The K-Pop Thread

So I'd been thinking about starting a K-Pop thread for a while, and then I saw Deep Funk write this and almost responded in that thread, but this seemed like the optimal time.

Sure there might be some eyes rolling right now...I get it, I didnt start investigating K-Pop till I got my assignment to Korea. But being as into music as I am, doing some K-Pop research was an easy way to get some cultural exposure. And what I found was that K-Pop is just like anything else, it follows Sturgeon's Law, most of it is crap, but some of it is really solid.

Now, Im not a fan of 2NE1 like Deep Funk seems to be, though they are the biggest girl group.

My favorite is F(x), and they just happened to release the first full song off their upcoming new album today, so I'll lead with that.

Its pretty experimental/artsy/synthpoppy for K-Pop




Also, Krystal is the best girl <3

 

There is so much good K-Pop. The Koreans sometimes seem better at Pop than us in the West. Language barrier? Not a problem.

Here is Hyuna's "Bubble Pop" for instance. I can listen to this and not mind it. The new Madonna track, f**k no.



Add this track. That opening and what follows, it gets my initial attention. There is life in the Pop formula and Korean producers are understanding Pop really well.



Western Pop is lagging behind...

 

Good Pop has to be catchy. Song writing matters less when you are aware of the "repeat stuff" aspect of Pop music.

 

One of my favorite, really nice pop song (don't know what it means though):

 

Song So Hee is pretty amazing. She's more of a traditional folk singer vs k-pop, but still, she's the shit.
I think she's still a teenager too, which makes her deep voice all the more amazing. Apparently she's been trained for this since she was 5 years old.

 

Deep Funk, yeah I just cant get into alot of it. Hyuna doesnt do anything for me. As i said i dont really like 2NE1, i also dont like girls generation, brown eyed girls, wonder girls, or EXID.

for the longest time the only k-pop group i actually listened to cause I enjoyed their music was f(x). Their album Pink Tape has loads of good songs on it, pretty girl being my favorite.



though I think Red Light is my favorite song of theirs now, that album isnt as strong overall




This lead to me being basically heartbroken when i found out they were basically going to stop making music due to Sully's scandal with a older korean dude...

but shortly after that I discovered Red Velvet, their first song Happiness was super awesome



but the ep that came out after that, Ice Cream Cake wasnt that great.

but recently they released their first full length and it is very strong, loads of good songs all over that one.




You can probably get an idea of the style of pop i enjoy from my choices haha but Im always willing to find new stuff and broaden my horizons, Id be interested in links to what you consider some of the bigger groups best songs ive just never been able to get into them before.

And Nne411, as for eye candy, you cant beat AoA, when you put Seolhyun, Choa, Hyejeong and Minna all in the same group thats some next level shit. their singles are usually catchy enough, and the eye candy works, but their albums are never very good over all

 

While you guys are ogling all the girls, I'm here enjoying both sexes. EXO's latest album (Exodus) is at least 12 parsecs better than their first album. There are several great songs, but What If... is by far my favorite.



Also, their song El Dorado from the same album is one of the stranger pop songs I've heard in a while, almost a serious tone, something I thought of as 'Epic Pop'. Not among my favorites, but interesting because of its' style.



edit - somehow missed the Super Junior and Guy.M videos in the sea of girl groups posted.

 

This idol group environment most of the times doesn't do justice for the true vocal capability of their 'main vocalist' or whatever. Got to find their solo performance to truly appreciate them;Taeyeon of SNSD, Sojin from Girl's Day, Uji from Bestie, Gyuri from Kara, etc.

 

I find some k-pop tracks good tests for sibilance.

For example...


Most of their masters are okay-ish, but some are just... borderline bad. Like the mastering engineer was drinking a lot that day, and then they tried to mix using the 1st generation Beats Solo headphone that's connected to a Fiio E11 with its bass boost switch on... and with an internal bass EQ of +12dB or something.

(Okay, I exaggerated, but still, my point stands....)

 

Whoa, Maxvla, are you trying to say there's something wrong with oogling the girls????

No One, that Han Soa chick aint bad, ill have to check out more of her stuff

as for my favorite korean singer, aka not in one of the idol-ish groups, would have to be Younha, I have every CD shes ever put out, and its all pretty incredible.





and an incredible, though terribly recorded acoustic version of the first track

 

Haha, I admit I have Party (vocal-less ver.) in my playlist for a while now. Catchy tune, fucked up vocals, hence the instrumental-only ver.

 

hi thanks for all the videos buy anyone know any good streaming or downloading sound for listening to hifi kpop or atleast 320 kbps version thanks

 

I use k2nblog.com to download in 320kbps, there's also an aac option for it. I would just Google if your looking for flac options

 

I feel like now is the right time to resurrect this thread, Peak kpop has been reached

 

November will be a stupidly huge release month. Most of the biggest players in this space will have comebacks this month. Merry Xmas to the fans.

 

Huh, you’ll have to keep us informed with some links to MVs for singles. I don’t really keep up with it so much anymore. And even when I did, so much of it is of a style I don’t prefer, since I typically like the “happy go lucky” or bubblegummy styles a lot more. But most of them are pretty cliche or derivative too, that’s why I find Red Velvet to typically be such a breath of fresh air, most of their stuff is pretty good.

Though I recently had a girl turn me onto Black Pink, and I have to say ddu-du ddu-du is pretty catchy

 

I've just gotten a bit into it and I just read about things mostly on the kpop reddit. I'd figure blackpink would be a little different from what you're used to. Actually if you want to see alot of mv's come out, check the kpop reddit as people post up mv's all the time.

Mostly got into it watching the Produce 48 and some of the storylines from there. Most folk into pop music know about BTS by now (the world seems to need an alpha boy band at all times and One Direction looks like they're on hiatus). Also following Tiffany from Girls' Generation and her foray into the US pop scene. It does help that she's insanely outgoing and grew up maybe 20 miles east of where I live now.

 

I’ve started to listen to more and more kpop at work since the beats are catchy but i’m not distracted by the lyrics.

Few songs that really caught me and had me look at the video from beginning to end. As a grown man not sure how I feel about this lol.

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