Electro and freestyle but with more rapping
I was under the impression that, if there's been any identifiable trend in recent K-pop, it's been in the direction of increasing the electrobeats, with minitrends towards crypto-freestyle and blatant disco, these at the expense of a more R&B sound. But there are probably nearly as many counterexamples as examples, and Lee Hi's soul-r&b "1,2,3,4" was number one for three weeks last month. An even bigger "but," when it comes to trends and directions, is that I just ran across H.O.T.'s "We Are The Future" from way back in 1997, and it feels a lot like electro and freestyle too, though of course with the requisite K-pop rapping. And it's good.
H.O.T. were boyband superstars, probably the band that put SM Entertainment on the map.*
What reminds me of freestyle are the dolorous melodies (sounding a bit like the Mideast), the intertwining instrumental hooks, and the electro-rhythms. Freestyle's heyday in the U.S was the mid and late '80s (Cynthia's great "Change On Me," for example), but Korea has been making hay with it since, though not diving as deep and deliriously into hooks and beats as the original New York-Miami version had.
*You who know K-pop history better than I do should correct me if I'm wrong.
H.O.T. were boyband superstars, probably the band that put SM Entertainment on the map.*
Click to viewWhat reminds me of freestyle are the dolorous melodies (sounding a bit like the Mideast), the intertwining instrumental hooks, and the electro-rhythms. Freestyle's heyday in the U.S was the mid and late '80s (Cynthia's great "Change On Me," for example), but Korea has been making hay with it since, though not diving as deep and deliriously into hooks and beats as the original New York-Miami version had.
*You who know K-pop history better than I do should correct me if I'm wrong.