music Anyone Here Listen to K-Pop?

[fluttergirl 9]

My favs are BigBang and Miss A, but I'm also slowly getting into VIXX

 

[Sugar Pea 2,682]

I listen to more J-pop than K-pop, although, K-pop really isn't that bad.
I don't have any specific bands, since I jump around the internet too much lol. 
 

[Jammo 986]

I listen to North Korean Pop.

"Onward to the final victory" and "No fatherland without you." Are pretty catchy.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I often listen to it since I'm not interested in most music genres, I'm open to it though.

[Siren Song 13]

WHY DIDNT I TRY HARDER TO FIND THIS THREAD UGH. Okay, so yes, all of my love for kpop. =3

[Acchan 232]

I listen to J-Pop and the occasional K-Pop song. Occasional.

[Hypn0ticD 1,213]

Whilst still very much into JPop, I've taken quite the shining to Girls' Generation... I know they're the most well known act after PSY at the moment, but they're still awesome

[A mysterious air dancer 4,142]

I don't listen to it often mostly because of personal ethics reasons.

My reasoning is, especially with the very mainstream groups and idols being pushed out, it feels like people are just doing it to only be popular and not for the music. I don't mind if someone listens to it and likes it, that's perfectly fine! What's not fine is brushing off the current blatant malice of that music industry. Fans are being ripped off by the big record labels- sorry, "Companies." and they're being used by these suits to do free public humiliation for them. And the artists either don't care about the music they're putting out and only want fame or they're super burnt out but scared to leave or speak out about how terrible it is because they fear of losing everything and ruining their (manufactured) facade and reputation.

The current Kpop industry is so blatantly made to make money for the suits in charge.

Now, this is an issue already in the music industry (has been for almost 100 years at this point, but that's a different topic), but all of the nonstop touring, needing to push out a persona that is so not what that person is at all (portraying "big and little brothers/sisters"???? is that really necessary?), hyper-stalking, and I imagine the pay is not too great either, assuming it's as misleading as every malicious music contract ever created and signed. They've got to be EXHAUSTED honestly, it's not all glam that's for sure. Korean culture is used as an excuse for this abuse but I think that's a lousy one.

And, is the very fast paced choreography with a mishmash of various EDM subgenres really the kind of style that they want to be defined by? I bet most of these groups have no say in what kind of music style they want, everything seems dictated by the suits. It's fine if they had a say in the kind of music style they want (it's their music after all) but if they have no say then... 

It also seems like most of the fans don't care at all about their favorite artist's wellbeing. The fans who lean a bit more extremely especially are WAY too overboard IMO that these "companies" (what the record labels are called, apparently. Not wrong but "record label" describes it more clearly) feel they need to cater more towards the fans so they can keep loyalty and generate moneh moneh moneh!!

 

Goodness, the fans also have so much unnecessary infighting. Every music group has this thing of fans having their favorite person in that group, but I've never seen that so weaponized by Kpop fans (stans). "Oh, you don't like this one person in the same group we both like? Sorry, but you're my number one enemy now and I'll make sure you know about this for the next few weeks."

It's so heartbreaking, seriously just enjoy the music! No need to rip someone else apart because someone thinks one person is prettier than another. Honestly, they're all very pretty (and intentionally done so). It's all marketed, all fabricated. It seems there's a bit more focus on gameshows and reality TV where people compete (or something like that) to become part of the "next big idol." I don't understand the appeal of this, to see a clearly fabricated life unfold in front of you? It's real people being presented as "real" through a fake lens, if this makes any sense. This isn't anything new (Disney for instance made it a "fact" that almost every leading child star they had was friends when that wasn't really the case) but... IDK it all rubs me the wrong way. That whole industry reeks of the word "terrible" to put it lightly.

And again, it's not the only music to be capitalized to the moon and back. Every genre of music has gone through this. The difference is for whatever reason it's been capitalized to Neptune and back like 500 times.

 

Oh and also some of the terminology is kinda "huh?" to me. It's not that much of a consideration compared to the above but no matter how much I try to understand, it seems to just go over my head.

Like "Comeback" being used here. It makes the least sense to me.

Let me get this straight. Just as an example. A group debuts their first single, and then a week or so later they have a "comeback?" .......wut? What are they coming back from? A flop single? Goodness.

I'm also not sure why record labels there are specifically are referred to as "companies." It's not wrong but it's not as specific as saying they're a record label. Unless I'm a little ignorant here and they mean that they're entertainment companies, which makes sense.

I do hope eventually the extreme fans collectively stop arguing about which member they'd ship with another, and try to make some more positive change there because I would love to see artists get back to loving the work they put out instead of trying to be popular on a gameshow that may or may not boost them into that idol position.

 

And, I do know the indie Kpop industry is a lot healthier and less chaotic, relatively speaking. Personally, that's perfectly fine with me. If an artist/group/band/whateva releases music they're proud of to a public that won't try to ship them with someone else because all they did was stand next to them for a few moments AND they have a good contract where they're getting appropriately compensated for their works, that's perfectly reasonable and I'm ready to support that too! 

[Prospekt 11,014]

I've listened to a bit. Some of it's actually fun to listen to, like Blackpink for example. But I prefer J-Pop. 

[Savy 5,072]

I've listened to it a bit, but I'm more into J-Pop more.

[TBD 17,252]

Yes definitely!!  I love from K-Pop to K-hop.(hip hop) I love watching the idols vlogs and mini reality videos as well because it just makes me feel more connected to them outside the celebrity spectrum. It’s the reason why it’s hard for me to see them as “celebrities” because there are most who actually cares more about their fans and their efforts to make musics instead of caring about fames and money.

One thing that pet peeves me though, is when people would compared the boy group “boy band”, as the same the level of western “boy band” that teenagers girls/boys listen to. And same for the girls band.  No. No.NO. Huge misconception. If you guys think that is all K-pop is, then you’re not listening to the right and the good ones. Like Stray Kids, Ateez, NCT, old BTS songs, xdinary heroes,  IKon, Kard, TVXQ!, BTOB, G-Idle, ects.  
 

K-pop to me is just more than wooing over some idols as most people have the conceptual idea. It’s about listening to different music type and how their music makes you feel good/better about yourself. 

I also like the independent single artist too like Epic High, BI, DPR, Hyolyen, BiBI, Samuel Seo, and Bang Youngguk! 
 

I went to my very first concert and it was Epic High. It was one of the utmost happiest and best moments of my life. I literally got so emotional and cried while of course, rocking out at the same. It’s like meeting a old long distance friend.
 

I can go on and on about it and listing my favorite groups and songs . If anyone wants some suggestions for a good KPop/Hiphop/R&B I will be happy to hook it up for you. 

[Clawdeen 12,182]

I am a major Jpop and Kpop fan. Big into 2nd and 3rd Gen groups. I seen 2NE1 live and they were amazing. Out of the current new groups NewJeans has really impressed me. Been a Kpop Stan since T-ara debuted and I was online talking about Kpop since the days of these gifs. If you know those times then you know. 

There was this gem as well. Good ol Sunny

 

Now that a lot of us who were a fan of both these groups back then are older we all tend to laugh about the SNSD vs 2NE1 times and these gifs. The “Papa YG” “YG Family” times.

Also a Jpop fan and was online during the Koda Kumi vs Ayumi Hamasaki fan times. Whew those were crazy times as well. 

I still listen to both genres just not involved with the fandoms anymore. I’m too old to deal with that level of trolling and hatefulness in the community. I hope a lot of the younger fans of these current groups will turn out like us Sones and BJs did, come together and laugh about the past fandom wars. I actually even reconciled with someone I used to fight with bad during the snsd vs 2ne1 times. It’s all love now and we got a good laugh at our past behavior. 

[Aticus the Adequate 251]

I don't listen to a lot of bands but I will never miss a chance to listen to Twice and BlackPink. I just find all their songs so fun and catchy! I have heard other bands but those two are my absolute favourite. 

[ZiggWheelsManning 9,079]

Avoiding this genre at all costs  

Edited September 9, 2023 by ZiggWheelsManning