Qrimole has returned!  Let’s take a look at some more reader questions for Kpopalypse!

In your worst-of list for 2013, you end your review of Ailee’s “U&I” by saying, “This kind of obsession with showiness at the expense of musicality needs to stop in k-pop, and it will, if k-pop as a genre is to have any hope of longevity.” Five years on, do you think your prediction has come true? I’m certainly noticing fewer self-indulgent vocal-wank songs than I did when I first got into k-pop in 2014.

I think we’re getting there.  Sure, there still IS quite a lot of vocal-wank stuff, and some of it is still really popular, but the really big groups aren’t focused that way.  I’m not hearing a lot of that kind of thing from BTS, Twice, EXO, and other groups on that level.  It’s mainly the soloists who really invest in the vocal wank stuff, and soloists are largely less popular.

I just read the AJ article about a father who plays with his kid’s genital being complained in Hello Counsellor but the show just make the issue as light as possible.

And the show is from public broadcast service??? I just can’t

And:

Hi oppar, I just read the article from AJ which quite upsetting for me, because I never quite encounter this kind of episode, until now. The issue clearly can be seen as abuse, but the show (seems to have to) make the discussion lighter. Whether it’s a different culture or it has been addressed by SK audiences, I have this worry since Hello Counselor has become one of media promotion for Kpop idols. Is it possible that while the audiences may have their own views, they will OK to their faves’ opinions?

While that issue seems never been heard (at least for me), the main issue about idols without proper educational/experience background to comment on the serious issue (and in light nature) sounds dangerous. With cult-following like fans, it makes me anxious when the issue can be justified on the scene and the logic spread to the fans. What is your opinion regarding this issue, also about the show itself?

Thank you for your answer. Stay healthy and happy oppar.

That’s some fucked up shit, right?  Having this child abuser on the show for “laughs” was considered weirdly fine by the TV network, and that’s something that would have had to have been cleared by multiple senior staff and they all let it through the gate, which seems kind of mindblowing, right?  However the most fucked thing about it is this – think about how that kind of thing is “okay to show in Korean entertainment”, but a music industry contract from a bigger k-pop label, or a k-pop person being 100% honest about what they go through during training, is “not okay to show in Korean entertainment”.  Which means that what’s happening to some of your favourite idols at k-pop agencies large and small is probably worse than what’s happening to that kid and his mother.  If that family is what’s okay to show, imagine what’s not okay to show, that’s so “not okay” that a label has to desperately keep it a secret, even to the extent of blackmailing ex-trainees and threatening content creators.  The East Light is only scratching the surface, for every label like Media Line or Open World there’s probably a dozen others smart enough to not get caught.

As far as the idols who are on that show, they’re really caught between a rock and a hard place when a guest like that appears.  They can’t openly scream “that’s child abuse!” because that would be seen as “causing trouble” and disrespecting the lighthearted tone of the show, but they can’t exactly go along happily with such a thing either, and they obviously put the guy on the show because his situation is so ridiculous and causes this kind of tension.  So the “counselors” have to sort of aim for some kind of half-hearted middle-ground to keep everyone happy, and that, I think is the real point of shows like this, to see how the idols and other guests navigate this.  It’s not about the guests sincerely “receiving help”, it’s about putting the other guests, the counselors, in awkward-as-fuck situations and laughing at them fumble, which is an extension of the normal shitty sub-slapstick basic-as-fuck Korean sense of humour and 100% of the reason why I don’t watch or care about any Korean variety TV at all.

It was recently announced that Hyuna and E-dawn were going to be under Psy’s agency (P-nation). Jessi is under him too. A lot of people are excited about this and there’s speculation of other locked up artists joining his agency. As lovely the headlines and the possible outcomes sound, i just know this is going to get fucked up real soon. Something tells me an agency just getting all these artists that have somehow had problems with their previous agencies is just a recipe for disaster but I can’t explain why, the feeling isn’t right, what are your thoughts about this?

I think it’ll be okay.  PSY is a big enough entity just on his own these days that I don’t think it matters that much what he does.  Sure, he might face a media boycott or two, but it probably won’t extend much beyond that.  I don’t think anybody in music can really fuck with him in a way that would have a real impact.  Even the government probably can’t do anything, if they felt so inclined.  What are they gonna do, send him to the army for a third time?

What’s the main difference between “sexy” and “girl crush” concepts? Is it the clothing style? The music? The choreography? Or is it as simple as the former concept being more classy while the latter is more badass/swag/yolo? I used to think that “girl crush”, a term I rarely heard back in 2013, had simply become the more popular expression for “sexy/risqué”, a term I rarely hear anymore (for girl groups) in 2019.

I’ll probably do a post on this at some point, because I’m having a hard time figuring it out too.

kpopalypse, please help me. My mum is sucked into a hole called islam extrimism. Me and my dad are confused at how to distance her from it. my dad and i suspect why she was drawn so much into that is because she was so grateful to god for ‘allowing’ her to live after battling kidney failure when i was a kid. i guess she forgot that god is the one who give her that disease and its thanks to her doctor that she survives. the only silver lining is that she’s not a jihadist terrorist apologist. Can you give me some advice? thank you.

It’s weird how religion works like that.  People credit god with helping them survive misfortune, but they didn’t consider that if there really was a god he might not have allowed the misfortune to exist in the first place.  A person I know in the music business who tours occasionally in war-torn areas told me that in warzones the churches were always full of worshippers, but they quickly emptied out again when peace returned to the regions that he traveled.  I guess humans across the board just fail logic, especially in a crisis.  An excellent film that you should watch if you haven’t, which is a supernatural horror film but is actually very related to this topic, is “The Mist”.  It requires a strong stomach and has one of the most intense endings in cinema history but it’s a trip if you can handle it, just make sure you go in completely blind and don’t read any reviews or comments beforehand for maximum effect.

I don’t really know how extreme this so-called “extremism” of hers is in this case, I mean to me all religions are kind of extreme and batty.  However if she’s not down with the terrorists then I’d say she’s probably just become really devout about garden variety Islam (which is actually still pretty extreme in some ways compared to similar orthodox religions, there’s certainly a lot more rules to adhere to).  The best advice I can give is – don’t shut her out.  People get involved in religion partly for the sense of community it offers, and if you can show that you’ve still got a loving community at home, then the worst aspects of this (or any other) religion should hopefully stay under control.  People break out of cults, strange belief systems etc when it dawns on them that the dogma that they believe doesn’t match up with the reality that they see around them – so make sure that you don’t ever position yourself as your mother’s “enemy” and don’t ever shut off communication, keep the conversation going at all costs.  On the other hand you should be respectful too and accept that her religion is just the way she feels about the world, just ask lots of questions and be there for her, while making it clear it’s not the way that YOU feel.  She may never grow out of it, and honestly if that’s what’s giving her happiness and it’s not fucking with anyone else’s happiness, then really, that’s okay.  I mean obviously if she’s trying to convert you, or trying to radically change the home environment, there are some lines that might need to be drawn, but if you can all keep a mutually respectful family environment that’s the best solution and the most likely way to dull the extremism.

Hi oppar,

I have a question about Gfriend. They are one of the current Kpop girl groups with majority title tracks that I like. However, it seems that their sound never quite changing drastically. Rather than a complain, I am uneasy with the fact that Fingertip (which seems to be planned as their Apink’s I’m so sick) was underperformed in K-audiences, and I thought, is it too early for them to release something as opposite as that? I do not know the musical terms, but I enjoy the complexity of the instrumental a lot and they also acknowledge Gfriend signature electric guitar dance break. And it’s a bummer knowing something as good as that, seemingly will never released again as a title track, at least for a long time.

… Or you just don’t care?

I don’t know if Fingertip was an overwhelmingly radical departure from their previous work, just like I don’t think that was the case with Apink’s “I’m So Sick” either.  The music was a slight departure but the image was the bigger one.  Who knows what turned their core audience off that track, I know it didn’t perform as well on the charts as their other material, so that’s obviously why they haven’t been back to it.  Maybe in a couple years when the girls are older they’ll try something like that again.  It doesn’t matter too much to me, yes I liked Fingertip but there’s no reason why a “usual Gfriend song” written just as well couldn’t also be that good.

Hi there, I’m coming with three questions instead of one:

1. Why does reggaeton, as a genre, refuse to change or evolve whatsoever towards any trend or new musical influence (good influences, trap and mumblerap don’t count)? At least Reggaeton’s closest cousins (rap and hip hop) have a handful of female MCs, lgbt MCs, artists who have written poignant lyrics that surpass poetry and a constantly evolving genre.

and 2. Will any other genre replace its omnipotency in latinamerica? It’s been 20 years of this shit on the radio and the streets every single day (CONTEXT: I live in latinamerica so it’s not like I can just change the station) and I can’t force myself to like it, I can enjoy shit like regular dancehall/reggae, yellow trash bazooka and ata kak, but there’s something about reggaeton that I can’t stand lol

3. Is this how koreans feel about kpop? Maybe they think kpop is bubblegum music for teenies because they hear it everyday and they’ve come to hate it. Do we like kpop because it’s good or because it’s “exotic”? Would I like reggaeton had I not grown with it drilled into my head at every waking moment?

I know you don’t tend to answer non-kpop music questions and you live in koala land, far far away from here, but you do have a degree in ethnomusicology right? also this question is long as fuck but you’ll read to even longer messages from heartbroken teenagers so fuck it

NOW listen I know music is subjective and that’s why I didn’t ask why reggaeton is so shitty because I know that’s not an objective issue, so before coming here I tried to find out the most “objective” aspects possible by myself, but all I could find in the internet was BULLSHIT. No valid criticism. It was either:

– STUPID AS FUCK classic rock fans (and it’s always classic rock fans?? These dumbasses think they know it all because they listen to Pink Floyd while high lmao) saying that it’s “bad” because poor people like it and it’s like the comic sans of music and the lyrics are destroying society, which is the EXACT racist and clasist crap people have been throwing at rap/hip hop for ages. Ironically enough classic rock also sounds the same a lot of times (probably because it’s mostly white people stealing music from motown and black rock n roll pioneers… just like reggaeton!)

– White people music websites like pitchfork, etc. making “essential” (lmao) reggaeton lists and basically not criticizing it because they’re afraid of being called racist (people worry more about being CALLED racist than they worry about actually DOING racist shit. we live in a racist world, of course we need to unlearn racist behaviours instead of pretending we came out of the womb pure and “unproblematic”) if they do it/don’t write about it? idk I know latinaos in the US have it hard under Trump right now and it’s hard being away from home, so reggaeton probably reminds them of family and as such they double down even harder in their enjoyment of it to annoy whites. It doesn’t mean you can’t say it’s shit though lolololol

The ONLY valid criticisms of reggaeton that weren’t racist or classist were:

– That Reggaeton evolved from jamaican dancehall, made by black caribbeans, and wasn’t magically invented by the very light skinned latinos who sing it now. (a youtube comment says: “reggeaton artists copied the hell outta jamaicans and they dare say they came up with it smh”, he’s right you know). I had no idea of any of this until I wrote this question. Latinos love to pretend we’re only beige and that there any black latinos to loot music from lolololol

– The lyrics are objectively misogynist and fucking disgusting towards women and effeminate men/gays. One of the biggest hits last year is literally little susie shallow throat with a reggaeton beat, but *more* explicit and much more disturbing when you consider that pedophilia and incest is a HUGE problem in latinamerica. Little schoolgirls everywhere were singing that song in my country. It was gross. YEAH maybe goregrind has even more disgusting lyrics but here’s the catch: goregrind, porngrind etc aren’t mainstream genres that play 24/7 all over southamerica (unfortunately (?)

Reggaeton is also machista (sexist!) and heterosexually gross as fuck, which as a lesbian is the most alienating shit ever. They even play this shit in the GAY BARS. It’s like I’m living in a hypercube made of shitty music.

Anyways tl;dr I don’t like reggaeton but I don’t think shitty nickelback tier spanish rock is any better and people are dumb

help me

1. I don’t know enough about the culture of reggaeton to really answer this properly, but if I were to guess, it’s probably because reggaeton is now 20 years old and there are newer trendier styles out there, so why compete with them, the slight retro-ness and refusal to evolve is probably part of the appeal for those who like it.  Everyone wants to party like it’s 1999.
2. I hope so.  I really think there should be more metal.  Latin American countries seem really heavy metal to me.  Some kids from the American suburbs singing about something they saw in a horror film is cool, but some other kids singing about how the government and religion is all shit when the stakes are so much higher and they can get vanned at any time, that’s really on another level.  People think I’m balls-out sometimes but what I do is nothing in the grand scheme.
3. Most Koreans don’t actually pay that much attention to k-pop, just like most Australians don’t closely follow pop artists in Australia.  Sure, everyone knows the sound of it, they hear it every time they go shopping, but if you look at what actually gets on the Korean charts it’s actually a mixture of idol pop and completely different music that k-pop fans globally don’t really give much of a fuck about.  For instance Hong Jin Young always does well, and I don’t see too many stan Twitter fanwars about her latest output.

Classic rock fans can be dicks, lots of snobbery there.  Don’t even get me started.

Western music outlets aren’t much better than Korean ones – the only advantage is that sometimes they’re allowed to have an opinion on something and the labels don’t have their hooks completely in their editorial staff.

Almost nobody who whines about racism on the Internet actually cares about it in the real world enough to do anything real, or even knows what to do about it, they just want to be “the most woke” and prove it by calling everyone else out who is “less woke” than they are.  In fact it’s probably the perceived powerlessness and feeling uncertain about what to do that probably motivates a lot of this behaviour – “well, I don’t know how to fix anything really, and I don’t really care enough to do anything high-effort, but at least I can do this, and prove to the world that I’m not one of them” – as if that achieves anything.  Being a genuinely good person involves actually being good, but that’s too hard for most people, so they just don the official badge of “goodness” while acting like the same exclusionary, bigoted cunts they always were and still are underneath the mask.

All your criticisms of Reggaeton at the end relate to the first one, which is that it evolved out of Jamaican dancehall culture, which is hugely masculinist, misogynist and homophobic, like Jamaican society in general.  The reggaeton sexism/homophobia is an import, with the context of that society completely removed, and yeah I’m not exaggerating.  The Jamaican dudes I’ve met in the music industry are some of the most bizarre people I’ve ever met.  One guy swears each time he sees me that I’m gay just because I’m not some overly macho type and flexing my muscles every two seconds or whatever, he’s always asking me “are you sure you’re not into guys, I just wanna know”.  Some of the girls in music there are the most kick-ass girls you’ve ever met though, because they have to be, to put the idiot guys in their fucking box.

Hello there! I’m so excited and nervous cause you’re my idol heh
To make a long story short, I met a girl online, and we were really really good friends for about a year, but over the past 2 months she’s grown really distant and cold towards me. I know people come and people go, but I really miss her, how would you suggest I deal with this situation?
Thank you!

Find a new girl online.  Or better yet offline.  Or even better still, go do something cool and don’t worry about it.  That was easy.

Heartbreak hurts, but with time you get over it.  It doesn’t seem like it while it’s happening, but you really do.

Do you think it’s okay to speed up/slow down the tempo of a song as the chorus plays on, only to go back to normal by the time the chorus ends and the verses/bridge begin? Example:

For me, it’s kind of annoying and somehow ruins the anticipation for me.

I’m not a fan of this type of arrangement, although I think she still does it better than 2NE1 did it:

There’s probably some times where it’s worked for me but I can’t think of any off the top of my head that I like.

OH WAIT – YES I CAN

Do you think Spectrum broke the curse on “groups having bad songs after a member died”? This was their comeback after member Dongyoon’s death:

You said it was “really good”, and even better, it’s mostly a tropical shithouse song, and you hate that genre!

Yeah it’s one of the better songs of this style that’s for sure.  That dude who died should have tried to stick around for a bit longer, he could have been in on this.

I noticed that most songs both in and outside K-Pop usually raise their note by at least one semitone(??; I don’t really know the word but I know it is related to the key of the song) (mostly) by the time the chorus kicks in. Here’s an example:

Now, there is a song I noticed that does the opposite, where instead of having the key up a bit by the start of the chorus, they lowered it. I think it would be this (don’t mind the faggotry tho):

Why would they do that? Is it any good with the key lowered at the start of the chorus?

Well it’s not that uncommon for songs to go through some kind of drastic change from the verse to the chorus, and changing key can be part of that.  However it’s not the only option, and not even the option most frequently used, instrumental and vocal density changes are the most common, hence the term “chorus” to begin with, a word for more than one musical element in synchronisation.  Key changes are just one of many other “things you can do” to differentiate a verse and a chorus.  I don’t think that the change sounds bad in either song you’ve mentioned.

I don’t play guitar so I thought I’d ask you about this. On youtube I was randomly watching this Young Guitarist of the Year Competition and people were debating in the comments about whether the actual winner or this other contestant. Now, I’m not going to ask you who was better because I know you don’t believe in musical competitions. Instead:
1) I noticed a lot of people preferred the girl just because she played a jazz thing. Is this snobbery (jazz>metal) common amongst guitarists, or were there a disproportionate amount of jazz hipsters in the comments?
2) A lot of people praised the girl’s tone. From what I understand, a lot of guitar tone just comes from what effects/pedals you use. Is there any actual skill to creating a nice guitar tone?
Thank you for reading this, and I understand if you choose not to answer it because it’s not very kpop-related.

Well, they both play their respective styles better than I do!

I think a lot of people preferred the girl because while the guy was technically great “metal shredding” sort of playing tends to be a bit divisive in guitar communities – people tend to love it or hate it, there’s not much in-between.  Whereas I think the girl’s playing is a bit more easily-digestible to a wider audience and she wasn’t quite as showy – and in guitar comps people are generally really showy so someone stepping it back a notch is a welcome change.  I don’t think her being a girl has anything to do with it – attitudes about female guitar players being “in a man’s world” don’t really exist anymore in any meaningful way.

To say that there’s skill in “creating tone” is kind of stretching the concept of “tone” a bit beyond the actual sound of the instrument and into other realms.  Anybody can adjust an amplifier.  Old-school guitar players rival flat-earthers, antivaxxers and chemtrailers for believing in “pseudoscience”, some of them really do think that there was some magic fairy dust that moved from Jimi Hendrix’ fingers onto the guitar and gave the notes a “special vibration” or some shit.  There’s no talking to these people.

Hey Kpopalypse, so this is a thing in a lot of fandoms, not just kpop, with stans saying things like “hets (heterosexuals) have no rights”, and while I usually find these jokes to be somewhat humorous, I’ve been getting increasingly irked by them lately. There was a tweet saying something along the lines of “Hi can we stop hating people for being straight, and stop saying things like no hets allowed? Hate homophobes but don’t hate every straight person please”. While I do realize this tweet misses the point with the “no hets allowed” messages being a joke in the first place, the replies to the tweet felt concerning. They essentially consisted of statements like “repeat after me, hets have no rights!!!” or “oh no! are the hets feeling?? oppressed”.

Personally I’m not all that clear or concerned with my sexuality, meaning i don’t give a fuck about classifying my gender preference romantically, but these comments make the whole situation feel like fighting fire with fire? Meaning they help no one and just piss off more people. Mostly I just want to ask for your opinion on these things, as I’m worried i’m being overly sensitive on an issue that i don’t have much to do with. When i talked with one of my closest friends about this, they completely dismissed me, asking me if i felt “oppressed”, telling me to just get used to it, and just being kind of shitty about it.

If anything the comments mocking hets is just a small taste of what lgbtq+ people have to go through, after all, it’s them that’s been marginalized, but not me, so I should just shut up and let them say what they want to say? Or at least that’s the vibe I’m getting.

A comparison would probably be comments like “the whites are back at it again” or whatever, which I’ll confess I find funny. But even then, I still feel the same discomfort because even though it’s not serious, the manner in which people say things like “oh? is [Insert mainstream group] feeling offended? this is why y’all get zero rights!!!” doesn’t seem like it helps anyone. I’m not too sure how I should feel about this, I’d like your opinion on this entire thing, mainly because i don’t trust my own feelings at this point!!

I get why people do the whole “heteros have no rights” thing, and it certainly doesn’t bother me (people have been telling me I’ve had no rights for as long as I can remember, so I’m kind of used to it), but “mirroring” doesn’t actually achieve much.  It just sort of keeps the war going.  As previously mentioned, to be a “good person” you actually have to be good.  Donning the mask of goodness while still being just as much of a cunt as the cunts are, that just doesn’t cut it in the real world.  The people who are doing this know it, too.  It works fine for them online where there are no consequences, and also in university where everyone lives in a make-believe fairyland, but try walking into a workplace and telling people that they have no rights and see how you go with that.

Since Honey Popcorn makes this a k-pop related.

One thing that has always bothered me about JAV I have seen is how pained the women look when they are in them. Watching them I generally think “do they want me to think that is the expression the women I am having sex with should have on her face? Because it is one thing if this is consensual non-consent (aka acting out a rape classy sexy fantasy),* but I don’t think that is what the producers are going for here.” And then I just feel weird that I am seeing something that seems to me to normalize women not enjoying sex… and then I am sad. Which is not really the emotion one watches porn hoping for. (And I think “no wonder Japan has such bad intimacy problems.”)

Is this a thing you see too when you review the Honey Popcorn members drama productions?

*I’m enough of a… person who sees what SIXBOMB “Hiccup Hiccup” is going for that I could be into that, but I also want to have a structure around it that sets it up as explicitly a rape fantasy.

I’m actually really surprised by how many people I’ve met in my real life (male and female) who are actually into classy-sexiness.  Not for real, but as fantasy or something to act out in a roleplay, it’s really extremely common, much more than you would think – and in both directions.  I think it makes everything “even more taboo” than normal, and that’s what a lot of people get off on, the heightened feeling of transgression.  Therefore, in sexually conservative societies, rape classy-sexy fantasy is even more common, because the taboo is being strengthened by society’s stricter codes.  I think that’s why porn created in the US used to have very classy-sexy content in the 60s and 70s but much less these days, whereas in Japanese porn the incidence of classy-sexiness still remains quite high.

Keep in mind when watching JAV that the classy-sexy fantasy functions a little bit differently to how you might think.  It’s easy to say “this is just for guys who fantasise about having their way with women” and while there’s definitely truth to that, it’s not the whole story.  Observant JAV watchers will note that pretty much every single JAV with “classy-sexy” content eventually has the girl sort of “secretly enjoying” what’s happening to her, and that’s not by accident.  In a sexually conservative society, men are rewarded for sexual conquest but women are unfairly admonished and treated as “sluts” for wanting sex, however it’s obviously true that many women have strong biological urges and would like to satisfy them, just like men do.  A rape classy-sexy fantasy in this context becomes a way for women to enjoy the experience of sex without having to deal with the associated shame that society attempts to burden women with, because she can say “I didn’t want to have sex, it was forced on me – so you can’t blame me, I’m still ‘innocent’ at heart, I was just unfortunate”.  It’s a cultural loophole and one of the main reasons why classy-sexy porn thrives in conservative countries.

In this period, the trends are stupid trap and very slow ballad, so i just thinking: the atmophere of these songs reflect about the mood of the entire society of nowadays formed by depressing guys?
Well because i miss all the EDM songs of the early 2010s and it seems that we don’t want fun songs to listen anymore..

I think guys being depressed has created a great deal of western music in general and has ever since popular music began!  Remember that “blues” is just another word for “depression”.

So even though Tiffany’s new songs are kinda eh you were right she looks the best she ever has.

She also seems to be kinda open to talking about being an idol, kpopalypse interview?

I’d love to!  But as I always say whenever this question comes up (which is at least once a week), the shit ain’t ever up to me.  It’s all about whether they want to talk to me.  Don’t ask me, ask them!  If enough people suggest to their favourite idols to do interviews with me, to the point where they see that it’s a popular idea and their fans might really appreciate it, they might actually sack up and do it.  But asking me to interview them, and then me approaching them with “hi I’m some nobody blogger”, THAT ain’t gonna work.  They have to be keen before I approach them, or why would they even care?

Hey kpopalypse, I just wanted to say that because of you, I hope Loona’s official light stick says ‘stan Loona or else’ and the design could be Lisa’s samurai sword from ddu du ddu du. Despite me not being an orbit, this would actually be interesting yet hilarious to see. Hope you have a good day!

Thanks!  I’d like to see this too!

I don’t think “Escape from the Idol Dungeon” has hit the same viral traction with the Loona fans yet (perhaps they don’t realise what it’s about), but maybe that’s what the Orbit Lightstick in that game says.

Why did you break your own roundup rules to review Dreamcatcher’s Over The Sky? I mean, I’m not complaining, it was nice but why?

So people would stop asking me about it.  Also sometimes it’s fun to break the rules, what’s the point of having rules if I can’t break them.

Oppar~otoke~ I have a crush on this girl who’s one of my best friends, but the problem is we’ve been acting like an over-the-top couple as a joke. If I told her about my feelings, she might think that I’m not being serious. Even if she takes me seriously, if she doesn’t feel the same way she might end our friendship. Even if she didn’t end our friendship, she’d probably stop over-the-top joke-flirting with me and honestly, I kinda like it even though I know it’s probably not genuine. I also like being able to flirt with her with no consequences. (Don’t know how relevant this is, but just for context, I’m a girl) Thank you for reading this oppar, hope you have a nice day!

Well that doesn’t sound like such a bad problem to have.  It seems to be working for you so why not just keep it rolling?  Eventually she’ll either get bored of it, or she’ll step it up to your level, but until that time I suggest you enjoy the ride.

How does smoking affect the voice of a singer? I don’t really seem to hear that raspy sound in kpop idols but I genuinly doubt not a single kpop idol smokes or has ever smoked. Is that sandpaper sound only typical for 60 year old chainsmokers?

Well you have to smoke a LOT of cigarettes to have a “smoker’s voice” at the age of the average k-pop idol.  If people smoke their voice ages quicker for sure but not that much quicker.  The youngest girl I ever met who was a singer with a clear identifiable smoker’s voice was (I think) in her late 20s when I met her but then she was also in a kinda screamo/riot grrl style punk band so it’s not like it mattered much, or anyone could even tell.

You mentioned in your 2017 favourites comment for Callin’ and in your roundup comment for Take Me Higher that A.C.E. had gabber techno as their concept/genre, but I’ve mostly heard people refer to their songs as in the hardstyle genre. Could you explain the difference between the two, and maybe if you think gabber techno is closer to A.C.E’s Cactus and Callin’, why so? Thanks 😀

Oh, if could also maybe recommend some gabber techno music that you like, that would be cool too 😀

Eh, it’s all pretty much the same.  The differences between various techno genres are so utterly minimal that it barely even amounts to anything at all, techno dickheads even worse tham metalheads for genrefagging.  Right now there’s probably some technofaggot with steam coming out their ears reading this, about to write you a boring 2000 word essay in the comments on the nuanced difference between gabber and hardstyle even though all that difference really amounts to is a different patch on a goddamn drum machine, so look forward to that I guess, because you’ll probably be the only one reading it.

I don’t really like any of that sort of music, but I do like it when that sort of music integrates into other music styles.

I was just wondering, do you like dogs or are you a cat-only lover?

I don’t like dogs.  I like them from afar, but in person they’re too licky and jumpy and needy for my temperament.  I don’t like how every time I meet a new dog it tries to headbutt me in the balls and slobber on my ass.  I also don’t like it how dogs want attention all the time.  I definitely don’t like the sound of dogs barking.  Dogs are fucking annoying.  I admire other people who can put up with dogs, and I will concede that dogs can look cute in pictures so good on you if you’re a dog lover but I really prefer cats because they mind their own business and only bother humans when they have to.  Having said that, dogs really like me a lot anyway, in fact all animals do.

[as usual, a bunch of questions about j-pop artists]

Stop asking me about j-shits, go ask Jpopalypse about that trash thank you.  At least have some context to the question rather than just a recommendation (snore).

Hey, this is not a question but I tried to go on ask.fm just to link you something and it was retarded so I’m here instead.

Here’s a link to some shit that’s happening in Canada about people going crazy over a dumb joke. Quebec humourists always tend to make jokes way worse than yours and they make loads of cash so when people here get offended I find it comical. Have a good day, and you do you!

Ask.fm is kind of crap for asking anything serious.  Always better to use Qrimole.  The response time might be lower but your question will be preserved and I might even answer it seriously.

In this case you haven’t actually asked a question so I don’t really have anything to add.  Thank for your support!

Not a question, but I’d like to suggest you use this in your next boobs post to illustrate the power of the Enhancement factor in apparent boob volume, and how little can be left when said factor is removed.

She’s already been covered so I’m not going to go over old territory.

FUN ASIAN JUNKIE SLEDGING SECTION

That Asian Junkie jackass is currently (at the time of this writing) releasing his Top 100 Korean Songs Of 2018 list. Please make fun of him for releasing it in chunks of ten songs per day, instead of all at once like more reputable and honest K-pop news sources, or at the very least in chunks of twenty like last year. According to my calculations, at this rate, Asian Junkie will reach the end of his Top 100 Korean Songs Of 2024 list in October of 2026 – and that doesn’t even take into account his starting the list later every year, unlike other outlets that reliably publish their lists on December 31st.

I can’t expect inferior “journalism” outlets run by sports writers as a side-gig for pocket money to maintain the determination levels of Kpopalypse.  He only does a list each year because he published one of mine that one time and his web traffic went through the roof so now he just wants more ad revenue, but he’s doing it wrong because his opinions on music are all boring.  Doing the lists even bores him so you know that’s a sign, but he wants those Apester clicks so badly that he tortures himself and forces those goddamn lists out of himself like a constipated shit.  Anyway just as well that we only get ten reviews at a time from him because a larger dose than that would send his readers into a coma.  I hope this reply met required standards of Asian Junkie sledging.  Actually I’m not convinced that this isn’t Asian Junkie himself dropping me an anonymous question so he can get some classy-sexy faps in.

what do you think about reviewers that lean a lot on defining the quality of a song to the music theory behind it as opposed to reviewers who take into account more-so the entire feel of an album(or track) and if it delivers what it conceptually sets out to do?
this question is partially inspired by seeing western music reviewers always discussing the “feel” of an album as opposed to reviewing each track individually.
also, almost last question regarding that
are kpop reviewers mostly leaning on the “musical theory explains why a song is good” side due to the fact that often kpop does not deliver on what would make a western album good? (ie: lyricism, concept, technical skills)
ok and last question (which i already kinda know the answer to)
are most music reviewers pretentious and sad folk who know that their opinion is only valuable so long as it fuels a person on the internet to quote it to prove why MY MUSIC IS GOOD YOURS IS SHIT HERE’S WHY?
hm. probably.
anticipating your answer!

The “feel of an album” rarely applies to k-pop, where usually it’s a different producer on each track anyway.  That’s not how albums are done in the west where for the most part the same producer or group of producers create an album from start to finish.

Most music reviewers (including basically all the k-pop ones) don’t understand anything about music theory, because most people who actually know about music don’t follow popular music, they go and write for classical publications where the audience actually gives a fuck about things like that.  So the task of reviewing popular music gets left to the sport writers looking for a hobby, who don’t actually know what they’re talking about or have the language to describe anything properly, but who cares, please give me ad revenue.  Did you know that Apester approached Kpopalypse before they approached AJ, and that I said no, and that if I didn’t say no you’d have to put up with dicksucking adversurveys?  Take a moment to be grateful.

The few k-pop reviewers who do deploy music theory analysis tend to do so for the purpose of a “receipt of quality”.  It’s just another way for crazy fans to say “look, my faves are great, please agree with me, science says so, so you can’t disagree!”  I’ve never, ever seen any posts (apart from my own) that delve into any sort of music theory or technical analysis to show why a song doesn’t work.

Ever since I started reading both your and AJ’s blog i really started figuring out what i prefer in songs and what not, before that i frankly didnt care but now i really do put emphasis in details such as instrumental variation,vocal wanking, use of silence etc…its just my way of saying thanks for pushing me to look a little deeper into songs

Cheers!  Just remember that although opinions are subjective, whenever myself and AJ differ, AJ is wrong.

May I ask how does Yes or Yes compare to the honourable mentions and top 30? A bit late but better than never.

I liked it.  If I extended the list out to another 10 or 20 songs like Asian Junkie does to milk as much web traffic from his lists as possible, it would have got on.

OKAY I’M ENJOYING MYSELF TOO MUCH, THAT’S ENOUGH OF THAT (I LOVE YOU ASIAN JUNKIE REALLY – EVERYONE CLICK ON HIS ADS SO HE MAKES LOTS OF MONEY MAYBE HE’LL EVEN GIVE SOME OF IT TO HIS WRITERS ONE DAY… OKAY PROBABLY NOT LOL)

After listening to the songs you attached in Eunji – Hopefully Sky’s review and also reading Yoona’s two solo songs reviews, not to forget Things Kpopalypse Dislike, I could easily conclude that you really enjoy ballads that show a lot of restraints. In my own perception, it seems that there is some sort of unwritten rule in your mind that ballads as some sort of “sad songs” should try to limit and not overblow themselves. Just like rap as some sort of “rebellion” songs (okay this is debatable, but I cannot find any close words to describe it), rap songs in your opinion should sound as hard as possible. Is it possible for you to like “overblowing” type of ballads? Could you give some KPop and Western Pop examples? Thank you.

I’ve already done this here.

Overall I’d say that I enjoy music more (generally) when it’s a more extreme version of what it is.  If I want to hear rap, I want them to go all the way with the craziness.  If I want to hear metal I want it to be extremely heavy, not some half-assed thing.  Likewise when I hear a ballad I want it to most completely encapsulate the feel of what a ballad should be, not some halfway-house sorta-ballad sorta R&B sorta-rock… no.  Full strength or go home.  There’s no point sticking your dick only halfway in.

Hey there. Wished you kept that “best song of the week” idea from last year, it was interesting, but it somehow spoiled who would be in the top thirty so….

Anyways, I have a saying I would like to quote,

“Songs are much better when they are major.”

In other words, I think songs with major chords are better in successful songs than minor chords.

It all had one source, the winner of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Amar Pelos Dois (means love for two in Portuguese), which was sung by singer Salvador Sobral (from Portugal, and brought the country’s first win after 49 years).

Here’s the official vid of it (don’t mind the dislikes, trendsetters did it):

The song here is at a F major. The song is a bit iffy (I like it personally), but do you think otherwise? Can you provide some great example of K-Pop songs on this chord?

Also, regarding the singer himself, after winning the contest, his speech was somehow a bit intruding. He said that there music today is “disposable, fastful without any content”. He said his win was also a win for music in general. More on his winning speech at 1:52 – 2:11:

So, do you think what he said was true? Is music really dying and is he trying to save it by releasing a BALLAD?

If you pay attention you’ll generally get a good (but not perfect) idea of what will be in the top 30.  The guesses for 2018 weren’t any more accurate than the guesses for 2017.  Readers don’t need the help!  However I personally DO need the help remembering boring k-pop scandals every year and that’s the real reason why I changed things up.  I might change things again at the end of 2019, we’ll see.

I’m not sure why this clown thinks that his own music is any less disposable than anybody else’s.  I mean he’s at Eurovision for fuck’s sake.  Oh that’s right – it’s a ballad with classical instruments so it’s probably just garden-variety classical music snobbery.  However classical musicians also had to conform to market and political forces of the day just like pop musicians do now, people love to pretend that there’s some sort of golden musical age before capitalism and conservative governments ruined everything where everyone was creatively unrestrained, but no.  The more you look into it, the more you’ll see that nothing much has changed apart from the technology.

There aren’t very many songs out there that have ONLY major or ONLY minor chords and harmony.  95% of the time it’s a mix of both.  Also the exact key (whether it’s F or Bb or whatever) doesn’t matter because music is perceived relatively, not absolutely.  I’ll talk about this more in my music theory series.

So I freaking LOVE Queen. I love their melodies, the complexity in their songs and shift from one thing to another thing in a song (sorry I don’t know anything about music so that’s the extent to which I can describe music.) Anyway, my question is, why are their hits so good? Asking because I want some way to verbalise what I feel to myself and saying “thing” is getting me only so far lol.

Also my second question: what makes songs in music a classic? What do people “up there” judge a song’s merit on? Melody? catchiness? complexity? popularity? or some cultural signifiers?

Thanks! Give your beautiful cat some extra pets on my behalf please.

All four members of Queen were kind of artfags and they brought a lot of that influence into their music, to very good effect.  Freddy Mercury was definitely trying to channel some of the energy and melodic choice of opera singers into his pop songs (even to the point of collaborating with them), and Brian May also had a lot of classical-style flourishes going on in his guitar playing.  Listening to their music it’s quite clear that it was constructed by people who had an ear for classical music, but who also knew what made a pop song work.  This kind of combination rarely gels well but Queen managed to do it by not forgetting that they were pop musicians at heart and not tipping things too far over the edge, I think the results speak for themselves.

Most people who judge a song as “classic” have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about and usually just look at cultural signifiers and popularity because they don’t have a clue about any of the other stuff apart from this.

please post more cat videos

I’d make some but I dunno where she is.  She’s probably hanging out with my girlfriend on the couch watching serial killer documentaries.

This isn’t really a question, but more of a link suggestion for your no-reason sidebar girl. (BTW, I love that you have Haseul, my ultimate bias, as the current one!)

Thanks for your link, it was used!  I get quite a few link suggestions for this, some appropriate, some not.

My friend got me a pink, blue, and yellow colored caonima plush for Christmas, and I can now say that she’s my only real friend and I can be a true fangirl for your badass blog and my queen Sulli. Caonima on!

Thank you!  You’re the real caonima!

It’s rather ironic that so many songs dedicated to fans are trash, though I guess that that shows what idols actually think of the fans who are so brainwashed that they will actually listen to the songs.

Yes.

Hi Kpopalypse! I wanted to ask if you think that music can entirely be subjective or objective qualities to them, or is there always room for debate as to how an element can add to a song? For example, one person may appreciate a song such as f(x)’s Red Light for its atonality and hard hitting pace, but another may find it ridiculous for these same qualities. Is it fair to say the one person or the other has a wrong opinion, bad taste, or is it just amounted to your attitude towards a song and never to be taken higher than another?

It’s subjective.  People’s brains are different, so a music can have objective qualities but still be interpreted subjectively.  That’s why there’s fans of all kinds of music.  Even pure garbage like The Beatles and Bob Dylan has fans.

I love all of your music production and theory analysis posts. Are there any more planned for the near future?

Yes, there is an entire series on music theory happening throughout 2019 and beyond!

While exploring your blog, I’ve often noticed that you criticize SHINee’s Everybody for constantly switching between dubstep and something else. However, that also happens to Wild, which constantly switches between that iconic piano melody and dubstep, yet it’s in your Best of 2013 list. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Wild, I’m just curious to know why you hate the first song and love the second one in spite of them being similar.

They’re not even slightly similar.  The key difference between the two is that in SHINee’s song, the dubstep completely takes over the rhythm, and drops everything down to half-time whenever it appears.  This means that you can’t really groove along to the song because you’re constantly having your rhythm interrupted, like someone’s changing the radio between stations constantly.  On the other hand the Nine Muses song has the dubstep sounds but they’re used like icing – they’re the topping, not the cake – and importantly, they don’t take over the entire song to the point where the rhythm comes crashing in a heap.  “Wild” has a stomping beat that goes all the way through at a high tempo and never drops to half-time or lets up at any stage, not even during the bridge section which is the traditional place to insert dubstep bullshit.  In pop music melody is important but rhythm is king.

Hi Kpopalypse Oppa,
I’ve been best friends with a girl since yr 9/10; we had similar interests and clicking personalities- the kind of friend you’d want for life and the kinda soulmate-esque person who you’d only get one chance to run into in your life. Around yr 12 we realised we had feelings for each other. However she also liked another guy and due to friend pressure and dating norms she ended up going out with him. It was a painful process watching them date but I managed to get through it and we’ve maintained our very close and deep friendship throughout.
We are now in 2nd yr uni, and she’s since broken up with the other guy – she maintains that she doesn’t want to date me because she’s scared of losing me and that it’s a bad idea to date someone you started off with as a friend and that at best she would consider dating me after uni when stuff like marriage/mature relationship is viable. I’m a very traditional ‘chase your love irrevocably’ type person so obviously I disagree- my question is: what should I do in this situation, and if I wanted to win her over, how can I explain that I have a greater desire to date her without implying that I value a relationship over our existing precious friendship?
(Any other insights on these types of situations would be helpful, thanks)

Newsflash: most people take about ten seconds to work out whether they like someone enough to date them, so you can say all the bullshit you want, you’re either in or you’re out, and that’s it.  Within that context, imagine stringing the love of your life along for three years.  Would you do that to someone you really wanted to be with long-term?  Of course you wouldn’t, you’d do the smart tactical thing and secure their heart as soon as possible so you can plan your future together.  Conclusion – this girl is fucking with you.  Bottom line, if she really wanted you by now she would have went for it, but she didn’t, because that’s clearly not what she wants.  It’s really shitty of her to be stringing you along like this, she should just be honest with you, tell her that you’re never going to be more than a friend ever, and leave it at that, rather than spinning you a bunch of total bullshit that you might get your end in one day just to try and keep you around for her emotional needs or ego or whatever reason she’s doing it.  Nobody says “yeah I like you, so in five years we might go out on a date”, that’s some A-grade nonsense.  You’re wasting your time, I’d distance yourself from her immediately, and I wouldn’t feel obliged to be particularly polite about it either.  She probably won’t like that, and yeah it probably will ruin the friendship but you can do better.  I mean, don’t be deliberately nasty or vindictive, there’s no reason to make a scene or to really drag the knife in, but I’d just say to her calmly and matter-of-factly “look I’m really into you and I can’t handle things as they are, so if you really want me then date me, or we’re going to have to go our separate ways”.  Stick to this and don’t cave, and you’ll soon find out how she really feels about you after that.  Good luck, you’ll need it.

I look back your post on Kpop pre-2008 & golden time (2008-2011). I got curious about Wonder Girls – Tell Me. If Tell Me were included in your Favorite Kpop pre-golden (since it’s release in 2007), which rank would it be?
If Tell Me were taken from golden period Favorite list, which song would be in rank 30 Favorite List?

Fucked if I know.  If I wanted to entertain these questions, I would have written the list that way.

How do you view yourself?

A mirror works well, although when it’s lubed up sometimes I can see my reflection on the head of my dick.

I’ve just discovered this crazy exibition at the Brit Awards by The KLF (I’m pretty sure you already know what I’m talking about) so I was just thinking… Will we ever be able to see some crazy shit like that at one of the year ending shows? Who do you think may be so fool to do it? Also the dead goat thing made me laugh so hard because it reminded me about how much AJ is hoping to see Dreamcatcher do this one day, but thinking about it I would prefer someone totally unexpected. That would be the best thing happened to kpop ever

Also a video because the audience obiouvsly needs to see

Well, not from an active idol group that’s for sure.  Certainly not Gfriend.  Maybe PSY, or the revamped Hyuna/E’Dawn in whatever guise they come back as, that’s probably your best bet.  Someone who doesn’t have to give fucks to survive.

I’ve know that you started music theory or guitar or whatever pretty early on in life – around the time, at least, that most people around me began to develop actual opinions about music instead of whatever mum put on in the car on the way to nursery, but I was wondering to what extent it affects your opinions? Less to do with how it’s played – I think you’ve mentioned this before – but the sort of fancy stuff you waffle about in the qrimole ‘cord progression’ questions I skip? Are there song you like even though you know they’re shit? Cheers oppar 🙂

There’s no such thing as “liking a song that’s shit”.  If I like it even though I think it’s shit, that means I’m wrong and it’s actually not shit.  That’s why Oh My Girl Bahnana and Jvcki Wai both got honourable mentions for 2018, not dishonourable mentions.

I know plagiarism questions kinda bug you but

Yes they do.  NEXT!

Heey. I wonder, why do people want to hear live performances if the recorded version is supposedly more pleasant in every way. Could it be emotional connection thing? Can’t emotions be portrayed as effectively on record? Or does it boil down to showing off on artist’s side and validation, that my fave is better, on listener’s side. I could see the pros of live singing in a very intimate setting, where the artist wants and is able to communicate the message more personally. Meanwhile during kpop music shows it just seems so unnecessary. The way I see it, vocal performance is not the main attraction, it’s the dance, charisma and styling. So why do people still insist that the idol doesn’t lip-sync? I don’t see what’s so fascinating about breathy, forced live vocal, when in order to produce it, the idol has to sacrifice sharpness of the dance movements and overall quality of performance. The cost outweighs the reward. Maybe you could offer some perspective? P.S. Not a native speaker, but I tried my best to make it readable. Love your blog!

Thanks!  Don’t worry your English is fine, better than half the questions I get from actual native English speakers.

I think that people like the live aspect, whether it be in person or via a live video, mainly because of the experience of seeing their performer in a different environment to the controlled, edited studio and TV set.  When people talk about “seeing someone live” they use the word “seeing”, not “listening”, and I think that’s a telling distinction.  Of course it’s about the music on some level, but it’s the performer themselves that is the main drawcard.

Obviously there are people who also think “I want to see if my bias can perform live” but yeah it’s all lip-synced anyway.  So you’ve kind of answered your own question – people don’t want to admit that there’s lip-syncing because then that dulls the fans’ stated reasons for being there and they’d have to admit what is really drawing them there is the magnetism of the performer themselves (in their eyes), not any “talent” that they may or may not have.

If Chuu – Heart Attack were included in 2017 Favorite List instead 2018, what song from Honorable List would be in rank 30 Favorite List?

I like Pristin V – Get It. Would you please recommend similar song which are better? Thank you.

From your loyal caonima

Chuu – I have no idea.  I put her in the 2018 list instead so I didn’t have to think about that.

Pristin V’s song actually reminds me of another specific pop song but I can’t remember which one it is.  Perhaps a reader can help.

Hey man, I was wondering, could you use the naming do re mi… (instead of or) with A B C…
I’m not really good at music, but it’s interesting to me when you talk about it, but my lazy caonima ass (and low levels of determination) can’t be bothered to translate what a D minor is in the scale that I know and my interest goes away. Also wikipedia says that the solfège notation is used is most countries… just saying.
Well, you probably don’t care, but this caonima would appreciate you even more and others may too. Cheers!

I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking, but the “do re mi” business is nominating the degrees of the major scale.  I’ll talk more about this in the music theory series!

If you had to pick in a song would you rather the song has a shitty rhythm or shitty arrangement?

Better to have a bad arrangement.  Rhythm is king in pop music, a bad rhythm can ruin anything.  A good song arranged badly still has a hope of survival.

I know this is pretty late, but you praised Yes or Yes and Egoist in your weekly round ups, but were they still pretty mediocre to not make it to even the honourable mentions list?

Well obviously if they were good enough to make the grade they would have.  However they were both good songs.  As I said repeatedly in the favourites list and elsewhere, there were a lot of good songs in 2018.

Hey Kpopalypse! Happy 2019 to you and your loved ones and hope this year brings lots of good,like more quality music for everyone!

Anyway,I have a few questions:

1.) Are there any OSTs from games you like in particular and would recommend a listen? I know a lot of the music in games is more ambient/atmospheric and not really as well suited for casual listening as say Kpop is but there’s some good stuff and I’m pretty curious as to what kind of stuff you tend to like while playing games

2. Is there a genre you would like to see or here more of in Kpop? Or to really be a cunt,is there a bullshit genre you want to see if Kpop can improve on in some way? I don’t think anyone can make say Bachata listenable but tbh I’d like to see someone try just for the heck of it

3. I wondered if you had any tips for someone who wants to do music reviews without technical know-how? I have a YT channel but I’ve been to shy to upload much in terms of talking about the actual music because I dont want to come across as a bit of an airhead who can only describe stuff as like ‘I like this song because it’s cool/I dislike this song because it’s bad’

Basically with no musical background,how can someone learn to describe music in more detail?

Thanks so much in advance,and give Kpopalypse cat an extra treat for me!

1. I play all computer games with the music off.  I probably wouldn’t even recognise the music in my favourite games if you played it to me.
2. More metal is always good.  A whole bunch of Dreamcatcher style groups would be great.  (Asian Junkie has forgiven me 100% now for my sledging of him earlier.)  K-pop has already tried most bullshit genres.
3. Yeah – get some technical know-how, then do it.  Yes you can describe music without the language to actually describe music, but it’s a bit fruitless, like describing how a car engine works without knowing about mechanics.  You inevitably have to teach yourself some mechanics or you’re just talking out of your ass.

Thanks for your support, my cat is fat enough but I’ll slip her an extra sardine sometime.

i have some questions about music genres

specifically in this case hip hop

i was discussing this with a friend and my opinion is that just because a song made up of a lot or mostly rap it doesn’t make it a hip hop song

but then he brought up LeeSSang and how they are considered hip hop although they don’t sound hip hop

they sound like ballads rather than hip hop

and then there are these songs in the chinese music industry

are those considered hip hop?

and as we are on the subject of genres
there is a problem that i have for decades now which is i don’t know how to differentiate between the different types of “rock”

what’s the difference and how to you tell if a song is
Rock,
Hard Rock,
Alternative,
Punk,
Grunge,
Metal,
Heavy metal and other types of the subgenre?

Your friend needs to get better taste in hip-hop, he sure is listening to some weak pussy garbage.  It all sounds more like weak-ass R&B with the odd bit of rapping in it to me.  I’m sure someone considers this utter trash hip-hop but I just consider it soft-ass R&B for losers, the kind of music that rappers would pour scorn over in the 1980s before they realised that they could make more money by forgetting their musical principles and working with this shit rather than against it.

For more on what hip-hop is and isn’t click here.

For more on determining genres of music click here.

Hi oppar,

I saw a new Kpop music video yesterday and found quite similar comments like in other Kpop MVs like “((insert one name here)) can step on me and I am still happy” or “she can do this dance so much and I am here stuck being a potato” and other appreciation toward the artist by jokingly (?) downgrading themselves as fans. While its nature seems laughable at best, I am questioning whether this culture may have a greater harm in the future?

I am concerned about as many as people saying things like that, for some people, will they feel that is it acceptable for “being a potato” just by say it on a YouTube comment? Ignoring what they lack of? Or is it myself that trying too deep thinking those kind of comments?

Personally it is just that kind of comments make me irritate that they consumed so much for fan over idols that they lost some intellect. Or is it the way the agencies want fans turn out to be? To be obsessive and irrational?

In other hand, do you think creating an environment that supports healthy relationship between fans and idols in Kpop industry is possible due to the nature of the fans? Or is it just inevitable?

I hope I can make myself clear. Thank you oppar for reading and answering my question. Stay healthy and happy oppar!

Oh, and stan Loona

That kind of “I’m trash” humour is actually really common with Australians, we’re very self-deprecating.  People complain a lot about how I shit on idols and various people, but if you actually add up all the various criticisms that I have of everything and look at the targets, you’ll instantly notice that the #1 target of ridicule on Kpopalypse blog is always myself.  I wouldn’t read anything into it or take it too seriously, just like I wouldn’t take any criticism I have of anyone else too seriously either.

A self-deprecating sense of humour is definitely NOT something that’s encouraged by agencies.  K-pop agencies do encourage a lot of weird and harmful stuff, but self-deprecating humour is definitely NOT something that they would ever push on anyone.  The last thing that any k-pop agency wants to encourage is their fans gaining a sense of humour about their own engagement with idols, because if that happens, maybe they’ll start noticing how hilariously funny so much of their own fandom culture is, and then that could lead to them perhaps starting to question the manipulation tactics that are being used on them, and before the agency knows it they’ve got another blog like Kpopalypse to contend with.  Trust me, they don’t want that!

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That’s all for QRIMOLE!  This series will return in a month, in the meantime be sure to practice OH&S compliance, especially with condoms!

Oh, and do you have a question that you’d like to see answered in the next episode of QRIMOLE?  If so, use the question box below, or if no box appears, click the Qri on the sidebar to open the box as a separate webpage!  Kpopalypse will return!