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omonatheydid
“Congratulations, Infinite, on being 1st for weekly sales with their official album.” This congratulating caption was placed recently on Mnet M Wide News’ ‘Infinite’s Sesame Player’, because Infinite topped the weekly charts at an album store. Although there were captions that followed it like, “They don’t believe it even after seeing it personally”, “Confidence suddenly rising up high”. On this day, Infinite did street performances to increase their popularity. Although you can say that their fandom’s support brought them to top an important album chart, there are more unknown people that aren’t in the fandom.
It’s an obvious happening. Infinite isn’t part of the ‘Big 3 Entertainments’, consisting of SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. And they’re not girl groups either, who are closest to the public right now. There aren’t any members that gained popularity through variety shows either. Many male idol groups explain their group’s concept with ‘something-dol’, and enunciated each member’s specific character. When they seek for a distinct gender, age, and class group, with a definite concept, the chances for having a fandom created is higher and the fandom spends money on the idols’ albums, performances, and merchandise. Sometimes it’s a concept that causes the public to cringe and then there are enthusiastic fans who find that it matches their personal preference. However, Infinite are ‘group choreography-dols’. They do group dances without making the slightest of errors. And their videos at the practice room with exact choreography garners more interest than when they go on variety programs.
Idols Who Ran From 1990 And Came to 2011
The concept of dancing group choreography well is something that doesn’t make much of a difference in today’s generation. However, group choreography has a slightly different meaning to Infinite. Their album’s title songs, ‘Come Back Again’-‘BTD’-‘Be Mine’, reenact the group choreography from male idols of the 90’s. The members line up in perfect order and do the exact same motion as the others. When it’s their part, the members walk out into the middle while singing and at that time, the members go from left and right and do their group choreography. A confusing and highly perfected choreography that can only be done through excessive practice, the thing that allows each of the members to look as cool as they can. Infinite reenacts performances that seem like something H.O.T and Shinhwa would’ve shown during the latter half of the 90’s. Their songs also follow the material that male idol groups did back then. All 3 songs, ‘Come Back Again’, ‘BTD’, ‘Be Mine’, have choruses where they all sing together for a short, but fierce part. All 3 songs have a rap in the middle and show off their dance skills during a dance break in the latter half. Idols these days rarely follow the special materials of an idol group this thoroughly.
Reenacting the idols from the 90’s at 2011 could be pretty tacky. However, Yoo Heeyeol said that ‘Come Back Again’ is the best idol song of 2010. ‘Come Back Again’ has the special materials of a Korean male idol group, while having a disco/funky rhythm that seems like it would come out in the 1980’s. Following the speed of the disco/funky rhythm, they fiercely sing the ‘Come Back Again’ part together, which is the specialty of male idols. This is a ‘classic’ male idol song and a unique idol song. They still have the freshness and passion, which is the specialty of idol chorus singing, but the disco/funky rhythm make it less tackier.
The fandom amount for Infinite, who has combined the 1980’s disco/funky along with the 1990’s male idol group songs, is clear. People who were fans of idol groups in the 90’s, know the charms of Infinite’s group choreography. Also, the disco/funky sound is something they listened to on pop music programs when they were younger. ‘Come Back Again’ garnered the interest of fans who are influenced by the 1990’s idols and listeners who listened to music since the 80’s. Separating from the members’ personalities or the group’s concept, their songs and performances can appeal to people who still have feelings from ‘back then’.
The Small Potential That Infinite is Showing Now
‘Be Mine’ clearly shows this after seeing Infinite’s personalities. Their rhythm has become more angled overall since their disco/funky days of ‘Come back Again’. Their composed sounds and the way they sing the chorus make you think of the 1980’s pop groups, A-ha and Joy. Their dance break has an intense electric guitar sound added to it just like H.O.T’s songs and the latter half enunciates the male idol group’s unique strong feel. The song’s charm is that even with this combination, it still maintains the consistency of a 1980’s pop song. Even their choreography adds on a new element onto the traditional male idol group’s. Infinite’s group choreography during ‘Come Back Again’ is when they stretch out their limbs and exactly match their starting and ending points. On the other hand, the main movement in ‘Be Mine’, is during the chorus where they look like they’ll stop dancing but continue right on. Continuing movements and not cutting it off, causing the audience to become tense then relaxed, is the recent style. Infinite’s consistent ways for their songs and performances is slowly defining their identity of a ‘team’ and as their identity becomes more clear, they gain more popularity. Anyone who watches their performances, especially those who liked idols during the 1990’s, will give their attention to Infinite. Excessive effort is needed in order to exactly match group choreography. They work hard to the point where that effort shows and the fact that they’re idols who use those results as their concept is rather charming in today’s society.
It’s hard to think that the current Infinite was created by their entertainment’s strategy. If they were planning that, then they would’ve let people know the members’ characters or the group’s identity more effectively. It’s not like Infinite has amazing popularity either. The fact that they’re male idol groups who sold out 20,000 copies for the first edition of their official album means that they’ve only just entered the real competition. However, Infinite isn’t in the Big 3 Entertainments, they’re not girl groups, and they haven’t succeeded with variety programs. Their entertainment gave consistent songs and performances to the group and Infinite perfected their stage to the point where they could be recognized by the insides of idol fandoms. What Infinite has shown so far is their small potential. Good contents and consistent attempts. This is a potential that shows they can do something with just that.
trans. cr; hyejin @ infinite updates | source cr; 10 asia ; take out with full credits
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Date: 2011-09-08 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-09 01:28 am (UTC)lol, idk. :\
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Date: 2011-09-09 12:19 am (UTC)What Infinite has shown so far is their small potential. o__o..
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Date: 2011-09-09 12:24 am (UTC)SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME! when all songs were full of autotune, Infinite came with a song where a person can actually hear the voices!
Infinite is one of the best idol groups out there, and they are better than many seniors, and I'm really happy they are gaining popularity and that they finally won their so deserved nr 1.
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Date: 2011-09-09 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-09 02:50 am (UTC);n;
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Date: 2011-09-09 02:02 pm (UTC)The song is BRILLIANT, the choreography is mindblowing and the outfits are among my favorites ever in k-pop. There's nothing to hate about it.
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Date: 2011-09-09 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 02:34 am (UTC)ppl want to compare them to shinee---but shinee hasn't looked and sounded that great since they gave up that style for ring ding dong and shitty auto-tune fantastic, elastic, domestic, basic ass songs, ridiculous styling and half assed choreography.
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Date: 2011-09-09 03:18 am (UTC)even though they are crying...
but you know what i mean...
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Date: 2011-09-09 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 02:43 am (UTC)get it infinite~
my love is ∞
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Date: 2011-09-09 03:02 am (UTC)i haven`t seen a group dance with movements as clean and precise as them~!!!
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Date: 2011-09-09 03:17 am (UTC)"Small" potential? You've gotta be kidding me.
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Date: 2011-09-09 04:00 am (UTC)They just get better with every release, I have yet to ever be disappointed by these boys <3
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Date: 2011-09-09 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 06:05 am (UTC)Very very true. As much as I adore some other songs, I know that even at 90 I will be able to jam to DashiDorawa. Infinite songs are on point all the time. There's a distinct richness in it.
I knew I kept saying that I wasn't worried because when you had that level of talent things were meant to come, but I'm still relieved to see it happening now :).
Thrilled by this article. People knowing Infinite because of their performances and songs and not because of their face or one or two popularity is ... bloody proud here.
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Date: 2011-09-09 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 10:45 am (UTC)I'm glad they're finally getting the recognition they deserve!
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Date: 2011-09-09 02:07 pm (UTC)And I still listen to CBA all the time :D
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Date: 2011-09-09 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 05:11 pm (UTC)Infinite do well in their work and I hope more fans appreciate their work.
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