koganbot | (Reply)

From:

sub-divided.livejournal.com

I love Bounce, but for different reasons than Trevor:

1. It feels like it's aimed at the export market. Like Bang & Zelo's "Never Give Up" it uses imagery that doesn't exist in Korea, where high schoolers wear school uniforms and generally don't die their hair;

2. I think the the super-ADD, borderline-obnoxious "Bounce Bounce Bounce Bounce" opening is an attempt to appeal to this international audience of young teenagers ("I whip my hair back and forth I whip my hair back and forth I whip my hair back and forth");

3. But when the actual rap comes in, it's not hyperactive at all, the flow is very relaxed and nostalgic. The title and the relaxed flow mark this song out as a throwback to early-90s Korean hip hop like DJ Doc "Run To You";

5. Meaning that teenybopper US (and Korean) kids are being stealth-exposed to "the classics"? ...Also this is nostalgic for me because I was an elementary school student in a mostly African-American (NYC) suburb during the mid-nineties;

6. Trevor and I are in agreement about liking the way the song switches genres, but for me it's mostly about the control on display through the effortlessness of the switch. Songs like Lovey Dovey, Oh My God are fast and energetic up but feel out of control in some way (and Lovey Dovey contributes to that feeling by subtly speeding up each time the chorus repeats). "Bounce" is hyperactive, but ultimately relaxed and comfortable, and gives a feeling of the singers being totally in control of the pace: they speed it up and slow it down according to their will. It's about mastery, or the good parts of a really good mood, before it all goes wrong;

7. I think the rock parts are also signaling that the song is aimed at an NAmerican audience or an audience familiar with NAmerican cultural exports.

Basically, I like to think that this song is appealing to teenyboppers and specifically NAmerican ones and that its ultimate goal is to interest them in "classic" Korean hip hop, which happens to have a lot in common with classic East Coast hip hop, but also has its own unique characteristics etc.