Rant; Kpop; Jrock; Visual Kei; Otaku

[tamamushi]

Wow, I've been very serious and traditional recently, huh?  Well you guys know that's only one side of me.  And it's been a really, really long time, but I feel the need to return to my roots.  Yeah, you asked for it, and you got it:

! A RANT !

I've gotten several requests to rant about Kpop.  Actually, I've talked a little about Kpop before, here

Comments

[evilcoc0nut]

This is entirely TOO accurate. I kinda want to quote all of it, lol. Well, about 80-90% anyway. But that's exactly why I hate K-Ent (mostly Kpop), it's so incredibly manufactured, and like you said, pandering. And I mean, I can sort of understand people liking a couple Kpop groups, but the people who essentially listen to JUST that and like every group that debuts srsly baffle me. It's the same crap in a different Ken-doll form. Why do you need 50 kinds of crap, isn't one enough? lol. But, it comes back to people not really being in it for the music, it's just, about 10 times more obvious than it was with the same shallow VK fans from five or so years ago. I can't wait until L'arc starts looking old, then maybe people will finally stop liking them.

[tamamushi]

Glad you liked it. Yeah, feel free to quote it all you want, spread it around in the Kpop communities, whatever you like~ ww

That's very true... I've got no problem with catchy pop music, it's supposed to be catchy, but the ones I've heard (Gee by Girls' Generation glaringly stands out) seem to be arranged in this completely bizarre way, and they all sound so similar. It's funny to see girls who talked about how much Kyo of Dir en grey's lyrically tortured soul correlated to their existence and are now majorly into Super Junior. They're always the same ones who would talk about how important music was and why they listened exclusively to Visual Kei music because it was just so artistic and soulful and had nothing to do with guys... wonder what the argument for Kpop is.

L'arc has been looking old for a decade now.

[evilcoc0nut]

It's funny to see girls who talked about how much Kyo of Dir en grey's lyrically tortured soul correlated to their existence and are now majorly into Super Junior.

Omguh YES. I actually know someone like this. Well, know of, I wouldn't want to really know them. >>; But on the catchy thing, the hilarious thing is their songs are extremely UN-catchy. Vs Japanese pop or even US pop tbqh, yes even JE. I heard a few say, Yamapi and KAT-TUN songs and they were immediately memorable. But I've heard these random Kpop songs and they disappear immediately, I can't even recall choruses. That basically violates the #1 rule of pop. Ergo, if it looks like pop but can't even manage to sound like it, it's basically trash. XD

Cleeeeearly not old enough for their fangirls to stop liking them. D:

[juiceshop]

I somehow experienced it the opposite way that you did. The JE songs that I've heard are pretty bland and the choruses never stuck, also, I never thought the vocals were that great either. Which is why I know nothing about JE and have never followed any of their bands except for their variety shows just because they're funny on TV. But Kpop songs are catchy, they purposefully make it super catchy, they write a shit ton of similar songs and put them into a pool and choose certain songs they want certain groups to debut with. I mean tamamushi even mentioned it, their Youtube marketing strategy is so effective that when you go onto the homepage, the first top videos you see listed are Kpop. Just today, I went on there and I saw the new Wondergirls mv and SNSD's The Boys on the top list under Music. And when one new video gets released, it gets millions of views in a matter of hours or one to two days. I don't think that's ever happened with Jpop, or maybe it did in a few instances, but I've never read or seen anything about it

[juiceshop]

Yeaaah. I'm about to tell a bunch of hipsters and other white people--who's only knowledge of Asia is its politics and relations with US because it's what is in the news and it's what they've learned about in class and history--about Kpop and Korean and Asian culture

[juiceshop]

[cont'd] We talked with a Korean Ph.D graduate in Sociology from Duke about our project, and he asked me how I got interested and why I was interested. And I honestly didn't know how to answer him, I just told him that it suddenly appeared on the blogs I frequent. It popped up on the internet. It just... appeared out of nowhere. I really did not know how else to answer, and as for why I got into it, well, it was just there and you know, I was bored, and I admit I did think some of them were pretty hot. He also said that the Korean wave was an accidental success. South Korea never thought their pop culture would become such a huge global hit, and it changed the face of marketing entertainment in South Korea. I have to review my notes but that was basically what I got out of it. For many of the books and articles I read, they referenced the drama "Winter Sonata" as one of the first big facilitators of the Korean wave. How Japanese people LOVED the drama so much and etc etc, and why Kdramas started becoming more popular and how Jdramas

[tamamushi]

It's so fascinating, thank you for sharing it. I knew you have tons of information on that aspect of it. I still don't know about the whole "we happened into popularity by accident" thing. During the Olympics, Japanese media was having a fit about their hopes for Asada Mao and how Kim Yu-Na was her rival and whatnot. It seemed Korea was suddenly showing a lot of interest in being seen internationally, entering athletes into lots of sports and bidding for the Olympics as well. Not to mention all of those Korean Air commercials they seem to show during every break. I think the Korean publicity machine is absolutely brilliant.

About the people falling in love with Korea and learning Korean and going to Korea: it's the exact same thing as all the otaku who have idolised anime and Japan and that view of us for all those years. It's all the same people, but they've just redirected their passion. And I am so glad. Especially because, like you said, now America/the West is getting a completely new impression of Asia, and one that is

[juiceshop]

The Boys. Watch

[tamamushi]

I lost it at "GG". But where's all the winking? It wasn't nearly as offensive or cutesy as Gee. That video was made of winky things.

Being into Kpop is acceptable, cool, and publicly talked about? Now that is scary.

[twittering304]

So this is where I confess my undying love to you. I'll be your Reita if you be my Ruki! XD

But seriously, I agreed with everything you had to say. I've probably been in the VK scene for about 5 years, give or take and I can remember seeing the number of "I left Jrock for Kpop" secrets on Jrock Secrets go from one every so often to like three every post! And I never understood it. Especially the idea of LEAVING one to go the other.

Oh and the crazy fans! Dear god! I see things like that all the time within the Gazette and Dir en grey fan bases. It's frightening, obnoxious, amusing, and also sad. I admit I indulge in the fact that I find VK boys sexy (I've always like androgyny) but if I call a band my favorite band its because I'm devoted to the music. And I respect the fact that they are indeed human men (with penises and sex drives). Lol, the whole Miku thing was HILARIOUS.

Honestly bless this whole post for being truthful, informative and FREAKIN HYSTERICAL! I will be laughing forever over the Wataru comment. XD

[tamamushi]

Why thank you! Sure, go ahead and get your nose scarf out