Too Many Tierdrops (Evol edition)
Apr. 22nd, 2013 05:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotMy song of the moment is Evol's "Get Up," a jagged little get-ur-freak-on riff plus kasbah oogling, Timboesque but with the tension relaxed, the raps a nice balance between pressurized and blissful. Dreamy '40s jazz-pop melodic jumps, also blissful. The group are well-drilled as dancers, combining tautness and style, a lot like their sound. Leader Say has been compared on YouTube threads to After School's former leader and star dancer Kahi. So clearly, Evol are poised... to go nowhere.
They entered the Gaon chart at a poor 120, and were off entirely the following week. This is typical of recent rookie groups. No new idol group has reached genuine stardom in K-pop since 2010.* That's about two-and-a-half years. Mat and I discussed this a few weeks back. The only true new stars I could think of were solo acts Lee Hi and Ailee, both of whom feel extraneous to K-pop (or to what I love about K-pop, anyway, which is not a knock on Lee Hi or Ailee, but they're more r&b and balladry, and I think Lee Hi could well be better off aesthetically if she moved to America). Boyfriend and B.A.P have done reasonably well, and Lee Hi's fellow Kpopstar alums Baek A-yeon and 15& have a shot at capitalizing on their initial popularity. RaNia and EXO are viable, and I guess Dal★Shabet, Exid, BTOB, Spica, Myname, and Nu'est are still in business. Little-known Crayon Pop seem to have the support of their little-known agency. Block B have label problems, ChoColat are on hiatus, I'm hoping Chi Chi will get another chance. Promising solo performer Fat Cat has health issues. Koganbot faves Flashe and Clinah and Gangkiz and New F.O seem gone.
Always, there are many more acts with potential appeal than will actually hit. I strongly recommend you read my piece on cumulative advantage.** That said, maybe K-pop has reached a place of saturation where you just can't get any new groups to the top. The ones who are there aren't going away, which I guess is a good thing, that you can maintain a K-pop career past the age or 25. But I also note that SNSD, Kara, After School, and 2NE1 have been expending a lot of their recent energy on Japan, and the wounded T-ara have been doing the same over the last few months. So there ought to be some opening. I guess Psy and Sistar were the ones to move into the breach last year, plus the usual balladeers and OST one-offs and comic novelties, as well as mediocre talent-show indie-folk. From what I can tell, given my distance and lack of knowledge, hip-hop in Korea has something of a different dynamic from K-pop per se, a lot of acts in for the long haul and expecting mid-level sales at best, and it's been an interesting year for them.
The Quiett ft. Jay Park & Dok2 "Gettin' Rich"
If the agencies are willing to be patient and accept middling sales, things'll be okay. And maybe the idol groups (Evol and D-Unit, among others) with hip-hop producers will benefit from realistic expectations and sustained support. But I worry that the spark'll flee, that new people with new ideas or established songwriters and producers who want to experiment and therefore seek or create rookies with untried concepts, will have nowhere to turn, at least not with the energy-giving promise of hitting the jackpot or catching the public ear.
Instrumental version of "Get Up." Notice the brief chord change at 0:39, and the building of drama throughout by means of little additions in the background.
And dance rehearsal — Say's the one with gray sweatpants, headband, violent hair:
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*Which produced CN Blue, Miss A, Girl's Day, Teen Top, Sistar.
**Not that the thoughts are mine: I was presenting Duncan Watts' particular ideas; and it's a long-understood economic-psychological principle that the rich get richer and the rest languish, that all fame is based in part on being famous for being famous, and that chance plays a huge role, that there's an ineradicable element of unpredictability.
They entered the Gaon chart at a poor 120, and were off entirely the following week. This is typical of recent rookie groups. No new idol group has reached genuine stardom in K-pop since 2010.* That's about two-and-a-half years. Mat and I discussed this a few weeks back. The only true new stars I could think of were solo acts Lee Hi and Ailee, both of whom feel extraneous to K-pop (or to what I love about K-pop, anyway, which is not a knock on Lee Hi or Ailee, but they're more r&b and balladry, and I think Lee Hi could well be better off aesthetically if she moved to America). Boyfriend and B.A.P have done reasonably well, and Lee Hi's fellow Kpopstar alums Baek A-yeon and 15& have a shot at capitalizing on their initial popularity. RaNia and EXO are viable, and I guess Dal★Shabet, Exid, BTOB, Spica, Myname, and Nu'est are still in business. Little-known Crayon Pop seem to have the support of their little-known agency. Block B have label problems, ChoColat are on hiatus, I'm hoping Chi Chi will get another chance. Promising solo performer Fat Cat has health issues. Koganbot faves Flashe and Clinah and Gangkiz and New F.O seem gone.
Always, there are many more acts with potential appeal than will actually hit. I strongly recommend you read my piece on cumulative advantage.** That said, maybe K-pop has reached a place of saturation where you just can't get any new groups to the top. The ones who are there aren't going away, which I guess is a good thing, that you can maintain a K-pop career past the age or 25. But I also note that SNSD, Kara, After School, and 2NE1 have been expending a lot of their recent energy on Japan, and the wounded T-ara have been doing the same over the last few months. So there ought to be some opening. I guess Psy and Sistar were the ones to move into the breach last year, plus the usual balladeers and OST one-offs and comic novelties, as well as mediocre talent-show indie-folk. From what I can tell, given my distance and lack of knowledge, hip-hop in Korea has something of a different dynamic from K-pop per se, a lot of acts in for the long haul and expecting mid-level sales at best, and it's been an interesting year for them.
The Quiett ft. Jay Park & Dok2 "Gettin' Rich"
If the agencies are willing to be patient and accept middling sales, things'll be okay. And maybe the idol groups (Evol and D-Unit, among others) with hip-hop producers will benefit from realistic expectations and sustained support. But I worry that the spark'll flee, that new people with new ideas or established songwriters and producers who want to experiment and therefore seek or create rookies with untried concepts, will have nowhere to turn, at least not with the energy-giving promise of hitting the jackpot or catching the public ear.
Instrumental version of "Get Up." Notice the brief chord change at 0:39, and the building of drama throughout by means of little additions in the background.
And dance rehearsal — Say's the one with gray sweatpants, headband, violent hair:
*Which produced CN Blue, Miss A, Girl's Day, Teen Top, Sistar.
**Not that the thoughts are mine: I was presenting Duncan Watts' particular ideas; and it's a long-understood economic-psychological principle that the rich get richer and the rest languish, that all fame is based in part on being famous for being famous, and that chance plays a huge role, that there's an ineradicable element of unpredictability.
