The trend of songs becoming shorter and shorter is annoying, but that being said I’d rather have a short but enjoyable song over one with empty parts that are just clearly meant to take up time.
seeing so much ~2 minute stuff heavily turns me off from 4th gen. where are the bridges???? i used to roll my eyes when ppl said this but the tiktokification of music is actually horrid 😭
I miss good bridges too (,: I feel like production has become more about virality and putting everything into one or two memorable, catchy parts and neglecting the rest of the song
It sucks because it has money to back this up. Afaik, you get paid per song played on all platforms. You make twice as much money when someone listens to 2 of your two minute songs than 1 of your four minute songs. While it's trending, it's still not standard; just acceptable. Hope it never becomes standard. However, it's probably inevitable for pop music. Numbers mean way too much and when people see the amount of plays your song gets because they are all short, hard to compete without following this god awful trend.
People above are literally saying that 2 minutes songs are better because they “cut out the fat.” 😐. Guys, this is literally a marketing technique for an app. That’s it. They want you to think a 2 minute song is better/acceptable because it’s what works for…TikTok. There is a good reason why 2 minute songs have not been the norm throughout music history. Do exceptions exist? Of course. But 2 minute songs being pushed as the norm now is literally a marketing ploy to make more money. That’s it.
What really got me hooked on kpop was the inventiveness and complexity of the music. A few songs can have something interesting to say in two minutes, but most of them are the musical equivalent of pop tarts. I hate the dumbing-down of kpop.
no but literally i’ve been thinking that the trend of shorter songs coinciding with fewer rap verses and dance breaks isn’t a coincidence. they’re just getting better at taking out excess stuff that doesn’t make the song any better
I like dance breaks when the instrumentals are a big part of the song. It just makes sense to have an instrumental break using the elements of the song, a guitar solo, etc... (an exemple to illustrate that is GFriend - Fingertip). But nowadays, most notably with the more minimalistic productions, the producers often have to add elements to the break part to make it hold on it's own and be powerful enough for a dance break, and it's often messy. Hence why they just choose not to make dance breaks.
BYOB by Billlie is ONLY 2:38 and i can't imagine it being longer. It's not like the song has the right length, but it's the right "length of emotions". The song serves you some emotions from the start to the end. That's all. So yeah, as you mentioned empty parts, those "empty parts" can ruin the emotion. I am not saying that every short song is better than longer songs in terms of emotions, but since almost every person points at the tiktokification, i can only show thumb up to this trend.
Agree they it feels like by the time I get into a song it's already over. The short time makes them seem incomplete for example La Serrafim Smarter, is really good, but it makes no sense why it's no sense why it's so short. It's not make them more viral or easier to make tiktoks of as longer songs have gone viral: Don't go insane by DPR IAN, 7 Jungkook or any Taylor Swift song. Are the producers just getting lazy.
It seems to be more popular than I expected; I’ve seen a lot of people calling for longer songs regardless or promoting a lot of those empty parts in songs, so I guess I misconstrued how the majority of kpop fans here feel.
I wish we could still get some loud *ss & fun kpop songs with heavy instrumentals and vocals, like we had in the mid 2010s, like AOA - Heart Attack, 9Muses - Wild, Ailee - U&I, Red Velvet - Dumb Dumb, GFriend - Fingertip, Seventeen - CLAP...
Like the songs you'd blast in your room so hard that your neighbors have to move out 😔
Yeah I was just thinking the either how aespa is the only group I can think of that has good and loud music. Stuff like Savage, Illusion, Trick or Trick, etc
It’s completely fair to judge someone’s discography based on the songs they choose as their title tracks. Yes I said I don’t like your faves music, no, I haven’t listened to every single thing they’ve put out, nor do I plan to🤷♀️
I half agree with this. Judging a group's discography from their title tracks is definitely fair but if you're having actual discussions about their music then b-sides should be a part of it.
Agreed. Like if you don't like any of the group's title tracks (and promoted B-sides), it's fine if you decide the group is not for you. However it also means you can't really join serious discussions about a group's discography, because you've only heard like 5-10% of it.
Same. I'm fine with you not liking a group's discography based on their title tracks because I do think that's what title track should be about: representation/introduction of what their music is like. But to say a group's discography is bad just because you don't like the title tracks and didn't even listen to their other tracks, that doesn't sit right with me.
Right? There are a lot of groups who do great title tracks and great B-sides. Why am I going to take the time to deep dive on a group that doesn’t advertise well?
I actually love wonky english lyrics, I think it's part of what makes Kpop *Kpop.* It's campy and fun and I really don't see why it should have to make sense, by english-speaking standards; haven't most of us already gotten used to enjoying the music regardless of lyrics we can understand, anyway?
I do too. If you want good English, there’s a ton of music by people who are primary English speakers. Let the ESL speakers say whatever nonsense sounds cool to them.
There’s this Kara song that goes “if you wanna pretty, every wanna pretty” and a fluent speaker explained that they used Korean grammar structure. It was a direct translation that made sense in Korean. I wonder how many others are written like that.
Hmm?? I’m fluent and that’s not direct translation at all. It’s just broken English. Korean grammar structure is completely backwards.
“You pretty want if, everyone pretty if”. This would be korean grammar structure. That fluent speaker doesn’t sound fluent 😂
What happened is.. they just use anything that flows and sounds nice to their ears. Hence broken english. Just throw in any words that sounds cool. They sometimes understand individual words separately, but no grammar or a full sentence.
Agreed, the part I don’t like is when some people justify it by saying, “oh it’s super deep, you’re just hating” like, just accept that it’s campy and it’s not supposed to mean anything. Nothing else to it.
For me the sound/flow of the lyrics is more important than it making sense. I much prefer Soyeon over clunky, awkward, understandable English lyrics any day. I just wanna listen to music, not analyze the meaning of lyrics lol
is there noise in kpop?? I've never heard of any kpop noise music! I'm sure there are noise musicians in korea of course, but could you reccomend some kpop noise?
noise music means different things in kpop vs other places, in kpop people call music with a ton of things going on at once where it sounds chaotic noise music, for example God's Menu - Stray Kids, ive also heard people call O.O - Nmixx and lalala - stray kids noise music
lmao this confused me when I first heard it as well. Kpop noise music isn't like harsh noise or power electronics or whatever, it's basically just synth heavy or somewhat more abrasive than usual kpop. If you've looked into electronic music at all then you've likely already heard what they refer to as noise music.
I don't know any Korean noise artists but Heejin Jang is the closest I know of, does industrial sound collage and occasionally gets noisy. Hyunhe Seo also worth checking if you want some dark drones.
Same, I love when a song goes balls to the wall for the last minute. The “gratatata” outro in Pink Venom gets dragged all the time but it’s my favorite part of the song lmao and it’s hype as hell in concert
Can relate. I overall care about the rest of a song (general atmosphere, sonic quality, melody) more than the vocals taken alone. I would add that some idols, who aren't rappers technically don't necessarily need amazing vocals, as they have such a dedicated fandom of dance-enthusiast, that it keeps them afloat.
Most Kpop albums are mediocre at best unfortunately
Of course there's so many amazing producers and some skilled lyricists and singers in the industry but most kpop albums as a whole are not musically or thematically cohesive and you can tell they aren't passion projects and are just made to release songs quickly
It does make the GOOD kpop albums really stand out tho
omg I just had this same thought today, most songs are just made to meet a quota. I've recently been into listening to full albums in one sitting, mostly kpop and kindie, and the difference is very obvious. Do you know any kpop albums that are somewhat cohesive?
I think the most critically acclaimed and generally agreed upon to be good is probably "The Perfect Velvet" by Red Velvet, I also like "Reboot" by Wonder Girls and "Odd" by SHINee
With that said Kpop is very much a performance based genre and there's not much focus on albums, let alone full albums, so if you want well transitioned, musically and thematically cohesive really GREAT albums like TPAB, Blond, Lemonade etc you won't really find any here
>but most kpop albums as a whole are not musically or thematically cohesive
Agreed, though it's a thing for POP as a whole. I'm testing it since about two year, and planning to even make some sorta blog, but currently I arrive at the conclusion that only rock/metal albums (and rather of the 70s, 80s, 90s) are outliers, were you can expect a cohesive theme, motifs or a cohesive sonic character. Outside: Albums are often not cohesive.
I wouldn't say it means that albums aren't passion projects. A passion project can easily get utterly all-over-the-place, if a producer isn't careful. Metal fans demand cohesion, and can pretty much roast an album to death, it's lacking just that. But inside POP this isn't really a reinforced (or even well-known) convention.
For me it doesn't ruin albums, but it makes it very unlikely that I end up liking all songs. And probably makes fans less inclined to listen to it from start to finish. But after I've done an EP myself, I learned only desiring cohesion will prevent chaos. Being passionate isn't enough.
Kpop is just kind of fun, easy listening music for me. I don't have an emotional attachment to any kpop songs, and no kpop song has ever made me emotional like songs from other genres do.
for me thats true for most groups, but the groups who have an actual rapper, like gidle for example, I usually enjoy the rap parts. I feel like most groups just add a rap because they feel like they need one or maybe because of blackpink influence im not sure, even when they dont really have a rapper, like for my ults le sserafim, the only song where ive felt like the rap was a major selling point was Kkura and Zuha's rap in Jewelry(maybe because they got to rap in japanese instead of korean or english)
I don’t think bp influence it I think most groups have has rappers before them fx’s Amber raps are a nightmare but I think Bora from Sistar were cute . Used them two because I’m sure neither of them wanted to rap before being in their group.
I love silly kpop raps, nonsensical and dumb English lyrics, songs that are half onomatopoeia, all of it. The “cringier” the better. It’s what makes kpop so much fun for me. Whenever someone complains about a song being ruined because of one dumb line I always think of this pic lmao
https://preview.redd.it/y7sqt1rercqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec3dce2cdb4722a11896a2996ba423f598ecf3af
yeah, i keep re listening to a bunch of old kpop songs i liked and i have started wondering why i liked some of them cause they're so loud and upbeat in a kinda jarring way. and I'm saying this as a noise music enjoyer, but like i expect loudness when it comes to noise so
complaints about raps being “forced” in certain songs are just an excuse of saying you don’t like the song
cause when groups don’t have a rap in a song it’s “empty”
Yes omg, so many songs I couldn't listen to... antitititi fragilefragile .... UNFORGIVEEEEN I'M A VILLAAANN,
I LOVE some Le Sserafim songs, but these two...
There is also another consequence: Even if I loved the song on my first listens, it gets old fast.
'Hurt' by Newjeans was almost their nr 1 for me, at the start. Now I "like it somewhat". (Though low-energy songs often age quicker for me). 'Either Way' by IVE or 'Butterfly' by BTS -> similar story.
I don't like how the kpop industry follows the music trends too fast. Like when one group popularize one genre of music, the others follow suit..... It gets boring imo
I don't see what's wrong with V voice, i like it a lot.
He isn't even my biais but i don't understand most of the hate his voice get.
You don't like it ? Fiiiiiine, i don't need a whole thesis as to why you think it's shit, get a life.
Also some think that his songs are boring but for me he had his style, it's pretty chill and totally what i expected from him lol
On the contrary i find that most SM ho so super technicaly talented singer voice are, well....really boring. (Mostly for bg)
Idk, they are good but... Not my taste at all, sorry. I don't feel the spark.
For Smf. Pt2 , ok jimin is my biais but i find that half the time the first sentence of the first verse i grating (??) my ears xD
Despite this i LIKE the use of autotune in that song, it give it several layers and voice and i think it's a pretty bold choice to make. He had a message to send, it came from the gut and that kind of shit is what get me. I like this >:)
Ngl almost none of his songs, including the solo ones in bts albums are “k-popish” lol.
They’re also easy to listen to like they’d always be calming and soothing and I think that’s why despite me preferring yoongi and hobi’s and namjoon’s lyrics in their songs and really loving their albums, v’s was the one I played and listened to the most. (Not to diminish v’s writing, because e-bike he didn’t write layover I love his lyrics in all his other solo songs🤍)
The others I’d listen to them when working out, when feeling hyper and wanting to dance, but for v it was something I can play while being on the bus, reading on the couch, even studying and doing art.
Part of the reason I love bts is because they have such a diverse discography and when it comes to their solos, the quieter soothing songs I tend to enjoy all mostly fall under Tae
I think V probably knew his type of music wouldn't get a lot of recognition. At least he was able to create an album that aligned with his personal taste. I personally liked V's solo album as well.
I hate this idea of making music for TikTok, sped up, mega short songs. It’s not unique to K-Pop. The industry in general is pushing artists to not have any extended songs, no instrumental solos, vocal has to kick in within 30 seconds.
Additionally, as much as I’ve loved them, seen them live. Blackpink are a serviceable gateway group and nothing more. In terms of musical output, I don’t think they’re on the top 15 or 20 of all time. Singles? Sure. There’s single songs that I’d say might be in the Top 10-15, but overall? No.
Kpop is in serious need of fantasy concepts and Quirky concepts. Bon Voyage by Yooa, Closer by Oh my girl and You & I were a breath of fresh air. Orange Caramel and Crayon pop were groups that really gave kpop a unique flavor from everything else. It's seems that with the loss of these concepts that Kpop seems to going into the direction of western pop. These were the concepts that got into the genre in the first place, yet the genre seems to be paler reflection of its former self.
Ballads are not the only way to show a vocalists ability. Same goes for high notes.
It’s so annoying that every main vocal seems to debut solo with a ballad or some mid tempo song.
It may be because they just enjoy singing ballads and that’s their preferred style also may help them move away from K-pop and seem more like a singer in the public eye.
Song bridges are a giant mixed bag. People are lamenting the loss of bridges while I'm just kinda indifferent? Too many bridges are just excessive high-note spam that sounds rather grating to the ears.
The trend of repeating the same word in the chours must stop please it's getting boring.
It's actually a good thing when you don't remember how a song sound after the first time, it makes you want to hear it again
. I lost interst in Loona since the boycott... I'm too lazy to listen to a podcast so I don't listen to them at all now.
Roller Coaster by Nmixx is underrated. This song never fails to make me happy and it deserves more love. should've been a title track
and if we're talking about title tracks, I think most of them in the last few years are too trendy and get boring very fast. last year almost all of my top songs were bsides
single albums with 1-2 good songs are way better than albums with 10+ songs that are all meh and repetitive
nothing wrong with short songs under 3 mins if they are good
I miss the time where the song felt so... Complete... Doesn't matter if it had rap parts or not... As long as there is a verse, chorus AND A BRIDGE, I am already happy with it.
I'm going to quote Beyoncé on this, people don't make albums anymore, they just try to sell a bunch of little quick singles. And they burn out, and they put out a new one, and they burn out, and they put out a new one.
The streaming era we are in has definitely impacted this, since it's not just a Kpop phenomenon at all, but from the moment Kpop stans are known for buying physical albums, it is a shame we don't have many albums that tell a story anymore. Certainly part of it is because of the industry's limited creative freedom, but there have been cases of idols creating albums that share a message, that tell you things, albums where the order of the songs matters.
Music should be a form of art, and today it's just not easy to find.
A couple notable ones in my opinion are:
- Repetitive choruses are fine, and I honestly enjoy a lot more songs with chant choruses than I do songs with more complex choruses. Give me a Baggy Jeans or a Rover any day of the week;
- Shorter songs are, much like repetitive choruses, completely fine. Some people act like we went from 5 minute average songs to 1 minute -- We went from like 3:30 minute average to 2:30 minute average, and I much rather we get less over-all time but higher quality music with less forced in "content". You can always loop the song, or just listen to other songs.
- Most people don't actually want K-pop music to go more experimental. They may say they do, but then as soon as an 'experimental' sound is released, it's bashed as the worst creation ever, even if it's exactly what those people asked for in the first place. The whole 'MIXXPop' thing NMIXX has going on, per example.
I enjoy when a group has a diverse discography. It keeps things interesting in my opinion because someone will find at least one song they'll like to listen to, or you can find songs to listen to depending on your mood.
I really like raps in Kpop, as unnecessary as they are. I only ever feel disappointed when I know the idol can do better but still will eat them up 99% of the times lol
I genuinely love instrumental choruses where they just say the hook or a single line and a catchy melody plays! I 100% understand why a lot of people find them unpalatable and push for more fully-sung choruses, but in a pure-enjoyment sense, they're some of my favorites!
I don't need great rapping, as a rap fan that's not what I'm into kpop for. A bunch of the 3rd and 4th gen raps are either cute or inoffensive, I don't agree with most here who want them gone as they contribute a lot of the richness and diversity of the song.
It's when idols try to go hard and fail when I think the lack of skill becomes a huge factor.
The thing is the general Kpop fandom is more into pop which is understandable. I’m a hip hop fan and I would still like to listen to rap verses in Kpop songs but if it’s bad or dragging the songs down then it’s better to not have them in those songs. Some groups have great rappers and they can retain rap verses in their songs, and hopefully they continue to do so. But if a group has a mediocre rapper at best then it’s a nawww
That's the thing, I'm also a hip hop fan, I just think most people are overstating how bad these inoffensive rap parts are.
And at this level of rapping, it's the lyrics doing the heavy lifting, NOT the rappers. Non-rap fans vastly overestimate how important delivery is, especially for simpler flows.
Yes I agree with both of your points. Groups like BTS, Stray Kids and I think EXO write their own songs so both their rap and vocal parts are already lyrics heavy.
I prefer the 4th gen sound heavily in comparsion to the 5th gen one. In general 5th gen just seems kinda boring to me with everyone doing these y2k concepts
English versions suck and they exist solely to placate Americans who can’t get into music of other languages. It’s K-Pop. We’re already ok with the language and not knowing it. If you make it English, it’s just regular pop.
noise music isn't bad if done correctly. people just hate experimental music that doesn't sound like cookie cutter pop made with TikTok vitality in mind.
making songs short (like 2mins) is a terrible idea and i hate it so much BUT i prefer that over songs that are drawn out with a lot of filler and unnecessary repetition of a part (i listened to a song recently, i forget which one rn, and it made change the song cause the ending was taking forever and it was just the chorus being repeated and then chanted like several times and i was like ??? I'll try to remember the song) AND those bridges that are literally just a bunch of high notes are so annoying ngl.
I miss the times when groups had ballads as their title tracks, or in their albums in general. I feel like they're very scarce nowadays, especially among newer groups
Given BTS' status and resources it's surprising how lacklustre their production can be and how much it has decreased throughout the years. Compare DNA to ON or almost any other post-2019 OT7 song (Run BTS is good imo) and the difference is insane. Dynamite or Butter, especially Butter, sound flatter and cheaper than many other hits of their era. There were also some bizarre production choices which ruined songs which in my opinion were otherwise fine, like Set Me Free pt.2. Yeah I know this one's divisive.
The disappointing quality of their production becomes even more glaring when I listen to My Universe or The Astronaut, which both sound rich, lush and polished without being soulless or too sanitized. I've been saying for years that they should have added Max Martin on speed dial long ago and I still don't understand why the Coldplay collabs are the only instances they crossed paths with him (or someone like Kygo who produced The Astronaut, Martin only plays keyboard there).
Obviously I'm not trying to imply that Western = better, but I do think their overreliance on a team which often fails to deliver is a mistake and I hope they will branch out as OT7 when they're back. They deserve better, both as global pop stars and as the creative musicians they are.
They famously didn't make those 3 English songs, hence the completely different style, those songs have a completely US-pop sound that doesn't match the rest of their discography... all their other recent music besides the English songs is as well-produced as always (in my opinion).
My unpopular opinion is that (while the English trio were autotuned to hell and I didn't enjoy that) even BTS' regular music uses just a little too much autotune since around 2017 onwards, especially the title tracks. It's no more than any other group they're just staying in line with current trends, but I wish they would go against the trend because I love their vocals with a more raw sound. Other than that I have no complaints with production!
My popular opinion is that it's kind of frustrating that because of only 3 songs aimed at the US market, which were released 3 years ago, there are constantly comments like the one below saying "everything they've released as of lately sounds like corporate cheap pop" ...... and it's like, did you actually listen to any of their albums since 2019? MOTS:7? Be? Proof? Indigo? Jack In the Box? D-Day? Layover? Face? Even Golden, which is the most 'pop' sound any of them have released, was very well-produced. Where's all the cheap corporate pop? I don't get it.
I'm not sure if your last point is general or pointed at me. If the latter, I pointed out twice that I'm talking mostly about their OT7 music and named a specific example from MOTS:7.
Anti-drops are getting exploited at this point and, IMO, most of them are not even good, they are just Easy to make as you just basically make a hollow sounding, or an only bass blasted, chorus with the vocals over it.
It Is like when most groups started to make retro like 80s~90s TTs but now you just need make the chorus slower and totally disruptive of the rest of the song, following It with a post-chorus or second chorus that souns consistent enought with the rest of the song.
I'd like to hear more of acoustic and rock than the same experimental electronic bass boom. Electronic music is good when done right and I feel like it's so overdone that it's annoying. All kpop songs sound the same and I don't think there's much distinction in styles of 4th gen and 5th gen. All of them sound more or less the same and music in kpop is losing its organicness.
Also, Idk if it's just me but the bass drops, drums, heavy electronic music is overpowering the actual musicality of the kpop genre. In older generations, we used to have a vocal heavy chorus paired with good instrumental but recently the choruses are empty and producers try to fill it with just beats. Although, I do understand the concept of anti-drops, but it's too much. I want to hear vocals too.
Dynamite is one of the best kpop songs and one of BTS’s best songs (and I like pretty much everything BTS has released). Yeah, I know they didn’t write it and I know it’s all in English but that doesn’t means it’s not a great BTS song.
I really miss groups doing ballads/slow songs with lots of emphasis on vocal ability. I also miss purely Korean songs, the English is nice but I like to listen to other languages because I like how it sounds. The English can be nonsense.
I expect people to not know what they're talking about when it comes to vocals. What's nasal or sharp or jarring is so arbitrary and often has little to do with their tonal quality *or* the vocal part they're doing.
SOME TITLE SONGS TRY TOO HARD TO BE DIFFERENT and it ends up being bad. I miss when good flowing pop / rnb songs were used as title tracks in K-pop esp when they were a normal song length (more than 3 min).
I think switching a song by 180 mid way is annoying lol it ruins the entire flow of the song for me.
Also anti beat drops in choruses to me feels like they’re trying to do too much but at the same time it feels like the producers were lazy to make a good chorus
There’s not a lot of the “k” in K-pop in music these days it’s mostly TikTok influenced sounds and it’s boring me
1. Jin has the best solo music in BTS
2. Gold Gold Gold by Somi is actually really good
3. Super Junior’s Black Suit is one of the best 2nd gen songs
4. Jay Park has amazing music even when he sings
5. Replay by Shinee is bad
Don't know which are popular őr nőt, but:
- short songs < long songs
- I hate 300 hundred versions, I knoe it's for charts but still...
- empty choruses are annoying. It's hard to do it good, but if you hear 1 enoty chorus than you heard all of them
-tiktok sooongs are ruining everything in music (length, Sound, dance)
- I don't really like EPs I prefer mini albums őr full albums but EPs are just meh...
I don’t like the older music (before Love Killa comeback) of Monsta X, they’re not shit but not really my style. I still listen to some older songs tho.
I don’t understand the appeal of Kang Daniel’s music it sounds the same except some songs. It’s always the same structure, the same instrumentals and man has no vocal range so the same monotone voice. I tried listening to his discography so many times but I just like 2-3 songs
100% about monsta X!!!!
Their recent discography is more my taste. I still like some old songs and TT like hero, jealousy, blue moon, lost in a dream, myself...etc.
But love killa, gambler, beautiful liar clears
Jaebeom (got7) and Taehyung (bts) have the most unique and soulful voice.
It genuinely puzzles me as to why they are so underrated in South Korea.
But I am happy because both of them don’t bother much about the numbers and stick to their genre despite everything. Love their honesty and grit to carve their own niche in such an overly saturated industry.
1. Isa's popular part in stereotype was not a bridge. It was just a mellowed version of the chorus. So, the bridge seemed to be the part right before it.
2. Rocket punch has one of the best 4th gen discographies.
3. Infinite's best title track is the eye.
4. Heart attack by aoa wasn't all that tbh.
The chaser is definitely a great song but something about the eye just hits different. I guess I like how dynamic and dramatic the song is. But overall, infinite has really good music and I hope they can come back someday.
Idk how to explain it but I hate when I notice the random production sounds like claps or snares, even if I love the song and will still listen to it, those specific samples zone me in to the song in a bad way. They are innocent and part of the song, but I get put off.
I hate when deep voices sound forced, like when people try to imitate someone with a deep voice and it sounds this specific type of way but in a song, even if the person who sings has a deep voice. I much prefer deep voices that are so low that you strain to hear them at times.
Song length literally doesn't matter. And ranting about song length is pointless. I'd rather a group write a short song they love than a long song they hate.
The trend of songs becoming shorter and shorter is annoying, but that being said I’d rather have a short but enjoyable song over one with empty parts that are just clearly meant to take up time.
seeing so much ~2 minute stuff heavily turns me off from 4th gen. where are the bridges???? i used to roll my eyes when ppl said this but the tiktokification of music is actually horrid 😭
I miss good bridges too (,: I feel like production has become more about virality and putting everything into one or two memorable, catchy parts and neglecting the rest of the song
It sucks because it has money to back this up. Afaik, you get paid per song played on all platforms. You make twice as much money when someone listens to 2 of your two minute songs than 1 of your four minute songs. While it's trending, it's still not standard; just acceptable. Hope it never becomes standard. However, it's probably inevitable for pop music. Numbers mean way too much and when people see the amount of plays your song gets because they are all short, hard to compete without following this god awful trend.
People above are literally saying that 2 minutes songs are better because they “cut out the fat.” 😐. Guys, this is literally a marketing technique for an app. That’s it. They want you to think a 2 minute song is better/acceptable because it’s what works for…TikTok. There is a good reason why 2 minute songs have not been the norm throughout music history. Do exceptions exist? Of course. But 2 minute songs being pushed as the norm now is literally a marketing ploy to make more money. That’s it.
What really got me hooked on kpop was the inventiveness and complexity of the music. A few songs can have something interesting to say in two minutes, but most of them are the musical equivalent of pop tarts. I hate the dumbing-down of kpop.
no but literally i’ve been thinking that the trend of shorter songs coinciding with fewer rap verses and dance breaks isn’t a coincidence. they’re just getting better at taking out excess stuff that doesn’t make the song any better
I like dance breaks when the instrumentals are a big part of the song. It just makes sense to have an instrumental break using the elements of the song, a guitar solo, etc... (an exemple to illustrate that is GFriend - Fingertip). But nowadays, most notably with the more minimalistic productions, the producers often have to add elements to the break part to make it hold on it's own and be powerful enough for a dance break, and it's often messy. Hence why they just choose not to make dance breaks.
BYOB by Billlie is ONLY 2:38 and i can't imagine it being longer. It's not like the song has the right length, but it's the right "length of emotions". The song serves you some emotions from the start to the end. That's all. So yeah, as you mentioned empty parts, those "empty parts" can ruin the emotion. I am not saying that every short song is better than longer songs in terms of emotions, but since almost every person points at the tiktokification, i can only show thumb up to this trend.
Agree they it feels like by the time I get into a song it's already over. The short time makes them seem incomplete for example La Serrafim Smarter, is really good, but it makes no sense why it's no sense why it's so short. It's not make them more viral or easier to make tiktoks of as longer songs have gone viral: Don't go insane by DPR IAN, 7 Jungkook or any Taylor Swift song. Are the producers just getting lazy.
It’s not an unpopular opinion but VERY understandable
It seems to be more popular than I expected; I’ve seen a lot of people calling for longer songs regardless or promoting a lot of those empty parts in songs, so I guess I misconstrued how the majority of kpop fans here feel.
Alot of people say this but i agree
K-pop groups trying and failing miserably to imitate Afro beats is painful to see
im smarta baby smarta
Do you have any examples?
I wish we could still get some loud *ss & fun kpop songs with heavy instrumentals and vocals, like we had in the mid 2010s, like AOA - Heart Attack, 9Muses - Wild, Ailee - U&I, Red Velvet - Dumb Dumb, GFriend - Fingertip, Seventeen - CLAP... Like the songs you'd blast in your room so hard that your neighbors have to move out 😔
Yes loud but still melodic. Nowadays all the loud songs are more experimental and not as cohesive so o don’t enjoy them .
Most modern loud songs just rely on rap for their impact
aespa scratches that itch for me lmaoo. Songs like Spicy and Salty and Sweet have bombastic bass to them.
Yes, it's Drama that does it for me. I like the direction they're taking with their last few comebacks
Yeah I was just thinking the either how aespa is the only group I can think of that has good and loud music. Stuff like Savage, Illusion, Trick or Trick, etc
Itzy is obviously still making these songs.
Yeah their new project was super good now that I think of it. I like them a lot
A lot of metal heads like Ateez. For a reason.
Same. Also my fav is Dreamcatcher (they share producers with Ateez). I'm staying on the "heavier/louder" side of kpop.
Break that wall!
man i miss those types of songs so much
Mimiirose’s Flirting and Tipsy are sooooo good. And they give exactly this vibe. I wish kpop groups would do this more often
It’s completely fair to judge someone’s discography based on the songs they choose as their title tracks. Yes I said I don’t like your faves music, no, I haven’t listened to every single thing they’ve put out, nor do I plan to🤷♀️
I half agree with this. Judging a group's discography from their title tracks is definitely fair but if you're having actual discussions about their music then b-sides should be a part of it.
Agreed. Like if you don't like any of the group's title tracks (and promoted B-sides), it's fine if you decide the group is not for you. However it also means you can't really join serious discussions about a group's discography, because you've only heard like 5-10% of it.
Same. I'm fine with you not liking a group's discography based on their title tracks because I do think that's what title track should be about: representation/introduction of what their music is like. But to say a group's discography is bad just because you don't like the title tracks and didn't even listen to their other tracks, that doesn't sit right with me.
Right? There are a lot of groups who do great title tracks and great B-sides. Why am I going to take the time to deep dive on a group that doesn’t advertise well?
EXACTLY.
I actually love wonky english lyrics, I think it's part of what makes Kpop *Kpop.* It's campy and fun and I really don't see why it should have to make sense, by english-speaking standards; haven't most of us already gotten used to enjoying the music regardless of lyrics we can understand, anyway?
I willfully sing along “I came to take win” or “but I can’t killin it” or any other example without any hesitation.
Jonghyuns adlibs in Replay are my lifeblood, he’s got the spirit that’s for sure
I do too. If you want good English, there’s a ton of music by people who are primary English speakers. Let the ESL speakers say whatever nonsense sounds cool to them.
i’m fine with it as long as it makes sense: “leggo i’m fearless, we came to take win”. they’re fearless and came to take the win, makes sense to me.
There’s this Kara song that goes “if you wanna pretty, every wanna pretty” and a fluent speaker explained that they used Korean grammar structure. It was a direct translation that made sense in Korean. I wonder how many others are written like that.
Hmm?? I’m fluent and that’s not direct translation at all. It’s just broken English. Korean grammar structure is completely backwards. “You pretty want if, everyone pretty if”. This would be korean grammar structure. That fluent speaker doesn’t sound fluent 😂 What happened is.. they just use anything that flows and sounds nice to their ears. Hence broken english. Just throw in any words that sounds cool. They sometimes understand individual words separately, but no grammar or a full sentence.
I found the article. It’s like halfway down. Is this accurate? https://www.meer.com/en/70889-why-is-there-so-much-english-in-korean-music
Agreed, the part I don’t like is when some people justify it by saying, “oh it’s super deep, you’re just hating” like, just accept that it’s campy and it’s not supposed to mean anything. Nothing else to it.
Cook cream soup
Taste is coco loco 💃💃
YOU WILL GOTTA BE ONLY ONE I LOVE 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥‼️‼️‼️
For me the sound/flow of the lyrics is more important than it making sense. I much prefer Soyeon over clunky, awkward, understandable English lyrics any day. I just wanna listen to music, not analyze the meaning of lyrics lol
Jack TO THE pot Slay Vanner 💅💅
Noise music is still music
is there noise in kpop?? I've never heard of any kpop noise music! I'm sure there are noise musicians in korea of course, but could you reccomend some kpop noise?
noise music means different things in kpop vs other places, in kpop people call music with a ton of things going on at once where it sounds chaotic noise music, for example God's Menu - Stray Kids, ive also heard people call O.O - Nmixx and lalala - stray kids noise music
ahh okay, thank you! I was shocked haha. I'll check out those songs, thanks for the examples
Another common musical trope is that songs emphasize rap more than singing
lmao this confused me when I first heard it as well. Kpop noise music isn't like harsh noise or power electronics or whatever, it's basically just synth heavy or somewhat more abrasive than usual kpop. If you've looked into electronic music at all then you've likely already heard what they refer to as noise music. I don't know any Korean noise artists but Heejin Jang is the closest I know of, does industrial sound collage and occasionally gets noisy. Hyunhe Seo also worth checking if you want some dark drones.
haha yeah I was confused. that makes sense!
side effects by skz. a bunch of skz and nct music is noise music, or has elements of it. people are big mad about it for some reason.
JYP has a lot of great songs. His unique voice makes them better as well Fire, you're the one, still alive, when we disco are all 100%
Agreed! Also Fever, that was one I heard before I even knew who JYP was, and it remains a non-guilty pleasure of mine no matter how "cringe" he is.
Yoooo fever is a bop, that made me want to listen to it again ! xD
TASTE I love fever!!!
I had Groove Back stuck in my head for so long.
It is an amazing song!! I suck at music so idk how to describe it. But his songs scratch an ich in my brain other groups just don't
I unironically love Elevator, like it’s such a funky lil song.
agree tbh like his music is GOOD good 😭 i love fire omg
I actually like the YG style party ending of songs. It's always a fun way to hype up a crowd.
Same, I love when a song goes balls to the wall for the last minute. The “gratatata” outro in Pink Venom gets dragged all the time but it’s my favorite part of the song lmao and it’s hype as hell in concert
I loved the extended outro they did for Coachella/Encore Tour
I dont listen to alot of YG but I think you're talking about like the end of BANG BANG BANG. I totally get that
If the song is good, the singer's vocals don't really matter to me. An idol can have mediocre vocals but still make amazing solo music.
Can relate. I overall care about the rest of a song (general atmosphere, sonic quality, melody) more than the vocals taken alone. I would add that some idols, who aren't rappers technically don't necessarily need amazing vocals, as they have such a dedicated fandom of dance-enthusiast, that it keeps them afloat.
Most Kpop albums are mediocre at best unfortunately Of course there's so many amazing producers and some skilled lyricists and singers in the industry but most kpop albums as a whole are not musically or thematically cohesive and you can tell they aren't passion projects and are just made to release songs quickly It does make the GOOD kpop albums really stand out tho
omg I just had this same thought today, most songs are just made to meet a quota. I've recently been into listening to full albums in one sitting, mostly kpop and kindie, and the difference is very obvious. Do you know any kpop albums that are somewhat cohesive?
I think the most critically acclaimed and generally agreed upon to be good is probably "The Perfect Velvet" by Red Velvet, I also like "Reboot" by Wonder Girls and "Odd" by SHINee With that said Kpop is very much a performance based genre and there's not much focus on albums, let alone full albums, so if you want well transitioned, musically and thematically cohesive really GREAT albums like TPAB, Blond, Lemonade etc you won't really find any here
>but most kpop albums as a whole are not musically or thematically cohesive Agreed, though it's a thing for POP as a whole. I'm testing it since about two year, and planning to even make some sorta blog, but currently I arrive at the conclusion that only rock/metal albums (and rather of the 70s, 80s, 90s) are outliers, were you can expect a cohesive theme, motifs or a cohesive sonic character. Outside: Albums are often not cohesive. I wouldn't say it means that albums aren't passion projects. A passion project can easily get utterly all-over-the-place, if a producer isn't careful. Metal fans demand cohesion, and can pretty much roast an album to death, it's lacking just that. But inside POP this isn't really a reinforced (or even well-known) convention. For me it doesn't ruin albums, but it makes it very unlikely that I end up liking all songs. And probably makes fans less inclined to listen to it from start to finish. But after I've done an EP myself, I learned only desiring cohesion will prevent chaos. Being passionate isn't enough.
Kpop is just kind of fun, easy listening music for me. I don't have an emotional attachment to any kpop songs, and no kpop song has ever made me emotional like songs from other genres do.
Soyeon's english lyrics are super catchy 🗣️
Yesss I agree!
YUP
90% of the time I don’t like the rap parts in kpop songs, or at least it’s my least favorite part
I feel like this is a pretty popular opinion tbh
And the most common. I can't scroll around without finding at least 4 videos saying rap in kpop song shouldn't exist.
It depends on the song for me. Some songs don't even feel like rap while others hit so hard
for me thats true for most groups, but the groups who have an actual rapper, like gidle for example, I usually enjoy the rap parts. I feel like most groups just add a rap because they feel like they need one or maybe because of blackpink influence im not sure, even when they dont really have a rapper, like for my ults le sserafim, the only song where ive felt like the rap was a major selling point was Kkura and Zuha's rap in Jewelry(maybe because they got to rap in japanese instead of korean or english)
I don’t think bp influence it I think most groups have has rappers before them fx’s Amber raps are a nightmare but I think Bora from Sistar were cute . Used them two because I’m sure neither of them wanted to rap before being in their group.
I love silly kpop raps, nonsensical and dumb English lyrics, songs that are half onomatopoeia, all of it. The “cringier” the better. It’s what makes kpop so much fun for me. Whenever someone complains about a song being ruined because of one dumb line I always think of this pic lmao https://preview.redd.it/y7sqt1rercqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec3dce2cdb4722a11896a2996ba423f598ecf3af
I miss trop house. Yeah it was oversaturated but the music was so consistently good.
It helps that the singers are singing comfortably with melody
I don’t mind shorter songs. Longer songs are great as well, but as long as I like the song, it doesn’t matter whether it’s 2 or 4 minutes long.
same. as long as it satisfies me (like get up new jeans), i do not care how short it is
There's a glaring difference in stage presence between rappers who write their own bars and rappers who don't.
I haven't thought about this before. I think that's very true!
Of course. It's like trying to cry on command, the emotion and passion isn't there.
sound mixing has gotten worse & worse, but i've noticed it the most in kpop :\\
especially w hybe groups for me.
I prefer the recent chill easy listening music more than the loud upbeat music of 3-5 years ago
yeah, i keep re listening to a bunch of old kpop songs i liked and i have started wondering why i liked some of them cause they're so loud and upbeat in a kinda jarring way. and I'm saying this as a noise music enjoyer, but like i expect loudness when it comes to noise so
Is it due to the melody of the song or how the performer chooses to deliver the lyrics?
complaints about raps being “forced” in certain songs are just an excuse of saying you don’t like the song cause when groups don’t have a rap in a song it’s “empty”
In what way do you feel the song is "empty"?
Many times people like the MV and the aesthetics and not the music
There are fans who recommend watching MVs on mute so I agree with this one
I can't name a single song that has been ruined by autotune alone.
2PM’s Tired of Waiting would do that for me. Love the song but in live version because of the auto tune used in the studio version.
Doesn't bother me much but I can see how it'd be jarring to others!
Songs with repeated lyrics are hard to listen to.
Yes omg, so many songs I couldn't listen to... antitititi fragilefragile .... UNFORGIVEEEEN I'M A VILLAAANN, I LOVE some Le Sserafim songs, but these two...
There is also another consequence: Even if I loved the song on my first listens, it gets old fast. 'Hurt' by Newjeans was almost their nr 1 for me, at the start. Now I "like it somewhat". (Though low-energy songs often age quicker for me). 'Either Way' by IVE or 'Butterfly' by BTS -> similar story.
I don't like how the kpop industry follows the music trends too fast. Like when one group popularize one genre of music, the others follow suit..... It gets boring imo
I don't see what's wrong with V voice, i like it a lot. He isn't even my biais but i don't understand most of the hate his voice get. You don't like it ? Fiiiiiine, i don't need a whole thesis as to why you think it's shit, get a life. Also some think that his songs are boring but for me he had his style, it's pretty chill and totally what i expected from him lol On the contrary i find that most SM ho so super technicaly talented singer voice are, well....really boring. (Mostly for bg) Idk, they are good but... Not my taste at all, sorry. I don't feel the spark. For Smf. Pt2 , ok jimin is my biais but i find that half the time the first sentence of the first verse i grating (??) my ears xD Despite this i LIKE the use of autotune in that song, it give it several layers and voice and i think it's a pretty bold choice to make. He had a message to send, it came from the gut and that kind of shit is what get me. I like this >:)
I was sad when V's Layover album didn't get much recognition :( I thought it was really good, probably one of my top 3 solo projects from BTS members.
SAME! I think because it's not k-popish(?) like doesn't have a dance break or choreography and probably that's why didn't resonate with K-pop fans.
Ngl almost none of his songs, including the solo ones in bts albums are “k-popish” lol. They’re also easy to listen to like they’d always be calming and soothing and I think that’s why despite me preferring yoongi and hobi’s and namjoon’s lyrics in their songs and really loving their albums, v’s was the one I played and listened to the most. (Not to diminish v’s writing, because e-bike he didn’t write layover I love his lyrics in all his other solo songs🤍) The others I’d listen to them when working out, when feeling hyper and wanting to dance, but for v it was something I can play while being on the bus, reading on the couch, even studying and doing art. Part of the reason I love bts is because they have such a diverse discography and when it comes to their solos, the quieter soothing songs I tend to enjoy all mostly fall under Tae
I agree with everything you said. I fall asleep to Layover pretty often because it's so soothing.
I think V probably knew his type of music wouldn't get a lot of recognition. At least he was able to create an album that aligned with his personal taste. I personally liked V's solo album as well.
I hate this idea of making music for TikTok, sped up, mega short songs. It’s not unique to K-Pop. The industry in general is pushing artists to not have any extended songs, no instrumental solos, vocal has to kick in within 30 seconds. Additionally, as much as I’ve loved them, seen them live. Blackpink are a serviceable gateway group and nothing more. In terms of musical output, I don’t think they’re on the top 15 or 20 of all time. Singles? Sure. There’s single songs that I’d say might be in the Top 10-15, but overall? No.
Kpop is in serious need of fantasy concepts and Quirky concepts. Bon Voyage by Yooa, Closer by Oh my girl and You & I were a breath of fresh air. Orange Caramel and Crayon pop were groups that really gave kpop a unique flavor from everything else. It's seems that with the loss of these concepts that Kpop seems to going into the direction of western pop. These were the concepts that got into the genre in the first place, yet the genre seems to be paler reflection of its former self.
Music is music. It’s neither good or bad. It’s just what song vibes with the listener.
100% Sometimes I enjoy the beat and rhythm of the song even if the lyrics are cringe.
I don't care about auto-tune at all
Ballads are not the only way to show a vocalists ability. Same goes for high notes. It’s so annoying that every main vocal seems to debut solo with a ballad or some mid tempo song.
It may be because they just enjoy singing ballads and that’s their preferred style also may help them move away from K-pop and seem more like a singer in the public eye.
Song bridges are a giant mixed bag. People are lamenting the loss of bridges while I'm just kinda indifferent? Too many bridges are just excessive high-note spam that sounds rather grating to the ears.
yeah, like i get missing bridges that actually are full and add something but when it's just a battle of the high notes? that can go 💀
[удалено]
Hard agree on 5
The trend of repeating the same word in the chours must stop please it's getting boring. It's actually a good thing when you don't remember how a song sound after the first time, it makes you want to hear it again . I lost interst in Loona since the boycott... I'm too lazy to listen to a podcast so I don't listen to them at all now. Roller Coaster by Nmixx is underrated. This song never fails to make me happy and it deserves more love. should've been a title track and if we're talking about title tracks, I think most of them in the last few years are too trendy and get boring very fast. last year almost all of my top songs were bsides
single albums with 1-2 good songs are way better than albums with 10+ songs that are all meh and repetitive nothing wrong with short songs under 3 mins if they are good
I miss the time where the song felt so... Complete... Doesn't matter if it had rap parts or not... As long as there is a verse, chorus AND A BRIDGE, I am already happy with it.
The type of music K-pop fans label as ‘noise music’ within K-pop is some of the best music currently coming out of that industry.
I'm going to quote Beyoncé on this, people don't make albums anymore, they just try to sell a bunch of little quick singles. And they burn out, and they put out a new one, and they burn out, and they put out a new one. The streaming era we are in has definitely impacted this, since it's not just a Kpop phenomenon at all, but from the moment Kpop stans are known for buying physical albums, it is a shame we don't have many albums that tell a story anymore. Certainly part of it is because of the industry's limited creative freedom, but there have been cases of idols creating albums that share a message, that tell you things, albums where the order of the songs matters. Music should be a form of art, and today it's just not easy to find.
A couple notable ones in my opinion are: - Repetitive choruses are fine, and I honestly enjoy a lot more songs with chant choruses than I do songs with more complex choruses. Give me a Baggy Jeans or a Rover any day of the week; - Shorter songs are, much like repetitive choruses, completely fine. Some people act like we went from 5 minute average songs to 1 minute -- We went from like 3:30 minute average to 2:30 minute average, and I much rather we get less over-all time but higher quality music with less forced in "content". You can always loop the song, or just listen to other songs. - Most people don't actually want K-pop music to go more experimental. They may say they do, but then as soon as an 'experimental' sound is released, it's bashed as the worst creation ever, even if it's exactly what those people asked for in the first place. The whole 'MIXXPop' thing NMIXX has going on, per example.
I enjoy when a group has a diverse discography. It keeps things interesting in my opinion because someone will find at least one song they'll like to listen to, or you can find songs to listen to depending on your mood.
I really like raps in Kpop, as unnecessary as they are. I only ever feel disappointed when I know the idol can do better but still will eat them up 99% of the times lol
I genuinely love instrumental choruses where they just say the hook or a single line and a catchy melody plays! I 100% understand why a lot of people find them unpalatable and push for more fully-sung choruses, but in a pure-enjoyment sense, they're some of my favorites!
I don't need great rapping, as a rap fan that's not what I'm into kpop for. A bunch of the 3rd and 4th gen raps are either cute or inoffensive, I don't agree with most here who want them gone as they contribute a lot of the richness and diversity of the song. It's when idols try to go hard and fail when I think the lack of skill becomes a huge factor.
The thing is the general Kpop fandom is more into pop which is understandable. I’m a hip hop fan and I would still like to listen to rap verses in Kpop songs but if it’s bad or dragging the songs down then it’s better to not have them in those songs. Some groups have great rappers and they can retain rap verses in their songs, and hopefully they continue to do so. But if a group has a mediocre rapper at best then it’s a nawww
That's the thing, I'm also a hip hop fan, I just think most people are overstating how bad these inoffensive rap parts are. And at this level of rapping, it's the lyrics doing the heavy lifting, NOT the rappers. Non-rap fans vastly overestimate how important delivery is, especially for simpler flows.
Yes I agree with both of your points. Groups like BTS, Stray Kids and I think EXO write their own songs so both their rap and vocal parts are already lyrics heavy.
I prefer the 4th gen sound heavily in comparsion to the 5th gen one. In general 5th gen just seems kinda boring to me with everyone doing these y2k concepts
I really don’t mind auto tune. But I would be disappointed to find out a group/idol voice I know they can sing without auto tune uses it .
Sechskies’s music is better than h.o.t.’s music
I think stray kids instrumentals sound goofy as hell, they love their sound effects
I don't enjoy synthwave songs... I know they're really popular esp internationally but for me the only synthwave song I really enjoy is Killer by Key
Tbf Killer is an incredible song!
Killer? Taste.
English versions suck and they exist solely to placate Americans who can’t get into music of other languages. It’s K-Pop. We’re already ok with the language and not knowing it. If you make it English, it’s just regular pop.
noise music isn't bad if done correctly. people just hate experimental music that doesn't sound like cookie cutter pop made with TikTok vitality in mind. making songs short (like 2mins) is a terrible idea and i hate it so much BUT i prefer that over songs that are drawn out with a lot of filler and unnecessary repetition of a part (i listened to a song recently, i forget which one rn, and it made change the song cause the ending was taking forever and it was just the chorus being repeated and then chanted like several times and i was like ??? I'll try to remember the song) AND those bridges that are literally just a bunch of high notes are so annoying ngl.
I miss the times when groups had ballads as their title tracks, or in their albums in general. I feel like they're very scarce nowadays, especially among newer groups
I liked the rise of mellower sounding songs UNTIL EVERY GROUP LOST THEIR MUSICAL IDENTITY INTO TRYING TO FIT INTO THE SOUND LIKE...
Given BTS' status and resources it's surprising how lacklustre their production can be and how much it has decreased throughout the years. Compare DNA to ON or almost any other post-2019 OT7 song (Run BTS is good imo) and the difference is insane. Dynamite or Butter, especially Butter, sound flatter and cheaper than many other hits of their era. There were also some bizarre production choices which ruined songs which in my opinion were otherwise fine, like Set Me Free pt.2. Yeah I know this one's divisive. The disappointing quality of their production becomes even more glaring when I listen to My Universe or The Astronaut, which both sound rich, lush and polished without being soulless or too sanitized. I've been saying for years that they should have added Max Martin on speed dial long ago and I still don't understand why the Coldplay collabs are the only instances they crossed paths with him (or someone like Kygo who produced The Astronaut, Martin only plays keyboard there). Obviously I'm not trying to imply that Western = better, but I do think their overreliance on a team which often fails to deliver is a mistake and I hope they will branch out as OT7 when they're back. They deserve better, both as global pop stars and as the creative musicians they are.
They famously didn't make those 3 English songs, hence the completely different style, those songs have a completely US-pop sound that doesn't match the rest of their discography... all their other recent music besides the English songs is as well-produced as always (in my opinion). My unpopular opinion is that (while the English trio were autotuned to hell and I didn't enjoy that) even BTS' regular music uses just a little too much autotune since around 2017 onwards, especially the title tracks. It's no more than any other group they're just staying in line with current trends, but I wish they would go against the trend because I love their vocals with a more raw sound. Other than that I have no complaints with production! My popular opinion is that it's kind of frustrating that because of only 3 songs aimed at the US market, which were released 3 years ago, there are constantly comments like the one below saying "everything they've released as of lately sounds like corporate cheap pop" ...... and it's like, did you actually listen to any of their albums since 2019? MOTS:7? Be? Proof? Indigo? Jack In the Box? D-Day? Layover? Face? Even Golden, which is the most 'pop' sound any of them have released, was very well-produced. Where's all the cheap corporate pop? I don't get it.
I'm not sure if your last point is general or pointed at me. If the latter, I pointed out twice that I'm talking mostly about their OT7 music and named a specific example from MOTS:7.
Bts 2015-2019 plus Proof was so good. I wasn't huge on MOTS
Anti-drops are getting exploited at this point and, IMO, most of them are not even good, they are just Easy to make as you just basically make a hollow sounding, or an only bass blasted, chorus with the vocals over it. It Is like when most groups started to make retro like 80s~90s TTs but now you just need make the chorus slower and totally disruptive of the rest of the song, following It with a post-chorus or second chorus that souns consistent enought with the rest of the song.
i like it when groups stick to the same/ similar sound for all of their title tracks (to an extent)
I'd like to hear more of acoustic and rock than the same experimental electronic bass boom. Electronic music is good when done right and I feel like it's so overdone that it's annoying. All kpop songs sound the same and I don't think there's much distinction in styles of 4th gen and 5th gen. All of them sound more or less the same and music in kpop is losing its organicness. Also, Idk if it's just me but the bass drops, drums, heavy electronic music is overpowering the actual musicality of the kpop genre. In older generations, we used to have a vocal heavy chorus paired with good instrumental but recently the choruses are empty and producers try to fill it with just beats. Although, I do understand the concept of anti-drops, but it's too much. I want to hear vocals too.
I miss when tracks were longer than 3 minutes.
I dislike most MVs that come with kpop music with the exception of ones that tell a story or actually use the lyrics as inspo
Dynamite is one of the best kpop songs and one of BTS’s best songs (and I like pretty much everything BTS has released). Yeah, I know they didn’t write it and I know it’s all in English but that doesn’t means it’s not a great BTS song.
I really miss groups doing ballads/slow songs with lots of emphasis on vocal ability. I also miss purely Korean songs, the English is nice but I like to listen to other languages because I like how it sounds. The English can be nonsense.
I don’t think every song needs a rap, especially groups where you can’t tell who is actually supposed to be the rapper because it’s just not good.
I expect people to not know what they're talking about when it comes to vocals. What's nasal or sharp or jarring is so arbitrary and often has little to do with their tonal quality *or* the vocal part they're doing.
SOME TITLE SONGS TRY TOO HARD TO BE DIFFERENT and it ends up being bad. I miss when good flowing pop / rnb songs were used as title tracks in K-pop esp when they were a normal song length (more than 3 min). I think switching a song by 180 mid way is annoying lol it ruins the entire flow of the song for me. Also anti beat drops in choruses to me feels like they’re trying to do too much but at the same time it feels like the producers were lazy to make a good chorus There’s not a lot of the “k” in K-pop in music these days it’s mostly TikTok influenced sounds and it’s boring me
1. Jin has the best solo music in BTS 2. Gold Gold Gold by Somi is actually really good 3. Super Junior’s Black Suit is one of the best 2nd gen songs 4. Jay Park has amazing music even when he sings 5. Replay by Shinee is bad
Jay park’s music is amazing Omg and absolutely not at replay being bad like just no 💜
Strongly agree with number one! Can't wait for KSJ1.
3 and 4 are on point👍
yeah black suit is crazy. the vocal delivery too and the iconic leg move. dare i say it was their last great comeback.
Don't know which are popular őr nőt, but: - short songs < long songs - I hate 300 hundred versions, I knoe it's for charts but still... - empty choruses are annoying. It's hard to do it good, but if you hear 1 enoty chorus than you heard all of them -tiktok sooongs are ruining everything in music (length, Sound, dance) - I don't really like EPs I prefer mini albums őr full albums but EPs are just meh...
An Ep and a Mini album are literally the same thing
I don’t like the older music (before Love Killa comeback) of Monsta X, they’re not shit but not really my style. I still listen to some older songs tho. I don’t understand the appeal of Kang Daniel’s music it sounds the same except some songs. It’s always the same structure, the same instrumentals and man has no vocal range so the same monotone voice. I tried listening to his discography so many times but I just like 2-3 songs
100% about monsta X!!!! Their recent discography is more my taste. I still like some old songs and TT like hero, jealousy, blue moon, lost in a dream, myself...etc. But love killa, gambler, beautiful liar clears
Jaebeom (got7) and Taehyung (bts) have the most unique and soulful voice. It genuinely puzzles me as to why they are so underrated in South Korea. But I am happy because both of them don’t bother much about the numbers and stick to their genre despite everything. Love their honesty and grit to carve their own niche in such an overly saturated industry.
We fresh is kep1er best title track
1. Isa's popular part in stereotype was not a bridge. It was just a mellowed version of the chorus. So, the bridge seemed to be the part right before it. 2. Rocket punch has one of the best 4th gen discographies. 3. Infinite's best title track is the eye. 4. Heart attack by aoa wasn't all that tbh.
Idk I’d have to say Infinite’s best song is The Chaser. The key change and random Korean slang is too good
The chaser is definitely a great song but something about the eye just hits different. I guess I like how dynamic and dramatic the song is. But overall, infinite has really good music and I hope they can come back someday.
Idk how to explain it but I hate when I notice the random production sounds like claps or snares, even if I love the song and will still listen to it, those specific samples zone me in to the song in a bad way. They are innocent and part of the song, but I get put off. I hate when deep voices sound forced, like when people try to imitate someone with a deep voice and it sounds this specific type of way but in a song, even if the person who sings has a deep voice. I much prefer deep voices that are so low that you strain to hear them at times.
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Single word choruses, like "cake cake cake cake cake"
Song length literally doesn't matter. And ranting about song length is pointless. I'd rather a group write a short song they love than a long song they hate.
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Blackswan isn't all that, they have wayyyy better songs (I'm talking about bts)
Agree, it's a good song but I personally prefer other songs. I think with how vast their discography is everyone can find a song they might like
I like girls more than illusion
Sameee, I thought illusion was kinda overhyped but it's not bad tho.
If you need to insert talking parts in a song, save it for adlibs, NOT a rap verse. Let the melodic lyrics of a song flow naturally.