ILLIT - 3rd Mini Album: bomb (PINK BOMB ver. Concept Film)

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I took these during NMIXX Sydney performance. Keep “water mark” that’s all I ask submitted by /u/ProfessionalPanda702 [link] [comments]

More sound-wise: As a 2024 fan this is the first time I found myself saying WOW ITZY really has a cohesive sound. It's very hyperpop -- basically early ITZY they were doing it slightly before everyone else and now they're doing it slightly later than everyone else, making it THEIR sound. It's a very high average BPM drop. I think this distinguishes ITZY more than I've given credit for -- I think the other gen4 groups have a little bit of "laid back cool girl" in them whereas ITZY hasn't still wears their light-up shoes. "Promise" is very solid on the ballad-end. I don't know if this is a JYP sound thing, but every time they've piano-led a piece (Mr Vampire and NMIXX High Horse) I've been really impressed by it. I know this one's divisive but I think Yeji's vocal improved a LOT in "Air" and you can hear it "Gold" era too. (Divisive esp to "Crown" fans.) You can hear a lot more vocal layering now which I think is pretty crucial to a rancorous girlgroup concept. More concept-wise: I haven't dived into the lyrics and you usually can't repeat trauma concepts like Gold's "separation anxiety" theme. But after "Gold" I did wonder if they'd go for an especially cohesive lyrical theme. Technically Gold was a mini-album too, although slightly obscured by the 5 remixes. There's something artistic about commitment to a "being yourself" concept through a few sources of adversity. Both people and business-wise they've gone steady, generally avoiding scandal in a kinda rough year for their gen and working to keep Lia in the group (not that you ever know what goes on behind the scenes but I just think the more default thing to do in kpop is push her out.) submitted by /u/abyssazaur [link] [comments]

100000/10 song i better hear ts live or ELSE submitted by /u/kkazugyu [link] [comments]

Mine is that next year, Jin of BTS will be the same age as PSY was when he released Gangnam Style (34). Idols currently that age include Irene from Red Velvet, Key and Minho from SHINee, Solar from Mamamoo and many more. Of course, there’s always the strange realisation that Taemin of SHINee is the same age as the members of BTS - I don’t know if it’s weirder that he’s younger than Jin and Yoongi despite debuting five years before them, or that he’s older than the other five even though he feels like the eternal maknae and super young. What about you? What other age comparisons or realisations in K-Pop blew your mind when you first heard them? submitted by /u/rocketmammamia [link] [comments]

The lyrics are not that bad, but combined with the instrumental it feels like something that came out of Kidz Bop. The concept is not matching the overall music, what a shame. One more time JYPE gives me hope, and I receive nothing. submitted by /u/nolimits237 [link] [comments]

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First of all, english is not my first language so it'll probably be mistakes here. Well, basically, I really like to sing and I want at least 5 other girls who likes to sing/rap and appreciates kpop, music in general. The project will be with different k-pop songs covers, but with a different format than what we usually see on YouTube, and there will also be covers of other musical genres, because it is a serious project. And I rather work with girls who are already adults, over 18. If you're interested, let me know. Thank you all for your attention submitted by /u/2005_pisces [link] [comments]

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I would like to see how you believe on how many submitted by /u/mrwolfboyjared [link] [comments]

Hope you guys enjoy :) submitted by /u/Academic_Amoeba_974 [link] [comments]

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So many people not just here but all over social media genuinely think once someone is over the age of 25 they start crippling away and it's funny. Everyone ages differently, but people most of the time only start getting more visible wrinkles when they're in their 40s (sometimes earlier which is totally okay too). And, well in the entertainment industry when the smallest wrinkle starts to appear it's most of the time 'fixed' by botox. Still, you can tell for a lot of these idols that people claim are 'vampires' or something that they have aged, they have lost their youthful features and look like they're in their 30s, because they are lol. Using an example that some people may not agree with but I think Irene looks her age. She doesn't look older, but when you tell me she's 34 that doesn't blow me away. It's not this huge mind fuck like some people seem to think it is. It's a compliment obviously, especially in the kpop scene where youthful looks are favoured, but there's something really beautiful about aging and I don't think we should act like our idols are immune to it. Another idol I think that looks his age for example is Jin, like he looks like he's in his 30s and that's okay, still a beautiful man. (just wanted to make sure I used both a male and female idol example) And... please stop with the 'she looks so good for her age' about idols that are not even 30 yet oh my god those comments actually drive me insaneeee That's it, not a hate post (for the people that I know are out there that are going to take offense to this). submitted by /u/Due_Improvement_5699 [link] [comments]

(TLDR, so skip to the end for a summary, even though I would suggest reading the whole thing) I know, I know, it’s been talked to death. Yes, K-POP was always westernized. Yes, K-pop has always been built on the backbone of Black American music. Yes, people who complain about it now are often applying double standards. But that’s not exactly what this post is about, or at least, not only what it’s about. Because, sure, K-POP has always been influenced by Western music, we know that. But then, why are so many people now more vocal and disproportionately annoyed about it? Why do people who were totally fine with it before suddenly feel alienated? It could be classic gatekeeping. I’m a metal fan too, and this kind of thing happens in every fandom. As soon as something becomes significantly more popular, it’s like it loses its identity. It’s no longer a “little secret,” and for some fans, that’s a problem. And these conversations started indeed with the global expansion. Maybe some people are just getting bored with the music and trying to find a reason why, since K-POP has been such a big part of their playlists for years. Maybe what they really miss is the visual aspect only, which is the aspect that has been changed the most (but that has changed in the West tremendously as well), and project this on the music as well. But personally, I think the biggest reason is that K-POP still follows Western music trends, but now it follows them at the same time, not with a delay. In a way, we see both industries co-influence each other, and not K-POP follow American trends after the trend has slowed down or even ended in the West. 2010-2015 K-POP was Ressision Pop repackaged I bring up this era specifically because I’ve noticed that a lot of people who complain about “Westernization” in K-pop now are actually second-gen stans, and many of them were fans of those big, bold, maximalist tracks. And this is also around the time I started listening to K-pop, so it’s the era I first got into as well. Let me start by saying that I’m not a native English speaker. For me, the biggest difference between K-pop and American Western pop, music-wise, was always the language, but since neither is my native tongue, that alone never made one feel drastically different from the other (even more so because when I was 12-13 I was not fluent in English as I am now). Sonically, K-pop was never reinventing the wheel, the package was different. A lot of the classic, iconic, maximalist K-pop songs from 2010–2015 sound very much like 2007–2010 recession-era pop from the West. Take a listen to the instrumentals of Venus by Shinhwa and Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz & Ludacris. No, they’re not the same song, it’s not plagiarism in the slightest, but they clearly come from the same pool of sound. If someone listens to these instrumentals side by side, and has no idea which is which, it's not clear which one is the K-pop track. That heavily processed, synthy, maximalist, club-ready production style was all over the charts in the West some years before it dominated K-pop. Groups like BIGBANG, 2NE1, T-ara, 4Minute, KARA, all drew inspiration from recession pop. And just to be clear (because I know K-pop fans can transform into Viking warriors fast), I’m not saying they were copying. I’m saying the production trends that were huge in the West between 2007–2010 made their way into K-pop from around 2010 to the mid-2010s; same tools, same techniques, just different packaging. Le Sserafim’s songs, for example, some of which have been accused of blatantly copying artists like Rosalía or Tyla, are not only not copies, but they’re also not any more influenced by trending Western artists than past K-pop songs were. Take Wonder Girls’ “Like This,” which is clearly inspired by Beyoncé and songs like “Get Me Bodied.” The real difference is timing: Le Sserafim released their tracks while those Western trends were still current, with the original artists still making similar music. In contrast, Wonder Girls came out with “Like This” years after that style had already peaked in Western radio, about six years after, to be exact, which is an eternity in pop music. Even visually, there were similarities. Because it's not that K-POP has become less visually crazy, pop music in the west also has calmed down a lot, and it's not what it was in 2008. Of course, K-pop has always emphasized visuals in a way that’s distinct from the West, especially with group performances and choreo, but even then, some choices were clearly influenced by Western trends of the time, which were also maximalist, crazy, and extreme (Lady Gaga I am looking at you). Watch the Boom Boom Pow MV by The Black Eyed Peas and tell me that wouldn’t fit right into K-pop in 2012. The lyrics, visuals, sound, all of it could easily be dropped into the K-pop scene. SM the "Trendsetter" And of course, I have to bring up SM. In the earlier years of K-pop, SM Entertainment was the leading company, and most others followed their lead. A ton of their hit songs from 1st gen to even now are remakes of Western songs. Not "inspired by." Remakes. (And what I’m listing here isn’t even 1/10 of them. SM and remakes go hand in hand.) SNSD’s Dancing Queen = Mercy by Duffy f(x)’s Hot Summer = Hot Summer by Monrose SHINee’s Juliette = Deal With It by Jay Sean & Corbin Bleu TVXQ’s Mirotic = Under My Skin by Sarah Connor SUPER JUNIOR’s Twins (Knock Out) = Knockout by Triple 8 f(x)’s Shadow = Candy Man by Liz Primo Chani Mini’s Dream = My Turn to Cry by Olivia S.E.S’s Dreams Come True = Rakastuin mä looseriin This wasn’t plagiarism; they bought the rights, paid royalties, reworked the songs, and released them under their own artists. And honestly? Good for them, most of them were bangers. These were major releases. Now, other companies that couldn’t afford to license full tracks simply followed the same sonic trends. That’s why you ended up with a bunch of songs that were clearly Western-inspired, because that was the blueprint. But again, with a delay. Most of these sounds hit K-pop at least 2–3 years after they’d peaked in the West. Add another 1–2 years for those trends to really take hold across the broader K-pop industry, and you end up with essentially the same music, just in a different font, around 5 years later. It’s obvious where inspiration came from. Lee Hyori’s Get Ya is not a remake, but it does sound like a Britney Spears track. If someone who didn’t know either song asked which one was Britney between Get Ya (2006) and Do Somethin’ (2004), they could honestly say “both could be hers for all I know” and it wouldn’t be a stretch. And I can keep going with examples. But BTS changed their sound And of course, I can’t not bring up BTS and Blackpink, the main targets of slander when this topic comes up, though often for different reasons. BTS is the go-to example everyone brings up: "You can see the difference, their older songs didn’t sound as westernized, they weren’t in English, the sound was different. Now they’re pandering to the West and chasing Western validation." But BTS is a tricky example for several reasons. First, they have an enormous discography. Like, a lot of songs. And across so many genres that it’s hard to make sweeping generalizations like “their old music was different”, because “different” from what? Even back in their earlier years, their music ranged from hip-hop and R&B to EDM to bright POP to ballads. On top of that, BTS has always been heavily involved in the creative process. Multiple members write and produce much of their own music, and they openly talk about their influences, like a bunch of artists do. Since 2013, they’ve consistently spoken about how they got into music, who inspired them, and how they approach songwriting, often mentioning Western hip-hop, R&B, and pop artists. Their inspirations were never a secret, and many of these inspirations were from the Western music scene. If we want to talk examples, take “Dope,” a certified BOP (no disagreements accepted, lol). It’s often hailed as a “classic K-pop” song, personally I have not seen people claim that it is "westernized", but production-wise, it’s really not that far off from something like “GDFR” by Flo Rida. The production styles, the brass, the energy, the hip-hop beats are clearly from the same trend pool. The real difference now is that BTS is no longer just part of K-pop; they’re part of the global mainstream (the closest we have in K-pop). Their music is the trend. And naturally, that means their current releases sound more “mainstream” because they are mainstream, not only K-POP mainstream. Again, Dope is no less “Westernized” than Airplane (I’m using a solo track here because I love the song. J-Hope has some of my absolute favorite solo work). Airplane exists in the same sonic universe as American hip-hop songs from that era, like Joey Bada$$’s Devastated. The English Trilogy And that brings me to the use of English and radio-friendly releases. Yes, Dynamite, Butter, and Permission to Dance were clearly created and promoted to drive eras that, based on the other songs and themes from that time, probably wouldn’t have gained the same level of global popularity. It is what it is. I love Dis-ease, but realistically, there’s no way they could have promoted a Korean-language track with a name like that on Western radio, during the pandemic, even though, in my opinion, it’s far more representative of their actual sound and the album’s overall message. Yes, they’re pandering to the West. And yes, good for them. K-pop has always pandered to whatever market it wanted to enter. I don’t understand why anyone thought the U.S. would be treated differently. Every K-pop group releases Japanese songs, and those Japanese releases often sound noticeably different from their Korean ones. This has been discussed among fans, especially international ones, who often say they don’t vibe as much with the Japanese tracks. And why is that? Because those songs are specifically written and produced to appeal to Japanese audiences, they follow trends, aesthetics, and sounds popular in Japan. That’s why idols also learn the language and perform in Japanese: it’s strategic. It’s pandering. It’s marketing. Why is it suddenly a problem when they do the same thing in English for the U.S. market? Why don’t people complain when groups tailor their approach for Japan or China? Why is there no outrage over the use of bad and awkward Japanese in songs or shifts in production style for that market? That’s... suspicious. That’s weird. That’s hypocritical. That's borderline xenophobic. K-pop has always wanted to break into the Western market, but it just wasn’t easy to do. Some groups released English songs in the past, and tried to promote in the west, but most of those kinda flopped and are forgotten now because they weren’t that successful, and let’s be real, the translations of their songs were often terrible. There’s also a reason why back in 2nd gen, the choruses were things like “Sorry Sorry,” “Ring Ding Dong,” “Bang Bang Bang,” and “Do You Wanna Pretty, Everybody Pretty” These songs relied on catchy, repetitive English or nonsense hooks because they were designed to be accessible and ear-wormy no matter the language. Let’s not pretend this wasn’t always the game plan. Now that it’s finally profitable to release English songs, like it’s always been profitable to release Japanese ones, of course, more groups are going to do it. Even more so when many smaller groups have bigger non-Korean fanbases. Blackpink the most "westernized" group Since their debut in 2016, Blackpink has been slammed as the definition of “westernized K-pop,” even more so than BTS. And here's my question, to the many K-POP fans who hated BP's trajectory: How can Blackpink be a 2NE1 copy, with several of their early songs literally written for 2NE1 before the disbandment, and at the same time be accused of pandering to the West more than second-gen groups, while also being “too formulaic” and “stagnant”? Blackpink, like 2NE1 and Big Bang before them, are part of a long line of YG groups that were designed with global appeal in mind. YG has always wanted to break into the Western market, the difference is that Blackpink actually succeeded. It’s not like Blackpink came out of nowhere with a never-before-seen concept. Their music is not some huge leap from what 2NE1 or Big Bang were doing before them. The structure, the drops, the raps, the choruses, all of it is built on the same sonic blueprint YG has leaned on for years. And in the K-POP sphere, YG artists were always very popular overseas, especially among Western fans. If anything, Blackpink is just the refined version of that formula, with bigger budgets, tighter visuals, and better marketing. The reason Blackpink sounds “western” it’s because YG’s production style has always been heavily influenced by Western music, especially hip hop and maximalist electronic pop. This isn't new. It didn’t start in 2016. YG just finally found the group that cracked the global market with that style. Their artists have always used a lot of onomatopoeias and English hooks. They were consistently more "edgy" than other K-pop acts, and definitely less PG, because they wanted to be seen as “hip-hop” and “cool”, their words, not mine. What’s arguably changed the most is not the music, but the styling and the visuals. Earlier YG groups were known for experimental, even outlandish looks, and that kind of styling was part of what made them stand out, but it also alienated some, not all, Western audiences. Now with Blackpink (and the groups after them), YG’s visuals are way safer, fashion-forward, trendy, and more mainstream. It’s not the music that shifted dramatically, it’s the packaging. The audio, if anything, is still very “YG,” and that sound just happens to align really well with what Western listeners already like. Even though many K-POP fans are not as excited anymore by the use of the formula. TLDR: If you don’t want to read the whole thing Yes, K-pop has always been Westernized, especially musically; the big difference was always the image, not the audio. The genre was built on the back of Black American music, and major companies like SM were openly licensing, remaking, and adapting Western tracks long before global expansion was even on the table. To say that the music now sounds more Western is just kinda weird. What’s changed isn’t the Western influence itself; it’s the timing. Earlier generations followed trends with a delay of a few years, repackaging songs very similar to Western ones, with a distinctly K-pop flavor, which is still very much the same (visual and dance focus, more out there than normal pop in many cases, trainee system, idol culture, etc.). Now, with real-time global access, K-pop no longer lags behind; it coexists and even co-influences. That makes the Western elements more visible, and for some longtime fans, more alienating. Add in the global chart success, and suddenly, what used to feel niche now feels mainstream, and for some, that stings. This isn’t about only gatekeeping, though that’s certainly part of it. It’s about nostalgia, changing trends, and the discomfort that comes when your favorite “secret” becomes known. But let’s not rewrite history. K-pop has always played the marketing game. It’s always adapted its sound, language, and image to target different markets, Japan, China, and now the U.S. (I feel that there is also a certain xenophobia there, but oh well.) They do not pander to the U.S or seek Western validations more than they pander to Japan and seek Japanese success. And let's not forget that in an industry like K-pop, which has always adapted to the markets it targets, using English makes sense if the goal is to go global, English is, after all, the global language. And if someone takes issue with that, I have to ask: why? K-pop has never been radically different from Western pop music in terms of sound or production. So why is English such a problem, but Japanese isn’t? (again, this to me smells like xenophobia) And it’s also worth noting: Western pop itself has changed. A lot of longtime Western pop fans say that the music isn’t musicing the way it used to. People in general have been underwhelmed by recent trends. In 2024, many finally felt like pop was back in form after years of stagnation. So it's not that K-POP now follows global trends, this is why you may find it underwhelming, it's that it follows current, underwhelming global trends, when in the past, the music for many undeniably was hitting harder. The disappointment isn’t unique to K-pop fans. It’s industry-wide. PS: Of course, I’m generalizing entire industries here. What I’m saying doesn’t mean there weren’t, or aren’t, great artists and good music throughout all eras. I’m also not claiming that one generation of music is better than another. I’m talking about general fan sentiments, trends, and recurring themes. submitted by /u/Any-Listen4184 [link] [comments]

CHAERYEONG (at GWBG press conference): "I can't believe we're in our 7th year and already discussing the contract," and said, "We're coordinating with the company right now, and I'll tell you good news." I feel like Itzy really has the potential to stay as five ❤ submitted by /u/Gold_Meaning3688 [link] [comments]

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I just watched IZNA's new single "BEEP," and I'm genuinely happy with their direction right now. The single release itself is still a bit odd; I wonder if we'll get an EP with "SIGN" on it. Nobody knows, but I'm definitely curious. My biggest relief, though, is how they've managed to avoid that YGESQUE look. With all the talk about TheBlackLabel's upcoming co-ed group, Alldayproject, it just made me even more relieved that IZNA didn't go for that "All my bad unnies, all my hood unnies" vibe or whatever Babymonster is doing. It's clear that while WakeOne handles their schedules and promotions, the creative direction, music, and styling are all thanks to TheBlackLabel, specifically VVN as the creative director. A huge shout-out to her for creating "SIGN"—that song truly blessed my ears. Teddy was also credited on "BEEP," and honestly, that dramatic YG-style ending totally clicked when I realized it was him. But it really feels like VVN's vision is protecting them from falling into any overly familiar or problematic patterns. I'm so incredibly happy with the careful and intentional choices being made for their image. This glossy, pink crush, luxury sound they have is totally my style, and I absolutely can't wait to see them push their sound even further. It really seems like we're going to see them explore a lot of different directions, and in VVN, we trust for this group's future. submitted by /u/Agile_Track_1933 [link] [comments]