Golden doesn’t just sound like I Am. Its MV and the one for How It’s Done specifically refer to it, when you look at the plane shots. I think this clarifies that its production does the same. I hear the kick drums are very similar to Golden. But the drums on I Am sound like they have more of a separate, quiet low frequency note and higher pitch tap element that doesn’t boom. Golden’s kick feels like a more standard, unified sound and is boomier. Also, these melodies/instruments sound very similar. Listen past the drums: 0:29 I Am, I’m not sure if it’s a electronic keyboard sound or what. The notes start to rise. The note it rises to sounds like 0:34 of Golden. This instrument has a more typical ‘synthesizer’ sound? I think it’s not more similar than Katseye’s My Way is to Miley Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop. There the delivery, vocal melody and theme also seem to build directly from the earlier song. I don’t sense that I Am has much influence on Golden’s lyrics or singing. The singing in I Am likewise starts off quietly, but songs often have a build up. Still, I think the connection is stronger to Ejae’s own quietly sung, likewise autobiographical Take It Slow I posted about. KDH is a soundtrack that intentionally resembles some existing Kpop, in order to represent it. Sometimes, they even stated what song’s vibe they want to recreate (see the mention of Butter for Soda Pop here.) I think they would be conscious of avoiding sequences that would run into infringement, and maybe even use Kpop songs like My Way as a model for how far to take a sound alike. But it’s the differences from ‘Kpop’ production that make Golden, not the similarities. A major difference on KDH is that production isn’t the star of the show, rather it’s the singing—vocals and lyrics. Even in How It’s Done, rapping the whole song sets the vibe more than the instrumental. The visual references to I Am frame the similarity as coming from the movie side. It’s like how Your Idol references the BTS Idol live performance in hanboks. They have to root it in something that sounds like Kpop, while not distracting from vocals, which are more critical for providing clear dialogue in a musical movie. That’s one of the key things that feels makes KDH songs feel not ‘Kpop,’ despite Black Label/Butter production. Golden rule breaking Similarity to I Am isn’t why this song succeeds. It’s fundamental differences compared to the ‘Kpop’ sound that makes it work. The soundtrack instrumentals generally feel subdued for Kpop, in volume and catchiness. Because they serve the vocals, which are produced loud and direct for Kpop. There’s less of that wide soundstage echo in the voices, part of the typical ‘vocal doubling’ style. The voices in I Am and other female Kpop songs remind me of string instruments, and they’re one of many instruments in the production. Meanwhile, KDH vocals feel literally more ‘front and center’. They’re less buried in the production, less coming at you indirectly with an exaggerated stereo effect. Golden, like Rose’s number one girl, is more driven by vocal performance. Even Soda Pop I noticed has more rapid vocals that do a lot of melody work that instruments typically do in Kpop. The catchy melody comes much more from the sung part, because you want people to sing along to a musical, even if they can’t hit those notes. That’s part of why Golden is peak immediacy in Kpop. The other part is from Ejae’s vocal ability and her writing it. Her vocals, not the production, dominate the track. The singer doesn’t submit to the group either — instead the song submits to her. A lot of ‘rules’ are broken on the soundtrack. Line distribution gets thrown out the plane door. It’s easier when there’s only 3 members. The vocalist takes over a song as an individual showcase. Kpop does have its own strong vocalists, but even so, they’re not ‘supposed’ to outshine the group for most of the song. Rap is present on every part of How It’s Done; even its sung “lullaby” hook is a good rap punchline. Also, English Kpop just hits harder from fluent speakers. It’s rare to get emotional English sung by the person who wrote it. The clauses and meaning will just flow better when you write it for your English-speaking self. Stray Kids self-writes and has individual expression and craziness, not raw emotion. Number one girl has six other cowriters besides Rose, according to Apple Music. Ejae put emotion from her personal life in songs she wrote for others, like Red Velvet’s Psycho. Others performing a song dilutes the words, as when Katseye performs Gnarly instead of Alice Longyu Gao herself. All these ‘Kpop’ constructs and styles have reasons, but are filters on the connection between singer and listener. It’s not meant to emphasize strictly singing. BTS is peak Kpop because of their precise performance of hard choreo, that’s since trickled down to female groups. This soundtrack doesn’t come from idols who bring other elements of Kpop like dance. Emotion and story matter more for a soundtrack than addictive production. So there has to be less filter. The songs need to connect, and you need to bring The Feels that’s rare in Kpop, regardless of the Twice song. Usually, cute, drip and hitting the right psychological notes take the place of direct emotional connection. A choreographed dopamine feed with visual, sonic, and social elements. Because direct connection through song doesn’t really make sense in, say an 9 member group. Golden comes from people like Ejae and its Black Label producers who spent most of their careers working on Kpop. But it’s Kpop with less filter, more just singing and feeling. It’s rare for Kpop to feel raw and personal, because they needed to make you feel that Rumi is a real person. submitted by /u/hyeran_jainros_fc [link] [comments]
