Post by Nathália
This year Korea brought creative overload – from 2NE1's electro dystopia to BEAST's career-crowning comeback and Orange Caramel's bonkers visuals
Full article here.
K-pop fans will probably tell you this year was cursed. After all, many headlines weren’t wholly positive, with boybands EXO and B.A.P filing lawsuits against their labels, and Jessica leaving mega-group Girls’ Generation. And then tragedy struck in September, when a car accident claimed the lives of two members from girl group Ladies’ Code. The idea of a ‘curse’ made for good gossip, but most scandals simply reflected idols’ struggles to obtain greater freedom and recognition: they wanted lovers, they wanted fair pay and they wanted healthy working conditions. Behind the headlines, there was a sonic shift. K-pop’s favoured sound of recent years – obliterating EDM, often fused with trap beats – was challenged by a return to funk or disco-infused pop. As ever, not everything was smooth sailing, as smaller groups stepped up as big guns like EXO and 2PM missed the mark. Meanwhile, solo efforts were a mixed bag but generally under-utilised: Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips” was solid, but his brilliant “Love You to Death” languished at the end of his album, Taemin of SHINee’s “Danger” was passable, yet “Pretty Boy” ran circles around it. Older names like Rain and Seo Taiji returned, but the surprise hits came from newer groups like MAMAMOO and EXID. Plagiarism accusations hit T-ara, while GOT7, Boyfriend and Super Junior released close-runners for this list. Oh, and there was a song featuring a “dog shaking its leg” dance: SISTAR’s “Touch My Body”. Bring on 2015. 2014, we’re done.
B.A.P’s sound seems continually in flux, and this year landed on a fusion of rock guitars, forlorn bass and piano that moved like a dowsing pendulum. It gave the boyband what they’d not yet achieved, in wins on Korea’s influential music shows. “Angel” is a tough song utterly reliant on the power of its artists’ voices, and with this B.A.P triumph. Colour is added though an anguished, rearing chorus and a sharpened edge honed by the band’s rappers. Symbolic trinkets are lost and found in the lovelorn video, spearheaded by a moving performance from Himchan. Whatever the outcome of B.A.P’s recent lawsuit against their label, their achievements in experimentation will forever be evident, from their debut “Warrior” to the deserving success of “1004 (Angel)”.
© Dazed Digital
