The K-pop Discussion Thread

sarasara

I eat sleep and breathe Yuki
@ritardando @KitsuneMiyu
Figured we should make this thread so we can talk about Kpop here instead of spamming other threads lol

For any newbies to Kpop, if you're interested in checking it out, I highly reccomend the groups SHINee, f(x), and EXO.
It's in my sig too, but here's an extensive guide to SHINee that I wrote (Which is how I got @KitsuneMiyu into Kpop, btw xD). I'm in the process of writing one for EXO right now too, and then I'll finally do one for f(x).


Anyways, my current obsession is Taemin's Ace.
This, Drip Drop, and Until Today are still my favorite Taemin songs. I'm so sad that he's never performed the full version of Ace live, I love the choreography and Taemin's English lines at the end are hot af lol, his voice sounds so different speaking English :XD:
I love this performance of Drip Drop too, I still don't get how Taemin sounds that good singing live while having to keep up with the crazy choreo, he's such a skilled performer :dote:

Also, relistening to Jonghyun's Moon. This song is is so good, it'll literally never get old. Jonghyun's voice is really something else, this song gives me chills every time :love:. I love the harmonies here and here. Lol I don't think I've ever disliked a single song that he's composed. It's rumored that he's to have a comeback in January, and if that's true I will be ECSTATIC, especially since January is my birthday month :XD:

Also, I've been keeping up with the teasers for Red Velvet's comeback and it looks good so far. Still wish f(x) would have a comeback but RV usually makes good songs so
 
Oh yeah, and I've really really been into NCT's Limitless lately. It's the only NCT song I like, and it makes me want to like their other songs because this song is so gooood. But then I hear how obnoxious some of their other songs are and I change my mind
It has so many cool harmonies (I love this part and this whole part leading into the chorus) and chord progressions (especially in the chorus), and it never gets repetitive or annoying like NCT's other songs.

Apparently it was composed by Kenzie, who's one of SM's biggest composers and that's 100% the reason why it's so good. She's composed some of my favorite songs, like:
f(x)'s La Cha Ta, Jet, Signal, Red Light, Milk, and Vacance (especially these two)
SHINee's Real, JoJo, Savior, Shift, Trigger, and Rescue
Super Junior's Devil,
and EXO/EXO-CBX's Monster, Rhythm After Summer, and Forever
Limitless reminds me a lot of all those songs, so no wonder it's so good lol
 
@sarasara Wow that essay on SHINee is so extensive and is longer than any college papers i've written lmao

Things to do: to check shinee discography because omg so many albums i haven't checked yet - been wanting to check them since last month but keep forgetting to. Also exo discography but idk exo songs are 50:50 hit or miss so i think i would check them one by one on spotify or youtube btw for once we have different taste because i think Cloud 9 is one of my least favorite track on Ex'act. It's not because the song is bad but every music players i used love to play that track really often to the point where i have enough of that song lol.
 
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@sarasara Wow that essay on SHINee is so extensive and is longer than any college papers i've written lmao

Things to do: to check shinee discography because omg so many albums i haven't checked yet - been wanting to check them since last month but keep forgetting to.

Lol thanks, that essay is basically my baby at this point haha, I've spent god knows how long working on it, and I'm still going back and editing things even today. (And the EXO one is shaping up to be equally as long, if not longer)

But yess, please listen to all of SHINee's discography!! I got into SHINee solely because of their very first album, and while I do like their newer stuff better (also because their voices sound much better today lol) so many of SHINee's old songs are absolute classics and are underrated gems.
Real is still one of my favorite tracks by them, and that was released way back on the very first Replay EP LOL (I love the bridge of that song, and Jonghyun's voice sounds so different lol, it's so weird).
This live performance of it is so cute too, they all look so TINY

Also, the Romeo EP is really really good too imo, Romeo+Juliette, Please Don't Go, Senorita, Hit Me, and Talk To You are all really good songs, it's a shame that the EP was so underrated.

Edit: Just saw your bit on EXO. Yeah, I'd reccomend skipping over their first album, it's not bad, but it's just not really my favorite genre of music or anything.
I did like the Overdose EP though, there were some really good tracks on there (like Love, Love, Love.) The Mama EP had some good tracks too (like Machine, History, & Angel)

And about Cloud 9, yeah that's understandable. :XD:I totally get how that song can be annoying and overbearing if you listen to it too much lol
 
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Something random: I just discovered Super Junior- Good Love

wtf this song is so good, Kyuhyun sounds amazing here
This song actually really reminds me of that song Blurred Lines, but this is way better lol
Like I don't like any of Super Junior's old albums/songs (with the exception of a very few songs) but all of their newer albums have REALLY good songs, SuJu is a group that seems to just get better with age imo
Devil, Mamacita, and Play were all just super solid albums imo, and actually have some of my favorite Kpop tracks ever (like Midnight Blues, This is Love, Shirt, Devil, Simply Beautiful, and now this song.)
 
@sarasara i remember Machine being one of the tracks I liked from MAMA ep. I actually quite liked MAMA even though the song is definitely so over the top with those gregorian chanting on the prechorus. I really liked the chorus. Tbh I always found History to be boring lol idk why maybe because it has this typical boyband sound (?) and as far as I can remember the song just kept repeating itself even though it's short. I'm checking all my Kpop groups backwards from their latest releases and go to their previous release and so on.

Currently i'm listening my way to SHINee's misconceptions series (currently on misconceptions of me/why so serious as i'm going backwards) and as usual i'm really impressed. Might be my 2nd favorite album after 1 of 1/1 and 1. The songs are easier to get in my ears compared to Odd album. Odd has some really great tracks but some of them really need some times to get used to.
 
Me too lol, everyone always likes to make fun of Mama but I feel like I was one of the few who actually genuinely liked that song. Both that song and What is Love were really strong debut songs imo
You're right about History though, while I do like the song, it's just a little too repetitive

The Misconceptions series is great though, it's probably my 3rd favorite album, right after 1of1 and Odd. Then 4th and 5th place would go to their two most recent Japanese albums, Five and DxDxD.
Agreed about Odd though, that one did take more listens to fully grow on me (especially with tracks like Trigger and Alive), but I still, albeit only very slightly, prefer it overall compared to the Misconceptions series. Some of my all time favorite SHINee tracks are on that album, like Odd Eye, Romance, An Encore, and Woof Woof. But at the same time the Misconception albums have amazing tracks like Like a Fire, Hitchhiking, Dream Girl, Sleepless Nights, Orgel, etc. so it's a tough call for me lol

Lol, I'm bored and I don't want to study so I've been on a spree of watching SHINee MV making 'behind the scenes' videos, and whenever I watch a Japanese one of these (now I'm watching one for DxDxD) , I always find it so funny how obvious it is that Taemin is the Japanese bias, he gets the most screentime by FARR lol. Even though Jonghyun's Japanese is actually surprisingly good, he barely gets anyscreentime. :(
Sidenote, but I'm glad I'm learning Japanese because now I can actually understand a lot of what Taemin, Key, and Jonghyun say when they're speaking Japanese, which makes me happy lol. It helps that they're not native speakers, so they're not speaking super fast like how native speakers do, and their grammar is still fairly basic, so it's much easier for me to understand and it makes me feel smart lol :XD:
 
Watching Amber's ranting monkey vlogs, omg how have I never seen these before they're so funny
Amber seems so down to earth, like she doesn't even seem like a celebrity, much less a Kpop one
It's also so cute how Luna tries to speak English haha, Krystal's California accent whenever she speaks English is funny too lol
Watching this really makes me sad and makes me wish even harder for an f(x) comeback, they have such a great group dynamic :(
 
That post about f(x) made me rewatch ranting monkey too, especially the episodes with f(x). Ugh i love them so much. I like SHINee too but I think when it comes to the whole discography I like f(x) better because their releases are almost all so good since day 1. In an interview Victoria said that their music sounds like European music because their songs are often composed and arranged by European composers and tbh I completely agreed. I'm a sucker for European and British music, which is why I'm so into Eurovision ever since I discovered the competition. What draws me into Kajiura's music is also because her music is influenced by European classical music and the same reason is kinda applied on why I like f(x)'s songs so much. I think that European music emphasizes more on choral work, harmonies, and they also have some very interesting chord progressions (interesting as in not the usual chord progression you'd hear on most pop music), something that don't really happen on American music in general. I think that's also the reason why f(x) songs have some really cool harmonies. The more you listen to their songs the more you realize there's always something going behind the main melodies.

What also makes f(x) harmonies are superior than Kalafina's in general is that in Kalafina releases, especially their latest releases, Kajiura almost always composes songs that are easier to translate into live performances by the 3 Kalagirls because Kalafina is known for their harmonies and the 3 girls have to sing in harmony live. She seems to use less and less extra chorus work by vocalists other than the 3 Kalagirls. She becomes very conscious about how the songs have to translate into live performances, and this was not the case on early Kalafina releases. Back then she even thought that Kalafina songs are impossible to sing with only the 3 Kalagirls on stage. It's as if Kajiura purposedly dumbs down her composing abilities just to make songs that are easier for the Kalagirls to sing live.

On the other hand, f(x) utilizes their vocals abilities to the fullest on their album releases. They know that they won't be performing their harmonies live on stage (in this case Kalafina definitely has the upper hand) so they poured their all into their studio releases. Each members often sing harmonies for their own melodies and some members with better vocal abilities like Krystal and Luna provide extra harmonies, adlibs, and/or countermelodies. They also have more variations/ways to create choral work in their songs. In some songs they have lower-upper harmonies and some members sing the melodies in octave lower and higher, sometimes they have lower harmonies and first half of the lines and then higher harmonies on the last half, sometimes they use countermelodies to create some harmony-like effect, sometimes each members sing different melodies at one part of the songs (like in Electric Shock and Dracula, especially the last chorus), sometimes they sing the melodies in canon, and lots of other varieties to create choral work in their songs. Their choral work is definitely the best in Kpop girlgroups, something that doesn't even happen with girl groups with more technically superior members like SNSD, Red Velvet, or Mamamoo (Luna is the only technically above average in f(x), compared to 3 out of 4 in Mamamoo or 3 out of 5 in RV. But Luna's vocal ability is stellar and superior compared to any aforementioned group members). Mamamoo releases are often obnoxious lol sorry not sorry but the members can definitely sing in harmonies live when they sing slower and ballad songs.

f(x)'s members roles aren't rigid like Kalafina and I love them so much for it.
 
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^Everyone on this forum should read that post and listen to f(x), it perfectly summarizes why I love f(x) so much and why they've overtaken Kalafina for me in terms of being 'queens of harmonies lol

You're right about SHINee too, while I love SHINee with a passion, some of their earlier stuff can be hit or miss for me(With the exception of a few songs, I think their second album Lucifer is kinda meh for example), but f(x) is the only group where I like every single one of their albums and songs (almost) equally.

That was exactly what got me into Kajiura in the first place too! I listened to a lot of European classical music growing up, and I've been playing piano and violin in an orchestra for many years, so I was initially really drawn to Kajiura's compositional style which was obviously so influenced by that classical music.
But then I kinda became disillusioned by her lol and I'm glad I re-discovered Kpop in that time, because f(x) does everything so much better.

That point you made about Kajiura and live performances makes a lot of sense and is probably why I've been enjoying Kalafina's releases less and less recently. Kajiura's composing for Kalafina has recently become way more stale and uninspired (see: Hyakka Ryouran and blaze) , very much dumbed down, like you said, and the live performance thing makes perfect sense as a reason for that.
Because yeah, while f(x) doesn't harmonize live, I don't mind that at all because their studio songs are just soooo much better and I rather take that trade off any day compared to Kalafina who do harmonize live, but have been releasing not as good songs.

(Which, btw, it's not as if Kpop singers can't harmonize live. This clip of Super Junior having to harmonize live + acapella when the background audio for a song cut out proves that, their harmonies were seriously on point, I'm impressed)

I honestly think a lot of Kajiura listeners would find a lot to appreciate about f(x), there are so many elements of f(x)'s songs that I think would be appealing to Kalafina fans, but oh well lol

And yessss to that bit on Mamamoo!! I honestly don't like them lol. My sister thinks they're amazing, she also dislikes f(x) like wtf but while I kinda like a couple of their songs, I just find their voices really obnoxious and not pleasant on the ears. I also don't get why they're heralded as this group of godly vocalists, when they're really above average at best, and Luna is better than all of them combined :XD:

I like RV better than Mamamoo but they don't have the same amount of personality and vocal diversity that f(x) has, all their voices just kinda sound the same to me lol
Their harmonies also aren't as good as f(x)'s, but since they're a SM group and SM songs usually have pretty good harmonies and countermelodies, they have pretty good harmonies compared to the rest of Kpop girl groups out there imo (This song always reminded me of a f(x) song, especially the sing-talking lol)
 
^Kpop idols can definitely sing harmony live, but they don't showcase it often when they're not singing ballads (or singing without dancing). It's already so hard to sing and dance at the same time, and to harmonize the whole song at the same time would make it even harder. Idk about other companies but SM is definitely holistic in their vocal training. I think almost every SM idols at least know how to sing in harmony, even the sub vocalists like Victoria. She sang the lower harmony in Milk and 4 Walls, for example - she also showcased her ability to harmonize in some of the performances only song she did with Zhoumi. Krystal and Chen sang in perfect harmony on that one video I posted on the other thread. Amber also sings in perfect harmony with Luna in one video (they covered a song and THEY SOUNDED SO GOOD OMG).

I completely agree about Mamamoo. They're not even that strong vocally but the reason why people they think of them as godly is because the 3 vocal lines have around the same vocal abilities, thus each one of them can shine at the same time. It's more of a collective strength than individual strength. Like you hear 3 good vocalists at the same time they kinda cloud your judgment? Smth like that. They also often show their ability to harmonize in their live performances when they sang ballad or rearranged the songs to slower tempo. The same reason as why people think Kalafina is godly.

Also yes on RV members all sounding near the same. When they all sing the same notes they almost literally sound as one because their voices are all near similar. Compare that to f(x) members - another reason to love them - each one of them has very distinct voice from each other. You can differentiate each members' voices even when they sang the same melody, like in Pinocchio for example. Ugh I love them so much I hope they won't disband. Kpop is cancelled the day f(x) and SHINee disband lol.

I tried really hard to like RV but I still cannot like them. People think of them as really beautiful but honestly I'm so used to seeing Victoria and Krystal (and Sulli) and everyone else just came as less pretty. Not that i'm saying Luna and Amber aren't pretty because hello they are (Luna and Amber looked WONDERFUL in Cowboy photoshoot and Luna especially looked really great throughout Red Light promotion) but Krystal Victoria Sulli are more conventionally pretty (?). Their visuals are just stunning. They're all tall but not too skinny. They looked extra great in Red Light promo photoshoot ugh sorry for ranting about them but honestly Krystal and Victoria are definitely the prettiest girls in Asia, or even the world.
 
Yeah, for sure. Even though I dislike a lot of things about SM, they've consistently produced some of the best idol vocalists out there, so I can't complain lol. I'm also heavily SM biased as almost all the groups I listen to are from them. And yess, honestly Victoria is so underappreciated vocally! She actually has quite a nice voice and I always enjoy hearing her harmonies, it's a shame she's rarely talked about.

Yeah, that makes sense about Mamamoo :/ I'm just getting annoyed of hearing everywhere about how good vocally they are, like yeah they're not bad, but they're nowhere near the best.

Agreed about RV too, I really want to like them too because I actually do like a lot of their songs/albums, (The Red was a really good album imo) but none of their members are doing anything for me. They're all decently pretty and they have nice voices, but none of them stand out the way the f(x) members do, both vocal wise and appearance wise.
Yesss about f(x)'s visuals too!! Krystal, Luna, and Victoria are soo pretty yet distinct looking (versus RV where they all kinda look the same to me xD), and Amber is more pretty in the unconventional sense lol.

And pls don't mention f(x) disbanding lol, the possibility of that happening is scarily real and I don't want to think about it :comeback:.
Amber seems to be happier doing her own thing in America (I just found out she recently featured in this American song actually), Krystal is doing her acting stuff, and Victoria is busy in China. Luna is the only one I can see wanting to see stick with SM in the long run because of her solo stuff, but still... I'm going to keep on hoping for a comeback despite the odds lol



Also, I found another bts song that I actually like. It has a bunch of cool chord progressions (I really like the chord progressions here) and modulations and I really really like the instrumentals. I still don't like RapMon's part, but at least the instrumental in his part is good.

And I just discovered this song: Super Junior- Oops ft. f(x)
It's...a really weird song. It's classic old Super Junior, which means it's super obnoxious and weird lol. It's also more like Super Junior ft. Krystal, I can barely hear the other members. Krystal's English though :XD:

Also, just a random observation I had but I think SHINee is the only SM boy group that hasn't had any Chinese releases, while all of SM's other boy groups (EXO, Super Junior, NCT, TVXQ) have all had at least 1 Chinese release. Idk why that is, but I have to say, I can't picture SHINee singing in Chinese so I guess it works out lol:XD: Japanese fits SHINee better imo, especially with their visuals (Taemin totally fits the whole bishonen thing)
 
Are other groups okay to be discussed here? And for the record, can I join in too?

I follow a couple of other girl groups and sorta think its a good place to discuss, if permitted. :bow:

And for the record, I clicked into TWICE's newest song to wonder what all the hype was...and now I can't get "Me likey, likey likey likey" out of my head. HALP. :comeback:
 
Are other groups okay to be discussed here? And for the record, can I join in too?

I follow a couple of other girl groups and sorta think its a good place to discuss, if permitted. :bow:

And for the record, I clicked into TWICE's newest song to wonder what all the hype was...and now I can't get "Me likey, likey likey likey" out of my head. HALP. :comeback:


Of course you can! It's a Kpop thread after all. Fyi, I feel you about Twice. My sister has gotten into them recently and she can't stop singing and dancing to Likey. Momo's lines especially got stuck in my head. Bb cream papapapa Lipstickeul mamamama :XD:
 
Does anyone know if I.O.I. are any good? I heard Whatta Man for the first time today and I really liked it, but none of their other songs have really been doing anything for me

But @casarina26 yes of course you can talk about other groups here! :)
 
Does anyone know if I.O.I. are any good? I heard Whatta Man for the first time today and I really liked it, but none of their other songs have really been doing anything for me

But @casarina26 yes of course you can talk about other groups here! :)


Afaik I.O.I is just a temporary group, being a produce 101 winner or smth and their contract as a group only remained for 1 yr. That's why I don't and probably won't bother checking their stuff...
 
Oooh ok.... that's a shame, I don't like the whole concept of a group being together only to break up a year later. Wanna One is like that too iirc

Lol I just ordered $50 of Kpop merch for my friends birthday which is in a couple weeks... she's hugely Kai and Jonghyun biased so I literally just got her a shitton of both Kai and Jonghyun photocards and stickers (plus I got her Jonghyun's Base album), so hopefully she's happy haha
 
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Oooh ok.... that's a shame, I don't like the whole concept of a group being together only to break up a year later. Wanna One is like that too iirc

Lol I just ordered $50 of Kpop merch for my friends birthday which is in a couple weeks... she's hugely Kai and Jonghyun biased so I literally just got her a shitton of both Kai and Jonghyun photocards and stickers (plus I got her Jonghyun's Base album), so hopefully she's happy haha


Yeah it's a part of their contract as produce 101 winner. The members are originally from less known idol groups and they participated in that show to promote their respective groups. After 1 year as a group produce 101 produced their contract ends and the members usually go back to their own groups and the groups (their original ones) usually get more famous afterwards.
 
My friend wrote this HILARIOUS fanfiction about Taemin being a murderous psychopath, where he kills you because you ruined his turtleneck? She showed it to me after class a couple days ago and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, so I wanted to share it here so more people can enjoy it because it is SO FUCKING FUNNY and terrifying at the same time
(I really want to see Taemin's reaction if he ever read this LOL)

Part 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bYCPOjRPY20Dh-iD0bDiimnLyYWLBfjl/view?usp=sharing
Part 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12AMAe4SlKhsBiWUcstdA5dDE1C8-zHCEOmSNTQF_FGI/edit?usp=sharing

"I like when girls trust me" is my new favorite line lmfao
 
I honestly liked Red Velvet comeback this time. But I still cannot really like them for various reasons:

1. Their voices are all near similar, no one actually has a really unique tone to her voice.
2. They really need to work on their dancing skills. They seriously have the easiest choreography but they don't synchronize well. To compensate for this, they have more formations but their formations are always tight and mostly just the members switching positions. No member needs to dance and walk away far from each other. Just compare to f(x)'s Rum Pum Pum Pum choreo which actually has difficult movements, tons of formations and some of them have the members spread wide across the stage.
Joy and Irene are soooooo stiff in their movements like omg Seulgi is the best and the only decent dancer Red Velvet has.
3. Because of this their live performances are all really really dry to watch. Their choreography is not interesting and is very boring to look at. Twice for example mostly also uses really simple movements on their dances BUT they are always so catchy and stuck in your head. Also Twice members can actually dance better than RV - Likey has more difficult and interesting choreography than Peek A Boo. I actually cannot believe their Peek A Boo danced is choreographed by the same guy who choreographed f(x)'s 4 Walls, which is by far the most aesthetically pleasing choreography to watch. And for notes, f(x) actually said that 4 Walls choreo is their easiest one. But then again, RV probably won't be able to handle harder choreography because they're already struggling with the simple ones. Seulgi probably could handle it but the other members probably couldn't.
 
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