All Quiet on the Western Front

I study popular music – yes, it is a thing, and yes, I know I’m probably not gonna find a job after that. So every Friday morning, I go to university for a songwriting class, and this year, we have a new teacher – the previous one got signed.

This man talks a lot. He’s a proper storyteller. Every week, he comes with a new story – or 2 or 3 – about working with whomever he worked with, some artist he’s developing, someone being unfair about the split of the songwriting credits and so so much more.

He shared with us some of the songs he’s written and this one sparked a bit of a conversation.

Amongst other things, he’s worked for the Asian market, collaborating on J-pop, C-pop and K-pop songs. He says he liked working on those songs and that it was pretty easy to get work in these markets. But he added that he had to diversify and work on Western pop so he would be taken seriously by his peers, because “people don’t find it cool” – his words exactly.

I haven’t listen to that much C-pop and J-pop, but I have listened to a fair bit of K-pop. And saying it is uncool, well it’s just uncalled for. Now, I don’t think you can go dry into K-pop, you’ve got to warm up to it; and let’s face it, it isn’t always kind on the ears, it is however very kind on the eyes. Seriously, what I look for primarily with this genre is hotness.

So here are 5 songs, all K-pop, that I think sound cool and fun. To help you ease into it, we’re going for videos this week; you won’t be dissappointed, those videos are as weird and fun as the songs themselves. Now feast your eyes on my selection!

VOODOO DOLL – VIXX ( VOODOO, 2013)

This video is an emo kid’s wet dream. I mean there is blood, black hair, piercing, a VOODOO DOLL, dancing kittenish boys; what else could we want?
The video does get a bit yucky – needles perforating skin kind of stuff – so maybe don’t watch it if you’re not into that.

BOOMBAYAH – BLACKPINK (SQUARE ONE, 2016)

Do stick around till the end of this one, I know you can’t tell from the begining – there really is no clue leading there – but they end up in a roller skating rink. Oh! And yes, you did hear it correctly, that little girl did just say “I’m so hot, I need a fan”.

THE BADDEST FEMALE – CL (THE BADDEST FEMALE, 2013)

Have you ever seen the Lonely Island video The Creep? The choreography in this video takes that very peculiar dance move – the T-rex arm one – and makes it look hot. I’m not even kidding here, it looks sick.

ZUTTER (GD & T.O.P) -BIG BANG (MADE, 2016)

The video is kind of weird, I think T.O.P is gutting some aninals in there at some point – you don’t see anything too ugly though. Despite that, it helped me realise that tracksuit bottoms can look amazing, you just need to put the right men in them.

Very Good – Block B (Very Good, 2013)

I swear the fact that I finf Zico – the one in the velvet burgundy suit and then with the blue hair and then with the lipstick – to be one of the most handsome man on earth is not the only reason why I like that song… I swear… Ok, it is the main reason.