SB Comments of the Week (7/1-7/7)

I often feel uncomfortable listening to a K-pop singer take on an English song. For one, the accents can be downright brutal. For two, as others have said, not all K-pop singers seem to try and understand what a song means, which would help them sing it in the right context. Again, as others have said, Rolling In The Deep is supposed to just crush your heart, but few K-pop singers sing it that way.

There are, of course, exceptions. Taeyeon is a good enough vocalist that she can pull off Take a Bow, and has a good enough grasp of English pronunciation that it isn’t too noticeable that she isn’t a native English speaker. I’ve also heard a few other English songs by K-pop artists that I enjoyed.

In the end, I agree with the article in that it really is a shame that K-pop artists choose to cover popular English “flavor of the moment” songs, over homegrown Korean songs that might help bring them to an audience that may not even be aware they exist. I would love to see K-pop singers delve into lesser known genres from their own country. American singers do it all the time, covering everything from punk to folk, rock to rap, indy to mainstream, and more.

On the rare occasions that K-pop singers do take on other Korean music genres, I’ve enjoyed what I heard. I didn’t know one bit about trot until I happened to see some singer do a bit of a song on a variety show. Since then, I’ve made it a point to listen to more.

I would prefer to see what else is coming out of Korea, musically, over hearing yet another version of a popular English song that probably has a hundred other versions on youtube.

I went on a let’s catch up-with-kpop-new-artists-delirium the last few weeks (from variety show to new songs)…man I need a new hobby, but yeah Exo was one of them, and let me tell you my friend, they are all the same. I just realized what SM is trying to do. It’s time for Super Junior to leave the scene, and knowing that ELFS would just go Friday the 13th mad shit crazy on them if they graduate any members, they would rather slowly and quietly get rid of all of them gradually (well besides the bankable ones of course). Therefore, Exo is their copycat replacement.

Jenna Nelson:

You pretty much nailed it. The Super Junior members are getting old, its time to let their career fizzle out slowly with members leaving for the military and choosing to pursue acting/hosting/variety full time. Maybe the poor guys can finally get girlfriends. E.L.F can be seriously crazy and this way SM can hope to avoid a serious loss in revenue and fans.

Personally I think it’s time for Super Junior to slowly fade. It’s nothing against them, i actually like the members and have a lot of their songs, but most of their recent material isn’t that great and half of them have to leave for the military soon anyways.

Besides i don’t even think half the members want to be in super junior anymore, most of them have more interest in acting/hosting/variety  than being a singer and they get more fame/money that way too than singing the three lines they get per song.

I like to think of EXO as “a replacement for super junior but not super junior’s replacement” if that makes sense. EXO is here to fill the eventual gap in SM once super junior is over without making it it look like SM is trying to replace super junior wich would make E.L.F go crazy, and they would probably do something crazy too, just like that whole only 13 campaign.

Erikina•에리카:

That’s one way you can look at it — but I have to disagree that I think a lot of the members, nay, all the members want to stay in and as Super Junior — you can tell with they way they write and speak certain things. And why wouldn’t they. It is Super Junior that has brought each to where they are so of course they wouldn’t want to abandon that name.

And, of course Super Junior has had girlfriends.. they’re well into their 20s… it’d be weird and abnormal if they hadn’t had any. I also think the whole SJ is getting old thing – EXO is SM’s replacement thing can be argued for and against forever and we’ll never come to a conclusion.

In all honesty, yes, Super Junior is getting old and are needing to fulfill their military duties. Does that mean they can’t stay together now and in the future? Of course not. They’ve said many times that they want to stay together. Whether or not they will remain popular only time can tell. As it is now, the amazingness or not of this album could matter less because Super Junior is already a brand that millions over the globe already support. Fizzling out soon I don’t think will happen.

In the future? Well of course. 50 years from now no Kpop groups that we know today will be as popular as they are now.. that’s just life. But speaking from one who knows old Kpop like Shinwha, it’d be nice to see Super Junior stay together and continue to promote well into their 30s doing exactly what they do now. As for EXO, I don’t believe they’re a replacement for SJ. I think they are simply what they are: SM’s new group. And as such they will have to carve out their own way into Kpop.

Black_Plague on A New “Day By Day” for T-ara:

The biggest issue I had with the MV’s storyline is the weapons chosen. Pardon me for being a weapons mania but that’s the main iffy issue I had along with several others.

Realistically speaking, it would have been unwise for Hyomin‘s character to carry around a katana unless it was for showing off – since she obviously had no idea how to wield it nor did she look like she even devoted some practice (and it’s not like you’re gonna be working long hours in the middle of a post-apocalypse city). It would have made more sense if she grabbed something from the armory of a police station or a military base as her main weapon while using the katana to slice up any food she wants to cook and eat. I was hoping for some more action to be honest and it never hurts to have some quick-paced and intense gun battles (SG Wannabe‘s Arirang MV, anyone?) in place.

Yes, katanas are flashy and cool looking and all but really, the producers and writers could have at least been a bit more realistic. Last time I recall them used for real fighting was in WW2 by Japanese officers with very poor results and were more widely used for slaughtering defenseless civilians and POWs.

Now for acting – this one gets a mix-mix from me. Dani‘s acting did me absolutely no justice at all and it took me a while to even figure her character was blind (and because she looked right at the camera so enthusiastically, that made it just as hard to believe). Dani – don’t ever act until you get some serious acting lessons like other idol actor/actresses did during their training years, even though they look terrible in general. Hyomin’s was ‘meh’ at best though the way she handled that sword leaves a lot to be desired (a rifle with a bayonet would have been more preferable, perhaps?)

Jiyeon‘s acting on the other hand, I’d have to give it the most props out of the three. Personally, I never felt convinced by her acting before since she practically played the same type of character over and over but this one kicked out some of the doubt I had in her acting capabilities. Reasonably not too shabby but more convincing than the other two at the least in my view.

The song itself on my opinion, I agree with the author. Lyrics-wise – hell no. Mood-wise, hell yes. Personally, the song itself is ‘meh’ to me at best (hell, I’m writing an apocalyptic story myself) and Holiday would have been a more fitting song – like T-ara spending their holidays in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world haha. But that’s just me saying.

For the plot in overall – CCM needs to know its own limits. I’m in for artistic freedom and all – the concept is solid and unique (at least in the world of Kpop) but the way it was executed has too many noticeable flaws and plotholes – much like with Cry Cry/Lovey Dovey and the zombie version of LD (zombies with sneaking skills of Solid Snake, wtf?). However, if you don’t have the adequate budget, equipment or other preparations etc. to pull it off successfully, don’t bother. Some concepts and plots are just not suitable to be filmed as long MVs/mini movies. But then again, Kim Kwang Soo never does anything that makes much sense (if any) to begin with and is a combination of the typical historic dictator and Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants.