odd eye circle: thoughts on kpop
lets talk about an small interest that has grown since the summer started; kpop. i know i know, it has had a weird reputation these past couple of years but i actually enjoy the genre. this summer has only grown my appreciation for it. you might be thinking "okay aco its just asian people singing and dancing, whats so good about it?". i have some things to say about it actually... thats why im writing today.
ive always dabbled in kpop, i never considered myself a big stan, but i liked listening to stayc and loona back in highschool. i remember listening to hihigh on repeat while studying for my exams. i never really took an interest in the music video or idols until this summer. it just wasent my thing. i like listening to music as it is, if something sounds good, ill loop it for a few weeks until i get sick of it and find another selection of songs to spam.
my turning point was actually seeing twice live here in toronto. two of my friends had gotten tickets and one of them couldnt go, so i bought a ticket off her. it really was a spontaneous action, i had money to spend at the time, and i was going with someone i knew , so the stars had essentially aligned for me to impulsively spend 300 dollars of my hard earned money for tickets. little did i know that id get propelled into this pretty obscure genre of media. i didnt really know what to expect at the time, i sort of expected this cringey sort of atmosphere, lots of screaming teenaged girls, boring stages. boy was i wrong.
for people who dont know, twice is a idol group composed of 9 girls, they are maybe one of the most famous groups aside from blackpink. they produce pretty high quality work, and the girls seem like very nice and stable people. of course, i cant judge someone from a screen, but all 9 seem like very authentic people from all the performances, interviews, vlogs ive seen.
in preparation for the twice concert, i actually started listening to them quite a bit, watching mvs, learning about the idols and holy shit, it felt like i was in a jules verne book. there was so much lore... my sister is a big fan, so she taught me who was who, who is her favorite, what songs are popular, so on. anyways im getting very ahead of myself, long story short, in this sort of concert preparation, i realized that this stuff is pretty cool and very high quality. my favorite members are jeongyeon and momo. one is a vocalist and the other is a dancer. i cant really think of why they are my favorite, but if i had to give a deciding factor, it would have to be their authenticity. they seem like humble and funny people from the interviews ive seen, and from what ive read, both are pretty lowkey in regards of public appearances, they give off the sense that they are humans.
anyways, the concert. it was nothing short of incredible. there was so much energy, the set was just beautiful. the vibes were good. the girl that was beside me also liked momo, we talked for a bit during the intermission, turns out this was her third twice show she visited on the tour. it was one of those concerts where post concert depression just doesnt hit afterwards, it left me very satisfied with the ticket money i spent.
all of this backstory was to say that the concert really pushed me to explore kpop deeper as a genre of performance rather than just music. i have my qualms about idol culture, but dude is it fun to participate in it, especially here in the west where kpop is not that prevalent. its like an insider club sort of, the people who get it, get it, and the people who dont, dont. i think the members of these groups are more pushed as entertainers and public figures rather than just musicians. they release music, but they also dance, perform, and engage with the public too. they have a presence that isnt really seen in alot of newer western artists. i think the girls are viewed by most as products of their companies, rather than their art. im not korean, im not in the place to judge that society, but its interesting to see these blurred lines between the artist and the art.
the music itself is not like traditional pop music at all. there are some elements, some groups and companies prefer more traditional pop influence, while others explore jazz, hiphop and classical influence. the music itself typically isnt written by the artists, so there is a bit of a disconnect between the groups and the lyrics, which we normally dont see in genres outside of kpop. im not saying this is a bad thing though, because the songs that are written are pretty good, they are engineered to appeal to the audience. there arent any deep connotations that lie within the lyrics, maybe with some songs you need to put in a small bit of work to get the meaning. the songs are lyrically simple and no bullshit. if i understood the language, i could see this being appealing. its like listening to baby shark, but if baby shark was a group of 9 girls singing about love, life and youth life.
the performance aspect of kpop is really cool too. i reckon it is probably the most important part. some groups focus more on music while some focus more on the dances, but i think finding a healthy balance between the two while taking into account the skillset of the members is important. groups like lesserafim have very intense choreographies, but it suits the members well because most of them are skilled dancers and the songs dont require a full vocal range. on the flip side, we have groups like twice that are big enough to facilitate both a strong vocal and a strong dance presence according to the strength of each member.
anyways, after the concert i got into some other groups. i like fresh music. if the music satisfies me, ill listen to it and then ill get into the group. over the past few months since the concert in june, ive gotten into lesserafim, new jeans, twice and aespa. personally, i am on the aespa wave right now, they are just so cute and the songs actually fuck?! the members seem to be more vocally focused. my bias is winter currently. she just sings so good, they all sing live but she truly stands out, she has a very good vocal range. the performances are cool too, the choreographies are simple, but they fit the songs so well and let the girls sing properly. anyways here are the members in aespa in order from left to right we have winter, giselle, karina and ningning.
anyways thats all i wanted to say. i had a list of things i wanted to write about but forgot to check it before starting this. kpop as a genre is cool, and it never hurts to explore music, even the massively commercialized ones.