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Frank Kogan ([personal profile] koganbot) wrote2011-02-04 09:33 am

Tonight I'm Ducking You

Prodded by Maddie's preferring Seungri's "What Can I Do?" to Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight I'm Fuckin' You" (wish I could agree with Maddie, but I think "Tonight" kills "What Can I Do?"), and also recalling that I have not yet gotten close to writing and posting all my year-end lists/appraisals, I want to officially dub 2010 as The Year In Which, Among Other Things, I Had Trouble Coming To A Consistent Opinion Regarding Enrique Iglesias (the "among other things" is there so that I can officially call 2010 the year of a whole lot of other things as well, e.g., I officially dub 2010 as The Year In Which Pitbull Was Massive, Though I'm Not Sure Massively What, But Jonathan Bogart Was The Only Person In My Critical Neighborhood To Write More Than A Sentence Or Two About Him). So anyway, let's recall 2010 (w/ links for anyone who wants to see the full text).



June 21, 2010: "Confused attempt to come to grips with the new dance-pop 2010... Enrique seems oddly disengaged"

June 23, 2010: "Too much catchiness to be denied."

June 24, 2010, The Iglesias-Pitbull Corollary To The Boney Joan Rule: "Any reason I give on a particular day for disliking 'I Like It' will be a reason I give on some other day for liking 'I Like It.'"

July 7, 2010: "...Iglesias sounds half dead on his own track, Pitbull is reliably energetic, and the hooks keep dancing."

December 9, 2010: "Strange that the gleam of Autotune should be what returns this guy to the American charts, given that his voice contained sweet starbursts all along..."

Actually, when confronted with the video above, I realize that one reason I vacillate on the guy is that I actually find it hard to give a shit about him. The hooks hook me but eventually everything fades into the same OK sweetness. Put "Fuckin' You" at 64 on my long list this year, but I'm sure now that that overrates it. Unless I change my mind.

That vid makes me wish I were watching Michelangelo Antonioni's brilliant L'Avventura, instead.

[identity profile] katstevens.livejournal.com 2011-02-04 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"We're sorry, this content is not available for your country."

This comment is wild conjecture, but it seems that Enrique is no longer on the critical radar in the UK right now. Said radar can easily be breached by a single appearance on X Factor where he would be more than welcome, but I guess "I Like It" peaked too early in the year. He was awesome when he toured here a few years ago but seems to have ditched his emo-vulnerability in favour of sleazy club grinding. Ugh.

[identity profile] descriptivist.livejournal.com 2011-02-08 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
The reason I cited those two songs in particular is because I don't think one is objectively that much different from the other (though correct me if I'm wrong - I haven't listened to "Tonight" much), so I figure my own preference (prejudice?) must come from some factor external to the music. That and I find Enrique's "I don't mean to be rude, but" come-on nauseating with or without a beat under it.

I might prefer facial mole-era Enrique for sentimental reasons, but I think you sum it up nicely with "finding it hard to give a shit about him".

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-08 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
01. VVIP (TITLE)
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choi PilKang, DEE.P./ Arranged by Choi PilKang, DEE.P
02. 어쩌라고 (What About Me) (TITLE)
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choi PilKang, BIG TONE/ Arranged by Choi PilKang
03. 창문을 열어 (feat.G-DRAGON) (Open the Window)
Lyrics by Choi PilKang/ Composed by Choi PilKang/ Arranged by Choi PilKang/ Rap Lyrics by G-Dragon
04. MAGIC
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choice37/ Arranged by Choice37
05. I KNOW (with 아이유)
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choi PilKang, DEE.P., Go MyeongJae/ Arranged by Choi PilKang, DEE.P.
06. WHITE LOVE
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choi PilKang/ Arranged by Choi PilKang
07. OUTRO (IN MY WORLD)
Lyrics by Seungri/ Composed by Seungri, Choi PilKang/ Arranged by Choi PilKang

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-08 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Too bad we haven't produced the likes of M2M after they split. Teen confessional artists, that is, I guess people like Annie have the same kind of relationship with producers and songwriters.

I don't think there's a clear distinction. I can't remember 'teen pop' being used... it's always "idol artists", "idol groups". Although, like in the article above, they often talk about breaking the boundaries of idol music. That's a recurring theme, I've seen it applied to almost any well-liked pop artist there - "too good to be called 'idols'", although with Big Bang (or GD&TOP) they're saying it themselves, distancing themselves from the stereotypical idea of a boy band.

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-08 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I never really thought about the song needing a bigger voice, though it did remind me of 70s disco. I love Hyori, but I don't think she would've been able to sing it live and I've never seen her belt a big note... IU is more reliable. (She's going to be performing with Corinne Bailey Rae on Rae's upcoming Korean concert, by the way, which is closer to the kind of sound I envision IU ending up with).

Here's where someone with more knowledge about the history of Asian pop should enter. My suspicion is that the Koreans borrowed the term 'idol' from the Japanese when the k-pop scene exploded in the 90s. Of course in Japan the term has longer traditions, and today it's used in a slightly different way than the Koreans do - the latter seemingly use it about any pop star who's not a ballad specialist (30+-year-olds like Narsha (of BEG) and Kahi (of After School) are still called idols, although Hyori is perhaps above such terms).

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-09 09:28 am (UTC)(link)
No, no one regularly lip-syncs, the audience demands live singing on music shows (see Maddie's comments about user-created videos removing the singback track).

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-10 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
I've mentioned the Gaon chart before, an attempt at launching an official, all-inclusive chart, and they've come through with a 2010 year-end list complete with sales numbers: http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/notice/view.gaon?idx=36

1st list: "Music sales", 2nd list "Digital, combined" (online streaming, downloads, BGM sales, mobile services), 3rd list "Downloads", 4th list "Streaming", 5th list "Mobile",

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-10 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
I think that was their "High High" being 2nd to "Good Day", not the EP.

That could be a good discussion!

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2011-02-08 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know these people myself.