I express my confusion over at the Jukebox

[koganbot]

Not at all clear yet as to what I'm hearing when I listen to the new 2NE1 single. I express my confusion over at the Jukebox. Can't say I'm able to pick out the non-Western sounds the band are talking about in interviews* (trot, enka). Sounds like R&B-based dance-pop to me, but pushed into interestingly disparate melodic sections. But then, I'm not educated in Korean forms. Maybe you can help.

Watch on YouTube

*At allkpop and kpopstarz.

Comments

[koganbot]

I gather from the interviews it's the melodies, more than the beat, that's supposed to be trot, and that Minzy in specific was singing the trot parts. So I'm watching/listening again, especially for Minzy's parts, and I'm still not distinguishing whatever it is that's trot, or even particularly Eastern. "I Am The Best" has a part that's more overtly Eastern, though not at all trot.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Dunno, but Yang Hyun Suk is on record saying that 2NE1 are "cool" rather than "pretty":

http://ukygqueens.com/2012/05/22/news-2ne1-are-not-pretty-yang-hyun-suk-cool-is-better/

It could just be that the "cool" concept they are known for became a trend, so now they have to think of something else to stay new and relevant? They kept the conflicted lyrics and the shout-rap bit at the end so you know it's still a 2NE1 song.

I think 2NE1's "sexy" concept is more in line with what an international audience would consider sexy, but that being popular overseas can also be a strategy for being popular in Korea. Because if foreign people like it it must be good, right? But then you get into tricky questions of selling your identity out, or not being proud enough of where you came from, which are even trickier because Korea was a colonized country and 3/4 of 2NE1 have spent significant portions of their lives overseas. So maybe they are conflicted about that, too.