Honest opinions on K POP?

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

Personally, I can't stand it. As much as I enjoy good pop music from time to time, K POP is a genre I can't stand. I never got the appeal of EXO or BTS. I have nothing against people who do like it or the musicians themselves as they are talented people, but I never got the appeal for it. The fandom for KPOP (I'm not saying EVERYONE is like this) is extremely toxic and it pains me to see a fandom be so toxic towards others and basically treating K POP bands as literal gods. It's the epitome of celebrity obsession that it disgusts me 

 

However, the one thing I can not stand is how K POP label companies treat their artists. From what I heard, they're basically slaves. They overwork the artists and basically groom them into the industry and are treated like shit. It disgusts me and I wish people knew this more.

 

Thoughts?

[sleepy coffee 1476]

i hella fuck with KARD tbh 

 

 

but theres only maybe 3 or 4 groups i enjoy. though i will say they do pop better than any vk band so lol 

[Mihenno 4195]

I don't like it either, but no hate on k-pop itself or people who enjoy it. I'm much more into rock than I am pop and I also can't vibe with the korean language either. Japanese just flows better and sounds nicer to me.

I have also heard things about how k-pop groups are treated and I definitely don't like that. A friend showed me a compilation of groups passing out on stage because I guess management is strict with what the members are allowed to eat? That's literally terrible.

[karai · ebi 505]

My only exposure to kpop is through the mass of fans posting everywhere...and one band 'Block B' because it came on my pandora one time.
It was pretty good for working out but not much else for me...and I have no interest in the vanity side of the scene (all the plastic surgery etc) Most of the members all have the exact same style so it's not interesting like wild vkei costumes (of course people copy in vkei but it's usually at least in a mockable way lol)

As with most things with batshit mad fans I just avoid it, and feel bad for normal people just trying to listen to music.
Also I guess the most important factor for me is I've just never been into pop...except for Britney Spears a long time ago lmao

Edited May 16, 2019 by karai · ebi

[Sickle 903]

honestly I hate the "kpop" label and that scene in general, it's just normal pop but in Korean, I do not like pop, but some co-workers like that and I've listened to some songs and it's not bad compared to western acts is just a different language, many young people nowadays are interested in them, I don't understand the fandom but probably due to my age

I heard about companies that overexploit their artists, but I think it's a common denominator of work in Korea (?), but I'm speculating

(the girls in "twice" are hella cute)

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

Just now, Mihenno said:

I don't like it either, but no hate on k-pop itself or people who enjoy it. I'm much more into rock than I am pop and I also can't vibe with the korean language either. Japanese just flows better and sounds nicer to me.

I have also heard things about how k-pop groups are treated and I definitely don't like that. A friend showed me a compilation of groups passing out on stage because I guess management is strict with what the members are allowed to eat? That's literally terrible.

Yeah, same. I honestly prefer some J-Pop over K-Pop and it aint bad either. I got into artists such as LiSA (you may know her if you watch Fate/Zero or SAO) and Aimer. I like female artists since they have such beautiful voices. 

[Mihenno 4195]

2 minutes ago, psychonnect_rozen said:

Yeah, same. I honestly prefer some J-Pop over K-Pop and it aint bad either. I got into artists such as LiSA (you may know her if you watch Fate/Zero or SAO) and Aimer. I like female artists since they have such beautiful voices. 

I love Aimer ❤️ 

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

2 minutes ago, karai · ebi said:

My only exposure to kpop is through the mass of fans posting everywhere...and one band 'Block B' because it came on my pandora one time.
It was pretty good for working out but not much else for me...and I have no interest in the vanity side of the scene (all the plastic surgery etc) Most of the members all have the exact same style so it's not interesting like wild vkei costumes (of course people copy in vkei but it's usually at least in a mockable way lol)

As with most things with batshit mad fans I just avoid it, and feel bad for normal people just trying to listen to music.
Also I guess the most important factor for me is I've just never been into pop...except for Britney Spears a long time ago lmao

I have a friend who loves K-Pop and we often make fun of each other. Sometimes, I would joke around and say "DIR EN GREY IS SUPERIOR AND ALL VISUAL KEI BANDS ARE BETTER THAN KPOP!!!" and she would just retaliate, all just for jokes lol. She actually despises the fandom honestly lol. 

 

As for pop, the only artists that I love that I would consider to be pop would be Panic! At The Disco (newer stuff), Taylor Swift,  and LiSA. There are good pop artists out there, but it usually depends on the style of music and how it sounds. 

[saishuu 3220]

idk but stan shinee

 

 

[karai · ebi 505]

20 minutes ago, psychonnect_rozen said:

I have a friend who loves K-Pop and we often make fun of each other. Sometimes, I would joke around and say "DIR EN GREY IS SUPERIOR AND ALL VISUAL KEI BANDS ARE BETTER THAN KPOP!!!" and she would just retaliate, all just for jokes lol. She actually despises the fandom honestly lol. 

 

As for pop, the only artists that I love that I would consider to be pop would be Panic! At The Disco (newer stuff), Taylor Swift,  and LiSA. There are good pop artists out there, but it usually depends on the style of music and how it sounds. 

Haha...I don't know anyone in real life who likes either one, but I bet that convo has happened for real one thousand times in YT comments lol.
Huh...P!atd is pop now? Damn, I really haven't listened to any stuff like that in a long time. I don't know if Imogen Heap / Frou Frou counted as pop but I used to listen to them...and Utada Hikaru, but otherwise I really don't like that kinda music now or even in the past ten years, dunno why. Definitely style dependent, and so many are copy paste.

[colorful人生 2777]

I used to dislike K-pop w/ golden-era bands (late-2000's - early-2010's) b/c I found the songs to be really "robotic" and anthemic. The motifs that pervaded western pop + kpop like heavy autotune, techno, metallic design, heavy eyeshadow, etc. weren't really my thing. This current generation of K-Pop I find is a lot more diversified in a musical sense w/ producers + composers playing with more experimental genres/sub-genres. Now, K-Pop bands will use wonky, moombahton, tropical house, 80's, r&b, etc. influences that I really vibe with. I do enjoy 1st generation and early-2nd generation (90's + early 2000's) as well, but that's because of the generally melodic pop sound at the time.

 

Here were some of my gateway songs (I find groups w/ artsy or androgynous concepts to be good segues from vk.  Now, musically, you won't be in the same territory, obv.):

 

 

 

Korean phonetics used to be a huge barrier for me, but after listening to enough Korean, I got used to it. I find a lot of the newer K-Pop I'm interested in heavily tied to my interest in certain EDM genres (I use "EDM" in this case as a blanket-term for all electronic music.)

 

---

 

Now, I certainly haven't gotten used to the rabid, but dedicated fanbase K-pop groups have, and I don't really participate in much of the online banter + fan activities either. Over-exploitation, while obviously inexcusable, is rampant in both K-pop and J-pop (and elsewhere.) I find the J-idol exploitation a lot more sinister than K-pop (namely the "black companies" and sexual exploitation), but then again, that's just what we know of in the public sphere. I like a lot of indie J-pop and solo-artists, but I find a lot of the mainstream Japanese idol groups to be really corny/insufferable. I also find the groups to be more focused on homogeneity than individuality. I'm generalizing a bit when I say that, though. I'd say, discover music on a band-to-band basis rather than focusing on just genres (the popular bands/groups of a genre) if you really want to open yourself to different things. A certain niche band might be the first domino that catalyzes your future discoveries and interest in the larger genre.

 

*I've been referring to K-pop in the "group"-sense, so I forgot to mention K-indie and solo acts. I feel like J-indie is a bit more diverse, but both have a similar feel. There's such a huge rift between mainstream K-pop and indie to where I treat them like separate genres. I feel like Korean media always pushes to the extreme the groups from the big labels over indie acts. (Probably because the big five play huge economic roles in SK, wheras JP labels aren't as pronounced in the economic-sense idk Avex, Sony, and Johnny's numbers tho. SK has always been kinda corporatocratic, idk if that's an appropriate way to describe it.)

Edited May 16, 2019 by colorful人生

[saiko 429]

K-Pop is a very broad term. I assume that here we are using it to refer to "gender-band pop" music as much as the common sense does, so I'm going to use it that way, too.

 

I like K-Pop because of two reasons.

 

First, the visual one. K-pop is always eye-candy. I just love watching their high-skilled dancing moves; some of them are nearly acrobatic. Then, I like their looks and tbh they are really beautiful and hot to watch, both guys and girls.I can't deny it, lol. And also they have kinda sophisticated looks in terms of hair and clothes, so it's always pleasant to look at them dance.

 

Then, there is their approach to pop music. I like their music, indeed, and that's because they have 'that' sense of melody and harmony that makes them sound 'South-korean' although you can really hear many arrangements that sometimes are just ripped-off a Rihanna, Ariana Grande or Taylor Swift song. I mean, you really can't expect, in matters of cultural contact and exchange, a product to be the "exact" repliqué or the copy of its inspiration source in other culture. Cultural phenomenons are always objects of "reception" within a discourse that is always different from the discourse of the origin, so a full "copy" can never happen but a re-signification and re-placement of it in a whole new perspective. So, K-pop is 'Ariana Grande', but isn't 'Ariana Grande' at the same time. The same happens with VK; you can definitely hear the Bauhaus or Slipknot influence, yet you know at the same time that you choose Dir en grey or the Gazette because they actually sound not only 'Japanese' but also 'visual kei'. I'd like to explain here what is that thing that I my ears feel like 'South-korean', but I haven't had the time to analyze it as much as I did with VK...

 

Finally, let me be clear over some stuff: Yes, K-pop is mainstream oriented, thus very conformism-inducing, massive-identification oriented, and blablabla everything else you could argue about it pointing out its flaws as a social phenomenon, and probably I couldn't agree more with you. Yes, I'm also aware of their slave-like treatment and deeply reject it... I assume the contradiction and it'll be very interesting to discuss it.

 

[Chi 2624]

my opinions on kpop is that the stupid fans are the same you will find in VK

 

btw this is in the wrong section

[suji 8317]

7 minutes ago, Chi said:

btw this is in the wrong section

i moved it

[LIDL 692]

I don't listen most of it.

 

Only the ones that I really like, namely Orange Caramel, f(x), 2NE1, 4Minutes, Lee Hyorin, SES, BIGBANG, and BLACKPINK

 

I certainly steer clear from groups that got more than 5 members. That is so unnecessary. And also why I steer clear from idol groups in J-Pop, such as AKB, Morning Musume, etc. The only groups that I can enjoy and having more than 5 members were Belle & Sebastian, Slipknot and Mushroomhead, honestly. And those ain't pop.

 

But I do applaud their aggressiveness on getting it out there though. Wish Japanese musicians and music labels would be proactive like this too. But many of them don't even upload full duration of MVs on their official YT. I never understand Japanese and their likings to have something exclusive to their country. Their elitism. Not just in music, but in general sense. Like, say, Shiseido, is known elsewhere as high end beauty product brand, but in Japan, they are also selling affordable beauty products which just as effective, like, heck you can even find those products at donki and stuffs!

 

 

 

[Miku70 214]

I like B.A.P because their voices and visual. I like their solos. I like BLACKPINK and many old songs from SHINee, Super Junior, TVXQ, Junsu, BIGBANG, 2NE1 and new MV from ITZY, CLC , Stray Kids and ATEEZ.

 

The fans of KPOP or visual kei are same behaviour. 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Miku70

[Bear 1817]

I don't like the whope business behind ut, but I don't mind the music. It's no different from pop from other countries, language aside. I rarely find albums I listen to from A to Z tho. There's usually way too many fillers, just like on pop albums from other countries.

 

Awful fan base, just like the jrock ajd visual kei fandom, jpop fandom and so on. No difference whatsoever.

[Himeaimichu 1535]

The only Kpop artist I like is Seo Taji, and even then, I only really like his stuff with Seo Taiji and Boys, as well as his first two solo albums, and those were way more than just pop and forayed into many genres, mostly Hip Hop and Metal. 

Other than that, I just don't really like Pop in general all too much but hey, to each their own. 

[tetsu_sama69 1119]

I've been into about as long I've been into visual kei and strangely enough one lead to the other. For me certain songs, groups, and even individual idols have impacted me as person and it's the same with particular visual groups/artists as well. Sometimes I like more than the other, it all depends on how I feel or what I'm into at the moment.

 

I get why people aren't into it, it's just certain types of noise interest certain people and not everyone is gonna dig it. Most of the fanbases are garbage so I stick with certain people who like the same things and sometimes I find other groups that way. Works the same with visual bands as well for me.

 

I like groups varying from the early 2000's to current day and different groups appeal to me for different reasons be it visuals, song style, or certain members but it's always had a positive impact on my life. But it's not for everyone and I can get why. The scene itself is a mess though particularly right now with some very terrible scandals going on and really stupid drama but I feel like you get that with any scene in general. I don't always condone what certain labels do with their groups either but unfortunately like Kisaki and his erratic behaviors/issues there's not much to be done about it but that's another subject for another time.

 

 

 

 

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

3 hours ago, tetsu_sama69 said:

I've been into about as long I've been into visual kei and strangely enough one lead to the other. For me certain songs, groups, and even individual idols have impacted me as person and it's the same with particular visual groups/artists as well. Sometimes I like more than the other, it all depends on how I feel or what I'm into at the moment.

 

I get why people aren't into it, it's just certain types of noise interest certain people and not everyone is gonna dig it. Most of the fanbases are garbage so I stick with certain people who like the same things and sometimes I find other groups that way. Works the same with visual bands as well for me.

 

I like groups varying from the early 2000's to current day and different groups appeal to me for different reasons be it visuals, song style, or certain members but it's always had a positive impact on my life. But it's not for everyone and I can get why. The scene itself is a mess though particularly right now with some very terrible scandals going on and really stupid drama but I feel like you get that with any scene in general. I don't always condone what certain labels do with their groups either but unfortunately like Kisaki and his erratic behaviors/issues there's not much to be done about it but that's another subject for another time.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, the whole Kisaki thing is gross. Wasn’t there a controversy between a KPOP star of Big Bang (Forgot band name) recently?

[crossparallel 180]

It's so tiring hearing the same rehashed opinions about k-pop being exploitative, manufactured etc. The truth of the fact is, yes there are some toxic sides to the industry, but it differs from group to group and change is happening. If people discussed say American pop music the way they do k-pop, taking every breakdown, every atrocity and using it to paint the whole industry, what an ugly picture that would be.

 

Anyway, there's a large overlap in the things that draw me to k-pop and visual kei. Mixing music styles, theatrical concepts, interesting personalities. And there's a ton of variety , if you like me are drawn to angsty, dramatic shit, boy does k-pop provide. The part of me that enjoys visual kei is 100% the same that listened to BTS' Singularity and Tear on repeat all of last year.

 

Spoiler

More from my emo faves:

 

 

Prince of dance Taemin:

 

 

And of course, stan LOONA.

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by crossparallel

[Miku70 214]

2 hours ago, psychonnect_rozen said:

Yeah, the whole Kisaki thing is gross. Wasn’t there a controversy between a KPOP star of Big Bang (Forgot band name) recently?

It's Seungri and his club,The Burning Sun . Many celebreties and not only KPOP  are involved 😩.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Miku70

[zombieparadise 487]

I hate the haircuts, I hate dancing, and it all sounds the same to me.

[Furik 832]

I mean seeing BTS on Saturday at the Metlife stadium. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes. 👍

[Komorebi 2193]

I see no much difference in the Kpop and VK scenes besides the musical genre.
They both have a similar marketing, cater to a similar demographic, both scenes have some sort of sexual exploitation behind a pretty facade, similar arguably repetitive sounds (even choreo) and both have performers posing as musicians playing/singing and dancing to songs they didn't write, although VK does have a lot more performers actually writing their music.