This rant is due to a Tweet being sent to me saying that I'm wrong for mentioning what I think about G-Dragon. I went into hysterics and it's made me want to write down my thoughts even more. Here goes.
I like pop music, I live for acts like DBSK, Girls Aloud, SHINee and heaps of others but I am fully aware of it's flaws and how most of it just sucks. And that brings me to my first point.
I HATE IT when fans of a certain artist think that artist is perfect and can do no wrong, absolutely no wrong. I hate it because it's stupid, naive and false - NO ONE ON THIS FREAKIN' EARTH IS PERFECT, NO MATTER HOW 'TALENTED', HOT OR ATTRACTIVE HE/SHE IS. I'm a fangirl myself and I do the required screaming, freaking out over new pictures/releases BUT I am aware that my beloved DBSK have their flaws - Yunho can't sing, Junsu looked horrid during their Tri-Angle days, Changmin's screaming can get way too much at times, especially at the beginning when he didn't know how to sing yet and the list goes on. DBSK aren't perfect, they never will be, but it's the mix of their strong points and their imperfections that makes me love them so much.
When I see fans who say "oh I like this band so much bla bla bla" and I hate the band in question, I don't mind it - these people are entitled to their own opinions. If someone says something bad about DBSK, I don't mind it either. I may be a fan, I may worship the ground they walk on (figuratively. duh) and I may scream at the sight of their names but what business do I have with other people's opinions? ABSOLUTELY NONE. I don't care because I have no right to and I've always been like that.
It's because of these that I constantly get attacked, ridiculed and pissed off by fans who come along and read negative reviews I write. I was raised to have my own opinions and my school taught me to be very open about things I feel strongly about - I'm not afraid to say I don't like someone. I'm not afraid because I shouldn't have to be. People are supposed to respect my opinion and thought some may disagree with me, they shouldn't start attacking me.
Take Ken (@thebeatreview) for example. He likes Lady GaGa, I don't. I constantly declare my hate for her, he constantly swoons. But why the hell would I care if he liked her or not? It's his opinion, it's his preference, I deal with it. And so does he. It works. We have our similarities in musical taste but we also have our differences.
And AA-Chan. He's like the biggest GD fan EVER. Again, I constantly declare my hate for the guy. But he doesn't say anything and neither do I when he starts talking about GD.
Now, speaking of GD, the second part of my rant is about him. Well it's not REALLY about him but he's my example and the basis for this 'masterpiece'. It was because of my idea to write this rant below that someone attacked me on Twitter and so I wrote the one on top. LOL.
In late 2009 I discovered/realized exactly why G-Dragon's Heartbreaker was such a big hit and to a certain extent I wasn't surprised. On the surface the songs sound like rap on top of European-ish/Eurocrap loops topped with processed vocals and catchy hooks. That's what it is to the untrained/uninterested ear.
However the more I heard the songs and the more they got stuck in my head, the more I hummed them. It was then that I realized that GD sells because his singles sound like novelty songs. Glorified novelty songs, to be exact.
Right now, off the top of your head I want you to hum the melody of the chorus of Breathe. Just hum it, don't listen to it or look up the video on YT. Hum it. Sounds familiar? It sounds like something off a TV commercial. And it's not even those tasteful ones or stuff for expensive products, it's like the stuff for detergent or something like that.
It sounds like that because those are the types of songs that sell. They appeal to the masses, the masses are the majority and what the crap do they know about music? I'm not saying they don't know anything, I'm just saying that unless you want to learn or you're born into a family of musicians, you won't know things like how you arrange a song, what goes on when you record an album, how harmonies work, scales and all those other things. Because they only briefly teach that in school.
Therefore, the masses will take anything you give at them. But if it sticks in their head, that's a plus. Hit pop songs today have hooks and repetitive elements, that's to make the songs stick in people's heads before they buy them. The songs that stick the most are novelty songs - if you live in the Philippines you know what I'm talking about. These songs are like the stuff straight off some cheap variety show or commercial with your favorite comedian/cheap wannabe endorsing it. They stick in people's heads because one, they're catchy, two, they're repetitive, and three, they're simple melodies, easy to remember.
But if you like these types of songs, who cares? I don't like them, but it doesn't mean that I don't like you anymore if you like them.
Now here comes the argument about those 'meaningful, passionate' lyrics everyone always tries to defend. Before I state my actual opinion on this, let me just say that I love literature - I express myself the best with words and I understand how much effort and feeling goes into writing poems, stories and essays because I myself put so much emotion into what I'm doing.
Ever since I was a kid, I was told that music, painting, literature and even architecture are all forms of art. That sometimes they cross but they each have their own place in art and they each have their own obligation. It's because of that ideal that I have this opinion on lyrics.
I DON'T CARE ONE DAMN BIT ABOUT LYRICS. I don't care because I shouldn't. Music is music, lyrics are lyrics. I've said this time and time again, yes, but this is a MUSIC industry and although I do acknowledge the fact that lyrics are part of a song, they can be done without. You can strip off the lyrics and still have a song that makes sense - because lyrics are merely embellishments.
Yes, there are times when the lyrics make a difference and there are times when they're influential in making a hit because of their probable repetitive nature but my kpop addiction justifies the fact that you can have songs without lyrics.
When I first got addicted to kpop, I couldn't understand a single thing. I didn't watch subbed music videos and I didn't look for English translations because frankly, I didn't care. I liked the songs, I liked the melodies, the arrangements, they way they were put together - end of story. So what if I don't understand the lyrics, music is supposed to be universal and it is. The notes show the feeling, the passion and the meaning of the song just as good as words because that's the way it's supposed to be.
Like I always say, if you like an artist JUST for the lyrics and don't care one bit about the music itself, READ POETRY FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. You're treating musicians like poets when they're poets of notes, not words.
OK. END of long rant. Sorry, I just HAD to let that out.
I like pop music, I live for acts like DBSK, Girls Aloud, SHINee and heaps of others but I am fully aware of it's flaws and how most of it just sucks. And that brings me to my first point.
I HATE IT when fans of a certain artist think that artist is perfect and can do no wrong, absolutely no wrong. I hate it because it's stupid, naive and false - NO ONE ON THIS FREAKIN' EARTH IS PERFECT, NO MATTER HOW 'TALENTED', HOT OR ATTRACTIVE HE/SHE IS. I'm a fangirl myself and I do the required screaming, freaking out over new pictures/releases BUT I am aware that my beloved DBSK have their flaws - Yunho can't sing, Junsu looked horrid during their Tri-Angle days, Changmin's screaming can get way too much at times, especially at the beginning when he didn't know how to sing yet and the list goes on. DBSK aren't perfect, they never will be, but it's the mix of their strong points and their imperfections that makes me love them so much.
When I see fans who say "oh I like this band so much bla bla bla" and I hate the band in question, I don't mind it - these people are entitled to their own opinions. If someone says something bad about DBSK, I don't mind it either. I may be a fan, I may worship the ground they walk on (figuratively. duh) and I may scream at the sight of their names but what business do I have with other people's opinions? ABSOLUTELY NONE. I don't care because I have no right to and I've always been like that.
It's because of these that I constantly get attacked, ridiculed and pissed off by fans who come along and read negative reviews I write. I was raised to have my own opinions and my school taught me to be very open about things I feel strongly about - I'm not afraid to say I don't like someone. I'm not afraid because I shouldn't have to be. People are supposed to respect my opinion and thought some may disagree with me, they shouldn't start attacking me.
Take Ken (@thebeatreview) for example. He likes Lady GaGa, I don't. I constantly declare my hate for her, he constantly swoons. But why the hell would I care if he liked her or not? It's his opinion, it's his preference, I deal with it. And so does he. It works. We have our similarities in musical taste but we also have our differences.
And AA-Chan. He's like the biggest GD fan EVER. Again, I constantly declare my hate for the guy. But he doesn't say anything and neither do I when he starts talking about GD.
Now, speaking of GD, the second part of my rant is about him. Well it's not REALLY about him but he's my example and the basis for this 'masterpiece'. It was because of my idea to write this rant below that someone attacked me on Twitter and so I wrote the one on top. LOL.
In late 2009 I discovered/realized exactly why G-Dragon's Heartbreaker was such a big hit and to a certain extent I wasn't surprised. On the surface the songs sound like rap on top of European-ish/Eurocrap loops topped with processed vocals and catchy hooks. That's what it is to the untrained/uninterested ear.
However the more I heard the songs and the more they got stuck in my head, the more I hummed them. It was then that I realized that GD sells because his singles sound like novelty songs. Glorified novelty songs, to be exact.
Right now, off the top of your head I want you to hum the melody of the chorus of Breathe. Just hum it, don't listen to it or look up the video on YT. Hum it. Sounds familiar? It sounds like something off a TV commercial. And it's not even those tasteful ones or stuff for expensive products, it's like the stuff for detergent or something like that.
It sounds like that because those are the types of songs that sell. They appeal to the masses, the masses are the majority and what the crap do they know about music? I'm not saying they don't know anything, I'm just saying that unless you want to learn or you're born into a family of musicians, you won't know things like how you arrange a song, what goes on when you record an album, how harmonies work, scales and all those other things. Because they only briefly teach that in school.
Therefore, the masses will take anything you give at them. But if it sticks in their head, that's a plus. Hit pop songs today have hooks and repetitive elements, that's to make the songs stick in people's heads before they buy them. The songs that stick the most are novelty songs - if you live in the Philippines you know what I'm talking about. These songs are like the stuff straight off some cheap variety show or commercial with your favorite comedian/cheap wannabe endorsing it. They stick in people's heads because one, they're catchy, two, they're repetitive, and three, they're simple melodies, easy to remember.
But if you like these types of songs, who cares? I don't like them, but it doesn't mean that I don't like you anymore if you like them.
Now here comes the argument about those 'meaningful, passionate' lyrics everyone always tries to defend. Before I state my actual opinion on this, let me just say that I love literature - I express myself the best with words and I understand how much effort and feeling goes into writing poems, stories and essays because I myself put so much emotion into what I'm doing.
Ever since I was a kid, I was told that music, painting, literature and even architecture are all forms of art. That sometimes they cross but they each have their own place in art and they each have their own obligation. It's because of that ideal that I have this opinion on lyrics.
I DON'T CARE ONE DAMN BIT ABOUT LYRICS. I don't care because I shouldn't. Music is music, lyrics are lyrics. I've said this time and time again, yes, but this is a MUSIC industry and although I do acknowledge the fact that lyrics are part of a song, they can be done without. You can strip off the lyrics and still have a song that makes sense - because lyrics are merely embellishments.
Yes, there are times when the lyrics make a difference and there are times when they're influential in making a hit because of their probable repetitive nature but my kpop addiction justifies the fact that you can have songs without lyrics.
When I first got addicted to kpop, I couldn't understand a single thing. I didn't watch subbed music videos and I didn't look for English translations because frankly, I didn't care. I liked the songs, I liked the melodies, the arrangements, they way they were put together - end of story. So what if I don't understand the lyrics, music is supposed to be universal and it is. The notes show the feeling, the passion and the meaning of the song just as good as words because that's the way it's supposed to be.
Like I always say, if you like an artist JUST for the lyrics and don't care one bit about the music itself, READ POETRY FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. You're treating musicians like poets when they're poets of notes, not words.
OK. END of long rant. Sorry, I just HAD to let that out.
