mc's Pop/Country/K-pop topic.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I've been enjoying reading the comments, but I also want to say that throughout this whole thing you've been doing, I've gotten a lot more exposure to k-pop than before. I've just been cherry-picking listening to the ones you hyped, but they're pretty fun.

[metroid composite]

I've been enjoying reading the comments, but I also want to say that throughout this whole thing you've been doing, I've gotten a lot more exposure to k-pop than before. I've just been cherry-picking listening to the ones you hyped, but they're pretty fun.

Funny story, most of this K-pop is new to me too.  Like...not that I haven't been listening to new songs, but they've been like...CL and EXO which we haven't even come across; I dunno if they're charting in Korea.  I also deliberately have not been linking any music videos (because they tend to be really good for K-pop, and really bad for country).

If you want a quick tour of the k-pop I actually do know (which tends to be older more internationally known stuff)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbokV76tkU
Big Bang - Fantastic Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8I8QGFA1oM
f(x) - Electric Shock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvic9sAg64
JJ Project - Bounce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbwL8kSpEk
girl's generation - Oh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWIkiI_UmeE
super junior - Sexy free and single
(Ready to bingo!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o
2NE1 - I am the best
(also, wtf why is the 일 syllable from the title silent?  It's not when CL uses the exact same line in her new single...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmHdefsaL6I
PSY - Right Now
(from before he was ridiculously  famous)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdH1GwyZJuY
Brown Eyed Girls - Sixth Sense
(fun trivia: the lead singer from this band is the girl in PSY's gentleman video; also the dance from that video is an old Brown Eyed Girls dance.)


EDIT: oh gosh, I somehow forgot 이하이
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKOFMUGq2E
Lee Hi - It's Over
(This is who I think of when I think of the rise of Jazz in K-pop)

[Lady Door]

But whatever. English major. I read lots of things into lots of stuff by reflex.

Funny story: I have a minor in English myself.  At a few points in my life I've certainly played my hand at linking lots of stuff to lots of other stuff.  (For instance, while I worked at white wolf, I wrote a series of 26 essays lyncing random quotes from the Twilight books into World of Darkness Online game-design/production/shaders/whatever.  I've been known to take a two line quote and write five paragraphs about it).  I'm not incapable of turning on that part of my brain.


But like...I don't think that's the way radio music should be consumed.  I hear it in the car, or at a store, or at a club, and I maybe know 10%-20% of the lyrics, and maybe sing along to those parts, and maybe dance to it a little.


It'd be like...imagine we were at DL con, playing ridiculous DL con poker.  And it was my turn to bet, and I said "hold on a minute", pulled out a pen and paper and scribbled calculations for the next 4 minutes, and then bet exactly 23 chips.  Yes, this is something I am capable of doing, but it's a little out of place given how seriously the situation should be taken.


Similarly, in this topic with respect to lyrics, while I'm paying more attention to detail than I normally would in the car (where a full sentence might pass by while I was focused on the road) I'm deliberately not looking for a deeper meaning as that's not how the media will be consumed.  (Which isn't to say that my mind won't jump to some conclusions; for instance, when I first heard Calvin Harris' "Let's Go" on the radio, I thought it was a very dirty song.  Which...it actually isn't.  At all).



EDIT: And writing this somehow made me want to hijack a DL con Apples to Apples game by delaying my turn to do some pen and paper calculus. >_>

That's fair enough, but also consider that not all the music you're hearing on the radio is really optimized for radio play. Pop definitely is. Country either is or isn't depending on the song. Alternative especially isn't (though when its songs trend toward pop, it is).

[AndrewRogue]

I dunno. I'd actually argue against you there, Met. The fact is that you don't really need to turn on your brain or sit down and do serious analysis for that. Your brain kinda natively processes the effect (words + music + tone + whatever) without really needing you to do true close analysis.

It conveys a basic expression of emotion through the words that, when done correctly, doesn't require anything really big to pick up on. The calculations for simple, well done expressions ("It's a revolution I suppose" : Big momentous thing is occurring but I do not care/it doesn't matter to me is as easily parsed as clever wordplay).

Frankly, I'd say you're paying more attention then I am (It never even occurred to me to actually consider Radioactive post-apocalyptic because, well, that requires actually listening to and fully understanding the full of the words rather than the emotional gist of them).

[metroid composite]

("It's a revolution I suppose" : Big momentous thing is occurring but I do not care/it doesn't matter to me is as easily parsed as clever wordplay).

Well, I guess I don't read a whole lot into that line because that's how I feel about a lot of stuff.

"Hey mc, how do you feel about the revolutionary new iPhone"
"I didn't even realize there's a new one."



Going back to the song...it's not like ambivalence is a recurring theme of the song

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

The only thing here that makes me suspect wordplay is "sweat my rust", as rust is not normally something that comes out of sweating.  Unless you are a robot.

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse

Depends what kind of checking out it is.  If it's like...spacing out and not really caring anymore, then it's something a prisoner could do.  Or ooh, maybe he's the bus driver!  Dun dun dun.

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow

Usually your systems don't blow.  Unless you are a robot.

Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Know what exists in the new age?  Robots.

I'm radioactive, radioactive

Well if you're a nuclear powered robot, you would be.

It's a revolution, I suppose

Know who doesn't have emotional feelings about revolutions?  Robots.

We're painted red to fit right in

Aha, the robots admit it!  They are attempting to blend in with us!

All systems go, the sun hasn't died

That sounds like something a robot would say.  Especially if it's a solar powered robot.



Hmm...apart from the fact that it's ambiguous whether this robot is solar powered or nuclear powered, I'm pretty sure this new interpretation is 112% flawless.  Provided the robot is driving a prison bus for a living, of course.

[Grefter]

Obviously it is about the enuii of having successfully caused the apocalypse as an immortal Fusion/solar hybrid Socialist Robot.

What do you do after you have peaked and there is no one else to see your success?

[metroid composite]

round 14 (#14 on their respective lists)

Country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0mXs0FPo4s
Carrie Underwood - See You Again

Not her best song.  Certainly not lyrically at least.  Probably not musically.  Still a threat to either chart.



Pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sds5SpNd1Mw
Bruno Mars - Treasure

Well, I'll give him credit; I actually didn't recognize this as a Bruno Mars song; it's different enough from his normal style.  I also didn't consider it a particularly memorable song.

Also, so like..."Baby squirrel you'se a sexy mother fucker".  This is apparently a line that plays before the song starts.  The song obviously wins some points for this, but...how many?  Not too many I think, because it's not part of the song proper, so it's not the catchy part.



K-pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz3DcKpSco4
The One - Best Wishes to You

Oh man, another OST song that could be straight out of a disney soundtrack.  And like...it IS pretty; like don't let me give the impression that I dislike Disney music or anything.  I'm just going to forget it exists in about 30 minutes, because lots of very similar sounding music exists.  When I latch onto a song that's in a style that's very played out, usually it'll be in English.  Although...as I say that, the last ballad I got really into was in spanish.  Granted, still dismissed that song the first 20 times I heard it or so, as "geez, not another one of these", before it started to grow on me.


Lyrics:
1. Country
2. Pop
3. K-Pop

So like...know what I totally didn't pick up on on the first listen to Carrie Underwood's song?  I'm pretty sure she's singing to someone who is dying.  That changes the tone of the song entirely.


Music:
1. Pop
2. K-Pop
3. Country

So...the weird thing is I usually really like Carrie Underwood songs; and if I'm trying to put on objective glasses, this song does have some pretty awesome moments with the oooooh oooohs.  But flipping back and forth I just...was not into this song.  I guess the instrumentals were actually doing basically nothing--one chord for sometimes 30 seconds straight.  Something felt weird even when it was going into sweeping choruses though.

I still don't really like the K-pop ballad, and the reason for that is low predictability of the song.  Let me explain--If you listen to classical from the 1600s or so, even if you've never heard the piece, you can often guess exactly what the next four bars are in your head and be right.  I actually find this level of predictability obnoxious, but some level of mathematical pattern in music is fun.  This disneyesque ballad...just...lacks patterns, at least that I've noticed.  It doesn't have the chorus/verse structure, which is fine, but the instruments don't have any real structure I've been able to discern as to when they cut in or out.

[AndrewRogue]

Going back to the song...it's not like ambivalence is a recurring theme of the song

Well, aside from being a bit unexcited musically.

I'm fairly sure I would sound either slightly more hype or more concerned were I radioactive myself. Seriously, a feeling of ambivalence pervades the entirety of the song.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Maybe it wanted the sun to die? If you've already succeeded at causing the apocolypse, why not one step further? Go big or go home.

[metroid composite]

I'm fairly sure I would sound either slightly more hype or more concerned were I radioactive myself.

Psst, Andy, you probably are radioactive.  Just hold a Geiger counter up to your body; most humans have some radiation coming off of them (not even all that low, honestly).

It's really nothing to get excited about, though.


(In all seriousness, I don't read that much into tone of voice if it stays pretty similar throughout a song.  Some singers sound perky even if they're singing about something very dark.  Some singers always sound bored.  Some singers always sound angry.  And sure, some singers bring in a full range of emotional acting into the words they're singing).

[metroid composite]

Round 15 (#15 on their respective lists)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZh7lw_Dubo
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop

Welp, wasn't expecting to still see this so high on the charts.  Yeah, this will probably sweep.


Kpop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoyBigRLhGk
J-Rabbit - Light Sleep

Yet another OST song.  And weaker than the last one.



Country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdLR3XRN0zY
Kip Moore - Hey Pretty Girl

Pretty weak song on all fronts.


Lyrics
1. Pop
2. Country
3. K-pop


Music
1. Pop
2. Country
3. K-pop

You know, I suppose I could listen to the 2nd/3rd place ones a few more times to be sure of this, but I just have so much apathy towards these two....

[metroid composite]

In the mean time, charts have updated; a new week is up.

The top 10 of pop has reordered a bit, but nothing much has changed.

The top 10 of country...took me a while to confirm it had even updated.

The top 10 of K-pop.......what the hell?  Literally 6 new songs in the top 10. O_O

[metroid composite]

Alright, time for another go around of this.

New rules: can't reuse songs that have already been reviewed.


Pop
(#1-#4 were already done last time--Blurred Lines, We Can't Stop, Radioactive, Get Lucky)
#5 on the charts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRD7O4AtRzA
Jay-Z: Holy Grail

You know, it's funny, I've never really gotten into Jay-Z.  He does have a reputation for lyrics, but as a rule I listen to rap for the music, not the lyrics.  And Musically I've never been impressed with Jay-Z.  I've heard he raps without even knowing what beat he's going to rap over, which explains a lot.  Because I tend to side with the really oldschool when it comes to rap, back to like...Grandmaster Flash using the turntables as a musical instrument, and talking over it to get people dancing.  The point of rap is to be an MC and emphasize and work with what's going on in the music.

This is how you do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgxBHRDyniI

You take a really good sample, in this case a 15 second clip from AC/DC, loop it because it's more awesome than the rest of the song, and then rap over it in different ways that makes it sound different each time.  (Ignore the part that says it's a mashup--it's not, just AC/DC didn't allow their song to be sampled...).

Anyway, uh, yeah, guess the lyrics to the Jay Z song are interesting enough.  And it's decent musically just because 70% of the song is Justin Timberlake singing and not actually Jay-Z anyway.



Country:
EDIT: wait, got the wrong song
(#1-#4 were done previously--Cruise, I want Crazy, Runnin outa moonlight, crash my party)
#5 on the charts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGsrbM_klW4
Brett Eldredge - Don't Ya

EDIT: well, got the wrong song at first.  This song is definitely a step up in just about every way.  Better instrumentation, better lyrics, better singing.  Fun up-tempo song about a woman rather talented at flirting in fun subtle ways.


K-Pop
#1 on its chart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVyAII4sOsU
f(x) - Rum Pum Pum Pum

Yeah...not going to lie, I glanced at the group and was like "welp, I have a pretty good guess about who's winning music this round".  At the same time, this was not the song I was expecting.

Let me sidetrack a little into Raph Koster's book "A Theory of Fun for Game Designers" -- I can't say I learned much I didn't already know about game design from that book, but I did learn a thing or two about music, and the cognitive appeal it has.  Music actually fills similar roles to games--it's pattern learning.  Until you learn the pattern it just sounds like noise.  For instance, a friend of mine (I think actually Mike for those of you who were at DLCon) was telling me about this one heavy metal group who all plays in different time signatures--which sounded awful to him at first, but after several listens the moments when all the different tracks were completely in-sync, or exactly off phase became really interesting.  Conversely, I think everyone's had moments of "I'd like this song to be a bit more complex."

But music is more nuanced than "people over 30 don't understand dubstep because they didn't learn it when they were young".  There are genres that trend easy or trend hard.  Within a genre, a song can trend easy or hard.

I went through all of this to say that Rum Pum Pum Pum is hard.  I can listen to it 20 times, get to the point that I'm simultaneously following four tracks in my head at the same time, only to just now realize that there is actually a fifth and a sixth track I hadn't yet noticed.

Now, hard is not inherently a positive or negative.  If games are any indication, it's usually easier to make due to fewer design restrictions, but also allows some patterns you just couldn't do in an easy game.  But because it's much less of a focus, it's rare to see it done well.  Does f(x) do it well?  Hmm...well there's parts of the song that I was initially thinking were really weak, but then I realized the real reason I didn't like those sections: they were too easy.  Just someone rapping over an unusual beat?  Pfft, what a disappointing few bars of music....  So...yeah, it certainly has grabbed my attention and study, which makes it successful for me.

Lyrics:
1. Pop
2. Country
3. K-Pop

Yeah, ok, Jay-Z's lyrics here are actually pretty good, I have to admit.  In most of his songs they go by fast enough that I don't remember more than a couple words.  But stopping to read the lyrics...these are pretty clever.  Not something I see myself singing at karaoke; still good.

EDIT: hmm...now that I've got the right country song in there with better lyrics...no I think Jay Z still takes it.  The country song is about a girl being clever with her flirting in fun and interesting ways.  Jay-Z's lyrics have a lot of Jay-Z being clever with words in fun and interesting ways.

Music:
1. K-Pop
2. Country
3. Pop

Yeah, the f(x) song is legit what I'm listening to right now.  The Jay-Z song is propped up by having more Justin Timberlake than Jay-Z (the Jay-Z sections are actually pretty weak musically).  The country song...EDIT: wait, had the wrong country song.  Well this new stronger country song...actually I think it works better as a cohesive whole than the Jay-Z song--and I mean the Justin Timberlake sections compared to the singing sections of the country song.  The tempo and pacing are faster, the vocals and instruments support each other better.  Yes yes, Justin Timberlake is really good at singing, but the country song is a very well-coordinated whole.

[metroid composite]

Welp, might as well get one in before the charts change for next week.


Country:

(#8 on its respective list)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmAQprmjymI
Tyler Farr - Redneck Crazy

Oh yeah, this song.  This song is really creepy, but very well written for what it's trying to do.  Not bad musically either, although this is certainly a song where I have a hard time untying the emotions from the lyrics and the emotions of the music.  (Which I usually can evaluate separately)



Pop:

(#6 on its respective list)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1twQsaQblNI
Anna Kendrick - Cups ("When I'm Gone")

So like...this is a lot of very interesting choices.  For those who don't get the reference, this is referencing the following popular youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWCOYJg9ps4 .  And yes, I love having a high def version of that song.  Because you know, webcams don't have the best microphones and all that.

But there's two choices that are...interesting here.  First, it becomes a solo act, losing a lot of the pretty harmonies.  Second, they decide to add a full symphony orchestra; which...actually I don't mind this too much.  It somehow manages to feel pretty subtle oddly enough, and the cup is clearly still the main instrument.

The lyrics are I believe unmodified from the 1931 Carter Family song, though, so not really worth writing home about.



K-pop

(#1 on its respective chart)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyj4HH5u1uQ
Crayon Pop - 빠빠빠

Ok, for what it's worth, the english title of "bar bar bar" is a bit facepalm worthy--the korean title is "ba ba ba" -- there's no r.  Or...ok, to be completely precise it's "bba bba bba" -- there's still no r.  Also, I will note that while I'm trying to review music in isolation (linking a non-music video) the music video for this is worth seeing; reminds me of power rangers.

So anyway, this song is fantastic.

It also has an unusually high amount of English...as well as korean words that just happen to sound like their English equivalents (점핑 점핑 예 -- sounds almost identical to Jumping, Jumping, YEAH!)



Lyrics:
1. Country
2. K-Pop
3. Pop

Country takes a comfortable first place here.  The other two songs are...pleasant, but pretty fluffy.  Hmm...what do I like more...taking the long way around with the prettiest of views, or jumping, jumping, yeah!  Everybody...

Hmm...well, just going by which of these songs would I karaoke...probably either one, actually, but Crayon Pop's song would involve more jumping, so I think I'll go with that.  And even the korean parts, while I don't understand the words, they do fun little patters with them (calling out a word, and getting people to repeat it).


Music:
1. K-Pop
2. Pop
3. Country

First place was a fairly easy pick for me.  Not even sure what I like about the song--it's straightforward, but just really, really catchy and cheerful.

Redneck Crazy...I dunno, I feel like the music blends so seamlessly into the lyrics that I kind of don't notice it.  Which is actually pretty hard to pull off, but the music is not where the spotlight is for that song, whereas the opposite is true for Anna Kendrick's song (which I do rather like musically).

[metroid composite]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tC1XtnLRLPM

WARNING: NSFW

So...wait, is that really what the song "Blurred Lines" was intending with "what rhymes with hug me"?  I thought they were just being silly with "lol, not very many things rhyme with this".

lame

[Cmdr_King]

Much like Blurred Lines, yes.

[Grefter]

So...wait, is that really what the song "Blurred Lines" was intending with "what rhymes with hug me"?  I thought they were just being silly with "lol, not very many things rhyme with this".

lame

Never grow up.

Edit - Actually a lot of the delivery on that reminds me of The Pipettes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0LjsnPzG_4 Might be worth a look.

[Captain K.]

So...wait, is that really what the song "Blurred Lines" was intending with "what rhymes with hug me"?  I thought they were just being silly with "lol, not very many things rhyme with this".

lame

Never grow up.