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Frank Kogan ([personal profile] koganbot) wrote2012-03-22 01:32 pm

How to pick up girls (Eng Sub)

Hyori trades banter with Big Bang on her variety show:

Part 1: http://youtu.be/AyZhMV6nJsY

Part 2: http://youtu.be/FH2lz4MoAjQ

She, co-host Jung Jae-hyung, and the boys are all quite personable, though even with subtitles I'm not understanding whole gobs of the interchange, due some to my not knowing the history, some to my not knowing the culture. But I do get that a hunk of what they're doing at the end is How To Pick Up Girls. And yeah, they're doing it for fun, and it's funny; but still, it's reminding me that these people are fundamentally mainstream and I'm not. (Or if one or more isn't/aren't fundamentally mainstream he/they are going along with it.*) I'm not averse to getting to know attractive women who happen to be passing by, including attractive mainstream women, and letting them know I'm potentially interested; but still, even though I can't totally put my finger on why, the how-to-pick-up-girls mentality epitomizes exactly what's mainstream about this clip and what's not mainstream about me. Maybe it's the assumption that this is our common ground. Or the assumption that we assume a common ground rather than discovering and creating it.



Of course, when various counterculture groups fundamentally go dead for me, and they all pretty much do, sooner or later — freak, punk, postpunk, indie-alternative, "poptimists," [your group name here] — it's exactly because they've gotten into a rut of assuming assumptions, e.g., assuming I'm like them more than I'm like Hyori. (See "The Death Of The Cool.") I don't assume that Hyori and I, for instance, or G-Dragon and I, etc., don't know how to find common ground. One common ground would be if they like to think about such things, about assumptions and how to test them. In 2006 Samsung was willing to postulate that Hyori seeks to see through a multiplicity of eyes.


Not related to this: at one point, Hyori mentions, in regard to a track that she and Daesung recorded, a plagiarism issue that for a time was a barrier to the two of them performing the song, but that she'd now worked out the copyright and they'd be singing it again in the future. What had happened was that for Hyori's H-Logic album, songwriter Bahnus simply ripped off seven overseas songs to sell to the label, the only major difference between his songs and the originals being that he'd substituted new Korean lyrics. It turned out this wasn't the first time he'd done such a thing. Rather astonishing, that he believed he could get away with it. Or maybe he knew he'd get caught, and was simply out of control. Calculating, he might be willing to chance that, e.g., no fan of Georgia Murray was ever going to hear Lee Hyori's "Swing" and no fans of Lee Hyori were also fans of Georgia Murray (and that no one was going to pick up on the Theodorakis riff that Murray sampled and Bahnus copied); but it was simply insane to assume that she and Jason Derülo had no listeners in common, and further that he could use the basic same title of the Derülo song "How Did We" (named "How Did We Get" in the Lee Hyori version, it being the song on which she and Daesung sang their duet) and copy the exact same Annie Lennox sample, and that no one would notice any resemblance. But I only know what Wikipedia says. Hyori seems totally blameless. Bahnus was not only sued by the label, he was convicted of forgery and fraud and sentenced to over a year (at least according to Wikip, though there's a "citation needed" on this).

None of this is meant to imply that I won't someday visit a Derülo YouTube thread in order to say "Lee Hyori brought me."

*Get the sense that Taeyang may not be totally on-board, either.

**[UPDATE: According to Wikip, "Bahnus" refers to Lee Jae-young but he also led a songwriting group, "Bahnus Vacuum"; the text isn't clear but it seems to be saying that Lee alone is responsible for the plagiarism.]

h/t Mat

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2012-03-22 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I doubt TOP thinks much about how to pick up girls, or has ever put a cell phone in anyone's pocket, or is planning to, but I think he's thought a lot about what to answer if such a question comes up on a talk show, or just as a funny line, and the same goes for the others who are savvy at the TV game, whereas Taeyang maybe doesn't care much for that, but again someone like Daesung has lots of TV experience and TOP goofs around a lot on those mnet docu-shows at YG and Seungri is known for taking jokes very far. If you don't have a funny story to tell about the idea of dating you're not going to be a regular on Korean variety shows, anyway.


You can probably make it on Hyori and her singer/songwriter (he did 'L'amant' for IU's album) co-host's show, though, where the atmosphere is relaxed (part 1 and 4 of that subbed episode, if you're interested: http://youtu.be/ppVC-7nouYQ, http://youtu.be/5E_gQdxxPNY) which is not the case with many other Korean tv shows, although this is a bit like some of those shows where IU showed up with guitar on where there's some talk and a lot of music.

If you're ever interested in a more hectic, typical Korean talk show affair, here's another recent episode with Hyori*, who once was a co-host several years ago. This is an anniversary episode where all the previous and current mcs guest http://youtu.be/UEyB9HudblM - with a fake laugh track (very common, even on good shows). For a long while they had 4 hosts, then they added four sidekick hosts and at that point it all became a bit much for me.
*Also Eugene of S.E.S
Edited 2012-03-22 21:52 (UTC)
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[identity profile] sub-divided.livejournal.com 2012-03-23 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
Hello, I haven't commented here before but I'm a friend of Sabina's and I've been following your kpop tag. You're right that Big Bang are "mainstream". The closest comparison to Korean idol groups I can think of, in the US context anyway, are Disney-industrial products (in the UK I guess it would Simon Cowell), and Big Bang are without a doubt an idol group.

...If it makes you feel better, G-Dragon and Taeyang wanted to be a rap duo. TOP is a mutual friend from middle school who was rapping on his own before joining up. Daesung auditioned as a singer. With the exception of Seungri, the members of this group only "reluctantly" became idols - the story they tell is that the President of their label told them one day that that was how it was going to be, and so, that was how it was.

That said, I still think you have this interview the wrong way around. As [livejournal.com profile] askbask says, this particular show is closer in spirit to a talk-performance show than a pure variety show. (Another show like this is Mnet Soundplex - here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aQIN5nexD8) BB's great performance there last year which they partially lifted for the U&I performance.) You are right that the "what kind of person are you on a date" question is a mainstream question - it's a variety show staple because it's what the (mostly teenage female) fans want to know. [livejournal.com profile] askbask nails it: the goal with questions like this is to create an appealing fiction, not necessarily to tell the truth.

The version of this that Lee Hyori asks, though, is actually not the sanitized idol version e.g. "when do you want to get married?", "what would your ideal girlfriend be like?" It's a more adult version that comes closer to acknowledging who they really are - even if you think, like I do, that the "girl" they talk about might not really be a girl, at least not in every case. (Though Sabina will tell you, I also have a Big Bang theory that says there are gender issues here that have nothing to do with sexuality.)

Especially considering that G-Dragon and Taeyang were child stars and Seungri joined Big Bang when he was 13 - and even TOP has some middle school rap battle footage floating around - there's a real danger of being stuck with a younger image of yourself you've outgrown, I think. Lots of the stuff Big Bang is doing now, including the bunny girls in GD&TOP's videos, GD's androgynous rockstar hair, the more mature sound, etc, is an attempt to outgrow that image and transition to a more adult one. So Lee Hyori is actually, in a way, doing them a favor by semi-following the idol script, but in a way that allows them to counter the public image of themselves that already exists - to actually "grow up" on camera. If that version is maybe a bit sleazy, well, they are 25 year-old rock stars, after all.

As for the danger of more of this stuff... it's actually very low at the moment, because apart from this show (where they also performed) Big Bang aren't scheduled to appear on any variety-show type programs, apart from one that will also have other members of the label. They've never done many of these appearances (by Kpop standards) anyway.

In short it's safe to like these guys as "alternative", but alternative within a mainstream context... personally I think that with every year, Big Bang come closer to pealing more of the mainstream image of themselves away, and in the meantime they've made some really pretty subversive art within that context, including this cellphone commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Co3xha-RM) (which is also an example of "loose sync", which you discussed before).
Edited 2012-03-23 02:28 (UTC)

[identity profile] askbask.livejournal.com 2012-03-27 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
Sandara Park offers up a few thoughts about variety shows on her blog (after an appearance on 'Strong Heart')

"2NE1 is variety show and talk-phobic. And me! I did my best but the air time is far away…

“We’re not good at talking or going on variety shows, but we’re awesome on the stage! Encouraging myself. When you lose your confidence, just listen to ‘I Am the Best’!"