3d ago

What's something you don't get the hype about?

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Oh god, I feel like I’m going to be massacred.
K-pop
- hey, you're valid... I'm from Korea and it's crazy seeing how people drool over kpop nowdays. no attention for the actual good music, the korean rock and hip hop and funk and jazz and so on... just the corporate boybands.
  It's the same shit that's popular in the US. manufactured popularity. we could talk about all the factors about how they pulled it off, but who cares, it's a bunch of shitty music created by desperate people selling their souls to rapists who prey on modern social isolation to sell empty fantasies to the masses.
  that's the point of the music! you should be proud to dislike it. now go listen to something good, like Jaurim (자우림)
- Isn't it basically the same as back when western boybands were popular, just with more internet? I suppose I don't quite get those, either, but it's not that hard to figure out why these groups are so appealing to many girls and women.
  
  And same with the Korean girl K-pop bands, though with some of their fans I get a real sense of skincrawl.
  
  That’s the thing, I don’t know
  Is it something more than just Korean pop groups? Is it a fetish? This is the most I’ve thought about it honestly because some of the fans just made it nuts.
  I worked at a B&N and the calls I would get for exclusive versions… 12 versions of the same album except for some trading card inside or something.
  I find it bizarre but I just don’t understand
  
  "fetish" might be a bit much, but I think the somewhat effeminate style of the men in these groups is a very welcome contrast to the kinds of male musicians who are popular with boys+men. They also heavily feature dancing, which is a lot more popular with women than men, too. And it's probably specifically about korean groups because korea has a large boygroup+girlgroup industry and being east-asian they have a novelty-bonus (dare I say exoticism-bonus?) compared to western groups.
  
  Fetish was the wrong word. Desirable I guess is what I meant to lead with.
  You have had the longest conversation with me about k-pop. I get it a little bit more than I ever meant to.
  I begrudgingly thank you lol
  
  The comparison with western boys bands makes sense, but it is not very flattering IMO. K-Pop is very competitive as an industry, and the artistic and technical level is miles ahead when compared to a backstreet boys or bands like that. Korean performers are world class, they have badass producers, insane music videos etc...
  It's not my jam at all but I have to admit there's good shit in there.
  
  K-pop is purely about looking pretty. Some of the boy bands looked pretty average but their music was decent.
  
  I mean, there's more to being effeminate than being really really ridiculously good-looking.
  
  Are you an ambi-turner?
- Can I massacre you with hugs for this? 'Cause that's the only impulse I have for your saying it.
  (I agree, if you haven't spotted this. 😉)
- There's good and bad kpop, like there's good and bad of most genres.

121 comments