The State of Korean K-Pop

I'm going to write about a topic on which not much is generally written outside of the Korean Peninsula; what little has been written is generally negative and dismissive of Korea's popular music, K-Pop as it's known colloquially. Amongst Western teachers in Korea, there is often little patience for the music. In the words of one of my old coworkers, "I didn't come to Korea for the music, brah!"

Nonetheless, I'm going to engage with the genre and allow my uninitiated readers to judge for themselves. Let me know your impressions of the following six songs representing the cream of the crop (and conveniently featuring at least one or two words of English!) Many of the songs have taken inspiration from American hip-hop culture, but they remain undeniably Korean in every other aspect.


Wondergirls - Tell Me (Tell Me-Tell Me-Tt-tt-tt-tt-ttell me!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQTIsi0IlZc
This song is BIG. If you hadn't left your officetel appartment since October it is possible that you might not have heard it somewhere, but still doubtful. In the video, one of the girls morphs into (who else?) Wonder Woman and stops her school bus from obliterating an elderly lady pushing what I can only assume is someone else's baby in a baby carriage at a crosswalk. This is an ironic and potentially extremely insensitive theme because, according to wikipedia, in September of 2007 the group's tour bus rear-ended a taxi in Busan, killing the poor taxi driver and wounding nine other people! Most Koreans are completely unaware of this and act surprised when presented with the anecdote. Nearly every Korean girl can do the Tell Me dance, and plenty of guys can, too.

Big Bang - Lies (I'm So Sorry But I Love You It's All Lies)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57GPGTOwSPE
A freakishly popular song, no other way to describe this one. Although the chorus is partially in English, I have never been able to understand why he's apologizing for loving someone and then saying something is a lie. Several Koreans have tried to explain it to me, none successfully. Nonetheless, the song is very catchy and ranks next to Tell Me by the Wonder Girls in popularity and likelihood to be heard absolutely anywhere.

Big Bang - Last Farewell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGgPeAew_T0
The emerging new hit from Big Bang, perhaps to take the crown from Lies, Last Farewell seems to be a sad love song but with a very driving beat and techno flourishes. It is also, you will find if you try to call me, my handphone's waiting music and ringtone at the moment! If you don't like it at first, my challenge to you is to listen to it five times in a row (to mimic the process of music absorption in Korea) and then tell me how you feel toward it! (I can actually recommend that process for any of these songs. K-Pop isn't for everyone; repitition may be the only way for Western ears to develop an appreciation, or at least a tolerance, for the genre if it doesn't immediately strike you. It's what I had to do to be able to stand BEP's My Humps back in America!)

Drunken Tiger - 8:45 Heaven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jP4xS_mTY
The tragic story of someone the guys from Drunken Tiger apparently loved dying at 8:45. Really is a sad song as you can see from the lyrics, but over here they'll play it in a club at the drop of a hat.

Moo Ga Dang - OAO (Shake Your Booty!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs70oum1uS4
To a high school varsity theme, the members of Moo Ga Dang plus Baek Kyung implore the listener to shake his/her booty. I haven't heard this song for a while, but it was big when I first got here and it still lifts my spirits!

One Two - Shake Your Booty (same theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bJXOJkDr-E
In this video, a couple of apparent musical upstarts who are desperate to get into the hot club sacrifice their dignity and compromise their masculinity (in the Western sense of the word) and in the process 'tear da club up' and infuriate the established greats of K-Pop, who leave the club frustrated by how awesome these guys apparently are.



Well, there they are! Let me know your thoughts!