K-Pop: Opinions on industry and music?

OriginalPromise

New member
K-Pop. Flashy performances, catchy tunes, doll-like faces and sexy bodies make up the whole package. Musically and Industrially speaking however, K-Pop is obviously fabricated and over-produced. Kids and teens are trained since young age and "groomed" into stars. They are taught how to dance, sing, and act pretty infront of the camera. Because of this system, many "idols" are very good entertainers since debut.
The problem however is that most idols (at least 100~300 groups/bands active in a country smaller than the State of California) do not compose their tracks by themselves. Songs are bought from producers inside and outside of the country. Since most of the sounds come from the few main domestic (South Korean) producers, fabrication becomes an obvious issue. (Brave Sound, Double Sidekick)
K-Pop is also very structured. Most songs follow this structure: Intro - Verse - Chorus - Verse - Bridge - Chorus , which makes a significant amount of songs sound similar. Every comeback song is backed with flashy choreography and expensive music videos with colorful lights and stages. (2NE1's Come Back Home video cost $500,000 alone in production, last video in links below)
Personally, I love K-Pop. The songs I produce infuse may K-Pop sounds. But I do recognize the problem within the industry, ranging from scandals of entertainment agencies abusing teenagers and idols, to the fabrication of the industry.

Facts about the Industry:


  • K-Pop is officially backed and funded by the Korean Government
  • The Hallyu (Korean Entertainment) wave is valued at $83.2 billion since of 2014
  • It costs at least $1 million to create a "low-budget" K-Pop group
  • Modern K-Pop was formed when rock bands were made illegal in Korea
  • A Scandal can ruin a singer's career and life. (Unlike the US where you can get famous for a sex tape) (cough Kim Kardashian cough)
  • More facts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-pop (Wikipedia... Yes but it's accurate)

K-Pop Videos (somebody add a spoiler..):
(Girl in Gangnam Style if you didn't notice)

(Won Youtube Music Awards)

(13 member boy band)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUFQJrCT7M
(Korean Rap?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAvk_L9CHws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLbfv-AAyvQ



I want to know about this community’s opinion on K-Pop. I recognized that many of you guys produce beats for Hip-Hop and other genres far from South-East Asian pop, so I’m expecting many different kinds of reactions. Thank you!

 
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Im a fan of different kinds of music and k pop is one of them. I love the creativity of some k pop tracks (the instrumental only, I cant comment on the lyrics and song structure cause I cant understand korean). Of course every industry has its flaws and all be it music, film or whatsoever but that doesn't mean I wont support them.
 
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I kinda like how rap sounds in Korean.
I should give it a listen!

As for me I like S Korea but K-Pop? Hmm. Not very interesting, though I'm sure there is something good.

As op said do not compose their tracks by themselves. This is the key. Such groups won't last long. Only songwriter can lead, well, someone who actually does something, most obvious example is Thom Yorke.

Unfortunetly, something similar used to happen in russia and other countries it seems. Someone writes songs, bands come, bands go away. I always thought of it as a bad way to do things. People like to stare at stars.. though me too.
This industry approach doesn't seem to stop, date 2015.

Other culture is always interesting.
 
All the things you mention are precisely the reason why I hate it. Government funded. Rock illegal. Clean shaven babyfaces. This sounds eerily like what the Nazi's used to do... of course the nazi's had their flaws too, didn't mean there were more than enough idiots willing to support it. Wasn't South Korea the country in political turmoil after it appeared that the government was in embroiled in some weird corrupt cult like racket?



"Fuck that, when did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children?"
 
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