Gloating

[koganbot]

Today's Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100 chart:

1
Bar Bar Bar
Crayon Pop
1 2 6

First heard the song thanks to David Frazer posting it here. Odds are you first heard it from me.

"Bar Bar Bar," live on June 8:

Watch on YouTube

Not that I'm any kind of great prognosticator. This is me on June 27: "'Bar Bar Bar' enters the Gaon Chart at 143, three lower than Chocolat's 'Black Tinkerbell' on its second week, which had debuted a week earlier at 81. Fingers crossed that 'Bar Bar Bar' is only just now getting known and will do better next week. I wouldn't bet on it, though."

[Gaon Chart site is screwed up at the moment so I can't access any of their lists after June. My guess is San E holds the number one spot there, but my prognostication is still not to be trusted.] [UPDATE: Gaon now working correctly. "Bar Bar Bar" falls from 3 to 5, which is about what I was expecting (is neck and neck with number 4, EXO's "Growl," and congrats to EXO for finally cracking the top five). See comment thread.]

Comments

[petronia.livejournal.com]

"Bar Bar Bar" is actually my least favourite of the Crayon Pop stuff I've heard (it's riffing off Eighties stuff I didn't like in the initial iteration), but they seemed underrated to me before and so I'm glad they're now appropriately rated.

[koganbot]

I'm glad you mentioned the '80s; I'm surprised that no one else I've seen has, since one of my first thoughts when I heard "Bar Bar Bar" was that it could have emerged from Los Angeles circa 1980. Of course, as Kuhn points out, in looking back at anything it's easy to unconsciously interpolate later elements. So I haven't really reexamined 1980 to test whether I'm right, or if I were to take a psycho-teleporter back to my 1980-consciousness some element of "Bar Bar Bar" would jump out as strange and novel in comparison to what I was expecting from power pop. And of course, some of that '80s power pop was self-consciously recalling the '60s (which is why I referenced Townshend and Davies over on the Jukebox comment thread).

Speaking of 1980s, a recent throwback you might like more is Baek Ji Young's "떠올라" (which pop!gasa translates as "Remember"; a lot of YouTubers call it "Reminded of You"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viQZqnknrfU

The lyrics could have come from the same heartbreak and hate that are all over her ballads, but the music is far more lively.

Naturally enough, David and I hear the track as freestylish.