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

[metroid composite]

With one or two notable exceptions.  Yes, I know: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis made a fantastic pop song called thrift shop.  I've sung it at Karaoke.  You should all listen to it on repeat if you haven't already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9mmhh_wvkA

And this says nothing about musical merits/complexity.  In a lot of cases I like the pop song better in the comparison for the music/arrangement, but find the lyrics worse.

Ok, that exception/caveat asside...



Country seems to much more consistently have songs that make me think "hey, wait, I actually want to listen to this" (a reaction that is usually reserved for parody songs like Wierd Al Yankovich).

For instance, take

In the I'm a slob category

(country)
Billy Currington - Pretty Good at Drinking Beer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShMNIWSsf8k

I wasn't born for diggin deep holes
I'm not made for pavin long roads
I aint cut out to climb high line poles
But I'm pretty good at drinkin beer

I'm not the type to work in a bank
I'm no good at slappin on paint
Don't have a knack for makin motors crank, no
But I'm pretty good at drinkin beer

[...]

I aint much for mowin thick grass
I'm too slow for workin' too fast
I don't do windows so honey don't ask
But I'm pretty good at drinkin' beer

Let's see...is there even a pop song that covers the same kind of topics?  I guess there's...

(pop)
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDzO8gh5Cgo

And...I struggle to find lyrics that are worth quoting from this song.  I mean, I guess this section is decent

Tomorrow I'll wake up, do some P90X
Find a really nice girl, have some really nice sex
And she's gonna scream out
This is great
(Oh my god, this is great)

Yeah, I might mess around
And get my college degree
I bet my old man will be so proud of me
But sorry pops, you'll just have to wait

In the Destruction of Property category

(country)
Carrie Underwood - Before he Cheats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFvlknsT4U

I'm not even going to bother quoting this one, because the emotion in her voice is actually very important.  As I understand it, she writes songs based on personal experience.  Listening to it again with that little piece of information certainly made me react "holy fuck."

(pop)
Icona Pop - I love it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_q8L8Tksd8

You know what this reminds me of?  The Nihilists from The Big Lebowski.  And I think there's maybe something interesting philosophically here, where 90s generations are much less materialistic in a way--give them an internet connection--who needs anything else?  The thought of getting upset about a car being ruined is almost bizarre.


But...ok, maybe this isn't a fair comparison, there are pop songs that are sung from the heart, seemingly about personal experience.  Let's try this again.


emotional/personal experience category

(country)
Carrie Underwood--Think Before he cheats
(linked above)

Although, I feel like I should at least link another song, because it's not like Country has only one offering in this category

(bonus country song)
Reba Mcentire - Fancy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzsWaEs_dNc

In the area of pop, the pickings are a bit more thin, but this one struck me as emotionally plausible for a normal human being

(pop)
Demi Lovato - Heart Attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdlEGQk_8TE

So like...here's the weird thing about comparing the Demi Lovato song to the Carrie Underwood song.  Carrie Underwood is blatantly breaking the law, and I find myself cheering her on.  Demi Lovato's song is literally about wearing extra makeup so that the guy she's interested in won't notice her blush, and yet she still somehow comes across as someone you don't want to root for at all:

When I don’t care
I can play ‘em like a Ken doll
Won’t wash my hair
Then make 'em bounce like a basketball

The shake your posterior category

Let me preface this category by saying that it IS a total fluff category, and that's kind of what you should expect from the songs.

(country)
Country girl - Luke Bryan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEUCuX5cFRA

Ok, on the one hand this loses some points with me for

Shake it for the young bucks sitting in the honky-tonks
For the rednecks rocking 'til the break of dawn
The DJ spinning that country song
Come on, come on, come on

Which is like total branding of "this is a song for cowboys."  Then again, it's no worse to me than using the word Nigger, which is equally exclusionary, and even more awkward if I ever want to sing it as karaoke.

On the other hand...

Shake it for the catfish swimming down deep in the creek
For the crickets and the critters, and the squirrels
Shake it to the moon, shake it for me girl

We have CATFISH.  And Squirrels.  SQUIRRELS!

I'm also fairly fond of this line

Spin me around this big ole barn
Tangle me up like grandma's yarn

(pop)
Kanye West - Mercy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybK4KTzVzp4

Ok, this isn't a dedicated shake song, so let's just focus on the lyrics that are.

Drop it to the floor, make that ass shake
Whoa, make the ground move, that's an ass quake
Built a house up on that ass, that's an ass state
Roll my weed on it, that's an ass tray

These lyrics make me kinda uncomfortable.


Nerd Cred category

(country)
Mark Wills - 19 something
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkB2-5ic7S8

So let's see...

Star Wars
Pac Man
Stretch Armstrong
Rubix Cube

Pop, whatcha got for that?

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVnSV6jvraE

I want your psycho, your vertical stick
Want you in my rear window, baby, you're sick

Some easy to miss Alfred Hitchcock references, that we wouldn't want to be too obvious, oh no.  Then people might realize we're a nerd.


Religious references

(country)
Billy Currington - People are Crazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv3ujzEC6jg

We talked about God's grace and all the hell we raised
Then I heard the ol' man say
God is great, beer is good and people are crazy

You know, you'd think religious references in country would be unpalatable extremist southern baptist references, but not so much.  On the other hand....

(pop)
Don't you worry child - Sweedish House Mafia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shQ5Gvb4xgM

I still remember how it all changed.
My father said,
"Don't you worry, don't you worry, child.
See heaven's got a plan for you.

O....kay.  The wheels of heaven/fate will direct your life.  Really pop?



But surely, surely country has a song of letting religion take over your life?  Hmm...well I can think of one song...

(country)
Carrie Underwood - Jesus Take the Wheel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_OpRlUZQoI

See, this actually strikes me as a much more reasonable point in your life to turn to religion.  You haven't been taking your life in a great direction, and also the car your driving is about to crash with your baby in it.  And so you say to yourself "I need help, I need all the help I can get, please give me a chance to turn my life around."  For all that it is a very unapologetically religious song, you can re-wrap the story in non-religious terms and have it sound sensible.  (She had a near-death experience and promised to turn her life around).

Whereas Sweedish House Mafia, hell if I know what's going on in that song.


Let's get some action category

(pop)
Get Lucky - Daft Punk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psP5xGSl-Xc

Shiny shiny daft punk song.  Of course, as you might expect, there's not much to it lyrically, but I am excited that it's getting radio play.  Here let me sumarize the entire song.

She's up all night 'til the sun
I'm up all night to get some

(country)
Rain is a Good Thing - Luke Bryan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vogS-Fp2QVI

Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky

So...let me summarize this.  Getting laid plan:

Pop:
1. stay up late
2. ???
3. Get Lucky

Country:
1. Wait for rains
2. Use rain to Grow Corn
3. Turn corn into Whiskey
4. ???
5. Get Lucky

I am much more entertained by Country's method.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Your standard for good lyric writing is Weird Al?  Damn.

[Grefter]

So phone post is joke post.

But of course country has better lyrics than pop music.  You think you listen to country for the music?  You don't listen to pop for enlightened treatise on the state of man.

That said, you opening a thread about country music by talkin about Mackelmore was entirely unexpected and 10/10.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Fancy is possibly my favorite country song ever. It was also written in the 50's or something.

[Cmdr_King]

Generally speaking, a country song is a lot more likely to be written by a dedicated song writer (as opposed to a singer or committee) as I understand it, so having a little more meat to them is to be expected.  The real trouble with modern country is less lyrical complexity and more overwhelming sameness of sound.  Of course, all radio-friendly music has that problem, there's just fewer outliers like Lady Gaga in the country scene.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Most mainstream country songs have dumb lyrics too. You can pick and choose better ones, but most of it is trash. I don't listen to pop at all because of unbelievably bad everything, of course, so I can't really talk about the comparison per se.

[Otter]

I came into this thread (the one hyping country music lyrics) expecting a lot more Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings etc. and a lot less Carrie Underwood.


Country can also do extreme sadness (obviously) or deadpan self-parody (less obviously).

[Captain K.]

Country is the one and only genre of music I loathe.  But listening to pop music for the lyrics = missing the point.  Pop music is about addictive hooks and nightclub-friendly rhythms.  If you want lyrics-oriented music listen to rap.

[Cotigo]

And the award for "Post that displays the least amount of taste possible" goes to... Still NEB's FFXIII analysis. This post gets a runner up nod, though.  Country music's lyrics are still awful, but compared to Pop or even most classic rock sure they have some substance to them. This post is like someone going "Man isn't mayonnaise just so bland? Have any of you tried MUSTARD?!"

Also I now have this image of Captain K reppin' the Crip colors rolling down the hood in a low rider rapping about how Today was a Good Day.  And it was good.

[AndrewRogue]

EDIT: Bite me Zenny. My post has far less taste.

Considering the two genres have a lot of bleed anymore (Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift's entire career), I find that to be a bit of a questionable assertion. >_>

That said, you really seem to be cherry picking here.

Like, really, really badly.

I'm apparently having a serious brain issue right now remembering songs, but, setting aside that there are some weirdly narrow categories that, if expanded, pop would likely compete better (like propety destruction being expanded to general spite songs, in which case Fuck You (Cee Lo Green) is a clear winner) there are some notably poor comparisons on that list.

Like the emotional/personal experience category! I mean, you choose Heart Attack? Seriously?

Skipping the aforementioned Need You Now (Lady Antebellum) because of the pop/country overlap, there are way better (and still recent) picks: Take Care (Drake ft. Rhianna) and DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again (Usher and just ignore Pitbull) jump immediately to mind. Way better songs with much stronger resonance.

And yeah. There are defintiely more nerdy things in pop out there.

That said, on average, pop is likely to be a bit dumber because it IS lowest common denominator. And it mostly is about catchiness, club scene, and what not. THAT SAID, I don't know much about modern country either.

But yeah. I'm gonna defend pop here. And given that I may be the only person in the DL who lacks enough shame to regularly listen to a Top 40 station, I think that gives me some cred. Or reduces it. Whatever.

Although maybe I'm completely whiffing on what pop music actually is, given it is the least freakin' explanatory genre to me.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I also kind of feel like she's using a wider range of Country songs than Pop songs. It seems like she's narrowed pop down to what? The most recent four months? And doesn't seem to have a problem going all the way back to the 50s for Country songs.

Of course older songs have had more time to actually resonate with people. It also diminishes the point of pop... which is trendy and by it's catchy earworm nature, transient.

That said... dear god the last four months of pop music have been pretty abysmal. It's like 90% Taylor Swift and like 2 or 3 not-entirely-bad songs like Macklemore's stuff...

I really miss the months back when "Somebody I used to know" was all over the place... it felt like pop was at least -trying-. There were also a few swing- and jazz- infused songs going around, like "Everybody Talks". Now it's like the Taylor Swift power hour every time I walk into a store that's playing a Top 40s station.

[AndrewRogue]

See, that's weird because she isn't even Top 20 right now.

[Grefter]

If you don't think there is anything interesting in music you aren't looking.  In the last 2 weeks I have picked up 4 CDs.  Daft Punk came out last week, Hugh Laurie has a Blues album out that is doing pretty decently for a blues album.  Looking at the place I pick up my music from the new Releases section has a new Cat Empire CD, Thirty Seconds to Mars have something out.  Vampire Weekend had a new album out just this month.  In a few weeks there is going to be another Empire of the Sun album.

There is stuff that is poppy or "popular" that gets play outside the top 40.  You just need to look harder than barely even trying to find things that are interesting and in line with what you want.  Music isn't the one that isn't trying here.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

The Top 40 atmosphere works very heavily off inertia - both in actual musical production and in reproduction. The glut of relevant music nowadays you can find is basically done via scavenger hunt - which, with internets available, is easy as hell, you just need to put a little time into it (not much, it basically takes a couple hours of free time to wade through a music-hosting blog or something and leave with dozens of albums from bands you never heard off - quite a lot of them being pretty cool!). Just the sheer amount of -radio-friendly- pop music that will never see its way into the radio waves outside of colleges (which, on their end, also depend on a digging-savvy DJ) is pretty staggering, and fortunately? Nowadays it hardly matters.

[Grefter]

And if it is because you listen to the radio and insist on that?  There is things like WFMU out there.  Catch the Evan Funk Davies show.  Every episode I have listened to online has been quality broadcasting.

http://wfmu.org/

[metroid composite]

I also kind of feel like she's using a wider range of Country songs than Pop songs. It seems like she's narrowed pop down to what? The most recent four months? And doesn't seem to have a problem going all the way back to the 50s for Country songs.

I'm literally going off of country songs I hear/heard on the radio while driving to work vs pop songs I hear/heard on the radio while driving to work.  And specifically ones I remembered and that stuck in my head (and could think of another song that stuck in my head that was somewhat parallel).  I've only been driving to work for...I guess about three years, with some gaps here and there like a period of time when I walked to work or was unemployed.  Heavy bias towards stuff I heard on the radio in the past month and a half.  Country was probably additionally biased towards stuff that was on the radio in Georgia two years ago, because I did not listen to country for a year while I lived in LA.  Songs I had not heard on the radio in the past month and a half but pulled up from memory were limited to...

Jesus Take the Wheel - Carrie Underwood
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
Kanye West - Mercy
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

The larger range of dates for country comes from the range of dates of songs that these stations play.  It wasn't a consciously done.

Considering the two genres have a lot of bleed anymore (Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift's entire career), I find that to be a bit of a questionable assertion.

Yeah, I was never terribly fond of need you now.  I don't find it all that catchy, I don't find the lyrics all that interesting, and the guy sounds like Bullwinkle from Rocky and Bullwinkle, which would be fine if the song wasn't trying to be serious.

Taylor Swift...the songs I've found catchy from her are like...You Belong with Me (pretty clearly in both; was hearing it heavily on both country and pop radio stations at one point, and basically not at all anymore).  And Mine...which seems to be more in the country category--or at least I don't remember ever hearing it on pop stations.  (And a lot of her more recent stuff has been exclusively pop, and I have not heard it on country stations).

Mine...this involves thinking of a pop song about building long-term relationships.  Uhh...let me think.  Well...I guess I can think of something that is vaguely sort-of in that category

(country) Taylor Swift - Mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12E8_yWu2iM

And I remember that fight
Two-thirty AM
As everything was slipping right out of our hands
I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street
Braced myself for the "Goodbye"
‘Cause that’s all I’ve ever known
Then you took me by surprise
You said, "I’ll never leave you alone."

(pop) Eminem ft. Rihanna - Love the Way you Lie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGT6AKt3eYM

Wait, where you going? I'm leaving you, no, you ain't
Come back, we're running right back, here we go again
It's so insane, 'cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman with the wind at his back

She's Lois Lane but when it's bad, it's awful, I feel so ashamed
I snap, "Who's that dude?", I don't even know his name
I laid hands on her, I never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength

But you promised her, next time you'd show restraint
You don't get another chance, life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again, now you get to watch her leave out the window
Guess that's why they call it "window pane"

Maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is I love you too much to walk away though

Ok, so...no question, the eminem song is more clever with words.  That song has me going "wait, did he really just make that pun?  Wait, did he really just rhyme 'volcano' and 'though'?  Oh, wow, that does work."  I definitely get a greater sense of talent when I listen to the eminem song.  But at the same time the subject matter makes me uncomfortable; it's not a song I'd sing at karaoke, and I've tried to listen to it on loop, but couldn't help the "ick, he's talking about domestic violence" feeling.  Which brings me to...

If you want lyrics-oriented music listen to rap.

I do like some rap, but rarely for the lyrics.  I mean, discounting Maclkemore and Weird Al...

Nicki Minaj - Moment 4 Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0Saar-QKQ

This song is...about how she's so much better than everyone else, I guess?  Very common subject for rap.



T.I....Let's see, I should probably pick a song that I heard on the radio rather than one I looked up myself to keep this an even playing field.

T.I. - Live Your Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5yTPACjpHU

So...this song, if we ignore the hook which doesn't seem to have too much relationship to the actual rap, is about how he's still an authentic thug, not in it for the money unlike those other rappers, and also better than everyone else.  (All common themes of rap).


Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGnm9uwu0gs

So...this song is how they're better than everyone else (she's so 3008, you so two thousand and late).  Also, they are providing you with rhythm.



Honestly...rap songs played on the radio are often just completely boring to me lyrically.  When a rap song is about a subject matter I like (Thrift Shop...White and Nerdy) it's great.  But it's noteworthy that I probably listen to just as much rap in languages I don't understand as I listen to in languages I do understand when I have the freedom of a computer rather than the restriction of the radio--and even the ones I listen to in English, most of them I don't really care that much about the lyrics (with a few exceptions where I really, really do care about the lyrics.  But rap seems to have fewer middle-ground songs, where I'm like "yeah, these lyrics are somewhat relevant to my interest; I don't think I'm going to memorize all of them like I did for white and nerdy, but I care about the subject matter."

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Mods please change this thread title to "is it just me or is one radio station's song selection in mc's market better than another?"

[metroid composite]

Mods please change this thread title to "is it just me or is one radio station's song selection in mc's market better than another?"

Well, this has been the case in two different places I've lived (Atlanta and San Diego), so it's starting to be a pattern.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Joke

Head

[Idun]

Rap has a wide range. Most important thing to note about Atlanta is that you're listening to TRAP music, meaning the hood lyrics that overgrew from Outkast samples and Master P. Honestly? There's a radio station by Georgia State in Atlanta that played the "varied" rap for four hours, no interruption. I suppose my thing is that for all of these categories, unless you're seeking music à la what Grefter already mentioned, you're dealing with mainstream duds that may or may not make you dance. If anything, I listen to hip hop and blues more for the lyrics than I listen to anything else.

Country music I steer away from -just- because I dislike the majority of voices. I'm sure if I had to listen to it often, I'd put some effort into reciting lines.

Anyway, some examples of good rap lyrics:
Dork rap/pop culture references - Das Racist, now disbanded:

All tan everything
All brown man, sound man, sit down man, sit down man
All brown skin, young melanin
Melle Mel melding malleable my metal shit
All tan man, Mantan Moreland
Demand more land, more ends, more land
Tan John Belushi and Kool G
Dipping in Coochie
Tan Chris Farley in Gucci smoking on doobies
Tan Three Stooges
Your style amateur
All tan botanical
Fanatic, saboteur
With the Thandie Newton type tan chick
Your man sick, I'm known to eat a sandwich
Last tan nobleman of the last apocalypse
On the metropolis, an acropolis, poppin' shit
Out my esophagus, no, my voice box
Das Racist, we kinda like rap noise pop
Mad rhymes, finna blow up like landmines
All tan everything, shout out to tanlines
All tan khaki king, last white mogul
All you see is rupees when you Google
Rubies in his doodoo
Emeralds in his turban
Nervous, swervin' in the Suburban in Durban
All tan mans, they tangent to Tanzania
With a Mia Farrow looking sparrow to help me re-up

[Victor]
All tan everything, Charles Chan everything
San Fran, new millenium minstrel on instrumentals
Eating lentils with Yentl and gentiles
Textile, tactile, black child, white child
White owls, Black and Mild, crack vial
Stat from mild, Geena Davis, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
Oops! Zoinks! Needle zooks!
Danny Devito in Roots
Burton comma Levar
Come as you are
Afro-italo Cuban cigar
Follow me, follow me now
Toucan Sam
One hundred percent human clan
Kick it like new Van Damme
Damn man, I see your crew ran ran
Kool A-D, Hi-C, Juice Man
Cool tan, man
Hyphy, ooh, damn, it's true fam
Running with more zebras than the zoo, man
Like the blue man group except brown man not blue man

Yeah figs on a table, call me Mabel Dodge Luhan
Two man in Peggy Noonan's booty with Bruce Banner
While Ann Coulter rocks out the shit with two hands
Oo damn
Insane brown posse, soul dudes
Apollo Ohno's bro homo soul patch is so cool
Yo fool, break yourself from your Pro Tools
Plus your Fruity Loops
New dance, do the booty droop
On to the next one
Now do the booty scoop
Do the booty up
Do the booty-ooty-alley-oop
Scooby-Dooby doo on the Bally so my fanny's cute
I'm my own identical cousin, just call me Patty Duke
I'm stuntin' like my daddy do
Thug life right above my Natty Ice tatty too

Mos Def, riffing off of Jay Z/Kanye typical rap success lyrics:

[Verse 2]
These young bloods is looking scary at the mall
They wearing pants, you can still see they drawers
They rob a nigga in the bathroom stall
They took his life cause he ain't want to take it off
Poor so hard, that shit cray, ain't it, Bey? Diabetics, fish filet
Poor so hard, your house so cold, nigga, it ain't spring
Every winter landlord fuckin' with my heat again
Bougie girl, grab your hand, show you how to do this ghetto dance
Fuck your French, we ain't in France, I'm just saying
Prince Williams ain't do it right, if you ask me
If I was him, I'd put some black up in my family
Fake Gucci, my nigga, fake Louis, my killa
Real drugs, my dealer, who the fuck is Margiela?
Doctors say I'm the illest, I ain't got no insurance
It's them niggas in poorest, be them rebel guerillas, huh

middle verse

Every lyric by Deltron is great.

PS PS PS I don't listen to the radio; I don't own a car. The only time I hear radio music is at a shitty bar or in a retail store.

Need to copt the daft punk cd asaps.

Trace Adkins, lyrics gone totes bad but fun either way:

Husslers shootin' eightball
Throwin' darts at the wall
Feelin' damn near 10 ft. tall
Here she comes, Lord help us all
Ol' T.W.'s girlfriend done slapped him outta his chair
Poor ole boy, it ain't his fault
It's so hard not to stare
At that honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
That honky tonk badonkadonk
(Aww son)

[metroid composite]

Hmm...ok, as an attempt to be a bit more empyrical about this, going by billboard for top country/top 100 and as a control group, top k-pop chart.  (K-pop should always lose lyrics, in theory.  But it will be funny if it doesn't).

At #1....

Country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhCOb9jS2tQ
Florida Georgia Line - Cruise


Yeah, recognize the song.  Nothing terribly interesting; guy tells girl she's hot, can't get her out of his head, and he has a shiny new truck.


Pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4yLM-ysqU
Robin Thicke ft. T.I., Pharrell - Blurred Lines

Nothing terribly interesting here either.  "You're with that guy, but you should be with me instead."  It's a little bit more creepy with the "I know you said no, but I'm pretty sure you mean yes" theme going on.  Also:

You wanna hug me.
What rhymes with hug me?

I'm trying to decide if the song loses a lot of points for this, or whether this crosses the line into downright campy and it actually gains points for this.

K-pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrnX8nzqVc4
4Men - Only you

A song that could be straight out of a disney soundtrack--and I believe this is in fact a song out of a movie soundtrack.  Lyrically, well it's one of the few k-pop songs with no English whatsoever.  The only korean I recognize from it is 내가, which unfortunately is the boring half of an otherwise pretty cool phrase I know in 내가제일잘나가.  (The phrase means "I am the best", but apparently 내가 is just "I".  Lame).



Ok, round one...Lyrics...

1. Country
2. Pop
3. K-Pop

They're all far from the best representatives of their genres.  The country one I'm pretty ok with all the way through.  The pop one has a few issues, makes me a bit unsure on their position on consent, but I suppose it still wins some points for "what rhymes with hug me?"  Enough that I'm glad it's in a language I understand.

Music...

1. Pop
2. Country
3. K-Pop

I will take something I can dance to over a disney movie soundtrack song, which I suppose puts k-pop last in this category for me (wow, rough start for k-pop).  And the pop song does kind of crush the country song in terms of production and composition.

[metroid composite]

round 2 (#2 on their respective charts).

Starting with k-pop this time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAkf3ZZyFN0
허각&정은지 - Short Hair

Another k-pop song with absolutely no English in it.  (And in something even more shocking: more than one gender of singer O_O).  That said, pretty good song, some nice vocal harmonies, which is one of the areas I feel k-pop has been outperforming western music of late.


Country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINjwy1HraM
Blake Shelton - Boys Round Here

Hmm...so first thing to note, this has a lot more tracks than the typical country song.  There's interesting stuff going on with the guitar, with the main vocalist, and with the backup vocalist all at the same time interleaving in interesting ways.  I like that.

Lyrics...once agian the subject matter isn't terribly interesting, but some of the rhymes and lyrical devices are pretty clever.  I quite like the rhythm on "chew tobacco chew tobacco chew tobacco spit".  I'm also amused by this line

Well the boys 'round here, they're keeping it country
Ain't a damn one know how to do the dougie
(You don't do the dougie?) No, not in Kentucky

Mostly because I don't even know what the dougie is.  Hold on let me google this.  Ok, yes, I approve of this line, that dance is stupid.


Pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SihoKQ-uLqE
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us.

Welp.  Macklemore'd.

Hmm...actually.  I've heard this song several times, just listened to it carefully with lyrics displayed, and still don't feel like I know what it's trying to say.  Like...if you take blocks of five words and showed them to me, I'd probably think the rest of the song must be pretty cool (FFS it references Bob Barker.  BOB BARKER).  But like...put together there's no context whatsoever.  This is exascerbated by the chorus line being "so we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us."  What does that even mean?  Like...is a supervillain about to reverse the earth's gravity, and the ceiling is not strong enough to keep us in?  Or is this party so overpopulated that the ceiling is at risk of busting open?  I assume the former, because in the case of the latter putting your hands up would only make matters worse.

Hmm...let me give it another listen...nope, I'm still not sure what this song is about, other than there's a party.  And some talk about how someone grew up.  You know, I remember being 15 and thinking that it was the coolest thing ever to write poetry that made no sense (because that meant it was deep, or so I thought) but now I'm old, and can only think "communicate clearly you darned whippersnappers."  They still get credit for referencing Bob Barker, though.


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


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

I will say that musically I tend to have a natural bias towards songs I already know (as long as they're still fairly new to me) and the macklemore song is the only one I actually knew coming into this.  So...that might be giving it an unfair edge.  (I actually think all three songs are reasonably strong musically).

[metroid composite]

Round 3 (#3 on their respective charts)

Starting with...let's see, I guess pop has yet to go first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXEJjtBouRA
Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Welp.  Guess pop is winning music again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wIlDCNG_K4
이효리 - Bad Girls

Oh wait, this might actually be a fight, holy shit.

Well let's analyze the cripple fight part of it first, 이효리 vs Daft Punk in...ENGLISH LYRICS!

I'm up all night to get lucky

b-b-b-bad girls

So let's raise the bar
And our cups to the stars

shake shake

What is this I'm feeling?

Yeah TV

We're up all night 'til the sun

Let's do it one more time

Hmm...I dunno, this is pretty close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXVSakSzkIw
Darius Rucker - Wagon Wheel

Well, if I'm going to rag on Can't Hold Us for not making sense, I should rag on this one a little bit.  I mean, if you only listen to the verses, it's a song about hitch-hiking trying to get back to his girlfriend, and that's cool.  But then the chorus seems like it was copy/pasted from a totally different song.  Pity this wasn't in the previous batch, so Macklemore and Ryan Lewis could show how much better they do nonsense with occasional life stories thrown in.  Like...this is going to take the lyrics category, but weak opponents aren't really helping here.



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

Yeah, you know what?  There's nothing really interesting lyrically going on in either Daft Punk or 이효리's song, so I have to think about which one I'd rather karaoke, and "B-b-b-bad girls" sounds just way, way more fun to yell out than "I'm up all night to get lucky."

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

Hmm...actually?  Get Lucky actually has moments when it's not totally kicking ass.  Like...yes, I will always crank it up 100% of the time it comes on the radio.  But Bad Girls fires on all cylinders all the way through.  (Either one of these would comfortably beat any of the songs in the first two sets).  And yeah, country's way, way out in third this time; not especially impressed by the song.

[metroid composite]

Round 4 (#4 on their respective charts)

Welp, back to country going first I guess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gHfNBuirx8
Tim McGraw ft Taylor Swift - The Highway Don't Care

Ew--these two have like...no synergy whatsoever.  I can only assume they recorded them separately and just overlayed the tracks without accounting for timing or pitch or something like that.  Because I'm not sure what's wrong, but that just doesn't sound good.

Lyrically, I actually kind of like where he's going here

The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone
But I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home
But I do, I do.

Pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsW1G1JlgRU
Justin Timberlake - Mirror

Wait, this song is 8 minutes long?  Really?  3 minutes would have done it just fine with the amount of repetition it has.  (Although only about the first 5 minutes gets played on the radio; kinda neat to hear the last 3, which is a bit of a break from the rest of the song).  Actually, this has some decent lyrics too

Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn't get any bigger
With anyone else beside of me
And now it's clear as this promise
That we're making two reflections into one
Cause it's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

K-pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VgIxQpl3aY
범키 featuring E-Sens - Bad Girl

The fact that Jazz is suddenly in-vogue in Korea amuses me.  Jazz, at least the way k-pop does it, seems to hinge really heavily on the vocalist--great at showing off an amazing vocalist, but doesn't get me excited with a merely ok vocalist.  That said, good voice, decent amount of talent, but he's no 이하이.  (He's no Justin Timberlake either, actually).



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

Had to think about this one for a little bit.  Fundamentally, both are fairly well written, they're both "I need you and want to be together with you forever".  Justin's song is a bit more in the land of metaphors.  McGraw's song is a bit more grounded in identifiable anecdotes like

I bet you got a dead cell phone in your shotgun seat

What it came down to for me is that Justin's song is a bit more homogenious.  Variations and metaphorical versions of "you are the love of my life" throughout the entire song--and some of them ARE pretty clever, but it never really mixes things up.

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

Yeah, I already stated my opinion on how the Country just...doesn't seem like they make an attempt to fit together, and it ends up just not coming together well.  And...between two songs that sell themselves on the vocals, Justin is the stronger vocalist.

[metroid composite]

Round 5 (#5 on their respective charts)

k-pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaBEnhx_oMw
4 minute - What's your name?

Decently high bar musically, but not unreachable.  As with a lot of 4 minute songs, not really a song I see myself listening to on loop for some reason.  Also, I've kinda disliked 현아 ever since bubble pop, since WTF at that dance.  I think it was really nailed home to me when I found a dance group that just did all the dances, and so like they do Psy, and psy is pretty slutty.  And then they do 현아 and they make Psy look like an innocent virgin.  Also, I remember reading a comment on gameFAQs once that she sounds like a dying cat when she sings, which might explain the excessive use of autotune in this song.

Still, though, pretty catchy song.

Country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaeiunBFjXU
Luke Bryan - Crash My Party

Decent lyrics, but no individual ones that jump out at me just yet; I'll comb through it more carefully if the pop song actually puts up a fight.


pop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JnxmI1ojYc
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive

Actually...this isn't giberish like I thought it was when I just picked up snippets of it on the radio.  It's actually just a straight up post-apocalyptic song.  That's...kinda neat.  And...basically nothing is done with it.  It'd be cool if one of the verses was scrounging for food and batteries, the next verse they had to kill another survivor who was trying to kill them and take their stuff.  Instead its just...not very well developed.

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

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

Took another listen to sort this one out.  I think Imagine Dragon's song is kinda weak, and Luke Bryan's song does have some pretty interesting piano deep in the background.  But end of the day Luke Bryan's song is pretty generic even by country standards, and Imagine Dragon is at least memorable.  My caveats about 4 Minute aside, they take a pretty easy win here.