Putting aside your feelings for your favs, do you consider singing over loud backtrack as live singing?

depends how loud

If it sounds perfect like a studio version? nah

if I can hear their voices live, it's live singing to me because I take the term at face value

Backtracks werent invented by kpop..even tho it is louder than usual in most cases i've never had strong feelings abt it..if i can hear them singing live then they're singing live lol

If I can hear the live vocals enough, yes, I do.
I just think sometimes It's kinda useless, like, If the audience will barely hear you, what's the point of wasting your voice

I have no issue with backtrack for performances with choreo, so long as it isn’t turned too loud that I can’t hear anything.

I get frustrated when I hear loud backtrack in standing or seated performances.

Well if it's so loud that I can barely hear their live vocals..... no.

As long as i can hear the "doubling" effect where the live vocals can be heard over the background, i'm fine. Hell, even the studio versions of songs have that vocal processing where an idol's voice is doubled along with all the other effects.

Obviously, most of the times when they use loud backtrack you can clearly hear them singing/rapping(Mr removed, i know a ytber that seems trusty). If they are singing/rapping most of the parts, it's live.

if its so loud that you cant hear their voices i wouldnt call it live.

if i have to go to the MR removed videos to hear them then no... and sometimes i can hear them like two times throughout the whole performance which is

idk even why groups like BP or even DC have been using lots of backtrack lately. they've proven to always been capable even while dancing so why let them lipsync all the time?

It's Meh for me. Some groups like to hide behind loud backtracks and continue to lip sync but since their mics are "on" it's considered live singing.

I would rather have a shaky live performance over it.

Yeah I agree

Tbh I want more acoustic arrangements for performances so bad like

if i can hear their voices then yes.

in black pink's case (yes, bp was the inspiration for this thread ) they were singing live during verses but the chorus (with the exceptions of few "get them, get them, get them") and ratatata part were lip-synced. and i'm fine with it.

i cannot put in the same category singers who actually do live singing with groups who just play the song and lip sync

Quote from bo-thebear

if i have to go to the MR removed videos to hear them then no... and sometimes i can hear them like two times throughout the whole performance which is

idk even why groups like BP or even DC have been using lots of backtrack lately. they've proven to always been capable even while dancing so why let them lipsync all the time?

MR removed is fake anyway. they use prerecorded vocals to show how their faves eat cd's. i don't know if they do it on purpose or if they genuinely cannot hear the difference

bo-thebear

one of a million examples:

there's nothing live in this performance, the audio is edited in post-production. even the video wasn't done in one take, it's edited (tzuyu at 1:21 and 1:25)

companies did a great job convincing kpop fans that something is live when it isn't. live or not live? people cannot make a difference anymore

Quote from ISaidISaid

No BP’s case is actually a vast majority of “live” singing in kpop. If the mic is on it’s considered live singing in kpop. And tbh for me that bar isn’t that much higher than lip sync’ing purely from a singing aspect. As a performance I think BP and others do a stellar job tho. But should we be praising the live singing that much? That’s really the distinction.

imo singing any part of the song is better than not singing at all. singing live in any capacity brings better energy and excitement. that's lacking when you only lip sync (i don't want to name names but you know who i'm talking about lol).

i do agree that backtrack shouldn't be that loud that you are not sure if you are hearing live vocals or not. and kpop companies make a good job of making vocals sound live when they are not.

i assume that variety isn't familiar with kpop ways and they thought they weren't singing live. or maybe they are like you; if a backtrack is louder than them or as loud as them they don't consider it live singing

Yes, but I think I’m less concerned than other people. Beyoncé ain’t live at the VMAs and Katy Perry ain’t live on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel, so I’m not really bothered what someone is doing on Inkigayo or MAMA if it’s lip sync, live back track or live tbh.

It’s great when they do sing live because I like their voices but not critical for me and I don’t necessarily rate one group better because they sing live. If you have a mediocre voice singing a pretty simple and not vocally challenging song, I’m not going to rate you higher because you sang it live, sorry. I’m not suddenly better than Mariah Carey because I busted out my okay vocal skills live on a song that only requires me to sing in one key

I enjoy live because I like their voices and love hearing the interpretations of the songs.

Like when they sing live while also acknowledging the backtrack and letting it carry in some parts. (Baek did this in UN village performances, which I loved. It’s such a classic dramatic trick.)

Here’s Xiaojun clearly live but letting the backtrack work on the chorus somewhat:

Here’s Baek doing the same thing. This is live too.

Or when they change registers or tones because it’s hard to execute live.This is live too. Kun is singing in a lower register here than he he does in studio because that’s a hell of a lot harder to execute in motion and they’re a little pitchy in spots.

(I’m picking on WayV a little because they’re less experienced at this and show more flaws than other units.)

On the flip side tho, it’s all utterly subjective anyways. I’ve seen Taeil or Baek or Kihyun bust out perfect notes a capella so if you are actually a person that can sing live and are singing live, people don’t believe you are anyways. (I’m laughing about Chenle clapping back on people who thought he didn’t sing live at Kcon when he clearly did if you were there. He’s a bit like Haechan where he’s always so much louder on mics than others and you can hear that he clips the big Hello Future note because while he’s great, he’s not Haechan.)

Quote from Jichu

if I can hear their voices live, it's live singing to me because I take the term at face value

second this.

As long as I can hear them clearly, it's fine for me.

Better than being fooled with live sound recording; and I can only take lip-syncing at a certain extent especially on concerts/festivals. I'll rather pay to hear than see.

Depends on the song

If it is an energetic song with choreo and I could still hear their voice and their breaths then yes. I'd prefer that than

hearing my faves gasping for air like a panting dead horse

If it's a ballad, no need for a backtrack

If you could hear them singing over the backtrack then I consider it live. But If I can't then why even sing? lol

I think as others have said

can I hear the actual vocals or is the backtrack so loud that I can't even hear them sing?

Backtracking is ok when it’s support them during a performance but I hate it when it’s that loud that it gives problem for the members . I was so annoyed at TXT’a Sonic Tokyo stage. The backtracking was loud, way too loud. I understand for some song like GBGB the backtracking makes the chorus easier to sing but this was almost louder then them.

Taehyun spent 40 min in a singing competition with himself, Yeonjun didn’t give a f about backtracking and he just sang the way he does in a concert, hyping the audience, changing his tone. Beomgyu is softer as the others as it is so it was hard to hear him, but after the first song he followed Yeonjun and changed his tone too. They shouldn’t need try and over sing the back tracking especially when they are perfectly capable of singing a 40 min setlist.

It was much better at Lolla, or their own concert. I could only hear it at some places.

Like I said I have no clue about music I just love listening. Most of the time I don’t notice backtracking. That was so bad I was annoyed by it.

I don't think I will care much if I was watching live on set. Although I still prefer to see them singing live even if I can't hear them because usually I can feel more emotion in their performance compared to just 100% lipsync.