I like it, it kinda sounds like Teenager (fan favorite off the last album): https://youtu.be/MPhAEcLaiNs
I think I'd like it more if it was just a touch more relaxed
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 01:45 (five years ago) link
dirrrrrrrty bass (but the chorus is poppy):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YROy48zGzW4
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 01:18 (five years ago) link
Doesn't quite stick the landing but I love the first 2 minutes of this...
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 01:20 (five years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/bangtan/seesawxineedu
i like this way more than the components
― ufo, Saturday, 29 September 2018 18:39 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ekJOWBejSU
this is a very good r&b track with a great keyboard solo that i'd completely missed until now
― ufo, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 10:07 (five years ago) link
listened to the GOT7 album and it's really great, one of the best kpop full lengths i've heard. nearly every track could have been the single
this is one of the highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6rhxI80-FY
― ufo, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 01:12 (five years ago) link
Oh yeah Lee Jin Ah pitched as this piano genius could be very noodle-y but she's shown a great pop sensibility too, even in the songs where she IS doing jazz piano throughout
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 05:49 (five years ago) link
Like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnniajBkORg
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 05:50 (five years ago) link
Her album this year is beautiful
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 08:49 (five years ago) link
I've been listening to a lot of Lee Jin Ah on my jazz(y) Kpop odyssey this year, it's bubbling up from the Korean underground to the idol scene.
Random is my favorite Lee Jin Ah track.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 5 October 2018 04:55 (five years ago) link
yeah her album was quite enjoyable too
― ufo, Friday, 5 October 2018 04:56 (five years ago) link
Working toward a theory of how these idol groups are positioned for an audience... not just on a cute/sexy axis for girlgroups (or a puppy love/possessive love axis for boygroups), but thinking about that axis in terms of the (sexual) agency allowed to the artist (the x axis), and also adding another axis for the age/sophistication of the target audience (the y axis).
So you can have a group with a pretty sophisticated presentation, using sounds from the indie scene or otherwise outside the idol scene, with MVs that use indie film tropes (clever transitions, artsy black and white, unexpected juxtapositions, or maybe tried indie tropes like filing at the laundromat), but because the artists are young, the target audience is also young (or are people who are into "young") - so the portrayal of the relationship will lack agency on the part of the artist, and they will be in the bottom left corner of the graph. (Ex: Infinite forever complaining about how they are controlled by Bad Girls, IU adding musical complexity while still appealing to the uncle fans, Stellar going meta about how they are objectified while being poked by computer mice in the music video).
The ultimate goal of this exercise is escape to the quadrant in the bottom right, where you can have a sophisticated image (y-axis) AND sexual agency (x-axis), the only way to retain fans after aging out of your original image, whatever it was (young and sophisticated, young and cute, or sexy but in a simplistic, 1-dimensional way). Because as an older artist, you not only want to be more true to your actual lived experience, but you also can't compete with the younger artists to be MORE cute or MORE inexperienced or in a MORE kdrama-rama relationship, right?
This isn't to say that the bottom right quadrant is actually more sophisticated or sexy, more that it's a Justin Timberlake going to "Suit and Tie" type of deal, where you successfully keep your audience into adulthood.
So examples of artists who succeeded here might be G.o.D, IU, Suzy from Miss A (and actually, Miss A as a whole, although they disbanded shortly thereafter), Taeyeon from Girls Generation, EXO-CBX and the other EXO subunits, Red Velvet, VIXX, Minah from Girl's Day, Sistar both as a group and as individual artists, Big Bang (maybe, they can also be self-reflective without being emotionally mature).
Just a thought, and since the pop culture website I used to write for went under, I figured I'd put it here.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 7 October 2018 18:11 (five years ago) link
ANyway in the young but sophisticated (but lacking agency) quadrant we have MXM, who I am enjoying quite a bit these days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFszwM0WhNg
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 7 October 2018 18:12 (five years ago) link
Or it could be that this is the new young-and-cute puppy love quadrant, updated with what the kids are actually into these days.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 7 October 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
And speaking of that sexy/tasteful quadrant, here's another one for the Continued Mainstreaming of Jazz Piano Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcwJvgs53Ng
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 7 October 2018 19:14 (five years ago) link
Interesting theory, but time to get to paint and start filling in the names so we can tell you why we disagree
― abcfsk, Sunday, 7 October 2018 19:43 (five years ago) link
Much as I dig Red Velvet not sure they've escaped to the bottom right just yet? Sophisticated presentation, but lacking agency, a bit all over the place, still very much dancing at the whims of SM. They're also just a few years old.
Lee Hyori is/was the ultimate example, I guess, going from a squarely cute 'n innocent concept group to major success in the mature phase of her career as something completely different and now in the 'do what she pleases' phase. Although she's mostly done with music by now.
― abcfsk, Sunday, 7 October 2018 19:47 (five years ago) link
Yeah, for Red Velvet actually I think you are right, they are bouncing back and forth between the top left (cute & upbeat) and top right (sexy bad girls) as a group, as planned from the start of their careers. Because when you establish from the beginning that you're going to be switching up your image, it makes the final transition easier & more credible.
Seulgi as a solo artist might be a better candidate for escaping to the bottom right, and SM Station in general seems to be an outlet for SM artists to try out some different sounds and maybe gain credibility as mature artists so they can escape whatever image they started out with.
For boy groups, I think the textbook example would be VIXX - they were video game characters at debut, then did some Jekyll/Hyde concept switch stuff, and now are playing up the 'sexy, mature, tasteful, and/or musically adventurous' image both as a group and in their solo releases.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 7 October 2018 20:05 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM0xDI5R50E
Subbed, but IU's difficult to translate, puns and poetry aplenty
The song is great. Surprisingly catchy.
― abcfsk, Thursday, 11 October 2018 05:48 (five years ago) link
^ i love this one! thanks for pointing it out.
― fragglerock, Thursday, 11 October 2018 09:22 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-e5rvmtas
APRIL have moved away from their usual cutesy innocent sound here with great results. 80s-influenced but still pretty distinctive in sound and it flows fantastically
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 October 2018 11:39 (five years ago) link
woo
https://youtu.be/AX3Bsiq-13k
― nxd, Friday, 19 October 2018 08:32 (five years ago) link
oh it didnt embed, but ^ thats the new dua lipa x blackpink song
wow that song really sux
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 20 October 2018 01:00 (five years ago) link
duua lia x blackpink obviously, not APRIL or IU. We don't even get Lisa rapping in English! Total money grab.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 20 October 2018 01:01 (five years ago) link
The John Legend x Wendy rnballad is superior in every way and an actual collab.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 20 October 2018 01:08 (five years ago) link
The APRIL song is really good... the production is hypnotic and it really suits their (lighter) voices.
The song kind of sounds like something Wondergirls or TWICE would do, with a vaporwave (or the 80s Jpop sound that inspired vaporwave) sensibility and updated with modern production.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 20 October 2018 01:35 (five years ago) link
re APRIL: love how movie trends tend to permeate throughout k-pop - a few years ago, it was all the Batman stuff, now clearly it's Clueless (see also, LOOΠΔ/yyxy's look/MVs)
― Roz, Saturday, 20 October 2018 10:44 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4tBlQ5yTwY
I've actually never heard of this group - came across via Youtube autoplay. Extremely enjoyable!
― Roz, Saturday, 20 October 2018 11:11 (five years ago) link
They're from the survival show Idol School, I think. Kind of CJ E&M's answer to Mnet's Produce 101 or KBS's The Unit, but not as popular as either of those. I think this is the first fromis_9 track that's gotten any traction with the general public.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 22 October 2018 00:16 (five years ago) link
Love Bomb is quite good, much better than the previous fromis_9 singles i'd heard which i barely remember at all
the Batman trend in kpop videos was really so odd
― ufo, Monday, 22 October 2018 00:54 (five years ago) link
EXO doing some crowd-pleasing current hip hop trends, but then there's an extended barbershop call and response bridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwd8N6K-sLk
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 2 November 2018 23:47 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAKsZ26SabQ
new TWICE is fun, certainly one of their best singles. feels kinda Kylie-ish?
― ufo, Monday, 5 November 2018 09:21 (five years ago) link
Really like 'Tempo'
― Frederik B, Monday, 5 November 2018 11:07 (five years ago) link
Me too Frederirk, me too.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 8 November 2018 09:01 (five years ago) link
I think TWICE might repeat the chorus many one or two too many times, but it's pretty enjoyable. TT is their best song I think.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 8 November 2018 09:08 (five years ago) link
Speaking of songs that will please fans, Key x Soyou is everything you'd want and expect from that collaboration, they both have such nice/contrasting voices and the song sounds like it could have been a b side on the last SHINee album.
https://youtu.be/BJUjR2N0aEM
Also, my boys MXM out there doing their MXM thing, I love how consistent they are with the shout vocals, simple hooks and indie visuals:
https://youtu.be/_Xgyys2zZc8
Both songs are simple but I like them.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 8 November 2018 09:21 (five years ago) link
Forever Yours is fun!
my top three TWICE singles are pretty easily Likey, Yes or Yes, and What Is Love?
― ufo, Thursday, 8 November 2018 11:59 (five years ago) link
I'm really glad Key is doing well in this post-Jonghyun world - for a while there, it seemed like he might have been the hardest hit by the loss.
Yes or Yes is great, and more Clueless-esque plaid skirts and berets! I like Tempo too, not least because SM has finally realised how popular Sehun is and decided to give him double the number of his usual lines haha.
― Roz, Thursday, 8 November 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
Have I mentioned before that I'm into the jazz trend in Kpop? Because I'm into the jazz trend in Kpop. US producers, you need to get on this.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 17 November 2018 19:37 (five years ago) link
That's a collab between Park Jiyeon (ex-GLAM) and Park Kyung, by the way.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 17 November 2018 19:38 (five years ago) link
EXID come back with one of their best earworms yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAdmzjsFVQo
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 15:32 (five years ago) link
NCT putting melody in their hip hop again, the producers have nailed the formula, this is really good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arjy2v7zEI0
It kinda has a similar aesthetic to EXO's tempo, but younger / edgier / trendier.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 02:20 (five years ago) link
Really like Hani on the bridge of that EXID song
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 1 December 2018 03:10 (five years ago) link
For those of us who miss old school BAP... plus one of these guys has a really impressive ability to shout on pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It8JCNyFW38
If 5 minutes is too long for you, they shortened it to 3 1/2 for the broadcast version (this is worth watching IMO): https://youtu.be/FA_yq0mLgHw
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 1 December 2018 03:45 (five years ago) link
So have there been any consensus stand out hits this year? Out of curiosity and also, of course, looking forward to the ilx best of the year voting.
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 08:46 (five years ago) link
nothing's been quite as exciting as last year's highlights in LOONA's amazing run, and Red Velvet, Twice and Blackpink all releasing their best singles but there's still a lot i like
a quick list of some favourites:BTS - IdolOh My Girl - Remember MeNCT U - Baby Don't StopNCT 127 - TouchLOONA/Olivia Hye feat. JinSoul - Egoist(G)I-DLE - HANN (Alone)Sunmi - SirenYubin - LadyApink - I'm so sickRed Velvet - Bad BoyRed Velvet - Power UpBrave Girls - Rollin' (New Version)Hyolyn - See Sea
out of those, i'm certainly voting for "Idol", "Remember Me" and at least one NCT track, and maybe a few of the others
― ufo, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 09:28 (five years ago) link
I could support GIdle, maybe Sunmi, BTS, well, they've had a year anyway. Will probably add IU, though still disappointed we didn't get her top 77 last year. I'll be voting for BoA's Woman in the album poll.
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 09:47 (five years ago) link
'power up' for me
― nxd, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 10:49 (five years ago) link
Merry and happy 2018 from Twicehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfUGjK6gGgs
― Jeff W, Friday, 14 December 2018 22:04 (five years ago) link