Here’s the deal: I don’t listen to A LOT of new music. Why? Well, I have very particular tastes. While a lot of females will probably get hype in the club over some crunk, booty-poppin’ tune that just came out with absolutely no real lyrics and a hard beat, me… not so much. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being into that kind of music, but unless it’s become a giant ear worm, I can’t get into it.
However, as of late, there are a couple of songs that have been on my radar. And they’re MASSIVE ear worms (to me, anyhow). So much so, that I can’t stop playing them on repeat — which is a good and bad thing because I’ll probably listen to these songs until I became mentally and physically sick of them. Yeah, I know.
Judging by the title of my entry, you can guess that this post is about *drum roll please* Korea (South Korea to be exact)!
I know, you’re probably looking at me like “Wait, you’re a black girl from the West Indies, living in Brooklyn, New York. What can you possibly know about Korea?” But guess what? I know I like their music and even a couple of their movies!
Thanks to modern-day inventions like the internet (and friends with things for cute Asian guys), I’ve been exposed to the wonderful world of K-Pop.
*Disclaimer* I do not presume to be an authority on K-Pop. In fact, I’m still a novice picking and choosing specific songs that catch my ear. With that being said, I will continue on.
A couple years ago, a young woman I’m pretty acquainted with named Elba (who is like a makeup extraordinaire) probably put me on to my first K-Pop song. It was Seung-Ri’s “VVIP.” The reason why I was interested in it? Because I saw a gif of him gyrating his hips on Tumblr and I was intrigued.
YES. I ADMIT IT, damn it! I wanted to see him shake his tush — I’m only human!?!
Anyway, after watching that video, I became even more interested in the Korean music scene. Now, one thing you must know about me is that I “fan girl” over things very quickly and pretty intensely. Once I have feelings about something, that’s it. I have those feelings until they die off, which sometimes happens almost as quickly as they begin (see: Alexander Skarsgard). Another thing you should know: I’m pretty open-minded. While most people would scoff at the notion of listening to music in a language they have NO KNOWLEDGE of, I instead took on the challenge.
Music is universal to me. You can ultimately know what a person is singing just by the tone, and the overall sound. Somber = sad, lamenting, upbeat = happy, hopeful. It’s not freaking rocket science. Furthermore if Asians can sing along to Beyoncé and Jay Z without feeling any way about it, why can’t I jam to their music?! Another cool thing about K-Pop? Some of the songs feature English words. I guess that would mean they’re singing in KorEnglish, but I digress.
After putting me on to “VVIP,” Elba told me to try another song called “Strong, Baby” (which I fuggin’ LOVED) and then a bunch of tunes by Big Bang, which is the group Seung-Ri or “VI” sings in. She ALSO alerted me to the fact that actor Bi Rain from Ninja Assassinis also a Korean pop singer:
Naturally, I was all like “what?!” That makes no sense. Then I watched a couple of his performances…
So in learning ALL of this, I started my own self-paced study into the world of K-Pop. Now, I can bore with the TEDIOUS way in which some of these kids are basically taken from their homes to endure dance and vocal training for years because they can even release a single, but I won’t (but you can read about some of it in this Village Voice article). Instead, I’ll just show you a couple of the songs I’m all about right now.
I’m probably going to try and do this frequently, since I find a new song I like ever so often. So, first on today’s list:
Why? Because VI is just getting his sexy on. The suit, the hair, EVERYTHING just works. If I lived in Seoul, I’d throw my panties at him if I saw him on the street. Yes, I went there.
I just love the beat, the guitar at the beginning, the way he just smolders with those eyes…
and makes suggestive movements with his hips…
Yum. VI is proving that he’s all grown up and ready to do sexy bedroom things with the ladies. Plus, the music is dance friendly and the hard remix (at the end of the video) is definitely something I’d jam to at the club.
Why? Because I’m really loving Hyolyn (Hyorin?)’s voice. You probably don’t know who I’m talking about, so here’s what she looks like in the video:
She’s basically the main vocals in the chorus and this girl can saaaaaaang. You’re probably not hearing how great she is because you’re completely distracted by the fact that they’re all singing in Korean, but she’s definitely got a voice on her. Don’t believe me? Listen to her sing Beyoncé’s “Halo.” I’ll wait.
Also the song’s just sexy. You kinda just want to give them, whatever “it” is after their sultry begging.
Hyolyn’s actually got this single out now called “One Way Love” that is growing on me. I’ll probably mention in my next K-Pop post…
Why? One, because CL (the lead singer of K-Pop band 2NE1) is an all-around bad ass. This chick has so much swag in this video, I can’t stand it. Her style is amaze balls (which is why she’s fashion designer Jeremy Scott’s muse) and she’s rocking gold fronts with fanged canines like nobody’s business.
Two, I’m IN LOVE with the choreography. As simple as it looks, it’s clean, funky, and makes you want to dance. I dare anyone of you to pick it up, and do it justice.
And besides that, CL’s rapping is cool, I like the flow, and the chorus is easy enough that I can sing along.
All in all, CL is just #werqing it for me. Get it girl!
These are probably the three songs that have been getting the most play on my MP3 player this week, but not the only songs I’m on to. I’ve got a couple other tracks from G-Dragon, Big Bang, 2NE1, Jay Park etc. that I listen to. I’ll let you know which ones are in rotation in my next installment.
As I mentioned before, I’m am NO authority on K-Pop, so I don’t know what’s the latest in music game until it’s too late. So if you’d like to school me on some songs I should be on, feel free to hit a girl up and tell her what’s good!
To continue on the theme of “music,” I will admit to a guilty pop pleasure that I’ve gotten (and still get) a lot of slack for from family members, friends and even a few co-workers. So here it is: I absolutely, without a doubt, love 80’s Pop. And I don’t mean the classics that artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, or Whitney Houston turned out in the decade of my birth that everyone in the world knows and has on their iPods for good measure. I also don’t mean that I listen to these songs ever so often. When I say I love 80’s Pop, I’m saying that I listen to it maybe every day, as much as I possibly can and actually actively search for more songs to upload to my mp3 player.
I love everything about 80’s pop and sometimes curse my mother for not having me sooner than she did so I could’ve been alive and functioning in the 80’s to hear all this music first hand (though I doubt that would’ve happened, living in the West Indies and all…). I listen to the hits of known legends like Joan Jet and the Blackhearts, Bon Jovi and then the more obscure bands like English Beat (who’s hit ‘Tenderness’ is the end song for the movie ‘Clueless’), Whitesnake, Haircut 100, Psychedelic Furs, Kajagoogoo and the list goes on…
The problem that lies with my great love of 80’s pop (in all its glorious aged beauty) is that I live in 2011. Music has made brilliant strides with regards to technology and sound since the 80’s and the 80’s definitely had its share of setbacks. Most notably, the era of bad hair movements including dripping jerry curls, and super teased mountain volume. Having no color coordination was all the rage, and wearing dresses with shoulder pads, puffy shoulders and tacky bubble dresses made of a fabric that makes me cringe at the sound of it. The AIDs and crack epidemic made its break into the world and people were living in over-indulgent lifestyles.
And of course, in the year 2011, 80’s Pop isn’t relevant unless someone does a cover of it (enter Rihanna’s sampling of ‘Tainted Love’ and Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’ cover/sample of Dead or Alive’s mega hit).
You can imagine the stares and weird faces I get when I’m driving to the supermarket and I’m blasting Billy Ocean’s ‘Suddenly’ of DeBarge’s ‘All This Love’ with the windows down. According to society, only those who were old enough to appreciate said music should be reveling in its magic, not a 20-something like me who was still on breast-milk when these songs were in their prime. But guess what? I honestly don’t care much for music generated for my generation. Most of today’s rap songs are bragging rights and some of the pop songs of the last five years or so have become billboard ads for gregarious lifestyles that I can’t afford. It’s over-sexed and over priced and I’m not impressed. Popular music now is literally a popularity contest and I’m only interested if a beat or instrumental composition is audibly entertaining. Other than that, I can care less.
I appreciate 80’s Pop for the fun and funky lyrics. Granted, some of it didn’t make much sense, but the focus was on the music and the people it was reaching out to, without a deep-rooted agenda to push something. And as for the music videos, they all told stories…which is something dozen of artists have forgotten to do when releasing singles these days. When I watch Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello,’ I’m not only singing along but seeing his confusion to get the girl he wants with just the simple start of the word ‘hello.’ And while people make fun of the hair, style and the (in my opinion AWESOME) music, it is all relevant. As “corny, lame and aged” the 80’s may seem, the style is definitely making a reappearance in fashion and some of the songs are coming back with new (albeit not that much better) covers in the current day. I don’t care what anyone says, 80’s pop music is le best.
“My Guilty Pop Pleasure” is an ongoing effort on the XHIBIT P blog to openly address some of the internal conflicts and contradictions that we often feel towards our love for pop culture. If you’d like to be a guest contributor, please contact us.
K-Pop boy band, BIGBANG
That’s right, you read correctly. My guilty pop pleasure is Korean Pop, otherwise known as K-Pop. Now looking at me – a black girl from the West Indies, raised in the notorious rap borough of Brooklyn- you would not think that I would have a thing for music from another part of the world, in another language no less, but I do. I’ll tell you how it all started: one night while watching a mini-marathon of Degrassi (another guilty pleasure for another time) on the N, I stumbled upon the music video for K-Pop Princess BoA. The name of the song was “Eat You Up,” and I was immediately intrigued. She could sing, dance and had style. After a while, however, she disappearedand I have yet to see the video on T.V. again.
BoA “Eat You Up” video:
Months later I stumbled on a copy of The Village Voice, with Jin Young Park, a mega mogul in the Korean entertainment industry on the cover. I have to tell you, I was excited to see this, as I was intrigued by BoA and I wanted to learn more about the culture of K-Pop. The article talked about him trying to launch some of his artists in the states and hoping that he could get them to cross-over into the American music industry. I found his intentions commendable, but I wasn’t too happy with some of the training methods that were going down. It seemed to me that these artists were being manufactured as Asian Hip-Hop knock offs, trained by hip-hop choreographers and enduring singing lessons requiring them to learn English and listen to nothing but Beyonce, Usher, Mariah, Alicia Keys and Keisha Cole. When I told my friends about this, some of them were not pleased.
“Can’t we have something that is genuinely ours?” They demanded. One girl said that she detested the fact that artists feel the need to use hip-hop and R&B culture as a means to break into the industry, using “I can’t stand when [non-blacks] use what is typified as ‘black music,’ to get ahead. These Asians are doing the same thing.” While I tried to tell her that music knows no boundaries, I had to admit that she had a point. I watched videos of some boy bands singing Boys II Men, wearing baggy pants with backward caps, rapping Jay-Z and it left a jarring taste in the mouth.
Years later while mindlessly going through my tumblr dashboard, a girl I knew had a video of a Korean guy dancing. I asked who it was and she (being the K-Pop junkie that she is) pointed me in the right direction, full on with band names, music videos, and some of her favorite songs. And I must admit that while I felt like I was looking at hip-hop through an altered mirror, I found that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. The lyrics (mostly in Korean) are tamer than anything that’s being produced in Hip-hop and R&R at the moment and the beats are infectious. When I walk home from work listening to it on my MP3 player, all I hear and feel is the music. And while they do “borrow” a lot of Hip-Hop and R&B to draw in audience and influence listeners, one thing I HAVE to stress is that they’ve embraced something outside of their own (as I’ve been told) rigid culture and made it their own. I now find it a compliment that Koreans look to ‘black’ music culture and want to be a part of it. Groups like 2NE1 and BigBang have taken elements of hip-hop culture along with other pop culture elements and have dominated the pop charts in Korea and quite a few slots in my MP3 player.
Posted by Patrice Peck on 7/22/11 • Categorized as Blog,Celebrities,Television I will admit it. For a person who believes reality TV is the end of civilization as we know it, I take much pleasure in watchingRuPaul’s Drag Race just as much as the budding drag queen living in the West Village does. While many may laugh and cringe as the thought of the show, this show has some truly fine points.
First, let’s explore the premise of the show: RuPaul and his panel of judges find men across the country who either live their lives or have livelihoods consisting of female impersonation who want to vie for the chance to be a Drag Superstar. The men arrive to the show, and are given work spaces filled with all knick-knacks possible to complete a daunting task every episode. Of course, throughout the season, feuds are ignited and some cat fights ensue. There are tearful breakdowns, and full-on verbal assaults laced with so much wit or shade (as the queens call it), that I think I’d be really scared to ever encounter a gay man on a bad day. At the end of each show, the two weakest showgirls must lip-synch for their lives with RuPaul giving his famous warning “Don’t F*ck It Up.” The lights dim and the competitors go at it, usually incorporating tons of finger-waving, hair flicking, vogue dancing and sometimes wig-pulling, gymnastic tumbling and split-tricks.
At the same time, I refuse to believe in reality TV, nonetheless support it. I consider reality TV absolutely nothing short of mindless television. It’s a cheap shot at getting the public to tune in for stations to get ratings without any real work. While some claim to be doing something “that’s never been seen/done before,” others are just paying people to act stupid in front of a camera. In the beginning it wasn’t so bad when only a handful of shows were on the air. Then, it seemed like either studios were giving up on writers or writers were trying to make a quick buck because we got tons of craptastic shows. Now it’s almost as though television is heavily polluted with nothing but cameras tailing people wherever they go, setting the bar of American entertainment at an all time low. It seems to me that every reality TV show consists of drunken parties, unnecessarily staged drama, and talentless hacks that chirp all over the place talking about nothing that’ll ever matter to me, but with RuPaul, I am weak at the knees.
Why do I enjoy it so, you ask? First and foremost, it’s RuPaul! He’s the only black man who can pull off a dress and everyone in the world loves him. As a matter of fact, he’s the only black man in the world that I think people prefer to see in a pair of stilettos rocking a frock. Secondly, unlike Tyra’s America’s Next Top Model, I must say that this show is a testament to the creativity that is locked within a human being. The transformations that some of these men undergo in order to become their female persona is nothing short of talent. It’s amazing to see what make-up, wigs and duct-tape can do the man’s body to make him look like a woman. There have been a few times while watching the show with a male companion, I was told “I would’ve gotten caught out there…he looks like a real female.” The costumes, jewelry, hairstyles and runway walks make the women on Top Model look like little girls walking in their mothers’ high-heels.
The part that I most admire about the show is that for one, it’s giving gay men an outlet that they’ve never had before. Not only do they get a place to do what they do best, they are free of judgment or heckling as they would in their hometown for being homosexual males and/or female impersonators. Some of these men share their stories with the audience and it’s really endearing. Some come from homes where their parents accepting their gay lifestyle, while others were thrown out, disowned, living on the streets on the brink of suicide until someone came to them and showed how drag could make them feel better about themselves. These female alter-egos are a visual representation of their courage and determination. And as a female, it’s slightly endearing to know that a man can feel strong…while dressed as a woman albeit…in a weird way. Though we live in a homophobic society, I enjoy reveling in a show that gives the gay community something to look to and give them confidence in knowing they can live as they please and enjoy their life to the fullest. And as a woman, you can pick up a few helpful hints on how to look just that much better.
is also a Korean pop singer:
AljaTheWriter 