K-pop sucks
By David Tizzard
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Get ready: Old man yells at cloud rant incoming.
There are only two types of music: good music and bad music. So, there are of course some good Korean pop songs. I rather enjoyed Hannah's “Luxury” and Orange Caramel's “Lipstick.” Ultimately, however, there seems to be a lot of rubbish.
But that's not the point. Music is by-and-large subjective and I've got a few gray hairs appearing, so my taste in what the hip kids listen to isn't really anything anyone should take too seriously.
But I do have a problem with K-pop as an industry and a brand. It seems that while the country here achieved remarkable progress in the '80s, '90s and 2000s in terms of political, societal and cultural democratization, with Korean citizens fighting and protesting for autonomy, sovereignty and individuality, its music industry remains a remnant of the military dictatorship years.
The New Koreans that author Michael Breen so accurately described in his book are more and more visible in society, but no one seems to have mentioned this to SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment.
They seem to have not only embraced the historically controlling cultural aspects of neo-Confucianism, but also the more modern phenomena of gapjil. K-pop appears in general a completely top-down autocratic and abusive system. To an outsider observer like me, at least.
Yes, the K-pop industry is capable of producing some economic development and sustenance for a few, but at what cost? Why are these musical conglomerates embraced and pushed around the world while their counterparts such as Korean Air and Samsung are often attacked and protested against domestically?
This week reports have surfaced that Media Line Entertainment has admitted to physical assault during the coaching of its boy band The East Light. Band leader Lee Seok-cheol was visibly troubled as he spoke at his press conference. There he shed light on two years of attacks with baseball bats and other instruments ― he is still only 18 years old.
CUBE Entertainment also released Hyuna and E'Dawn from their record contracts after it was discovered that the two were dating. Such behavior is of course not permitted. Sexy, provocative videos, yes; real-life relationships, no.
JYP Entertainment CEO Park Jin-young placed a dating ban on the nine female members of the group TWICE. The ban was to last three years for the girls to concentrate on their training.
Zico uploaded a video to his SNS in which he was singing and drinking ― clearly having a lot of fun. Yet he too was roundly criticized by netizens who argued that this wasn't the correct behavior for an artist to indulge in, particularly as a role model for the nation's youth.
And I could keep writing for there are long lists of suicides, sex tapes, drug abuse, depression, bribery, violence, and so on.
And yet this is meant to be the music, to be art, a place where creative expression is poured out. The wider human condition is to be condensed by talented people into stories and songs to make us laugh and cry.
What do we get instead? Fam-cams on girls dancing and people advocating that you be yourself ― providing it doesn't fall foul of the terms of one's contract.
Now the BBC has released a report saying BTS is this generation's Beatles. Well, I've heard their songs and I'm not quite sure how mixing a bit of electronic dance music (itself a strange tautology) with cheesy '90s pop makes for anything revolutionary or artistic.
Moreover, despite them looking nice in their suits at the recent United Nations speech, I'm not quite sure they are actually being themselves.
BTS's producer said on a television program that there are four qualities required for success in this industry: an attractive face, a good stage performance, a high-quality video, and to reflect global trends. No mention of talent. Or creativity. Nor any genuine individual expression that comes from within rather than from above.
What happens if we give Rap Monster, Suga and two of the other lads six months, a piano, some guitars and other instruments and tell them to write some music? You think “Let it Be” is going to come out? “Tomorrow Never Knows”? “Taxman”?
Honestly, I don't know. Maybe they would actually marry a foreigner, become vegetarian, go to India and explore different religions and philosophies, experiment with psychedelic drugs, pen songs criticizing their president and other world leaders, stage political protests, and write soundtracks.
Yes, the Beatles started as a pop band. They wore matching suits and shaved for television performances while doing their little dances. But they also wrote those songs themselves.
Moreover, that wasn't what made them go down in history as one of music's most beloved groups.
It was because they actually did find themselves. In the process they made mistakes, divorced, fought, stole girlfriends, made some rubbish music, over-indulged in substances, and much more. Particularly if McCartney's recent interview with Vanity Fair is to be believed. Yet through it all they had the courage to stand tall and be an individual. For the music. For the art. And for themselves.
Doing a choreographed dance in a stylish video takes some skill, certainly. I do not deny that there is a glitz and glamour to what is produced. But it takes nowhere near the courage that those four lads from Liverpool demonstrated in being willing to rise above the record labels and societal pressures and actually lead. To live for themselves.
So, yes, BTS is certainly doing well. More power to it. But in my mind BTS is a bit more Boyzone that Beatles. Closer to New Kids on the Block than the Fab Four. And while I don't begrudge them any success, I wonder when Korean citizens might turn their attention away from the product and on to the actual industry. On to a K-pop world that seems to be suffocating individuality and restricting freedoms in the pursuit of money and at the expense of creativity and talent.
Korea's path to democracy has been a long and winding road, perhaps it's time to let the musicians walk it too.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University.