American Idols: the MJ connection
I think most of us were fans in time for the glorious glut of special stages at the end of 2009, when every Kpop awards/end-of-year festival under the sun included at least one Michael Jackson tribute. It really highlighted how much Kpop has been so heavily influenced by the man, both in sound and style.
SM in particular have taken the MJ style to heart, as other companies have tended towards more R&B influences. Of the Michael/Janet covers/routines done by Kpop artists, SM artists have always provided the most crisply executed dancing, (bar Gahee) closest to the MJ aesthetic. Rino's MJ fandom is well-known, and it shows in her choreography, but Jaewon's fast-paced precision style fits, as well. In addition, Shinee's Sherlock bears some resemblance in execution to Michael Jackson's "Scream," (Teddy Riley was not involved with either track) while it also makes one wonder how much of the singing in "Love Like Oxygen" was trying to emulate MJ's delivery style. And never forget BoA, who might well be one of the few artists to rival Michael in talent and execution.
Point is, Kpop loves their MJ, and they're very open in showing how he's influenced and inspired them. But what they don't seem to realize is that Michael was very open about his influences, as well. The best learned from the best.
I first mentioned the Nicholas Brothers in my Top Hat and Tails tribute post. You can see that I linked this video in there, too.
But there are more obvious influences. Let's take a look:
It is quite interesting to see how Michael managed to divorce the Fosse full-body pose-based style of dance from its Broadway connotations. In a comparison video such as the above, the similarities are obvious, but in context many might dismiss it because of the original music. Take for example the inclusion of Fosse's "Rich Man's Frug" routine in the original Bring It On! film, played for laughs as a "lol weird Broadway dancing" instead of as a routine from the man that influenced MJ. (Besides which, "Rich Man's Frug" is intentionally a satiric routine, why the hell would they be watching that as a possible source of cheerleading inspiration? There are so many other Fosse routines better suited for their purposes.) Rarely is it that MJ fans learn about his influences and grand-influences because of the gap in perception of what kind of dances fit with what kind of music. Just look at how Kpop obviously doesn't have a clue. The comparisons are generally made in the reverse direction, musical fans who then became familiar with MJ. (And how much new Fosse exposure has Beyonce really engendered?) Of course, there's some snobbery on the musical side as well. Fosse has his "All That Jazz" semi-autobiographical film and the tribute Broadway show "Fosse," but will we ever see a stage-adaptation of "Moonwalker" sweeping the Tony Nominations? (It certainly does seem more likely these days, what with all of the jukebox musicals popping up, but considering that the latest one is a Gershwin revue, probably still not for a while. Besides which, MJ already has that Cirque du Soleil show.)
Credit to AbejaMariposaIII for making the following wonderful trilogy of comparison videos:
And putting it all together, helpfully synced to simutaneous clips of the man himself. This is the tl;dr video, of course.
SM in particular have taken the MJ style to heart, as other companies have tended towards more R&B influences. Of the Michael/Janet covers/routines done by Kpop artists, SM artists have always provided the most crisply executed dancing, (bar Gahee) closest to the MJ aesthetic. Rino's MJ fandom is well-known, and it shows in her choreography, but Jaewon's fast-paced precision style fits, as well. In addition, Shinee's Sherlock bears some resemblance in execution to Michael Jackson's "Scream," (Teddy Riley was not involved with either track) while it also makes one wonder how much of the singing in "Love Like Oxygen" was trying to emulate MJ's delivery style. And never forget BoA, who might well be one of the few artists to rival Michael in talent and execution.
Point is, Kpop loves their MJ, and they're very open in showing how he's influenced and inspired them. But what they don't seem to realize is that Michael was very open about his influences, as well. The best learned from the best.
Click to viewI first mentioned the Nicholas Brothers in my Top Hat and Tails tribute post. You can see that I linked this video in there, too.
But there are more obvious influences. Let's take a look:
It is quite interesting to see how Michael managed to divorce the Fosse full-body pose-based style of dance from its Broadway connotations. In a comparison video such as the above, the similarities are obvious, but in context many might dismiss it because of the original music. Take for example the inclusion of Fosse's "Rich Man's Frug" routine in the original Bring It On! film, played for laughs as a "lol weird Broadway dancing" instead of as a routine from the man that influenced MJ. (Besides which, "Rich Man's Frug" is intentionally a satiric routine, why the hell would they be watching that as a possible source of cheerleading inspiration? There are so many other Fosse routines better suited for their purposes.) Rarely is it that MJ fans learn about his influences and grand-influences because of the gap in perception of what kind of dances fit with what kind of music. Just look at how Kpop obviously doesn't have a clue. The comparisons are generally made in the reverse direction, musical fans who then became familiar with MJ. (And how much new Fosse exposure has Beyonce really engendered?) Of course, there's some snobbery on the musical side as well. Fosse has his "All That Jazz" semi-autobiographical film and the tribute Broadway show "Fosse," but will we ever see a stage-adaptation of "Moonwalker" sweeping the Tony Nominations? (It certainly does seem more likely these days, what with all of the jukebox musicals popping up, but considering that the latest one is a Gershwin revue, probably still not for a while. Besides which, MJ already has that Cirque du Soleil show.)
Credit to AbejaMariposaIII for making the following wonderful trilogy of comparison videos:
And putting it all together, helpfully synced to simutaneous clips of the man himself. This is the tl;dr video, of course.