GLAM over on the Jukebox
Jan. 15th, 2013 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotGLAM's "I Like That," over on The Singles Jukebox: Jukebox reviewers are always pretty good at K-pop, since they're coming in without preconceptions, or the preconceptions are wrong enough that there will always be angles I'd not thought of and attention to what's actually happening in the song. I like Ian's sense of the sun coming out in the chorus, and Iaian highlighting Zinni's squeaks. Meanwhile, I was trying to jam as many facts and overtones into my own writeup as I could. (Wanted to find a way of working in that hilarious YouTube comment Subdee uncovered about a GLAM dance performances with SeeU the Vocaloid: "it seems seeU is the only one who did the dance, 'right.' i=fantasy is not a sexual song, (as most people see it) GLAM, by there dancing makes it seems that way." But I couldn't figure out how to work it in without seeming to veer too gratuitously away from the actual song under review.)
I wouldn't be surprised if, in the "Party(XXO)" video when Dahee wears the big letters GL on her shirt, leaving off the AM, she's inviting us to fill in BT afterwards. I can't say what this means for Korea, since I don't know Korea; but that's why I was making such a big thing in last week's comments regarding whom GLAM record for. Getting major-label support, which they seem to have, is probably significant. And "Party(XXO)" is stronger than "gay friendly." It's "gay explicit" (or bi or whatever: see Eng Trans). So good luck to them, and for doing it in a way that's colorful and funny and complicated rather than simply earnest. But they are in earnest, too.*
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy identifies a different original source — not the Cover Girls — for the "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" sample I talked about last time. I think he's wrong, think the song he fingered, "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" from 1993 Bollywood film Baazigar, likely copied its "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" from Chuli & Miae's "Why You," also 1993, which in turn had gotten the sample from the Cover Girls. This last part I'm now confident of, trusting my ears here, that Chuli & Miae sample the Cover Girls, though it's hypothetically possible that "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" came up with those notes independently. (Not likely, but possible.) Chuli & Miae (hence, Cover Girls) are the acknowledged source for GLAM. But "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" is good in its own right, not just picking up that twisting Cover Girls curlicue but also coming in with a genuine freestyle riff, and passionate singing (though not a freestyle melody).
Wikip lists the songwriter as Dev Kohli, the singers as Kumar Sanu and Anu Malik, and the actors as Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.
For those who didn't see previous posts, here's Chuli & Miae's "Why You" from 1993:
Here's "Because Of You" (1987) by the Cover Girls, the "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" part entering at 2:46.
For my ongoing struggle to convey what freestyle is, here's the freestyle tag.
*UPDATE: I'm keeping the killed embed up because I'm fascinated by this sentence: "'글램 GLAM I LIK...' This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Fever Records, Inc." Fever Records is the Cover Girls' old label. I would guess that Fever has decided to raise a stink over GLAM's use of Chuli & Miae's sample of the Cover Girls' "Because Of You." But a Google search isn't confirming this. And LOEN Entertainment's YouTube post of "I Like That" is still up. [UPDATING THE UPDATE: No, finally decided to put the good version in.]]
I wouldn't be surprised if, in the "Party(XXO)" video when Dahee wears the big letters GL on her shirt, leaving off the AM, she's inviting us to fill in BT afterwards. I can't say what this means for Korea, since I don't know Korea; but that's why I was making such a big thing in last week's comments regarding whom GLAM record for. Getting major-label support, which they seem to have, is probably significant. And "Party(XXO)" is stronger than "gay friendly." It's "gay explicit" (or bi or whatever: see Eng Trans). So good luck to them, and for doing it in a way that's colorful and funny and complicated rather than simply earnest. But they are in earnest, too.*
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy identifies a different original source — not the Cover Girls — for the "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" sample I talked about last time. I think he's wrong, think the song he fingered, "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" from 1993 Bollywood film Baazigar, likely copied its "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" from Chuli & Miae's "Why You," also 1993, which in turn had gotten the sample from the Cover Girls. This last part I'm now confident of, trusting my ears here, that Chuli & Miae sample the Cover Girls, though it's hypothetically possible that "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" came up with those notes independently. (Not likely, but possible.) Chuli & Miae (hence, Cover Girls) are the acknowledged source for GLAM. But "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" is good in its own right, not just picking up that twisting Cover Girls curlicue but also coming in with a genuine freestyle riff, and passionate singing (though not a freestyle melody).
Wikip lists the songwriter as Dev Kohli, the singers as Kumar Sanu and Anu Malik, and the actors as Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.
For those who didn't see previous posts, here's Chuli & Miae's "Why You" from 1993:
Here's "Because Of You" (1987) by the Cover Girls, the "Uhwoo uhwoouh uhuhwoo uhwoouh" part entering at 2:46.
For my ongoing struggle to convey what freestyle is, here's the freestyle tag.
*UPDATE: I'm keeping the killed embed up because I'm fascinated by this sentence: "'글램 GLAM I LIK...' This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Fever Records, Inc." Fever Records is the Cover Girls' old label. I would guess that Fever has decided to raise a stink over GLAM's use of Chuli & Miae's sample of the Cover Girls' "Because Of You." But a Google search isn't confirming this. And LOEN Entertainment's YouTube post of "I Like That" is still up. [UPDATING THE UPDATE: No, finally decided to put the good version in.]]
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-16 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-16 05:31 pm (UTC)YouTube commenter initialdavid: "Infinite Flow is a two person rap group. The members are the first rapper named Nuckeub Shaah, and second rapper with the soft voice Bizniz (a.k.a. 1taek, a.k.a. Young GM). The singer doing the chorus is Kim Jong-Wan from the band Nell, and Tablo from Epik High is the one who says a line at the beginning and does the 'Over the rainbow' part in the middle of the song."
I don't know if Infinite Flow were major label; I wouldn't bet on it. The act disbanded in 2007. Bizniz has released a couple of albums since. The single "Tweet Tweet" is okay. Sounds too tough, but I should explore more.
Where "Party(XXO)" is different is that it's a declaration of who GLAM are (or what they believe, anyway), not a plot about characters in a song or video. So GLAM are inviting the listeners to identify at least some group members as lesbian or bi and to join in the celebration. And as one of the commenters on that Allkpop thread points out, the song doesn't give us the usual unhappy ending.
GLAM tweet of the day
Date: 2013-01-18 08:10 pm (UTC)GLAM
Date: 2013-01-22 01:53 pm (UTC)The song below was a huge hit in Portugal in 1980. The (rather unexpected and frankly amazing) similarity with "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" is quite obvious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAEqPqJqpCM
Love your blog, btw.
Jorge Lopes
Re: GLAM
Date: 2013-01-22 04:50 pm (UTC)I'll probably say more about "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" when I get back later. It's a really good track, even if all its parts were lifted from elsewhere. (For all I know, its instrumental freestyle riff was also lifted from elsewhere.)