Flight-Attendant Pop

[koganbot]

More wtf from Korea, Sunny Hill's "Darling Of All Hearts," which I described on Rolling Country as "sorta Irish folk-country flight-attendant pop" — though Mat points out on K-pop 2013 that "featuring" star Hareem plays the Swedish nyckelharpa (no doubt worth five times as much as the Irish pennywhistle he also plays*) and that the vocals in the "lalala" part sound very Swedish trad and the dance, too, looks Swedish. The LOEN Entertainment description improves our confusion by saying,

The song has a Bohemian polka-rhythm along with Jungle and Rock feelings with it as well.... the musician 'Hareem' joined as a session to make the music even more fun. The greek bouzouki, nyckelharpa, Drehleier, and the Irish Whistle is personally owned by Hareem himself. These instruments are rarely found in Korea, and in this song they make the polka even much more fun to listen to.

But actually, what makes the song for me isn't the whistle or the drone or the oom-pah but the breezy bright flight-attendant smile of the melody and the desperate cheer of the delivery, the lyrics by Kim Eana** about being the shoulder everyone else cries on while being denied a romance of one's own to cry about, and the video by Hwang Soo Ah turning the breeze and the desperation up yet another notch.

Watch on YouTube

I wish someone would analyze the melody for me. Seems like — I don't know — French musical comedy, or maybe it's Korean or something.

I can't think of any American act of the last fifty years that could pull off something like this, the happy smile that's got strength in it, but not big boisterous American strength, just a hard inner knowingness that doesn't negate the smile or slow the breeze. (Again, is there anyone out there who can describe this in terms of melodies and chords? It does seem countryish.)

*Dumb joke, false cognate, "nyckel" stands for "key," not "nickel."
**I don't actually know that they're her lyrics and not that of cowriter KZ, but Eana does tend to write lyrics.

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Don't know that this is the best example of dance or song, but it is a lot of people.

Can't seem to properly embed videos here http://youtu.be/e3ft1YyUkYY

[koganbot]

I'm also having trouble embedding (had to go to the old embed code to get "Darling Of All Hearts" to work). We'll see if this works (old embed code):



Or this (lj-template):

[Error: unknown template video]

Or this (new embed code):

[koganbot]

Unfortunately, "Små grodorna" made me think of "The Dreidl Song." I'll see if I can come up with more intelligent commentary later (about what indigenous European "folk" musics tend to have in common, except I'm totally unqualified to talk on the subject).

[christophe andersen (from livejournal.com)]

I can't think of any American act of the last fifty years that could pull off something like this

I think songs similar to this were possible in the early to mid-80's. This type of light, breezy genre mash-up reminds me of stuff Cyndi Lauper attempted on her enjoyable but not totally successful second album (True Colors) and it even reminds me of stuff from Madonna's "True Blue" record. It was also a time when songs like Huey Lewis's "Hip to be Square" and Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" and "Uptown Girl" could be huge hits. Not that I love those songs but they sort of have a similar feel, if not sound, incorporating older musical genres and styles into current sounds in a fun way. I don't think something like this could be a hit now in the US but possibly in the UK.

I have not loved Sunny Hill's songs in the past and I don't think this is going to be the one to change my mind but I do love the sound of this track and the video is definitely fun.

[koganbot]

What I had in mind — what I don't think translates to America — is the "We are here to serve you" smile of the women and the melody. Americans always insist on a wise-cracking toughness to even their most "wholesome" girls. I'm thinking of Ginger Rogers as a prototype. And Madonna and Cyndi were playing with not being wholesome.

The thing about Sunny Hill is that they're not being compliant good-hostess types, but they're in a context where compliant good hostess is a viable type, and they use that type to come across as something strong and not compliant while nonetheless being as light and as engaging as the music.

Kylie Minogue's "I Should Be So Lucky" might fit the type, though it's not as musically varied as "Darling Of All Hearts." Of course, Kylie's Australian, not American, but she had a couple of hits here.

[christophe andersen (from livejournal.com)]

Yes, we do insist on wise-cracking toughness. Your clarification makes it harder to think of an American singer fitting the type you mention without going all the way back to late period Doris Day (one of my faves).

I just watched the "True Blue" video and I do think it is an example of Madonna playing with the idea of being wholesome, both visually and musically, even though most of her work from that time and after was her playing with not being wholesome. Melodically, I think the song manages the "We are here to serve you" aspect as well, though I think her song "Cherish" is a better example and better song in general. Watching the Madonna video, I realize how little meaning I usually take away from videos. Generally, I find videos distract from my enjoyment of good songs though sometimes they help mediocre songs.

[christophe andersen (from livejournal.com)]

Your title "Flight Attendant Pop" and mentioning Kylie reminds me that there is a Kylie song that sort of has an airline theme ("Light Years") and in concert she acts as a flight attendant. Unfortunately, I can't find a clip online. However, she has another song called "Love Boat" that would fit the title "Cruise Director Pop" where she descends to the stage on a giant anchor. But of course, she's Australian and these songs are not hits in the US.

http://youtu.be/l2r0lj3CI2U

[koganbot]

Then there's Britney's "Toxic," which isn't at all what I have in mind, but she is a flight attendant.

[koganbot]

Btw, if you're not seeing Eng Subs when you hit play, I recommend you click CC and get them. The lyrics switch two-thirds of the way through from "I need love," to "Maybe I'm not all that lonely and maybe I prefer being single; actually, I like it." So as Mat says on K-pop 2013 it ends up like GLAM's "I Like That." The overall impression I get, then, is of someone not relishing the role of confidant, the one whom boys tell their romantic problems to rather than one who's the object of the romance; so she wants the option of being the love object so that ultimately she can turn it down and remain single (maybe a distant subtext being that she can get the romance and [unmentioned] sex without having to be in a couple).

But my reading is based on my associating Sunny Hill with Brown Eyed Girls and placing both acts (along with video maker Hwang Soo Ah and lyricist Kim Eana) on the sociocultural* liberal/left, which I do only on the basis of scraps of attitude and signifiers I pick up from the songs and vids. I think my impression is correct, but I'm not all that specific in my own mind of what's creating the impression. And also I'm being circular in using that assumption (that they're on the sociocultural left) to help me interpret the lyrics, and then using that interpretation to reinforce the idea that they're on the sociocultural left.

*A couple of years ago I stared using the word "sociocultural" as a sort of joke, "sociocultural class" as a parody of the falsely precise "socioeconomic class" (once you toss in the prefix "socio," you're basically waving your hands in all directions). But now the term has become something of a habit.

[davidfrazer.livejournal.com]

Sunny Hill's Bad Boy is said to be an attack on former president Lee Myung-bak. The lyrics criticise him for being too friendly to the United States and Japan -- "Cities I like are Washington and Tokyo". In South Korean politics, anti-Americanism and nationalism generally are left-wing positions, while right-wing politicians are strongly pro-American and not unfriendly towards Japan.

Typo

[koganbot]

"A couple of years ago I stared using the word "sociocultural" as a sort of joke"

"stared" should be "started"

So, a couple of years ago I started using the word "sociocultural" as a sort of joke...

[koganbot]

That's really interesting. There's no way I'd have been able to interpret those lyrics on my own. Ditto "Let's Talk About," which Seoulbeats describes as a "scathing parody of the K-pop industry, particularly the treatment of girl groups." Whereas when I look at the translated lyrics to that one, I'm at sea. (No pop!gasa translation for that song, and I'm wondering if the translator at jpopasia really got them right.)

Re: Typo

[koganbot]

"I'm not all that specific in my own mind of what's creating the impression"

Substitute "as to" for "of":

"I'm not all that specific in my own mind as to what's creating the impression"

[askbask.livejournal.com]

No doubt Loen director and Kim Eana husband Cho Young-cheol leans left/liberal - his twitter is political often enough and clearly enough to surmise that without him spelling out his party loyalties (often vague on the left here anyway.

Here the two of them are casting votes on election day, presumably for the losing candidate


Looking at who Hwang Soo Ah follows on twitter, since she's not very active there herself, basically confirms the same thing.

Some of the more political SH songs pointed out above were co-written by members, not that they are showing political colors in their everyday public lives.

Tymee on the warpath

[davidfrazer.livejournal.com]

Here's a fancam of Tymee/e.via performing a new song called Fuck You (NSFW, obviously). Perhaps it's a message to her old agency...



(Link in case the embed doesn't work.)

[(Anonymous)]

I love you Frank

Re: Tymee on the warpath

[koganbot]

See if these work (livejournal is messing up a number of things all of a sudden; lj-cut isn't working right, for instance):

[Error: unknown template video]

The [small] embed using the "lj-template" command works, but using the YouTube embed codes, they don't. Up in the post itself, I could use the old YouTube embed code but not the new. Very strange.

So this seems for the time being to be the only type of embed that works in comments:

<lj-template name="video">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BHbjpHPvnM</lj-template>

[koganbot]

I love you too (hoping the comment wasn't spam).

Re: Tymee on the warpath

[koganbot]

Ah, now some of the other embeds seem to be showing up (maybe 'cause I'm at a different computer).

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that it's the narrator's girlfriends confiding in her: she enjoys being single, enjoys going out with her friends, but now they all have romances and only spend time with her when things are going badly with their guys. So she's complaining about her friendship being taken advantage of, and wavering back and forth in the way you do when you find your entire social circle moving on to the next "stage of life" before you do: I want one of my own / but I'm not ready yet! And the recognition that actually, the issue is you -- you're letting your friends cry on your shoulder because in the end, you enjoy spending time with them all the same; you don't have a serious boyfriend because deep down, you're probably still happy being single, and this is not actually causing you serious angst.

I'm not particularly fond of the tune, but the lyrics seems really realistic to me -- happened to me all my life.

[koganbot]

Yes, you've got a plausible scenario. Don't know why I jumped to the idea that it was guys who were using her as a shoulder-mat, though I wouldn't say I'd settled on it only being guys (nor does the song settle on the opposite).

I think of myself as historically both a doer and a done-to in such situations, but was definitely identifying with the "done-to" as the worse violation, so made it the boy as the doer.* Was no doubt also still influenced by this passage from Jonathan Bradley's great review of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me."

On this particular typical Tuesday, she's hanging out in her crush's bedroom while he argues on the phone with his girlfriend. It's so natural you could miss how perfectly revealing it is: who else but a high school boy would force his guest to hang around listening to his relationship's dirty laundry?

Of course the answer to Jonathan's question could be: college boys? men in their fifties?

*Not that the song is gender-specific about who's loving whom and who's confiding in whom.