the kpop edition

[acchikocchi]

1. So give me the lowdown on SM Entertainment as a corporation. How do they recruit/train/market/etc., especially in comparison to JE? Info on shady business practices and lawsuits and things of that sort also welcome. XD ...How does the Korean music industry and market compare to the Japanese in general, actually? There is no such thing as tldr in comments here.

2. Favorite Korean artists/songs/albums/music videos? I am woefully ignorant. Pop, not pop, what have you - hit me. (Assume I know basically no one except Park Ji-yoon, since that's... true. Oh, and BoA.)

Comments

song recs

[brustreet.livejournal.com]

Jang Geun Seok - Black Engine (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zn3mzagjwuy) is a commercial tie-in for jeans, which makes it that much more disgusting, imo. :) His singing is so laconic, so disinterested, I call it the "had a little accident with quaaludes" song. There are lots of kpop songs I'd call vulgar, but very few that ooze grease and sleaze this effectively.

After School - Play Girlz (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?e5zjmonzn25).

Son Dam Bi - Saturday Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mcjjyzzjym0) is glorious, glorious synth pop. One of my favorite things about kpop is how when they do retro concepts, they pretty much just pick a random decade to describe their look, whether or not it fits. The music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6nLg1WSgmc) is part studio 54, part disco, part '80s the way babies born in the '90s imagine it. And SDB is just an amazon compared to every other girl in the video, and it completely works.

SNSD - Gee (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yzm1dzwmmhy) is another ridiculous pop song. Like, some people are singing at the void, and other people are in the void, and this song is basically a dwarf star of vacuousness and glossy irrelevance. So of course I think it's perfect.

SNSD - Boyfriend (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zzfdgqmtmjy). The nasty thing about this song is the same thing that's icky about the Genie video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9dYLkmGuZs). You can be sex kittens or you can be little girls, but both? The little girl voices in this song give me the creeps, but I just pretend it's an ironic sendup of the ingenue, even though irony's never been their strong point.

2PM - Again & Again (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oezgqtndzjm). One thing you can say about JYP's production is there's never a wasted note or beat. Everything is there for a reason (as opposed to LSM's broader, *and* the kitchen sink approach). I think this is easily 2PM's best song, and I love the violet scheme and club lights in the music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdgzuGRcULY). A little hip-pop, a little dance music, and I eat it up. :)

Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadabra (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?buqh5kmnmmi). BEG in general produce quality pop that doesn't sound overly American. I think when it comes to idol pop, you can tell which groups have handlers who really understand the aesthetic. MV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZD26G38dc) and 2PM's parody (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In4PkD1u6u0).

Lee Hyori - Hey Mr. Big (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?iwyttugmgxj)

Ivy - A ha.. (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?j2uqtnnzjyj)'s bassline sounds slightly dated, but I love the barely there percussion. And she's one of the few female pop singers I've heard who is really gifted at understatement.

Gumi - I'm Sorry (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mmtkyyzmtoq).

4 Minute - HOT ISSUE (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ejytkjyzmjg).

Big Bang - Lies (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jrdajnwwmon) was among several songs cribbing from tecktonik, but it's the one that remains in popular consciousness. You can trace the ancestry, abbreviated as it is, from this song to the current pop being produced. So it's really too bad it's fruit from a poisoned tree -- the borrowing from freetempo is excessive and the timbaland synthesizers are slightly embarrassing. Still.

U-KISS - Talk to Me (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?orwhjniwhdf) is ridiculous mid-90s pop.

SHINee - Forever or Never (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ntw2yynydv0) (cover).

AJ - Dancing Shoes (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kuyzyij22fm)

Uhm Jung Hwa - D.I.S.C.O. (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oo0zdn5uywz)

Taeyang - Look Only At Me (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?4tyyy2jc0gj). I have serious reservations about this song and Big Bang in general, but the lyrics are tight, and I like the counterplay of the main vocals and the secondary ones.