KPOP is all about the visual experience?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

KPOP, Lock and Drop It

In with the Korean Wave spreading across Asia (and slowly but surely trickling into the United States) rushes a specific dance style and form that is KPOP, or Korean Pop for all you unfamiliar with the term. It’s even found its way into Stony Brook University, which has a large international Korean and Korean-American population. It usually consists of synchronized, group movement that resembles a mix between hip-hop and the classic pop dancing of the boy-band era of in 90’s.

Unlike the United States’ music industry, Korea has clung to their boy bands and are not letting go anytime soon.  These bands range in size from about four to thirteen members, all of whom must be top-notch dancers and presumably decent singers (but that is nothing a little auto-tuning cannot fix) in order to make the cut.

The fact that I don’t speak Korean means that I don’t understand many of the words of my favorite songs. Instead, I will latch onto the often-strange dance moves and gestures repeated throughout live performances and music videos. Turns out the population that does this is not exclusively non-Korean speakers. Geunhwa Lee, my beloved roommate and international student from Korea admits that she does not “listen to the lyrics” but can perform a three-minute dance routine from some of her favorite music videos.

One of the more ridiculous dances popular among fans is “Ring Ding Dong” by the band SHINee (video seen here) . I am by no means suggesting that is musical genius, but I honestly believe the dancing deserves recognition. The dancing does not appear to involve much technique per say, but it takes a fair amount of coordination and musicality. Their rhythm and timing is impeccable.

Another clear indicator to me that KPOP may be more about the dancing is the huge number of singers. These groups are commercially owned and trained, usually by one of three major entertainment businesses, YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment or JYP Entertainment, and consist of an extreme number of members. Girls Generation is a girl group with 9 members in it and Super Junior (seen here) has 13 men in it. For a band that doesn’t even play instruments, I see this as a bit excessive. But with these huge numbers, they’re able to create impressive dance spectacles. KPOP is all about the visual experience––trust me.

Source: Alyssa Carrol @ THiNK Magazine

This is only an article from a university magazine, but I thought it might raise an interesting debate.

Comments

[valentinekent.livejournal.com]

sorry but i just read the whole article and the only part where they talk about the "visual experience" is in the last line. i see nothing newsworthy in this...............

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

It talks how dancing stuff (visual experience) is what makes songs popular like Ring Ding Dong, and apparently even Koreans pay more attention to visual side than for instance to lyrics, and how big amount of members in groups supports this visual side more than vocal part by making possible impressive formations.

[soheefan.livejournal.com]

Did/Do you go to Stony?

[missklutz16.livejournal.com]

i like how she managed to say nothing at all with so many words.

[loveisdesire.livejournal.com]

ikr.

[loveisdesire.livejournal.com]

We already know all this plus the fact that 99.9% of people are into kpop because of looks, dances etc instead of the actual songs.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

If that's so why many kpop fans still play their songs in ipods without videos when they are for instance in a public transport and cannot dance?

[ayumikoshiro.livejournal.com]

Well we get the same thing here in America. If I had a dollar for everytime i saw someone listening to a song without actually listening to the words I'd be richer than lil Wayne. Music speaks to everyone differently and most people go all I love this beat. I'm just gonna stop here because I have to many thought about the lyrical content of music out there.

[grapewhine.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think it's not all that simple; also, a hook song is a hook song in any language.

[jumpsama.livejournal.com]

I, for one, likes Kpop for the dances and perhaps that's one of their main points. That's why I don't enjoy ballads as much.
I thought if you can dance, you can be a Kpop idol, nm if you have no strong vocal ability.

[notochrasy.livejournal.com]

disclaimer: I'm hella sleep deprived and will basically jump at any opportunity to procrastinate the assignment I am doing.


This was an incredibly wishy-washy article tbh.

> reads article
> laugh
> writes long ass nonsensical comment

FIRST OFF. "KPOP" isn't just about boy bands, girl group etc. POP is a term for POPular music. So it still encompasses more than just the idol groups.
So for arguments sake, I'm going to assume that KPOP in this article is referring more to the idol group phenomenon.
And I'm not going to make too many comparisons to other music industries outside of Korea. Because tbh, this shit is universal on so many levels.

I've found that the success of a lot of the music isn't just about the visual experience but about the structure of the song. Yes perhaps not exactly the lyrical meaning itself, but how certain clauses are put together. And the fact that there is a huge amount of repetition involved. And even more so the fact that within these repetitive clauses/verses/whatever, the phonetics used are very simple ones, linguistically speaking.

FOR EXAMPLE.
Ring Ding Dong. The repetition of RING DING DONG RING DING DONG RING DINGY DING DING DING DING DING....does kinda stick.
Gee. Repetition of GEE GEE GEE GEE BABY BABY BABY. Not to mention also the NO NO NO NO NO, and OH OH OH OH OH in the choruses with the 반짝반짝, 깜짝깜짝 and 짜릿짜릿.
(idk why I'm focusing on SMent artists, maybe because the article did as well, only to bring up the other 2 "major" companies YG and JYP)
And then there's Sorry Sorry.
Followed by Bonamana. (which basically fed off the structure of Sorry Sorry)

trouble trouble trouble, shoot shoot shoot, hoot hoot, hoot. do it do it chu, it's true true true true true, it's you. you better run run run run run. oh oh oh oh 오빠를 사랑해 ah ah ah ah 많이 많이해.

I think this lyrical repetition is more apparent in 2nd gen idol groups as well. 1st gen idol groups seem to have a lot more complex structures in some of their songs.

As for choreo............................Korea puts a huge emphasis on dance if you're an idol group. Generally speaking, when you enter the music industry there are many paths you can go down. If you choose to go down the patch of "idol singer" in an "idol group" then yes, there's a lot of emphasis on the visuals. And I think there may be more of an emphasis on visuals in Asia (idk I feel so). I've found that the "western" music industry in terms of visuals will favor something extremely out there (cue: Lady Gaga), or something extremely ordinary (cue: the girl/boy next door with a guitar and mic). Asia seems to put an emphasis on aesthetics (yes, it's subjective to a certain extent) but with the foundation that in the end, whatever it is will be in general aesthetically pleasing. No matter how weird a concept is, it'll still have certain restrictions (these restrictions are getting warped though, through the influence of the western music industry).


But at the end of the day, good tunes are good tunes not because of the good tune itself sometimes. Sometimes it just depends on the audience. (I mean, there's got to be some social shift in the demographic that causes various different genres of music to become more popular than others right? idk)

[brianathebard.livejournal.com]

I hate to see this long well written comment go unreplyed so YES I AGREE %100

[spandachi.livejournal.com]

NO. FUCKING. WAY.

[qrizta.livejournal.com]

Visuals help a lot and that's why people make MVs or PVs for promotional tools. But imo visuals alone don't make each and every KPOP fans so invested. The songs work magic as well. I know that it wasn't just DBSK who made me stick to KPOP even after losing interest in them. I got attached to kpop because of the songs more specifically, Seeya's and SG Wannabe's flawless ballads released about 5 years ago.

[soheefan.livejournal.com]

Oh wow i just graduated from Stony Brook lolol. The people i knew didnt really know kpop but there is a LOT of korean and american koreans in that school

[soheefan.livejournal.com]

So i wrote that comment with only seeing Stony Brook and didnt realize that the sentence right after Stony Brook says exactly what I just wrote about there being a lot of koreans and korean americans. Damn it

[shisukachan.livejournal.com]

Most people probably got into KPOP "visually" (I got into Korean music years ago with BoA and SE7EN though). Honestly, there's a reason for the MVs and picture perfect idols. However, the music is, for the most part, catchy--thus, the reason for why it is popular.

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

These bands range in size from about four to thirteen members

excuse you

[lainmyownworld.livejournal.com]

LOL WHAT? oh hi my university~

GET SOME KPOP PEOPLE TO COME TO STONY BROOK.

[691979082.livejournal.com]

I don't consider Kpop all that more visual than any other countries pop groups.
They wear flashy clothes, they dance, they have hot boys/girls. Same thing to me.

[aaalove.livejournal.com]

duh the dancing should be recognized.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

this article is wayyyy too short and doesnt cover enough bases.

and dancing is of course about the visuals, you can't watch dancing if you're not looking at them. and i don't agree with the statement that kpop is somehow a specific style of dancing. i might be wrong on this, because i don't really follow any other pop music other than k-pop, but its choreographed by people who have studied dance and make routines for them. i don't think that there are any groundbreaking or even amazing dance routines that k-pop artists (specifically idols) use. i think the only thing thats amazing is the amount of practice they put into it, to be so well put together.

[noneko.livejournal.com]

IA though. I love watching MVs and live performances, but I don't like listening to the songs without the visual aid, lol.

[hyonimilk.livejournal.com]

Yep it's amusing when you can tell that they're hoping a certain dance becomes iconic.

Re: Just... no.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

i can see where you're coming from, but i disagree with some of your points. such as The visual experience doesn't shape K-pop at all. i think pop music in general is largely about the visual. yes the music is catchy, but to get the full experience is to see it, the performances, the costumes, the dances, its all a spectacle, and that's the nature of pop music (at least from what i've experienced). obviously you could like pop music without the support of the visuals, but visuals are a large part of the whole "experience".

and i also think the same with the last paragraph, pop music isn't really about who writes the songs, if somebody plays instruments or not, its simply about the singer. the same applies to english-singing pop singers, it's not just an asian thing, it's just a pop thing. i think that it's just doesn't work in the same way when you're trying to compare across different genres of music because they all have different cultures associated with them.

sorry for responding seriously, i'm just in the mood to discuss these days :S

dunno if this is really useful or anything but....(excuse the longwindedness)

[daesung-fanatic.livejournal.com]

This was my first vid of Big Bang while I was youtube whoring during the mid to tail end of July...it was summer I was staying up late because I could and I somehow found them

at this point in my life I was more into the beat of music more than the lyrics or the visual aspect of it

I liked the beat and then Daesung started to sing and I fell in love with him and the group I think it was because his voice was more smooth and innocent than the others and the fact that he was wearing pink in front of a pink background? LOLZ XD

and when it got to 2:53 and they were doing that (idk what to call it) I thought...they are guys...they don't look like they want to do that but then I learned more about them and realized they are just super dorks XD

I don't think kpop is just about the visual aspect of it...it's also the beat of it and each individual person's tastes

and I am sorry for this comment being all holy long as hell

Re: dunno if this is really useful or anything but....(excuse the longwindedness)

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

ugh seungri's eyeliner never fails to make me swoon.

[cagallisakura.livejournal.com]

often-strange dance moves
Just because Run Devil Run looks like someone is trying to stroke your breasts doesn't make it "strange".

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

lol and never forget kahi's stroking move

[walkin-siesta.livejournal.com]

what makes k-pop different to me is the effort the industry put out to make their artists seem more real,personal and approachable- and in consequence how emotionally invested their fans become

i dont think you'd see fans communicating with their idol's aunts/sisters/parents/neighbors in any other fandom

[jetaime-pyon.livejournal.com]

the writer would also do well to research the groups before spitting out random info like suju having thirteen members. if she had worded it as "super junior, who initially had 13 members" i wouldn't feel so butt-hurt, i guess.

and shinee's dancing? not requiring much technique? smhsfm.
let's see her do a *decent* cover of RDD, juliette, or lucifer, and then try saying how it doesn't require technique. =|

[itsbrendaa-sj.livejournal.com]

cool story :)

..*watches super junior vids- fangirls my head off* LOL

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

lol ikr? brb about to binge on snsd videos.