-profile exposure wasn’t without merit. Even from their debut performance, SHINee proved themselves to be excellent performers with lots of talent and stage charisma. The sheer quality of SHINee’s debut marked SHINee as being one of the best rookie groups of their time — a title that retained its worth throughout much of SHINee’s career.

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K-pop Voting Frenzy: Why, oh why?

Patricia — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:00:34 +0000

This post isn’t a statement of opinion as much as it is a question. I’ve spent quite some time in K-pop, and while I admit that I’ve become rather jaded in regards to fanatical K-pop fandom as a whole, there’s still one thing that continues to puzzle me: voting. Or rather, why are polls so important to fans, and why are fans seemingly obsessed with doing whatever it takes to push their bias group to the top?

There’s a little bit of meta in this, as our own set of polls here at Seoulbeats seems to have attracted quite a bit of attention from the non-Seoulbeater fan constituency — that is, the part of the K-pop world who, as aforementioned, view these polls not necessarily as a measure of popular opinion, but rather as an opportunity to carve another victory notch into the reputation of their K-pop bias. The fervency with which fans have been voting for their choice of “Perfect Leader/Singer/Dancer/Rapper” is alarming, to say the least, and one has to wonder exactly how a fan plans on reveling in a victory that, empirically speaking, holds absolutely no real significance. But looking at the rest of the K-pop world, it’s easy to see that our Seoulbeats poll is one among many, all of which receive virtually the same exact treatment by K-pop fans everywhere.

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The Woes of T-ara

Nabeela — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:56 +0000

T-ara is one of those girl groups whom no one ever would have thought could make it this far. Back in the summer of 2009, they were just another rookie group reminiscent of the K-pop princesses SNSD, who were, at the time, basking in the glory of their phenomenal successes with Gee, and later, Genie. T-ara, on the other hand, was more like an afterthought. But it’s not like T-ara was anything special to look at the start either. When T-ara first began tackling debut stages with their singles Lies and Wanna Play, they received a lot of criticism from netizens for lip-syncing an entire performance. As a wave of bashing and hating crested, T-ara’s company, Core Contents Media, issued a formal apology, and stated that the girls would work harder and always perform live in the future.

As a fan of T-ara, looking back at this lame performance from T-ara’s days as rookies makes me both nostalgic and proud, especially considering how far T-ara has come in just two and a half years. The girls have worked hard to both promote themselves in an attempt to assert both the uniqueness of their image and the noteworthiness of their music — feats that are not so readily accomplished without earnest dedication to the sport of idoldom. But as someone who has always kept a weather on T-ara, I couldn’t help but notice that despite their booming successes with their recent album Black Eyes as well as the two part MV drama for Cry Cry and Lovey Dovey, success has been wrought at a heavy price.

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© Nabeela for seoulbeats, 2012. | Permalink | 46 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Boram, Core Contents Media, Eunjung, hyomin, Jiyeon, Soyeon, T-ara

K-pop and Asian America

Patricia — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:07 +0000

In many ways, the Hallyu phenomenon in America is deeply rooted in financial and economic matters. While the Hallyu effect throughout Asia has come to hold both economic and social implications, the spread of Korean culture in America is not magnanimous enough to affect American social values. Currently, K-pop’s biggest strides into the American market are largely focused on economics and business: the Wonder Girls are collabing with Nick Cannon, one of the biggest names in tween entertainment, and SNSD was signed onto Interscope Records, one of America’s largest music labels. Of course, many acknowledge that the idea of having Asian entertainers in an entertainment market saturated with non-Asians is interesting, at best. But largely speaking, it’s far from being a principal concern.

However, one cannot deny that there’s something quite staggering about the idea of Asian entertainers taking such a brazen approach to the American entertainment market. For years, Asian-American entertainers have struggled to break into an entertainment scene that has proven itself to be prejudiced towards racial minorities, particularly Asians. Currently, many Asian-American entertainers have taken to social media platforms such as Youtube to show off their craft. But despite the flood of Asian-American “celebs” on Youtube, racial imbalance and prejudice in American entertainment still make themselves known.

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© Patricia for seoulbeats, 2012. | Permalink | 85 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Girls' Generation, SNSD, So Nyeo Shi Dae