#the pandemic has robbed so much from us (superone promotions and second superm world tour)

[sanstropfremir]

I love your point about maximalism and embracing the spectacle being backbones of kpop and part of what sets it apart from other genres because I think that’s very true. I don’t listen to kpop expecting some heartfelt authentic song that I personally relate to. If I wanted that, I could go listen to any singer at almost any bar in my city sing about their depression or something. I want like an insane fantasy unattached from my regular life that isn’t about girls/cars/money, which is the only alternative reality you find in most western pop. Bonus points for insane production to go with the insane lyrics rather than just more of the same 2-4 measure instrumental motif repeated for an entire song.

(Also, gotta say - SM had serious confidence showing up in America with lyrics the level of cringe of Jopping, because a lot of Americans have way too many mean opinions that they shout confidently, especially at non Americans. But honestly SuperM’s unironic embrace of the cringe made me like Jopping even more. It’s also a crime they didn’t promote their full album in 2020 more. I know it was the early pandemic and they couldn’t figure out what to do if they couldn’t come to the US, but that album was 100% bangers and it deserved more)

exactly! even within the k music industry you can find musicians that make 'authentic' music, it's not that hard to find at all. but you cannot expect it from idol music, because idol music is a specific form of performance. idol music is engineered to be about spectacle; you cannot separate the visual element from it because it was essentially formulated for television and large scale broadcast. expecting idol music to forgo that element is like expecting the same from an opera. the point of an opera is that it is every art form combined together to make the greatest spectacle story possible, and kpop has exactly the same function, just crammed down into four minutes instead of four hours.

#superm w #superm #not to get on my kpop is the modern analogue to opera soapbox again. but i'm right #there are ways that are possible to 'trim down' spectacle performance like kpop and opera to tell less grand/more intimate stories #ive seen a couple very beautiful small scale 'true story' operas and of course there's things like hadestown #(which started life as a concept folk album) #but the thing that ppl need to remember is that as SOON as you intend a story to be seen by an audience it ceases to be 'authentic' #bc you telling that story INTENDING to invoke a response. and you formulate the decisions you make when creating that work #in order to get the strongest/most effective response. therefore it cannot be 'authentic'. #and that's ok!! i promise its fine!! human brains do not care if a story is not true!!! #anyways. i havent gotten all postgrad academic on something in a while so here you go new followers yes i am always like this #people will say superm is cringe and just a cashgrab but i always got u #i also wish they could have done more to promote superone bc the tour that that was going to produce would have gone SO fucking hard #the pandemic has robbed so much from us (superone promotions and second superm world tour) #i also wish they could have done more to promote superone bc its literally SO good #im glad we did get the stuff that we did bc a lot of it was fun and cute (the with you tvn stage <3) #answers #text