I know I am going to be in the minority on this. It’s just that ITZY’s song, “Born to Be” and Babymonster’s “Batter Up” has really brought to the forefront for me that there is a trend that is going on right now, within KPop that I’m finding that I don’t like.
I’m calling it the Westernization or BlackPinkification of KPop. The way songs for certain groups (not all) sound so homogenized to this one way of flowing, this one type of supposed hard and girl crush or boy crush way of creating songs is getting tired.
From the first moment I heard KPop (which was 2NE1’s “I am the Best”), it had a formula (usually a singing first verse, rap second verse, bridge, refrain, or ending), which was fine, because, within that structure, there was still room for creativity (style or genre stylings, switch ups) that made each group and the songs unique enough that the groups didn’t feel interchangeable. Of course, you have your TWICE, Mamamoo, Dreamcatcher, Stray Kids, and G-Idle, who all have their own unique brand when it comes to their music, so they stand out. The same goes for New Jeans, LeSserafim, and XG–and Loona before Blockberry happened. Even bands like Rolling Quartz and The Rose stand out as having their own uniqueness within the overarching maw that is KPOP.
Don’t get me wrong, I love BlackPink. I have been a Blink, since I fully leaped headfirst into KPop, but I don’t want every song to sound like BP and I don’t even want every BP song to sound like BP. They (their production team) are starting to become complacent in their creativity as well as becoming stagnant in their songs, and I don’t want that for any group or band, let alone the ones I like.
Music (and Art in general) is about creativity. Frankly, here lately (after the Western markets figured out ‘Hey, this might make us some money!’) I see more and more that KPop groups and more importantly their companies are starting to bring out music that has lost its uniqueness and creativity in favor of appealing to Western audiences. What some of these companies don’t get is that they are gaining popularity in the West because of the creativity, uniqueness, and hard work put into everything KPop. I just hope what I’m seeing is a misnomer and that KPop can continue to be what I fell in love with–creativity, upbeat, and enjoyable music that straight killing it, and not become the same ole stagnant garbage that I see all over Western music currently.
