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onwriting-hrarby · 1 month

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respectful thoughts on concept vs aesthetic in the new kpop generation

[disclaimer: this is a very light opinion article about kpop. i am not dissing any groups mentioned, since i love them all, and i'm straying from bringing any negativity. the fact that i don't like some of the music these groups make doesn't mean i can't acknowledge their hard work. often, my critique falls to the managements.]

so, these last few weeks we've had some 3rd generation comebacks in the kpop community and some debuts and other well-known comebacks for the newer generations. but, mostly, i'm going to talk about how music in kpop has been westernalized to the point of becoming mostly generic, forgetting what made kpop since the beginning: concept.

the reason why i like 2nd and 3rd generation the most in kpop is not because of the music, dance or vocals, although i admit it irks me a lot that nowadays most idols won't sing live (like, ever), but because i think it's the pinnacle of concepts vs aesthetics.

what is concept and what is aeshetic: red velvet

let's take my amazing girls, red velvet, my favourite group, and their last comeback. when the teasers were released, we all thought we were going to go "velvet", this time (although i hope we would go red, and i have an inkling we would go red velvet). but the gloominess of the pictures, the elegance, the way they seemed out of the museum strayed a little bit further from the quirkiness of birthday and they felt more serious, much like "peekaboo" concept pictures or even "feel my rhythm's".

when the song released, we were all surprised. we love it, as we normally do with red velvet, but the problem with the main public was that their expectation of the concept of the pictures didn't correlate with the actual concept of the song.

and that's because the teasers were nothing but aesthetics. the aesthetic was dark but the concept was "red velvet". when the idea of the whole paraphernalia around the song doesn't link with the music of the song, we are not talking about a concept but about a aesthetic. a concept is cohesive in the ways we think the song: from the notes, the rhythm, to the message, the pictures, the way we promote it. aesthetic is taking what we feel "looks good" and putting it into a concept that doesn't need it. aesthetics don't tell a story, concepts do.

it doesn't mean that chill kill wasn't a good album or a good comeback. it means that it was at fault since the beginning, because we were waiting to be told a story how red velvet does, from the music itself, while it felt like they were telling it from the pictures.

(that is also what has happened with the lastest comeback of nct dream).

almost all of the 3rd generation groups, and mainly girlgroups, debuted with a clear concept: red velvet (red and velvet concept), mamamoo ("live" concept), girlfriend (kind of 'magical' sphere), blackpink, dreamcatcher, loona, and i feel like this is being left behind to accomodate more "aesthetics", and music —kpop— feels less genuine. that's why i'm not feeling very tied to the kpop sphere anymore: it's all about consumption.

bts and the consumption of kpop

i love bts, and i'm a long time bangtan fan since they debuted, but i am confident in saying that after "fake love" (maybe let's stretch to "idol") their music wasn't as striking. it wasn't that they didn't have a good production, or didn't do their best, or weren't at their best ("black swan" is still amazing in all senses, for example, and works perfectly as a song), but i think it's because they were "westernalized" in the concept vs aesthetics idea. while before bts used to have a clear concept, not only of what they meant as a group and wanted to tell, but also later as it migrated to the trilogy of "love yourself", after they hit it big in 2019 they started confusing, to my opinion, the concept with the aesthetic: they didn't do albums for the sake of telling a story or concept anymore, but for the sake of milking the cow (not the boys' fault). don't get me wrong: mots 7 still had a clear concept in the CD, but it didn't feel as whole as a BTS project anymore. rm even said something along the lines of "we have to stop because we have lost sight of what we're doing".

that's because in the west we're not used to concepts but to aesthetics: the music is not cohesive with a preestablished idea of storytelling, but with the artist. most of the bands and soloists don't change the music style as to what music their storytelling needs but to what their personal needs as an artist do. take taylor swift, for example: every cd is different, but it's cohesive in what taylor swift does. as a long taylor swift fan too, when we got from "speak now" to "red" we were utterly confused, because that's when she began changing her aesthetic, and therefore, her music, but because the concept was "taylor swift", it was still recognizable. she's not the first one: it also happened with the beatles, "revolver" being the first album to truly differ from the others, only to completely change their music with "sgt pepper's". ariana grande changes aesthetics, but her music is mostly cohesive throughout, so does billie eilish, lorde, dua lipa. we would refer to it as having a "music style".

with bts, they found a huge market in the west. it wasn't the only incursion in kpop: after bts and blackpink, twice did, too, and we also had the jopping and popping of the sm super group—which, come on, it didn't land of obvious reasons—and we have aespa, gidle, and more. but bts was the first group to hit it BIG. we will all probably remember exo, red velvet, dreamcatcher and gfriend being ultra famous overseas, but not like bts and blackpink are.

BTS started changing their music around that time. the comebacks after 2019 didn't feel cohesive with what BTS was in their roots. "boy with luv" is a pop song that took us by surprise. "on" didn't land as well as black swan even though i personally love it. "be" didn't have a clear storytelling (or maybe a pandemic storytelling, too soon, imo). the most flagrant cases of BTS losing their concept to the aesthetic was "dynamite" and "butter", but mostly "butter": when "dynamite" was out, it made our summer. it was truly AMAZING. it couldn't get better. it felt like the song we needed, and it should have won the grammy. but it didn't, so they tried to replicate the same song with butter. really: listen to it. it uses the same rhythm, structure, the same "catchyness", and mostly, the same aesthetic.

blackpink, while we can criticize about the quality of their songs and how they use the same structure too—almost to a boring, predictable result—stood true to their concept since the beginning. if we hadn't been used to BTS management of concepts, we would have found that "butter" and "dynamite" worked well in the same way "how you like that" and "kill this love" too. but blackpink always played more with the "music style" than the concept, because when you repeat a concept over and over, not only in storytelling but also the musical creation, it become your signature music (to the point of a meme, almost).

but since BTS started changing and having their much deserved fame, look what happened to other hype groups: txt released their "disco" blue hour, tried to fit it into their concept (imo, they didn't do it very well). gfriend released "mago", while it's a good song it strays too far from the gfriend we were used to (and no: apple wasn't an incursion to far away lands. it still sounded 'magical', just like gfriend did). seventeen did something similar, too. the playfulness of the 70s/80s spread without regarding the groups unique concepts.

sm stood true to themselves: they had already made songs with "disco" (shinee, 'look' by red velvet...) and in contraposition they tried to westernize the concept of NCT. it hasn't worked, because no male group will ever be BTS, even though i believe exo could have had a huge chance only if they had appeared two years after. jyp went into hybe's direction, but kept it true to their group's concepts (itzy didn't sound the same as twice or stay kids). yg wasn't in their best moments as a business, then.

with bts in the west, the whole point of kpop and 3rd generation shifted: they aren't marketing songs aligned to the concept anymore, but to the aesthetic of the song. twice concept had started radically changing with "fancy" and "cry for me", but now it feels like they are just recycling their music over and over (also because twice concept, in the ageist era we live, is difficult to maintain once the members get old.) nct is a mess, trying to have catchy lyrics that utterly don't make any sense. gidle's english songs pale in comparison to the amazing songs in korean. aespa and itzy's english comebacks haven't hit is big. it feels as if there's a "line" that one has to cross to go to the west, which is leaving all your uniqueness of your concept back in korea to make it. and only bts and blackpink have mastered this (even though "the feels" by twice was a big success). [disclaimer: when i talk about success or failure i'm not talking about numbers, but about quality of the song.]

the case of gidle, stay c and aespa

those four groups are, to me, the ones that have maintained their concept all along. i don't talk about boygroups of the 4th generation because i'm not very familiar with them, but let me tell you about discovering gidle and aespa, and then stay c and new jeans:

gidle: they are a strange case, because they don't have a clear concept. that's because their concept, just like red velvet, changes every comeback while maintaining a concept identity. when gidle debuted, i named them the "red velvet daughters" and they still have to fail me in that sense. they are truly versatile, and it feels like they can do any concept they like while maintaining an identity, even with the loss of soojin.

aespa: when they debuted, i was utterly... scared. i didn't know what sm was pulling, and everyone celebrated them as the 4th gen leaders (when itzy was still doing the best numbers). i knew they weren't going to be, because they would stick to the concept. they are still one of the best artists in the 4th generation girlgroup space, and incredibly succesful, but ive has had more sellings, for example. but: numbers doesn't prove quality. ive's music, although very good, feels like there are other groups that could make it. while aespa's music feels unique to aespa. aespa has stayed so true to their concept much like blackpink does (i truly suffered with girls, because i was demaning a slight concept change, i was getting bored) and i think it's safe to say that the kind of music they do is very impactful, always experimental, like what sm pulls best. aespa will have a longetivity that itzy doesn't have (damn, i love itzy so much) just because sm has understood aespa's concept, while jyp still has to grasp what itzy is truly doing. and if itzy gets it right, aespa and itzy will become iconic to their eras.

stay c: now, my girls. truly underrated! stay c is the reencarnation of old bubbly kpop. they are consistent, both with their concept, aesthetic and music. you don't get the feeling that they release for big masses, even if all kpop does generally. they know what they do as a group and they do it incredibly well while staying true to their concept. they have twice producer and it shows because it definitely has a feel of the early twice. they sing well, they dance well, they cooperate. they are a fully fledge group with a mission and a storytelling.

before moving to illit, the case of newjeans

now, newjeans is known to be one of the best debuts in all kpop history, and i personally have listened to their first EP a hundred times, and "ditto" is one of my favourite kpop songs ever. and the reason why they are so successful is because of min hee jin (we can hate her, but come on, she's fucking good in her job): she's a master of concepts. and new jeans had a CLEAR concept. youthful, bubbly, lovely, catchy.

but it's not going to last, i'm afraid. they are impactful and they will make numbers but i truly think that they won't be as legendary as everyone has made it to be and that's because they've taken the same bts route, but far too early. FAR TOO EARLY. their last EP may have a concept as an EP but it feels somehow disconnected to what new jeans represented the first summer. i don't think they should stick to one concept forever—they would encounter the same problems as twice—but they have changed it too quickly without giving it time to properly experiment all the layers of it. differently from gidle or red velvet, which established themselves as truly versatile from the beginning, new jeans have strayed from their path soon enough but not far enough. their songs feel catered to the commodification of content, now, and frankly, almost all of the songs in their last EP, while experimental (and i love it) sound too cohesive, to the point that you listen to the EP while not paying any attention and it might go over your head. their voices' tone, too, which were part of the concept of "youthful girls" are too similar to each other, which makes it difficult to grasp a turning point in the song. you can have same hair, same clothes, but you shouldn't have the same voices and songs over and over.

and that's why groups like illit have debuted now with much success:

ILLIT and the depersonalization of kpop

illit is, to me, the most flagrant cases of confusion between concept and aesthetic and how kpop is shifting nowadays. of course, i have done my research: i've listened to the album, watched most of the "live" performances. and while doing so, as someone who doesn't have a clue why this group was formed (as will do the 80% of the people who first listens to illit), i thought: oh, this is new jeans.

NO, i'm not saying they are the same or they are copying the girls. it's not illit's fault, as it's not all the groups i have been mentioning (the fault is capitalism): but their debut song sounds too much like new jeans, the 2nd ep. they have the same long hair. same youthfulness. and i thought, oh, well, alright. new jeans 2, it's good. it's okay.

UNLESS! i read that they were going for the "magical" concept. truly?, really? are they... magical? they have magical appearances, fairy-like, the dresses are magical, the way they move is truly magnetic (get the pun?), but their music is not.

and that's the fault of what we've been living with the last kpop nowadays: music is concept-less. they live for the aesthetic of the music, but the music feels generic in itself. because it is not unique to what the group wants to cater. they do what's selling, and try to mask it as something original, while it is not. aesthetic is not the same as concept: someone who dresses like dark academia and brings their books to a fancy library and takes pictures doesn't mean they are living for a concept. they are living for the aesthetic because they like it, but the way they experience the aesthetic will be the same as the other people, because there is only one aesthetic.

aesthetic happens when there's empty concepts, while concepts happen when one thinks about the aesthetic, embodies it to a way of turning it over and make their own thing about it.

#kpop #bts #red velvet #blackpink #twice #exo #gidle #new jeans #stay c #illit #music thoughts #hrarby musings #do not hate me please i'm not hating on anyone!#kpop feels so empty now

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maxsix · 1 year

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MAXSIX: TOP 22 SONGS OF 2022

Hi tumblr! Wishing you all a Happy New Year in 2023. Things have been absolutely crazy busy down here so I haven’t posted much lately but I hope you’re all safe, healthy and will have a successful year ahead. I thought KPOP gave us an absolutely amazing year of music actually. It was truly the year of the Girl Group and even though I love boy groups more, I have zero complaints. Here’s my Top 22 songs.

22. That Feeling When by Enhypen. This song is just so comforting for me. I put it on when I’ve had an awful week. It sounds like a walk in the park on a sunny day. The structure, tempo and instrumentation sounds very very similar to Post Malone’s Circles but much softer and less traumatised. I appreciate that they consistently put out albums with fully-formed songs on them. I don’t think they will ever be my bias group because I just don’t really vibe with them. I don’t understand their identity or personality (as a group). I don’t understand what part of the market they are aiming for. But they are just new so they have time to figure that out.

21. BTBT by B.I. Oh Kim Hanbin, we meet again, under very very different circumstances this time. It’s been nearly EIGHT YEARS since Ikon debuted and excuse me while I ride this wave of memory and nostalgia for a minute. I’m always proud of how he came back. I wanted to include Illa Illa but that was last year. There’s something so fluid, calm and content about his material now. It’s a lot like the flow of water and I’m sure there’s a whole paragraph about symbolism and rebirth and change in here somewhere but ain’t nobody got time for my essay on him (me included).

20. Antifragile by LE SSERAFIM. I only checked out this group because I really think Bangs (Chaewon) is a big star and would be an IT Girl if Wonyoung did not already exist. I like Fearlesss and Sour Grapes too but I won’t lie, I am really in my Trash-GG-Pop era and Antifragile is so weird but so catchy. I like the use of these lesser-heard chords and it honestly sounds so enjoyably wrong. Fearless is the more stylish song but sometimes you’d rather wear a fur jacket than black suit, you know? They’re off to a good start but the reason they’re this low on my list is because I cannot really love them yet? There’s no gateway bias for me into LS. Excited for their future output though.

19. INVU by Taeyeon. She is one of those cases where I truly have to separate the artist from the art to enjoy it. Her voice is just beautiful here and this song is so lush and gorgeous. I really like the bittersweet nature of INVU and the emotion she was able to bring to it. She really connects with the audience and I think it’s why she remains so successful and popular. The rest of her personality? I will not comment on.

18. Shut Down by Blackpink. Sorry I ended up liking this trash. I know I am already contractually obligated to support all Australians in KPOP but sometimes the Garbage lady did well and needs to be promoted to Garbage Boss. It was a toss up between this and Pink Venom but this won because the Lisa verses bothered me less here. Jennie was always their better rapper anyways and for those who disagree, you are 100% entitled to your (wrong) opinion.

17. Feel My Rhythm/In My Dreams by Red Velvet. For me, they will never top Bad Boy and Psycho but I enjoyed the classic sampling of Bach in FMR. I’m including both in this because they are so similar and I often listen to them together when I want to be in this very particular mood. They’re just both so pretty and soothing to me and that’s all there is to this comment. Great gowns, beautiful gowns etc.

16. Ballroom Extravaganza by DPR Ian. The contractual obligation to support all Australians continues. He has some absolutely devastating material to be honest. He writes things that take me back to my disastrous uni years; when I thought I was living in a Hole album but truthfully, I just needed therapy and a good night’s sleep. He’s my Breakdown OST man. If you vibed with anything I just wrote there, you need Christian Yu in your life. I don’t listen to him often because I don’t like revisiting my breakdown eras but the music is very very good. He’s like the music version of Sicario, which is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen but never ever want to see again.

15. After Like by IVE. It’s just so cute. That’s all. It’s just fun and cute and you can listen to it without any kind of stress or expectation. The sample from Gloria Gaynor had me wondering how rich their management is because damm, not even BTS sampled something this famous. This one is particularly good to have on when you’re getting ready to go out.

14. Young Luv StayC. This was a song that I instantly understood and connected with. I always thought of this as the sister version of TXT’s Loser = Lover, which was actually my most played KPOP song of 2022, even though it was released August 2021. Sentimental rock songs are just my thing I guess. I really love the tempo of these pop-rock songs and it’s crazy to me that StayC and TXT do the genre SO well but don’t lean more heavily into it. This constant need for re-invention is not always necessary. Sometimes I wish groups could figure out what they do best and stick with it. Not everyone can be Seventeen.

13. Muddy Water by Stray Kids. This is my favourite Skz song this year and if they don’t play this when I see them live, I will protest loudly and annoyingly. Changbin usually has my favourite verse in every single Skz song but it’s all Felix MVP for this one because I always prefer deeper-rap to chipmunk. Hyunjin’s lower register is so nice to listen to and I’m so frustrated they don’t use it more often. Jisung is flawless as usual and I sit here patiently waiting for him to drop his (likely) psychological Jixtape. No clown music please, give me all the shadows of your mind Han Jisung.

12. Ash by Seventeen. What a surprise and revelation this song was, tacked to the end of the album like a “Oh yeah we’ll just put one of our best songs here like an afterthought”. This is Vernon’s song and his rap verse is one of the BEST I have heard all year. It is just flawless in its tone, pace and delivery. He’s a really good example of knowing what he does well and perfecting it over time. Black Eye just came out and I absolutely adore his voice on it. He’s just such a revelation and I hope there is more solo material from him in the future. I didn’t think Seventeen could do anything to surprise me anymore but they do it every time. What a group.

11. HOT by Seventeen. This was the song that got me back into the fandom, after Mansae (seven years ago!) I love the intro. Definitely one of the best intros I’ve heard in a long time because it set the tone immediately. This song always gives me a big hit of energy when it plays, kinda of like taking a sip of Red Bull. I have to just talk about how crazy talented the video editers were. The amount of work that went into the HOT mv blows my mind every day. Whenever I sit and watch it, my head can’t compute that humans put this together.

10. Guerrilla by ATEEZ. The most surprising song for me this year. It was at once the most expected thing from Ateez and so damm unexpected. I didn’t think any group would lean this hard into this genre because Korean versions of anything but pop is always a diluted Hello-Kitty version. I feel like it announced them in a Big Way and I love watching them riding this wave. Every time I listen to them I thank the Universe that they managed to get Jongho in the line up. I think this needed to be their title track (for the impact) but the album absolutely had even better songs on it.

9. Cheers by Seventeen. The confidence and arrogance and cockiness involved here was so tasty to witness. Also: Seungcheol ass. Yeah, I play this one a lot and whenever I blast it driving, my lil Kompressor thinks he’s a Nissan GTR in Tokyo Drift.

8. Wildfire by Monsta X. I know the bare minimum about this group so I had the lowest of expectations but the longevity of this song on my playlist truly surprised me. It’s a slutty club jam with torment and a narrative that I totally understand. I have always maintained that the writing, production and depth of this song is what ‘Red Lights’ was striving to be. I think you need to have lived through some shit to bring the necessary conviction to songs like this. Do I feel that Chan has been through a soul destroying toxic relationship? No. Do I believe Hyungwon has one every Sunday? Absolutely. I pray every day for him to release a solo version of this.

7. Attention by New Jeans. The first thing I heard from them and man, what an introduction. A total breath of fresh air in the age of mash-up noize songs. It took me a long time to figure out what I really like about them and it’s the minimalism. KPOP is so crazy and OTT where More is More so when you get something stripped back like this, it seems new.

6. Cyberpunk by Ateez. The World: Movement was one of the most solid albums released this year and it absolutely blows my mind whenever end of year lists don’t at least acknowledge how cohesive it is and how TIGHT that production was, like damm, they really kept only the choice cuts. I love the journey of Cyberpunk because when it started, my brain just went: Bladerunner 2049 Club Jam. The Hongjoong-Mingi rap though, worth buying the entire album for. They just never disappoint me. If you see Song Mingi today, please tell him that I love him.

5. Hype Boy by New Jeans. This song reminds me SO much of 2nd Gen SM girl groups. It reminds me of S.E.S, who were the first Kpop group that I knew about and loved. This is just a very very good and well written song. There’s really nothing else to it. When the music is so solid, there doesn’t need to be anything else added to the equation. By sounding 2nd Gen, they’ve managed to make groups like Itzy and NMIXX sound so dated and messy in comparison.

4. Run BTS by BTS. Well well well. And look what we have here. It took years of utterly whelming material for me to get something like this from them again. This is so fun, memorable, catchy and full of the attitude and personality I think they kinda lost along their way to infamy. It sounds like 2nd Grade lost all its baby fat and graduated from college with $3 in its pocket. If you think I sound like an old person then get off my lawn.

3. Ring by TXT. Kang Taehyun is my favourite boy on this entire list and this song is his (feat. Yeonjun’s rap, which is one of his best imo). It’s cute but not saccharine. It’s simple without being one of those superficial filler songs on an album. It’s lighthearted but performed seriously well. Anyways, Kang Taehyun is my favourite boy. Did I tell you how Taehyun is my favourite boy. No? Well he is my favourite boy. Ok. That is that all.

2. Ditto by New Jeans. Australians in KPOP always outsell but an Australian-Vietnamese Girl in KPOP? Represent, Pham Hanni. This song and the MVs were like a shot of Nostalgia Cocaine straight into my veins. It hit really hard in a way I was not expecting and I was thinking about all the friends from school that I don’t see anymore. I hope they continue to provide to us with great, well written (age appropriate) music. I have my own issues with their management and can only hope good things for them in the future. This just came out like 5 minutes ago and I already love it.

1. Love Dive by IVE. Even if I didn’t like this song (which I do), I can comfortable give it the title of Song of the Year. This is the perfect representation of them as a concept: high teen, unattainable but not intimidating, cool but not in a way that alienates kids who grew up unpopular. The minimalistic structure and tight production of this song is 10/10 but the things that truly made it for me are the ethereal angel vocals and that beat pause before the chorus at the end. The choices......they are flawless. Future Classic already.

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