Considering the fallout SYWH experienced in the comments section of that dubstep article, I was kinda apprehensive about writing a music piece. However, I think any potential butthurt comments that come about as a result of this article are going to be swiftly disrespected, disregarded and dismissed. I mean really, it’s an article about azn pop. How weird and spergy do you have to be to defend its tr00ness?
That being said, I think it’s time we addressed K-POP.
I’m not going to even bother posting PSY’s Gangnam Style because the majority of the internet has already seen it. Google it if you haven’t yet. According to columnists who are really into taking things too seriously, the entire video and song is a subversive undermining of Gangnam, which is a wealthy suburb of Seoul. I really don’t care about the Sociology 101 buzzword bingo that people play with shit like this, so I leave my mortarboard at home before enjoying weird music videos produced in a language I can’t understand.
Instead, I’ll start with G-Dragon, another big name right now. I’m pretty sure he’s one part of a group called Big Bang. You’ve probably seen gifs all over tumblr from this vid, so apologies for the entry-level example. It’s a really good one, though.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJnICByeL8Q]
Paging Sarge to ask what the deal is with the font they used to spell out “One Of A Kind” on the wall behind all the dancers.
G-Dragon is in another duo called GD&TOP, and this vid was my first exposure to k-pop. It’s almost two years old, and due to the current rate at which pop culture loses relevancy, it already seems really, REALLY dated (musically, at least). The song is way more tame than the current crop of hyper-danceable k-pop jams, but the video is still pretty weird (good). Also, I think Diplo produced this track? Or at least collaborated with them?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5s2XFZxf6w]
K-pop’s reigning girl group is 2NE1, and they’re actually pretty awesome. They’re also super hot and kinda have a bad bitch vibe (though that’s probably just an act. some of their videos are them being cute girls in space). This vid is like there are four Lady Gagas, and despite being a year old, has held up way better than Knock Out. I like Gaga, so I’m really into this video.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o]
I was going to publish this article a couple days ago, but work and school got in the way. Turns out that was a good thing, though! A brand new track and MV from Secret dropped just last night and it is super good. I actually think the girls in this group are better looking than 2NE1 (maybe not better singers, tho). The lead kpop idol in the group, Jeon Hyosung gives me a pants-ripping bonar/10. Was kinda put off by the noir + sequined burlesque outfits + kind of channeling that Lady Marmalade MV from 2001, but the music and aznness of the whole affair makes up for it imho.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP56DuUpKBE]
I’ll finish up with a group I found after getting a source for all these weird gifs coming from a kpop vid I hadn’t seen. The group is Tiny-G, and while their style and set-design kinda suck right now (probably due to being up-and-comers), I think the song is great and that they have a lot of potential. Basically it’s like what would happen if Disney thought up Kreayshawn in 2005.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19VgRyl8edo]
I think they won a Korean version of those Talent Show shows. Oh yeah, and this is getting some hardcore kpop fans all up in arms about how they’re a 2NE1 ripoff or something or other. I don’t really know enough about kpop at this point to be judgmental, but I think it’s a good example of people taking it too seriously. Don’t do that. Also, not sheriff this video qualifies as falling under that umbrella of oblivious asian racism or not.
Hope you liked these vids. I think k-pop has sufficiently dethroned jpop both in terms of bizarreness and overall quality of music, but who knows. Japan is really, really good at exporting their pop culture, but it’s dangerous if you openly like it too much (via coming across as childish and gross). In the early 2000s, Japanese stuff was basically cornered and claimed by those mouth-breathing kids who wore fedoras and tanuki tails to the Suncoast video store in the mall. So I think at this point, Korea is in a good position to market their pop culture to a completely different demographic that isn’t awful in every way.
I also did some googling and found this, which also helps explain what I think is happening.
Who is the most smashable azn in this set? Who is the most wifeable? Is this just a case of weeaboo in normalz clothing? do you prefer azns? Would you ever blast this out of your infiniti? Do you think it’s weird and jarring that they use a Samsung phone instead of an iPhone in the Knock Out vid, or is it because Samsung is a ubiquitous brand that is headquartered in korea? KPOP, kpop, k-pop, K-Pop, or K-POP?
Good post breh! Kpop has definitely been on the rise since last year and I have a few friends that are into it pretty hard. Unlike jpop where the appeal just seems to come from the weirdness, Koreans seem to legit love electro bangers so half of their pop is sick club music.
The one downside is that just like jpop, kpop has an annoying aspie fanbase that takes it way too seriously and posts creepy, borderline obsessive shit on gross forums about it.
“kpop has an annoying aspie fanbase”
The correct term for this is “Koreaboo”
I WANT MOAR DO A PART 2 PLZ!!
Also; koreanz > every other asian bc SK society push girls to get plastic surgery/bleach their skin and srsly think that the whiter/paler you are the more money you have and better than every1 else you are. oh yeah, sexy leggings alllllllllllllll ova!!!!1
2 bad they h8 the blacks, uk, and japs over there doe.
I am in Korea right now for the 4th time this year, and I have definitely noticed a rise in the amount of leggings on this trip. I approve; unfortunately I think Korean girls are mostly grose in the face (via having giant chins). IMO Hong Kong has the best looking bishes in SE Asia, but Indonesia has by far the hottest women on the planet overall.
MALAY FEVER
I am in Korea right now for the 4th time this year, and I have definitely noticed a rise in the amount of leggings on this trip.
This is music to my ears and a trigger to my penis.
wait really? I feel like I need to research this. I’ve been to Malaysia once. The ethnic chinese girls there were pretty damn cute. The Malays…. let’s just say did not want.
The highest caliber and concentration of hot females I have ever witnessed is in Russia.
I’ve never been, but I agree with this sentiment. I’m into all the eastern euro bitches.
+1
The a college I go to is walls to walls with tons of Korean gurls and 88% look like models. My brahs and I love going to a korean karaoke clubs to mack on dem and bro down with azn hipsters.
I really want one (a vain korean gf -> wife ala being a alphabeta) but since I’m an over privileged slav coming from a racist upper middle class Croatian family; I don’t know wat do..
When I brought home my vegan sxe (ex) w/ 3/4′s for new years my baba/grandma started hysterically crying and gasping for air (srs). When she told them she was part serb they told her to get out.. (srs again)
When she told them she was part serb they told her to get out
to be fair, that part is understandable.
I see no problem here. At least she wasn’t Armenian.
if u frum da balkans we shouldn’t be talkins
gl on that dude, rich koreans= ultra-traditional parents who wont let their daughters make eye contact with non-korean men.
^^^ this !!!^^^^
i want a korean gf one day but i find the task to be nearly impossible via they stick to their own kind…
i mean i screwed a couple via AMPs but cmon… i want the gf experience ;-P
Find adopted US raised one….before she goes into porn
<3 U Miko Lee
Also, unlike Japan where you can do anything an noone will even look at you , Korean dudes are tough and the will want to fight you just for talking to girls at a club, but when you fuck a girl with eyelid surgery, take a pic of them while they are sleeping cause their eyes can fully close and they look like possessed demons.
Can’t* fully close.
It’s too late for a different market, k-pop is super popular with the weeaboo anime con crowd, more so than jpop ever was, which kinda makes sense. it’s less weird and more palatable to western tastes, but that’s why it doesn’t appeal to me, jpop has a very unique sound to me, while kpop just sounds like standard pop r and b shit in Korean. I dunno if it ever had a chance of mainstream appeal even if it avoided the nerd stigma, most Americans are probobly like me in finding any non Americans attempting to do anything street/urban (aka BLACK) super akward and embarrassing. And let’s be real, the entire popularity of the PSY video is “haha lol at AZNs”.
Also the idea of koreaboos is mind blowing, they’ve obviously never been to Korea, there’s really nothing special about it unless you are a Starcraft player, I think people just assume Japan and Korea are basically the same. Korea is to Japan what Canada is to the US, it’s kinda similar, but it’s like a really boring vanilla version of Japan, even worse cause Canadians are at least friendly and Koreans are not. Koreaboos should also be aware that every woman in the entire country that doesn’t have kankles is already in the kpop industry.
” I dunno if it ever had a chance of mainstream appeal even if it avoided the nerd stigma, most Americans are probobly like me in finding any non Americans attempting to do anything street/urban (aka BLACK) super akward and embarrassing. And let’s be real, the entire popularity of the PSY video is “haha lol at AZNs”. ”
I used to feel this way, but I kinda love it. It gives me faith in America. USA#1. Everyone jocks our shit. EVERYONE. And it’s awesome, cuz it’s the best, and it’s the most fun. And it gets super serious anthropologist wannabes types ultra butthurt.
“The proliferation of western consumer capitalist culture is destroying eastern values” – some vag who can’t dance and has boring sex.
“The proliferation of western consumer capitalist culture is destroying eastern values”
Oddly, I saw this repeatedly on some mens rights website. Maybe the feminists will unite with the weirdo divorced republican men over this common ground?
haha i thought MRAs were all libertarians? arent they pro capatilist culture? and LOL at eastern values, but one bad thing about the westernization of korea is that noe half of them are christian, which makes the already un-chill koreans even less chill, unlike the shinto/Buddhism but noone really believes it or gives a fuck of japan , china etc.
Yes, from what I’ve seen they are pretty serious libertarians with really carefully thought out views. I think somehow some form of capitalism spawned feminism (according to them), which corrupted western values.
IDK man, their ideology isn’t entirely consistent and I could just flat out be wrong, all I know is that I’ve seen the west corrupting the east is next so lets import all the russian broads ASAP
Also, massive buttpain about the rise of Christianity in Korea. Have seen several posts about the sudden spike in creationism being taught in Korean schools on r/atheism, and I think even one on r/starcraft.
I seriously wonder wtf the deal is with capitalism and Christianity correlation. Hey sues was a hippy socialist who told people to give to the poor
IM SORRY YOU DIDNT MENTION HYORI, BOA, SUPER JUNIOR, OR SHINEE HOW CAN YOU EVEN CONSIDER THIS A POST ON TROO KPOP OMG FUCK YOUUUUUU!!!!!!
#DEFEND TROOKPOP
i lol’d
I sure love trook pop. x
their is literally nothing in the world worse than k-pop
there
u seem passionate about this topic
im stealing that phrase so hard
Not too partial to any of these songs either, seeing these irl anime characters jock mid-00s rap/pop is a little unnerving. Nope.wlmp
if i wanted to listen to some really good kpop id just pop in my aaron carter cd
I’m pretty sure Aaron Carter isn’t from Korea, dude.
http://www.lolbrary.com/content/996/welcome-to-the-internet-ill-be-your-guide-13996.jpg
Gonna start a Defend Assburgers movement. We can’t help that we have an uncontrollable urge to give strong negative opinions on mundane issues! Quit being so ableist!
But yeah the songs with bish singers were good; I don’t really care about pop with bro singers.
same here… i think hot korean bishes are hot… if only dey shaved down dere doe =/
I only got into Kpop originally coz Bubble Pop by Hyuna was giving a srs case of the Yellow Fever.
http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab88/Dancing_Diva_18/11st_wallpaper_ver2_1280_1024_2ne1.jpg YumyummyYum!!!
sidenote: http://www.koreancupid.com = most disappointing dating site evar; there’s more fat “sistas” and cubby goths than actually azns.
This shit is fucking bomb. I guess between liking all these songs and playing Starcraft I guess I’m a Koreeaboo now.
my friends mom has a picture of the blue haired dude on her fridge.
I love how formulaic kpop is. All of the bands and songs have a specific formula to make them as catchy and appealing as possible. I spent too many hours with a korean dude having him explain to us what each band’s image was, how they have strict age ranges for the singers, each group member has a specific role they fill, the singers are groomed from a young age to be in a pop group for like 3 years, and how they retire when they get too old at around 30.
that’s awesome! I still keep in touch with some korean exchange student friends from high school, maybe I should ask them about this topic.
Big Bang is definitely not a duo…. Also what does “tr00ness” mean?
Its kinda hard to explain (please don’t mind the site, the article is whats important):
http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/01/04/2012-state-of-the-scene-address-its-cool-to-be-tr00/
Actually this is probably clearer; I presume you don’t read this site regularly and were linked here via some semi related K-POP discussion thread:
http://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2011/08/is-tr00-pop-punk-the-next-big-scene-trend/
Ok so my friend (who’s into like hardcore rock and all that) explained it to me as a music nerd who gets butthurt a lot and corrects people. If that’s right i guess that’s what i am cause i corrected this article about Big Bang haha.
Your tone and admission imply a mild case of butthurt at worst.
It’s OK, I got pretty butthurt in another recent post about Sarge not liking Strife, one of my fav bands. Happens from time to time
Ah, I thought they were a duo like GD&TOP.
thx for the correction (srs)
If you are a fan of kpop check out kpopview.com for all your kpop news! It’s a brand new site where your opinion actually matters!
dat sponsorship/product placement!! lulz
PLS POST HERE MORE OFTEN
thanks, will do! nah sorry, but my friend and i just started a kpop website and we have like no money to advertise. I really would appreciate it if you could check it out! http://kpopview.com/2012/09/negative-youtube-comments/
thanks!
For some reason I laughed uncontrollably at this.
ALSO strongly recommended: GIRLS GENERATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ
SO CUTE AND CATCHY OMG
^^^ THIS!!!!
I can only imagine OP considered them are so obvious as to need no mention.
idk, I really hate that song and vid. The girls are too adorable and it makes me feel like a creepy pervert when I watch it. Like some sweaty bald 40 year old touching himself while watching it on his eeepc because he can’t hold a job and afford a real computer and also lives in his widowed aunt’s house.
As for the music, it isn’t as big and bombastic as I like kpop to be.
How about this one? Am I being obvious by suggesting the most entry level kpop ever or actually showing you something you are not aware of? sorry if the former
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFbyh0wzTS0
Song rules imo
Also bubble pop
I actually liked the one with more Korean in it for some reason. IDK why, maybe its some koreaboo faggotry
actually it’s the latter. maybe I should’ve prefaced this article by saying that I’m kind of new to kpop
not digging Girls Generations tho :(
sorry bro, it just sounds like a britney spears b-side from the mid-00s to me
(extra faggot points I thought this was going to be a cover of ‘Boys’ by Sabrina)
One of the greatest songs ever written imo (100% srs)
Backtard. Girl’s Generation/Hyuna = easily some of the best/hottest Kpop
what about brackface?
Pretty good post. I am conditioned to like kpop somewhat due to exposure to such videos as the above while waiting for the GSL (starcraft tournament) to start, or when they’re played in between matches or on someone’s stream. Basically, I’m super excited for something and am then exposed to kpop so it tricks me into liking kpop.
Advertising, how does it work?
Also, when watching a Korean pro stream his practice, you are basically going to get either this for the music or the much dreaded Korean R and B, which is god awful. Worst case scenario, K pop is the lesser of 2 evils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGpknJMHK6Q
Would do all their laundry and make their breakfast for all eternity, would do the same for the Sistar group.
BRB, gotta google ” how to get a hot k-pop bish to luv me for hu I am”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ1hvB_L30o
love Sistar