Korean Pop’s Singular Mélange
2012-08-21 10:45 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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omonatheydid
2NE1, from left, Dara, Bom, CL and Minzy, at the Prudential Center in Newark, the first American show for this Korean-pop group.
Korean Pop’s Singular Mélange
2NE1, Korean-Pop Group, at Prudential Center in Newark
By Jon Caramanica
NEWARK — They waited patiently, several thousand of them, outside the Prudential Center here on Friday night. They were mostly young, a combination of futuristic cool and slightly awkward. The more extravagantly attired were beyond mere extravagance: shiny clothes in bold contrasting prints, hair dyed in colors known to no rainbow.
They were K-pop fans, here for the first American performance of 2NE1, the K-pop — that’s Korean pop — stars. And they were being made to wait, unhappily, for unspecified reasons well past the time that doors were supposed to open, then also past the time that 2NE1 (pronounced “twenty-one” or “to anyone”) had been meant to take the stage. There was at least one report of fangirl tears on the street before the arena’s doors finally relented, and the crowd clogging the sidewalks was slowly herded to seats, just dodging the rain that would have compromised those outfits.
The members of 2NE1 awaited them, taking the stage in track jackets with their names — CL, Dara, Minzy, Bom — spray-painted on the back and, for some of the band, their own faces airbrushed onto the front. (The clothes for the tour were by the fantasist designer Jeremy Scott.)
“I’m going to make this show worth the wait,” CL assured the crowd, just as the group began “Clap Your Hands,” which sounded like a carbon copy of mid-2000s up-tempo R&B, and during which the group’s backup dancers were making a scene that could have been from “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
K-pop moves at a speed faster than late capitalism, hybridizing styles and sounds at will and pivoting quickly. In this universe new groups are rolled out with efficiency by entertainment conglomerates; YG Entertainment is the one behind 2NE1, which in the last three years has become a huge success. (The group recently appeared in a commercial for Adidas Originals alongside Nicki Minaj.)
2NE1 is a girl group in the Destiny’s Child or Spice Girls mold, but it also incorporates plenty of rapping and some reggae for good measure, as well as production that’s indebted to arena-size dance music. Like most contemporary K-pop, the group borrows from plenty of American and European styles but manages not to carry any fingerprints — the mélange is K-pop’s signature aesthetic.
During the two-hour show this fuzzy center held up impressively, hitting a lull only late in the night during an ill-advised ballad run. When the group stuck to its exhortations to party, or boy-craziness, it was convincing.
CL is the spark plug, rapping with attitude and singing with bluster and seeking the spotlight most aggressively. During her solo turn, she mock-D.J.’ed Rihanna’s “We Found Love” on a platform high over the stage, fooling no one though enjoyable to watch all the same.
But Minzy, who had been uneven at the beginning of the night, ended up being the group’s anchor, singing with confidence and a rich tone, and even dancing in a way that kept up with the hyperactive backing troupe. During her solo turn she break-danced to Missy Elliott’s “I’m Really Hot.”
Dara, with half her head shaved, was the most coy of the group. She sings in a thin, velvety tone that’s best as an accent. Bom, for her part, aimed higher, with ambitious vocals that didn’t always hit their marks. She appeared less and less steady as the night progressed. Each time the group left the stage she was the one trailing behind, either legitimately confused or playing the part well.
2NE1 was backed by a mostly female band, which injected flourishes of real skill amid the music’s more direct demands. It shined on the restrained pop-house of “In the Club,” and also the Kylie Minogue-esque disco of “Stay Together” and the winning “I Love You.”
Even smaller songs were presented in huge fashion, thanks to the dozen or more backup dancers and elaborate video-screen projections. During “Pretty Boy,” the male dancers removed their shirts, one after the other, and one of them walked the length of the U-shaped stage in a Flaming Lips-style inflatable ball.
Despite all the pageantry there was still something slightly unfinished about this performance, with its emphasis on scale and spectacle, not on polish and finesse. There were dance moves not quite executed to their finish, sporadic lip-syncing and some vocal parts rendered shakily.
At the encore 2NE1 delivered a second rendition of “I Don’t Care” — this one reggae-less — and closed with its hit single “I Am The Best,” one of its most dynamic songs, all squelchy synths and abusive drums and slithery vocals. At this point they were dressed casually; following a night of glittery basketball jerseys and psychedelic leggings, it was the equivalent of seeing them in their pajamas. After all, it was late.
2NE1 plays on Friday at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles; nokiatheatrealive.com.
tl;dr: NYTimes reviewed 2NE1's concert, didn't really enjoy it and states the obvious about the girls and their abilities.
Source: NYTimes
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:03 am (UTC)people complained a bit but chatted to their friends (some loudly, some awkwardly I guess), that was about it....
can I just say I hate how newspapers report on trends/events/celebrities/fads? they seem to always sound so annoying and condescending, and always behind the times.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:08 am (UTC)i wasn't at the concert, but i'm sure that the people there weren't really concerned about the wait considering that it's not like 2NE1 tours the US often. this was probably the first and last time a lot of fans will be able to see them.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-24 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-24 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 12:45 pm (UTC)I remember as a kid the multitude of articles trying to 'explain' pokemon or internet dating or whatever- it's never been handled well, and this is a continuation of that. I actually went to the event, and find this article dramatizes it (which is what articles are supposed do, to be fair, but in this case it's just trying for something that few people there even witnessed e.g. crying).
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:27 pm (UTC)Also I just hate how newspapers write about kpop in general. It's really condescending 99% of the time.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:26 am (UTC)not seeing the big deal here tbh
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 03:34 am (UTC)Despite all the pageantry there was still something slightly unfinished about this performance, with its emphasis on scale and spectacle, not on polish and finesse.
This has been 2NE1's shtick for quite some time. I do enjoy stuff like "Clap Your Hands" and "I Am the Best" but without a doubt 2NE1's best side is their more mellow side ("I Don't Care", "Hate You"), etc, imo.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 04:13 am (UTC);o;
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:21 am (UTC)Well this is K-pop in a nutshell with very few exceptions.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:37 am (UTC)and lol, no. if you want to have your head shoved so far up your ass that you think kpop is the best thing that ever happened, then okay fine, but don't think that these authors are being racist just because you don't like what they have say about unnie~
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 08:48 pm (UTC)"If it was a western artist they would have been up their ass to the brains and back so I don't think we should pretend."
How did they even undermine them, you aren't making any sense.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:27 am (UTC)i'm crying omg
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:06 am (UTC)I hope BB won't have a delay as I'm going alone and do not want to be awkwardly sitting alone waiting for it to start lol
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:53 am (UTC)um excuse you? i think he meant minaj was graciously honored to be in the presence of 2ne1's adidas commercial. gtfo naj.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 04:31 pm (UTC)I have a feeling most of Omona is annoyed with this guy, but did anyone read Jeremy Scott's tweets, asking his followers to vote for 2NE1 on Mnet Global? (IDK what the poll's for.) I will not talk about the tiny words of playful hate he implied. I just really like how he's genuinely supportive of 2NE1.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 05:46 pm (UTC)I hope it's the former, they don't need excuses to give even more of her lines away :(
o/t I want a GDTOPBOM album.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 06:48 pm (UTC)But I hope 2NE1 and YG take these criticism in stride because they are true most of them. I love Bom (and she's my bias) but this:
"Each time the group left the stage she was the one trailing behind, either legitimately confused or playing the part well"
is the most accurate thing about her I have EVER read. And I laughed really hard.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 11:20 pm (UTC)From a critical pov, Bom has always been hit or miss. She has a great voice but isn't a great singer. I just wish she could get a vocal coach who really understood her limitations and could teach her how to utilize her talent. She's constantly trying to hit notes that just don't compliment her voice at all. I admit, I was cringing a little during her solo.
Minzy is always very consistent in everything she does and while I agree that she was surprisingly off at the beginning, she got herself together very quickly. The dancing, the singing, the rapping...girl is fucking good.
Dara is never going to be the most spectacular singer or performer but she pulls her weight, adding a much needed softness to the group dynamic. During her solo, she felt like a breath of fresh air.
CL, yes she can get very loud and that can be a problem, but without a doubt she is a true entertainer. She gave it her all from beginning to end and that's why she stands out so much. Doing it all and doing it well. And the energy she brings! "Spark plug" is so accurate.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 02:07 am (UTC)it doesn't matter how old this person is, nor if he is a guy. it is an unbiased opinion for a western media outlet. the US has already been through the pop phenom and boy/girl group decade. so kpop is really nothing in the bigger picture of the music scene. it's a been there, done that feel except in a different language.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-23 03:11 am (UTC)ngl though. not a fan, but i'd love to see minzy and cl perform. though bom is weaker in terms of live and dara has weaker vocals on the whole, it's pretty obvious that they're essential to the group.