This is insanely catchy and fun. I haven't had such a strong instinct to put something on loop since, I dunno, Limited Addiction? THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE IN MY HEAD ALL DAY NOW DAMMIT
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One reason this is a welcome surprise is that nearly all girl groups in Korea have become Sistar lite the last year. "Alone" really ruined diversity in kpop girl group pop. Exceptions exist of course, existing SM girl groups among them. Anyway I really like the visual style of the video. The song is another result of the SM song camps where in house SM composers work with European ones in teams - the interesting (ironic?) result of this SM approach is that they to a much larger extent than other Korean labels who use only Korean composers have managed to create a uniquely Korean pop sound.
I think that might be more of a result of the specific composer stable SM has recruited. After all, Gee and Bing Bing have pretty uniquely Korean sounds, as well, so my impression is that the likes of YYJ and Kenzie just have that strong a sense of their own music style. Consistent success also enables them more creative freedom, as management would trust their compositions, whereas other composers are still using Western tricks chasing after a mainstream hit.
Do you know who did the extra composition for Red Light?
The other aspect may be simply SM's reputation. Most recent interviews with teams who wrote for SM involve them talking about adapting to each group's individual styles, trying to tailor the song to them. So the European teams are explicitly trying to write songs specific to SM groups and appropriate to be part of the SM oeuvre, whereas the non-SM Korean composers may be just doing their own thing with little to no guidance from their management companies. (Besides the obvious "make us a money-maker")
Credits seem to be lyrics YYJ, composed by Chad Hugo, Will Simms, Anne Judith Wik, Chris Holsten. Those pesky Norwegians got their fingers on this as well.
Oh yes it's definitely controlled by SM's head composers, and that's why their camps and meetings work so well, the SM creative team designing the sound and then, often, foreign composers doing the hard labour. I think this is their modus operandi as of late whereas earlier in SM's life they may have just bought European tracks finished or at least co-composed less often. I don't know that, though, just a feeling.
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Do you know who did the extra composition for Red Light?
The other aspect may be simply SM's reputation. Most recent interviews with teams who wrote for SM involve them talking about adapting to each group's individual styles, trying to tailor the song to them. So the European teams are explicitly trying to write songs specific to SM groups and appropriate to be part of the SM oeuvre, whereas the non-SM Korean composers may be just doing their own thing with little to no guidance from their management companies. (Besides the obvious "make us a money-maker")
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Oh yes it's definitely controlled by SM's head composers, and that's why their camps and meetings work so well, the SM creative team designing the sound and then, often, foreign composers doing the hard labour. I think this is their modus operandi as of late whereas earlier in SM's life they may have just bought European tracks finished or at least co-composed less often. I don't know that, though, just a feeling.
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I've seen a post where listing how every track on Shinee's Lucifer has been bought and released by other western artists as well.
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