Posts by bbgc

National Hit - Nation - includes everyone, all ages.

Youngsters actively seek out new experiences, whereas as you grow older you get more selective about what you consume- hence it is more a deal to impress older people.

A true hit would be able to achieve that across age groups.

Statistically it is well established that Kpop's consumption drastically drops once people enter college, jobs etc.

So all the kpoper should remember that time will not spare them either.

However even the genre will age, because people who loved the songs of their 20s will keep them as the benchmark-nostalgia even as they age, so the 1st gen 2nd K-poppers, who would be in their 30s/40s would still enjoy them, but may not enjoy 3rd gen/4th gen - nostalgia value is huge.

That is also why all consumable industries actually prefer to target the teens, because that is the age where most our tastes/worldviews are firmed, sure there will be some evolution after that, but the base is the food liked, the music enjoyed etc. in the teens, for the majority.

So a truly national hit will be popular with both the teens and the older groups.

Reminds of the Youtuber who criticized Koreans for bragging about BTS, than Hangul.

Is K-pop just the achievement of Korean culture/ethnicity?

After all the genre is mostly borrowed from the West - which itself borrows from all over the world. What is Korean about that? It is not gugak or minyo.

At least the lyrics used to be korean, but now it is increasingly English, producers-songwriters are non-Korean and slowly performers as well.

Kpop for Korea is like Pizza in America, Cricket in India, Curry in UK

Originally comes from some other culture, but has been mastered to fine degree in another place.

So I don't see why others can't adopt K-pop/faves etc. And in fact it is beneficial if i-fans do adopt something from one's own culture. It is a compliment.

WhyKnock is a big proponent of that.

Cultural possessiveness is as bad as cultural appropriation.

That is like asking whether pizza is good.

And 'Indian' curry does not narrow it down, because there would be few thousand varieties.

Curry is a mix of spices mixed with a base - turmeric, tamarind, coconut milk, Kokum are large categorization. Could be dried, oil sautéed or in gravy.

So very difficult to judge, it depends on how well it is made and then individual taste.

Most ready made available in stores are only so-so, as with most dishes- fresher the ingredients, better the taste.

And then if you are going for authenticity - then you have to travel across India :)

But with globalization commercialization, Curry is yet another commodity like Kimchi, Koreans would know what Kimchi is good - how, why. and Indians about Curry. But for others.. well.

To an extent, the association with the Sewol tragedy, has made this poignant song, a culture marker of K-pop and SK society itself.

Then BTS should not be singing/selling English songs either.

We can't have it both ways.

Kpop used to be

Genres were largely foreign, but the lyrics, creators, performers were Korean.

But now - increasing percentage of English lyrics, a lot of foreign composition, only the label ownership and performers are largely Korean.

So why not Chinese or other languages?

Or are you saying that the music shows should require only Korean language performance?

The concert experience is about 'immersion'. You can listen/see the same performance at your home or phone with even far better quality, but you won't be 'immersed' in the experience. You will be easily distracted/diverted and not maintain the emotional state.

That is the one of the intangibles of human activity, when when more than a certain number say '50' share in a group activity, the dynamic of the experience drastically changes and larger the group - again that is a limit to how large can it get before that dynamic starts degrading - the experience is more evocative.

The same case with seeing sport games in the stadiums.

You are amplified into a large organic creature composed of all the audience, rather than an individual.

Of course this also fluctuates, not everyone feels this way every time. But when you do, it is an amazing experience.

Particularly if you attend concerts as a part of your own group - maybe a club.

Then concerts become a sort of public festival experience.

Of course you need to balance it out with the trouble/cost of getting that experience -money, time, logistics etc.

Both for the artists and the audience -live concerts are the true partaking of the experience of art. Other ways are merely substitutes.

Quote from WhyKnock

LeeJieun posted that the filming for the Koreeda movie is done. (Koreeda is known to finish a film fast, since most of his movies were filmed with limited budget, using only actors he knows already - this time he knew Bae Duna, who had acted in one of his Japanese movies previously.)

So she will probably begin to invite people again.

But, to award Grand Prizes, one has to have a media company or lots of backing, and since KakaoM still owns 40% of Edam Entertainment, it won't allow her to award her own prizes.

I meant her own versions of prizes. Not necessarily the same as grand prizes.

Like Anna Wintour in fashion, her acknowledgement/recognition of a designer could make or break careers.

1 solo album is too early to make an assessment. and though not a smashing success, her album was noted and did decently on the charts.

The transition from a group to a soloist is not an easy thing. Very few succeed - Taeyeon being the best case.

So using Taeyeon as the template,

Taeyeon already built a reputation before SNSD heyday for OSTs etc.

They should have a stand out reputation for vocal-artistic ability even within the group. Dance, visual etc. matter less for soloists. I don't think Wendy had that reputation to the extent Taeyeon had.

And the other reason is RV itself has not been as active in the recent years, being seen as a group on its way out and multiple new acts coming. Though it is tough, it would have helped if the solo career is in tandem with most popular period of the group. Like Rose with BP, now.

Multiple factors, but nothing tangible.

It would also help if Wendy contributes at least in lyric writing, for soloists - the authenticity of them telling their own story/sentiment helps a lot, which does not matter for groups.

IU's success is to a great extent is due to that and people find that relatable.

Merely great singing is not enough - there should be some story behind the creation of the song and that should be promoted. It could be anything.

Still it is too early to assess based on a single album,

Quote from WhyKnock

She had invited OMG's Choi Hyojung and Hyun Seunghee to her studio. I wonder who she will invite after she is done with the filming in probably late Jul.

That is why I am thinking, she can and should build up to be an 'arbitrator of taste/success' in Kpop, outside of the big companies and award ceremonies.

Being the most successful outside the Big-3/4, she projects an impression of independence. I think many acts cite her as the role model, ideal type etc., because she is not a part of the Big-4 and they can do so safely without triggering trouble/fan wars.

So being noticed by IU, invited by IU to her show, or covered by IU - can become recognition by itself to most aspiring acts, who are not on the top tier of fame. And that will further solidify her standing.

There are not many in Kpop who can do that.

YJS can - but he is not considered a K-pop act.

YHY and Sketchbook maybe - but IU is far more popular,

Rest are all too associated to the companies and their rivalries.

So a future where IU will award her own versions of Daesangs and Bonsangs :), how about that?

Quote from WhyKnock

Chaewon tries to get the Senior Singer's attention for many moons but the latter has commented nothing, for whatever reason.

Seems her favour of the season is to "oh my girl"

Quote from WhyKnock

What happened is Korean society became very atomized so it is quite hard for an act to win all segments of pop. So it has become possible for three generations of KPop, plus the trottists, to coexist at the same time.

Well it is true of many countries. Decades old acts are still active in US and popular at that,

For example: Beyonce debuted in 2003 and still dominant.

Quote from WhyKnock

Well, that's what most of my writings are. Most of them mention the Senior Singer one way or another

And in other news I*ZONE's Chaewon pays tribute to the Senior Singer, with a cover of 'Hold My Hand'

Is "Hold my hand' the most covered song by K-pop artists in the last year or what?

Eunji, Sejeon .. the list gets longer by the day.

While charts and sales are one kind of metric - the majority of the public/fandom would not be able to fully appreciate the artistry,

but when others in the same field, who would know the effort, the skill that goes into the work, make such covers/reproduction, that is indeed a great affirmation of the artists' work.

This and Kingdom-Mayfly's choice of 'Love Poem', IU has them both - Popular acclaim and Peer recognition.

Has not anyone called you "Senior Uaena" yet :)

But why is IU the only grandmother - there are Taeyeon, Shinee, Big Bang all still around and competing. Maybe she is the most successful in terms of charting consistently, otherwise there are quite a few 2nd gen acts around.

And her age is what makes it interesting, for that overlaps with 3rd gen.

Anyway in terms of Music, more the merrier and eventually only those which appeal to people in terms of quality will survive.

Quote from WhyKnock

And it looks like her last hurrah since it appears she will probably have to alter her song styles to suit her age

Well now we definitely know it was a fantastic 'hurrah', whether it will be the last, only time will tell.

As to 'altering styles', every artist should do that, both because they themselves are changing - age being one of the factors and because the market tastes are also constantly changing.

Yet the alteration should not be so drastic in case of established acts like 'IU', that it discomfits those who are comfortable with the artist's perceived style. And Lilac seems to have achieved that balance reasonably well.

If they don't and keep reproducing the same style again and again, they won't last. And 'lasting' is what IU has been doing perfectly for a decade now.

I do hope she produces 'mature' music, it will be irritating to see her sing Boo or Marshmallow kind of songs and she knows that, has retired them.

The Overton window of Kpop itself might slowly move to older ages, acts like BTS, IU, Brave girls all will cause that. If it was teenagers who drove Kpop in 1990s-2000s - they are now in their 30s and 40s and IU anyway already has built her audience far broader than the teens.

Like fashion, musical tastes are often cyclic, you have already noted the rise of trottists, that is a moving away from the visual dazzle business of K-pop, and among K-pops IU's genre is far close to trot than others, so if at all she might adapt better to the cyclic shift.

It all depends on what you define as "K-pop", after all "pop" stands for "popular", so anything popular which can't be distinctly categorized as a genre, is pop.

So Whyknock should not retire, but continue the threads with historical analogies. Though I don't share your sentiments regarding IU, I thoroughly enjoy the posts.

And I hope IU as well continues to 'inspire;' you.

Quote from Jirachier

Not really, IU has a lot of hits, big ones at that. but from what I know the only song on this level by her is TTN, I'm talking about songs that will top the decade chart.

Quote

Melon has released its overall chart results for the past decade!

On December 1, Melon—Korea’s largest music streaming service—revealed its chart of the top 100 songs of the 2010s (the 10 years from 2010 to 2019).

IU was the artist who landed the most songs on the chart by far, with 11 of her songs making it into the top 100. BOL4 came in second place with five songs, while TWICE and Park Hyo Shin tied for third with four songs on the list each. BTS, BLACKPINK, Paul Kim, and Busker Busker came next, with each artist landing three songs on the chart.

So even if you want to compare overlapping periods, IU still would have 9 songs since 2013.

Quote from WhyKnock

At that stage she was trying to curry the favor of older singers. She stopped doing that after she became a Senior Singer on Dec 03, 2014, at MAMA.

whether you call it "currying favour or honouring", depends on the bias one has.

But it was an astute move, but such collaborations and remakes, she gained a massive new audience among the older demographics. And she did it respectfully as well, that even this year the ODG kid said she became a fan seeing IU's interaction with Choi Baek Ho.

And the veterans generally do seem to be impressed by her reaching out to them.

And she did Flower Bookmark 2 in 2017, though it was a remake and not a collab, 2014 MAMA isn't much of a factor.

I like the ones she collaborates with veteran male voices like Choi Baek Ho or Kim Chang wan - nice contrasting feel to the songs.

WhyKnock will accuse her of reviving the careers of old has-beens and therefore hampering K-pop's world conquest.

Yet one likes what one likes.

Quote from chat-2

EDAM Entertainment : IU

WhyKnock would say it is IU who has EDAM and not EDAM IU :)

Quote from omnimorphism

Blocked by Autumn Morning released on the same day.

Does not IU herself have hits which did not make #1, Gaon(?)

Hold My Hand - Reverse running hit.

Merry Christmas in Advance - every year few weeks in #100

I don't think even 'Meaning of you' hit Gaon #1.

Better to have long periods in #100, than #1 upon release - though both would be nice.