Seoul-Sydney-Bucharest juggernaut keeps rollin' along

[koganbot]

Okay, three data points constituting a trend, Miss A, putting "Time's Up" on their new Independent Women Pt. III EP, become the latest K-pop group to mix trot beats and Austral-Romanian int'l rhythm moves.*

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(Also, unrelated to trot or to Romance Australianisms, the lead track and single is "I Don't Need A Man," and the second or third track (depending which listing you see) is called "If I Were A Boy." That and the EP title probably don't remind anyone of anything, but I thought I'd mention them.)

*Of the ten tracks** on my Austral-Romanian mix, Gangkiz's "Honey Honey" probably and Orange Caramel's "Lipstick" definitely include a trot feel. "Trot feel" is not something I can specify, especially when the tracks aren't explicitly trot; but these two instances include emphasized offbeats and a way of pushing the tempo, even when it's not that fast.

**Of course I included an eleventh track, LPG's "The First Train," which is trot but isn't very Austral-Romanian, and was there for reference.

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Trot is mentioned here so I have an excuse to post this. I just came across it on youtube, which is how I've found trot stuff so far. But I feel there are things to discover. And the lyrics are simple so I mostly understand them, which adds some to it (although the singers' intensity tells more interesting stories).



I initially placed trot in the same category as I do with the Swedish/Norwegian distilled country and swing music tradition called danseband, a genre associated with the Scandinavian versions of 'rednecks'. Some of the tacky gloss and formula of the modern performances of it suggests this, and the peculiar stylized singing, bordering on an accent of its own as well (perhaps more pronounced in Norwegian bands that try to emulate a Swedish twang).



But while those 'dance bands' tend to steer clear of anything that feels like actual emotions there's so much power here. THat goes for the 80s trot songs we've discussed before as well:One. Two.