Electro and freestyle but with more rapping

[koganbot]

I was under the impression that, if there's been any identifiable trend in recent K-pop, it's been in the direction of increasing the electrobeats, with minitrends towards crypto-freestyle and blatant disco, these at the expense of a more R&B sound. But there are probably nearly as many counterexamples as examples, and Lee Hi's soul-r&b "1,2,3,4" was number one for three weeks last month. An even bigger "but," when it comes to trends and directions, is that I just ran across H.O.T.'s "We Are The Future" from way back in 1997, and it feels a lot like electro and freestyle too, though of course with the requisite K-pop rapping. And it's good.

H.O.T. were boyband superstars, probably the band that put SM Entertainment on the map.*

Watch on YouTube

What reminds me of freestyle are the dolorous melodies (sounding a bit like the Mideast), the intertwining instrumental hooks, and the electro-rhythms. Freestyle's heyday in the U.S was the mid and late '80s (Cynthia's great "Change On Me," for example), but Korea has been making hay with it since, though not diving as deep and deliriously into hooks and beats as the original New York–Miami version had.

*You who know K-pop history better than I do should correct me if I'm wrong.

Comments

[christophe andersen (from livejournal.com)]

I don't know how popular these have been in South Korea but I've been noticing (and loving) this 80's New Jack Swing R&B sound that's popping up lately, most notably in BTOB and Exo-K. Exo-K's "History" and BTOB's "Wow" are especially good. I think your impression is right, though, which is why these songs stand out so much and somehow sound fresh.

[koganbot]

I forget if I've mentioned this here, but allkpop.com, in its short piece on the teaser image for "Wow," wrote that "'Wow' is said to be of 'new jack swing' style, which was popular during the '90s, and incorporates the solid vocal and rap skills of the members." In its short piece on the audio teaser for "Wow," allkpop reported that, "As mentioned earlier, 'Wow' is said to be of 'new jack swing' style, which was popular during the '90s, and incorporates the solid vocal and rap skills of the members." In its brief report regarding the release of the jacket photos for the mini album Press Play, allkpop informed us, "As reported earlier, their title track, 'WOW,' is said to be of 'new jack swing' style and promises to show the 180 degree transformation of the boys." Also, "The first concept images are reported to have been shot on a school campus and feature a wide variety of colors as well as bold accessories that were popular during the '90s." Upon the release of the music video for "Wow," allkpop shared the following: "As reported earlier, 'Wow' is a song reminiscent of the '90s, and to enhance the theme, the boys have also completed their transformation utilizing accessories and apparel pieces that were popular during the period." And on like that, through appearances on M! Countdown, Music Bank, Music Core, and Inkigayo, as BTOB transformed from Boyz to... okay, I'll shut up.

[davidfrazer.livejournal.com]

"We Are The Future" seems to mix freestyle with the kind of trot-ish techno-ish hybrid that seems to have been popular in Korea in the 1990s and early 2000s, for instance Koyote and Turbo. This trot-techno mixture is in turn, I think, an ingredient in the current trot-saxobeat-wenospeakamericano K-Pop concoctions.

Koyote - medley



Turbo - Black Cat

[koganbot]

These are good. I especially need to hear more of the Turbo oeuvre. Wikip tells me they were massive.

I'd heard some recent Koyote, which for some reason I didn't like at all. Didn't know they had this trot-techno past.

[koganbot]

KOYOTE hitsong medley 20031012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JuRFZHeBv8

Turbo - MV - Black Cat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_JyT_EpFTM

[arbitrary-greay.livejournal.com]

Finally listened to the HOT song, and instantly thought of the Hello!Project stuff going on at the same time: 1, 2, 3
(Of course, Tsunku has this tendency of being slightly different from the actual Jpop scene.)

This was also the time when Hamasaki Ayumi was the undisputed Queen of Jpop, and here's one of her signature songs.

But all in all, those beats in the HOT song are a good reason why the 1999 DDR had a special Korean music edition.

Other than the last one, I don't know if these are what you're looking for, though.