An experiment

[Tigranes]

OK guys, if you have 5 minutes, watch this, then tell me what you think. I'll get some nice feedback, but more importantly, you'll get your share of 'I can't believe it's real' weirdness that is Korean pop music trying to break into the US Scene.

 

 

Anyway, I had a good reason for posting this as well - I wanted to get a feel for how you guys see this video. What would your reaction be if you saw this on MTV in the US (which you will)? Obviously you're not the target audience and you won't like the music, but things like, how naturalised do they seem? Or just awkward? Is it their pronounciation? The lyrics? Something else? Do you see this kind of stuff gaining a foothold? It's quite interesting from a research POV...

 

(P.S. This is not indicative of my personal tastes in music )

[Walsingham]

OK guys, if you have 5 minutes, watch this, then tell me what you think. I'll get some nice feedback, but more importantly, you'll get your share of 'I can't believe it's real' weirdness that is Korean pop music trying to break into the US Scene.

 

 

Anyway, I had a good reason for posting this as well - I wanted to get a feel for how you guys see this video. What would your reaction be if you saw this on MTV in the US (which you will)? Obviously you're not the target audience and you won't like the music, but things like, how naturalised do they seem? Or just awkward? Is it their pronounciation? The lyrics? Something else? Do you see this kind of stuff gaining a foothold? It's quite interesting from a research POV...

 

(P.S. This is not indicative of my personal tastes in music )

 

1. I'm not sitting through all five minutes

2. I think it will probably do well on novelty value alone.

[Gorgon]

60s Kitsch with an 80s popchart sound. I much prefer Austin Powers. It's quite horrible.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Gorgon

[Serrano]

They're not that bad but I don't like the 'theme' or the genre of music they've chosen.

 

Some really bad bands have made it onto MTV and into the charts before so I wouldn't be surprised if we see this on the television. The Cheeky Girls made it to number 2 in the UK top 10 right? And The Crazy Frog made to number 1 in a lot of European countries. I'd argue that both bands turned out songs worse than this.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Serrano

[Orogun01]

OK guys, if you have 5 minutes, watch this, then tell me what you think. I'll get some nice feedback, but more importantly, you'll get your share of 'I can't believe it's real' weirdness that is Korean pop music trying to break into the US Scene.

 

 

Anyway, I had a good reason for posting this as well - I wanted to get a feel for how you guys see this video. What would your reaction be if you saw this on MTV in the US (which you will)? Obviously you're not the target audience and you won't like the music, but things like, how naturalised do they seem? Or just awkward? Is it their pronounciation? The lyrics? Something else? Do you see this kind of stuff gaining a foothold? It's quite interesting from a research POV...

 

(P.S. This is not indicative of my personal tastes in music )

It's probably a lost in translation, the song was never meant for English. IMO the original version would have a better shot, just think back to Nena.

[Gorgon]

Translation transhmation, popular culture is getting pretty global by now. It simply sucks.

[Wrath of Dagon]

It's probably a lost in translation, the song was never meant for English. IMO the original version would have a better shot, just think back to Nena.

Yet that song is now only ever played in English. Go figure.

[LadyCrimson]

It looks like a cross between the worst bad 80's music videos combined with an early 70's cheesy disco movie. There's even a bionic man sound in there, haha.

 

The costumes are horrible & not sexy...most of the dance moves are robotic & not synchronized very well. Either bad dancers or really bad choreography. The special effects & transitions look like something one can do with cheap home video software. But I dunno, Lady Gaga vids are wildly popular, and aspects of this video reminds me of some of hers only with much lower production values. So maybe I'm out of touch with things & my opinion means nothing. heh

 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'how naturalized' they seem. There's nothing wildly Asian (vs US) about the video, if that's what you mean, unless you count the stylistic trend weirdness of it. But kitsch & bad dancing are universal. I can understand the English lyrics as well as I can any other popular disco-ish dance track & there's no heavy accent. It's strange how singing seems to dilute accents a lot.

 

The music itself...eh...again I'm out of touch. I'm sure it could become popular enough to sell well if marketed right.

[Gfted1]

It's strange how singing seems to dilute accents a lot.

 

That is weird, isnt it? I always noticed it with UK bands. Like you listen to the Beatles talk in an interview and they clearly have the accent yet when the sing theres no accent at all.

[Orogun01]

It's probably a lost in translation, the song was never meant for English. IMO the original version would have a better shot, just think back to Nena.

Yet that song is now only ever played in English. Go figure.

And is only played on English speaking countries?

[Tigranes]

OK. Background; The Wonder Girls were a massive girl pop group in Korea that actually made the jump to the US to try and break the market there. Asian music is virtually unknown - outside of some Japanese music that gets traction through anime now. The thing is, these guys have the best chance that anyone's had in a long while - if this gets off the ground.

 

We are all going to hate this music, because it's unashamedly aimed at the pre-teen crowd - I think just below the Justin Bieber / Miley Cyrus audience. Maybe High School Musical crowd. Of course, hard for me or you to tell if it would do well there, kids are just insane at that age. The kind of stuff I thought it'd be interesting for us to look at is, how natural/awkward it felt to you guys - after all it's a bunch of Koreans trying to do a retro-American English pop music video for Americans. I'm getting feedback that the singing, at least, doesn't feel weird/Asian. Ironically, that's what the Koreans themselves are the most worried about - maybe it reflects their fetishstic obsession with learning English.

 

I despise this kind of music (there's more... Girls' Generation, Tiara, Shiny, 2NE1 (twenty-one), and other barf names like you wouldn't believe), but this is really one of the 'smartest' and best prepared pushes to get Asian popular music on the US market for some time, so I'm watching to see if it opens any doors. So I wonder if it'll get far?

 

edit: Song is simultaneously released in Korean, Chinese and English. Korean pop/dance is ridiculously popular in East & Southeast Asia already.

[Orogun01]

OK. Background; The Wonder Girls were a massive girl pop group in Korea that actually made the jump to the US to try and break the market there. Asian music is virtually unknown - outside of some Japanese music that gets traction through anime now. The thing is, these guys have the best chance that anyone's had in a long while - if this gets off the ground.

 

We are all going to hate this music, because it's unashamedly aimed at the pre-teen crowd - I think just below the Justin Bieber / Miley Cyrus audience. Maybe High School Musical crowd. Of course, hard for me or you to tell if it would do well there, kids are just insane at that age. The kind of stuff I thought it'd be interesting for us to look at is, how natural/awkward it felt to you guys - after all it's a bunch of Koreans trying to do a retro-American English pop music video for Americans. I'm getting feedback that the singing, at least, doesn't feel weird/Asian. Ironically, that's what the Koreans themselves are the most worried about - maybe it reflects their fetishstic obsession with learning English.

 

I despise this kind of music (there's more... Girls' Generation, Tiara, Shiny, 2NE1 (twenty-one), and other barf names like you wouldn't believe), but this is really one of the 'smartest' and best prepared pushes to get Asian popular music on the US market for some time, so I'm watching to see if it opens any doors. So I wonder if it'll get far?

 

edit: Song is simultaneously released in Korean, Chinese and English. Korean pop/dance is ridiculously popular in East & Southeast Asia already.

You are forgetting that the American music market is a smug little bitch that won't bother with the same thing twice. Even if they have one hit on the States there is absolutely no chance for a follow up, basically because the America demands constant attention from an artist.

Although they could market them as the Korean Spice Girls

[Walsingham]

It's strange how singing seems to dilute accents a lot.

 

That is weird, isnt it? I always noticed it with UK bands. Like you listen to the Beatles talk in an interview and they clearly have the accent yet when the sing theres no accent at all.

 

It's because of the way you form words when you want the sound to come out right. At least in contemporary singing. At least that's what my teacher told me.

[Shrimp Flavored Chips]

Hardly the strangest thing I've seen all day. Maybe it's just that for awhile a friend of mine who was teaching English in Japan would regularly send me links to Japanese music videos, but I'm kind of inured to this kind of thing.

 

That said, I doubt that they have much of a chance of catching on in a big way in the US. But you never know with pop music. I wouldn't say that it's anything to do with the video itself (I don't really think it's any better or worse than a lot of American music videos), it's just hard for a foreign language group to break through, even with an English language single.

 

Not my thing, but I'll wish them the best of luck anyway. If nothing else their video seemed to be tongue-in-cheek, so I'll give them more leeway I would have if it had been achingly sincere.

[I want teh kotor 3]

Good god that blew.

[Junai]

Sucky muzak. Time to invade and kill them all. Their music will be much better if we invade and kill.

 

Yup..

[Walsingham]

The decision to copy Austin Powers is surely a bit sophomoronic (to coin a phrase).

[Azure79]

I laughed when Bobby Lee made an appearance. I guess he's the alien? I couldn't sit through the whole thing.

 

I also wish them the best of luck. Not my type of Korean music though. To me the whole thing seemed awkward, but then again I find that entire category of Korean 'dance music' awkward.

 

I think JYP(the producer) should try to break into the market with better written music instead of the all flash no substance type music like in the video. I mean there is actually good Korean music out there. He seems to target the tween audience entirely too much. But then again, he probably has a better vibe on the music industry in general and is a good businessman, so who knows?

 

What I've been listening to recently. A remake of a hit Korean song from some time back.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pdiBMBnRlY...feature=related

Edited August 9, 2010 by Azure79