+ Added 2nd teaser -ferrerorocher9
(starts at 0:50 secs; this time with a less random visual lol)
——-
Earlier today yesterday, it was announced via official sources that a teaser for Girls’ Generation’s JAPAN 1st ALBUM, would be unveiled on S.M. Entertainment’s Official YouTube Channel at 12:00am KST/JST on the 21st of May.
And because it is actually an hour past that time… HERE IT IS:
June 1st cannot come any sooner. Have you preordered your copy/copies yet?
On a related note, the Mr. Taxi (Dance Ver.) PV has surpassed 4 million views on Universal Music Japan’s YouTube Channel.
Sources: sment@YouTube + MrBlur91@Youtube
SNSD Korean 
fricken…… quality! sounds amazing, can’t wait for this to come out, where’s a good place to pre-order?
im preordering mines on yesasia. if u’re getting the deluxe or edition w/ posters soshicatalogue says apparently amazon japan doesn’t ship their albums with posters & hmv japan ran out of the posters. soshicatalogue might help u decide (; http://soshicatalogue.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/1st-japanese-album-girls-generation/
& i’m def. loving ‘let it rain’ & ‘born to be a lady’ the most
is the last song BORN TO BE A LADY (that’s how they released it – all caps)? it’s a killer! and i like what i’m hearing..it’s too early to judge but i kind of think that it’ll better than their korean albums.
oh no i think it’s Let It Rain LOL
A reason to get excited.
decent new tracks. but what is up with the weird visuals? looks like some trippy ass video o_o
subliminal messages? lol.
It’s not going to take long for K-netizens to find/manufacture all sorts of subliminal messages in that screensaver video. Oh, and those little snippets of songs is more than enough material for K-netizens to fuel some sort of a plagiarism issue (SM, like any smart firm,knows better than to try to do everything in-house. Instead, SM purchases, when necessary, the best services from around the world, be it songs or choreography).
Now that “Let It Rain” could be played today on any ‘Lite-FM” station in the U.S. and it would fit right in.
I like what I’m hearing. But when I think of SM, I always of think of high-quality slick visuals. If they wanted us to focus on the music, that’s fine, but that screensaver video looked like amateur hour
OMG.. The last song is so gonna be loved!!! I love it so much!!!
LOL yea the visuals were weird to say the least, I just minimized it and listened to the songs. They all sound very promising from the very short snippet that we got, that’s a great sign and it just raised my expectations higher, not that it wasn’t high already. I am especially attracted to the two ballads songs (or is it one?) towards the end, the sucker for ballads in me never goes away. This next 10 days is going to be the longest wait ever.
Wow! I must say, this is even better than i expected. The production of the new songs are superb!! I’ve had this theory since late last year that SNSD has yet to truly hit their peak in regards to talent…and this new album i think is gonna prove it. I so can’t wait to get my copy! [SPAZZ]
Okay, the visuals were odd; I was hoping for some actual pics of the girls? lol
But the audio was amazing! I’m super super excited for the Japanese version of Hoot!
If I’m not mistaken, I think I heard “Hoot” performed in Japanese ?!!
AWESOME teaser !
You’re not mistaken.
Exactly at the 1-minute mark on the video.
i really love the last song 🙂 but . . . i think that the one who made this video is probably HIGH
Hoot sounds awesome in japanese…its actually kind of a clever-promotions that SM didn’t use any photos of the girls and instead they want the audience to listen to the songs first before revealing anything!
Anyone here know which songs are which on this video clip? I’m pretty sure it didn’t go in the same order of the album track list.
click the YT link and the songs are in order of the teasers.
I can’t Youtube at work. If they didn’t block Youtube I’d be on there all day.
here’s the song track lists according to the teaser:
MR.TAXI
∙ GENIE
∙ BAD GIRL
∙ HOOT
∙ you-aholic
∙ Beautiful Stranger
∙ Run Devil Run
∙ THE GREAT ESCAPE
∙ I’m In Love With The HERO
∙ Gee
∙ Let It Rain
∙ BORN TO BE A LADY
It’s like sweet, sweet chocolately honey for my eardrums
i hear hoot jpn ver…..
Will hoot jpn ver have mv??? that is their hit song at korea
omg! so awesome! all the songs in the album are daebak! SNSD jjang ❤
this album is gonna be DEABAK!!!
ive got an intersect in my brain after watching the vid. o.O well. the songs are NICE! cant wait !
Any K-SONE would want this album too, right? I mean, there are several Japanese language versions of Korean songs they know well that they can hum along to.
DBSK was huge in Korea and Japan. Does anyone know how their Japanese albums did in Korea? Did Korean Cassies buy them too?
I’m sure most of the die-hard K-Sones will buy this, but it won’t sell nearly as well as their Korean albums because the non-fans and the casual fans will most likely pass. Plus Korea suffers from illegal downloads much more than Japan, and the fact that Korean music portals don’t usually sell Japanese language songs will prevent it from gaining any kind of momentum on the digital charts and the amongst the public.
TVXQ’s first five Japanese singles actually sold much better in Korea than in Japan, then the tide slowly changed when they eventually gained a large Japanese fanbase. For their first full album, Korean Cassies accounted for about a third of the total sales according to Wikipedia. As a fan of TVXQ, I skipped all of their singles because I knew that will bankrupt me in a flash, I also have no plans yet to start collecting SNSD’s Japanese singles since I know the hit songs will eventually be included in a full album.
Thank you RagingXL for that answer. That part about not buying the singles and waiting for the full album makes a lot of sense. Now I have a question:
When I saw the prices for the full Japanese album, I did a double-take. I’m talking about the regular album here, not about the other collector’s editions. Is paying about $35 for a 12-track CD par for the course in Japan. Is the U.S. dollar that weak?
And if South Korea has an illegal download culture, at what price is a typical full album priced at, be it digital full album, or physical full album? After all, they cannot price it too high because they are competing with “free” downloads.
The US dollar has historically exchanged at $1 to 100 yen or more, but since the economy crashed in 2008 the dollar has been in the tank, it’s now trading at $1 to 81 yen. So yes the US dollar has gotten a lot weaker and the Japanese yen stronger. But even if it was still trading at 1 to 100, a 3000 yen album is still $30 which is insane if you compare them to album prices in the US or Korea. The high price can be attributed to the high standard of living in Japan as well as their music being traditionally priced high. Keep in mind that even singles (normal editions) cost over 1000 yen, which is shocking for a CD that has 1 or 2 songs, so an album with 12 songs for $35 is actually a “good deal”. A cheaper alternative to buying these expensive physical singles is to buy them digitally on iTunes Japan, songs typically cost 200yen each which is reasonable.
I heard typical albums in South Korea cost around the same as the US, $12-15 for physical albums. The cost for buying music digitally in Korea is significantly cheaper because they want to be very competitive alternatives to illegal downloading. Most of the music portals (Melon, Soribada, Bugs) offer subscription-based programs, you pay a monthly fee, say $10, and it allows you to download 100 DRM-free songs every month, if you do the math that’s 10 cents per song, which is *almost* free. They also offer different tiers of subscriptions catered to people who download more/less music. Korea and Japan are pretty much on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to music pricing. Japanese people are also known to be very supportive of legal music ownership vs Korea’s culture of illegal downloads. I think that could be one reason why all the Kpop acts are rushing over to Japan.
according to Hanteo’s foreign sales…all of SNSD’s japanese release are all on the top 5! meaning, K-Sones are just as active to buy SNSD’s stuff even if they’re in Japan promoting.
OMG! OMG! OMG!!
I CAN NOT WAIT TILL JUNE1ST!!
Goshie, must buy!!
Gahhh, I can’t wait till June 1st.
I heard some new songs on their that I’m already liking! 😀
GOSH SM, Y U NO LET ME SEE SNSD IN VIDEO?!?!!? <____<
I was listening to the teaser and @0:04, I said to myself, “will Taeyeon open their Japan Concert with those lines?”
Then I went through with the video (with much heartache) and I realised that their first japanese album sounds similar to T-ara’s “Absolute First Album”. That’s it! Dance tracks! The new tracks that I like: BAD GIRL, Beautiful Stranger, THE GREAT ESCAPE. And then there’s “Let It Rain” and “BORN TO BE A LADY” which I believe are both ballads. Gotta love them!
One thing I don’t get; Why are some tracks fully capitalised? Is its purpose to denote their prominent songs?
And I’ll end by commenting on the visuals again. lol. “Effective advertising” @0:15. lol it may be random but subliminal messages work at the subconscious level. Now, one of the three things can be deduced, a) subliminal advertising was intended, b) SM uploaded the wrong video (lol), or c) the video producer was on LSD… yeah.
This has to be, by far, the quirkiest album teaser. Ever.
You speak the truth again ruraldaze. T-Ara’s signature sound popped into my mind when I heard the tracks due to the use of heavy beats and synths that gave the tracks a strong Dance feel to them. Dare I say some of the dance tracks even sound a little “J-Popish”? Not that it’s a bad thing at all, because I think this style will work very well in Japan. The great production style grabs you immediately and becomes addictive after just the first listen, power of Soshi!
I like the dance feel to it. Its new and fresh. You can only do cute for so long before it becomes annoying (not that I would ever get bored of SNSD).
Oh this is so freaking good. They’ve developed their vocals so so well! The songs all sound like hits!!!
“The uploader has not made this video available in your country.”
FFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
oh….. so SM couldn’t find an effective way to make Oh! into Japanese yet…
@ RagingXL
Thank you, once again, for your scholarly and methodical answers.
So when SNSD’s Hoot mini-album (5 songs) was sold in Japan (which I read had gained some interest from fans in Japan), would it have been sold at the typical Japanese price for a mini-album or the Korean price?
And going the other way, if K-Sones wish to purchase the First Japanese album as an import, would they have to pay the typical Korean price for a full album or the typical Japanese price, considering that its SM and UMJ releasing the Japanese album?
So why did JYPE send the Wonder Girls to the U.S. when they could have been more profitable in Japan?
When the Hoot mini-album was licensed and released in Japan, it expanded from 1 edition to 4 editions, the details of of the different editions can be found here: http://soshicatalogue.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/hoot-japanese-licensed-album/
But as you would expect, it was sold at typical Japanese album prices. The only comparable edition to the Korean edition was the regular edition which contains the 5 songs and nothing else, it was sold for 1800 yen ~$22.25, that’s about $10 more than the cost of the Korean version and it does NOT include the photobook nor the random photocard in the Korean edition. The other editions came with 5 extra songs (mostly their Korean classics), and a variety of extras like DVD, stickers, photobooks, and photo card depending on the edition. The Limited Edition cost 2800 yen ~34.25, First Press 3200 yen ~$39, and Deluxe First Press 3990 yen ~$48.80.
If K-Sones want to buy Japanese albums immediately after release, they will have to buy it as an import just like you and I and pay Japanese album prices. However, for those fans who are patient enough, they might wait for the Korean licensed versions of their Japanese albums. This is gonna confuse you even more, but it’s just like the reverse of the Hoot album being sold in Japan, usually a period after the album is released in Japan, SM will license these albums and make them available in Korea with pricing more in line with Korean albums. SNSD’s first three J-singles (Genie, Gee, and Mr.Taxi) has just very recently been licensed in Korea, and the prices are a lot more competitive compare to original Japanese versions even though the content is almost identical. See example: http://soshicatalogue.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/3rd-japanese-single-mr-taxirun-devil-run-korean-version/
They do this all the time when the album from one country is being licensed and sold in another country without the need to import, and the cost is often lower for these licensed versions (except Japan licensed versions, that will just jack up the price), you will see on Yesasia for example that albums will have several versions such as Japan version, Taiwan version, or Hong Kong version, etc.
Not confusing at all, RagingXL. You are a real asset to this board. Thanks.
i am stunt after watching that teaser…it is so AWESOME!!!
I think the price is some how a little bit high
Because if the currency is converted into my country’s currency
it is about RM 75 + per album for a singles
and this album cost me RM 293..
anyway, i think every album is also that high isnt it….
and please vote for SNSD in http://www.mtvjapan.com/vmaj/nominee/
for the “MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN Special Awards”
SNSD, fighting! ^^
it actually cost more($50)…the “Hoot” repackaged had several bonuses including their original hits and the dvd from the showcase. but it did not stop jsones from purchasing it, and the sales from that are currently over 159k+ which rivals their korean sales (at 164k+ atm). “Hoot” repackaged debut @ no. 2 on the weekly right behind ayumi hamasaki and it even outsold “Genie” as of today :).
Whoa, I did not know that, LadyIgraine!
So when all is said and done, Hoot (albeit as a repackaged dvd) will earn more revenue for SM from the Japanese side than the Korean side? All with virtually no Hoot promotions in Japan.
So lets recap the business models:
U.S. artists: Make money from multi-city touring (both domestically and globally), worldwide radio airplay, with most of the (dwindling) CD proceeds going to the record company, with virtually no corporate endorsements (because it isn’t cool to be a corporate shill).
Japanese artists: Money from overpriced CDs, and corporate endorsements, and touring. Lots of disposable income from a rich country with a low birth rate.
Korean artists: Very little revenue from underpriced Korean digital sales, so there is a constant churning out of singles and mini-albums. A “small” country (1/3 the size of Japan) so touring is limited (SNSD has only done four ITNW in Korea, right?). Lots of variety show exposure to generate a positive image so that they can earn the real big bucks (from corporate endorsements). Huge appeal to greater Asia, but much of it is poorer than Korea.
No wonder Kpop is looking to expand into Japan, and China too, which SM is definitely targeting with their next boy-group.
Kpop idols get very little portions from the sales of their album, unless the idols are heavily involved with production (i.e. GD/TOP, CNBlue members are good examples of this) but Kpop artists usually get like 10% or less defends on the success of the album/single itself. “Hoot” is a special case because Yuri wrote the lyrics to one of the songs, which means, whatever profits the minialbum earns in either Korea and Japan, Yuri will get a bit more percentage than the rest of the girls because she’s credited as the song lyricist. And yes, SNSD generates more income in Japan because its easy to earn album/digital sales in so little time…hence, they are the second largest music market in the world. Japan also has very strict laws about piracy, illegal downloading, and copyrights violations…and usually, japanese people often abide by the rules, so there’s more people who are willing to buy artists albums or legally download them no matter how expensive it is.
And its true, Korea is a less populated country. Just how small? Well, my home state of California’s population is the most populous state in the whole of the US (37 million+, doesn’t even include the un-documented immigrants). where as the whole S. Korea has 48-50million+ population, and because of Korea’s tumultuous history, it only started becoming economically affluent in the late 90s so their market is considerably small; while Japan has rebuild their economy after WWII. however, Korea thrives in the digital and visual era and on top of that, companies now partners up w/ the social media giants like YouTube/Twitter. korean companies generate little profits from YT, but they are able to promote globally without having to spend A LOT of money on promotions. And seeing that SM’s artists have like millions of views on their songs alone, is a testament to the global awareness of kpop. that’s something japan haven’t really touched up on that’s why jpop isn’t as widely expose as kpop have become.
JustaTip: Instead of writing another wall of text, I think i might be helpful for you to watch this:
@JustaTip, regarding your Recap on income streams of U.S. artists, i mean no disrespect, but i disagree with your statement about U.S. artists having “virtually no corporate endorsements”. Dozens of female pop singers have cosmetic endorsements, many rap artists have soft drink commercials and print ads for alcoholic beverages, and rock musicians have been endorsing various instruments and professional recording equipment for decades. Additionally, countless U.S. artists have partnered with big companies in other ways to gain additional income. Examples: many artists have songs (from their catalog or created specifically) used on video games like Madden, Grand Theft Auto, Rock Band, Def Jam Rapstar, etc.; Dr. Dre has his headphones line, “Beats By Dre”; P Diddy has his own vodka, “Ciroc”; 50 Cent and Marc Ecko created G-Unit Clothing Company; Jay-Z and Damon Dash created Rocawear; Wu-Tang Clan had Wu-Wear clothing line before both these acts; and Snoop Dogg has so many endorsement deals (ex. Boost Mobile, Chrysler 300, Orbit Gum, Tom Tom GPS, Norton AntiVirus…just to name a few) that he doesn’t even have to make music anymore. I think the perception that Korean idols do more endorsements is due to theirs being more in mainstream media formats compared to U.S. artists. And although being a corporate shill may not be cool, rappers especially like to boast about “chasing paper” (making money) regardless of the method…many times even giving the impression that that’s the only reason they’re in the music industry (not that I agree with this line of thinking, of course).
Ps- Sorry for the wall of text
Just wanted to note here that Japanese artists still don’t make that much from CDs, even overpriced, because they aren’t a reliable source of income. Because most groups are lucky to break even 30K, they get most of their money from personalized merchandise, which is sold at concert locations.(Tour T-shirts, pictures of the girls in their unique concert outfits, concert towels, DVD Magazines, etc)
Big name groups probably still get most of their money not from music sales but from the many TV shows that they end up hosting/starring in. And unlike SM contracts, I’m pretty sure one-off variety appearances also pay as there are some idols whose entire career is to guest on variety shows, called “geinou”.
Oh yes, and the DVD and PB market are a huge source of income. Idol groups perform concert tours much more frequently than they do in Korea, and every one of those tours usually results in a DVD that is way more expensive than any of their CDs. And the PB market is really large. It’s a sign of popularity to count the number of PBs a girl idol has under their belt. Considering that MM have done fanclub concerts in Hawaii every year, I’d say they’ve technically been to the US way more than SNSD has, on the company’s bill. XD
I don’t think CMs are as important for them to have because the DVD, PB, and concert merch markets are so lucrative, but I’ve never seen a Jpop contract revealed the way DBSK’s contract was which is my Kpop reference point. Definitely the number of CMs a celebrity have is still a sign of their status, though.
HOOT JAPANESE VER. AND THESE NEW SOUNDS ARE INCREDIBLE !!! CHILDREN’S DAY PLEASE COME SOONER !!!!!
OMG! all the songs are amazing! can’t wait to hear the new ones! ^_^
you can totally tell how much the girls’ voices have improved.
im really looking forward to the new songs, especially Let It Rain
on the other hand, the video…. 0_0 ???????
monmon’s version has better visuals
ahh, much better visuals. if only codemonmon included the audio verbatim from the original video..
speaking of teasers, the one which I like the most was RDR. The visuals were crisp and the concept itself was appealing. (seobaby in black? who da thunk it?) But the hype and daily release of individual shots by SME did not live up to its hype since the song was released.
going in that direction, here’s to hoping SME and UMJ would compensate (or overcompensate) for such disturbing visuals with a promising lineup of tracks.
Well, at least more promising than Harold Camping.
Imagine if Monmon’s version gets more views than SM’s original.
I see Monmon combined Let it Rain and Born to be a Lady into a single visual… and they sound so good together as they effortlessly blend into each other. Just so people know, the “screensaver” original SM video changes the pattern as the songs switch. The part that goes “Love Love Love” is part of Born to Be a Lady. Monmon probably combined the two songs because the Born to Be a Lady clip was so short.
Now here is something interesting: As far as I know, Western pop acts sell a fair amount in Japan (English language songs are cool, or something). I’m wondering… speculating… just guessing… that perhaps… Let It Rain could be an all-English song! They couldn’t really stick an all-English song into their K-albums, but hey this is a Japanese album so K-Sones can’t really be offended, right? Let It Rain sounds so mainstream radio friendly too.
Moreover, the entire album is so dance-beat oriented, I could easily imagine it being played in European dance clubs (Europe’s polyglot nature means they are more receptive to foreign-language music than we Americans).
Okay, I’ll stop fantasizing now.
So I was wrong again. I just heard the second teaser and Let It Rain is definitely NOT an all-English song. Lots of English lyrics in Beautiful stranger, though.
What the hell was with the cheap effects? but yeah hearing Hoot was amazing!
the visual effects in this lil trailer are so cheap ..its like a first year digital media student made it. SM ..wt were u thinking!?
that being said the songs sound absolutely amazing and i cant wait till the album drops!! the last song is fantastic
I think its supposed to hypnotize you into buying it or something, not that any Sones really need to be hypnotized into buying it.
im so gonna buy the japan album !! 1ST JUNEE
FFUUU!! sounds amajing!!! “Let it Rain” is going to be good i can tell!! well they’re all going to be good~
SOSHI JJANG! DAEBAKDAEBAK!!
OH MY GOD…I cannot stop listening and replaying this teaser…Holy ****
This teaser was amajjang in the truest sense of the word, just WOWOWOWOWOW
I am freaking out as to how incredible this album sounds
Every single song, every SINGLE song, sounds like it could be on #1 on the charts for the next year
jesus aaaaaahhhhhhh, I have to preorder NAO lol, can’t miss out on this!!!
“Bad Girl” REALLY caught my ears, and so did “Beautiful Stranger” , there are going to be so many remixes of the songs on this album, it sounds really synth heavy with a lot of bass and mellow beats, I LOVE IT!!!
SOSHI FIGHTING!!!! May this album bring them huge success not only in Japan but around the world!
OH MY GOD…I cannot stop listening and replaying this teaser…Holy ****
This teaser was amajjang in the truest sense of the word, just WOWOWOWOWOW
I am freaking out as to how incredible this album sounds
Every single song, every SINGLE song, sounds like it could be on #1 on the charts for the next year
jesus aaaaaahhhhhhh, I have to preorder NAO lol, can’t miss out on this!!!
“Bad Girl” REALLY caught my ears, and so did “Beautiful Stranger” , there are going to be so many remixes of the songs on this album, it sounds really synth heavy with a lot of bass and mellow beats, I LOVE IT!!!
I gotta stop spazzing out 😀
SOSHI FIGHTING!!!! May this album bring them huge success not only in Japan but around the world!
SNSD’s Japan 1st Full Album Trailer!!!! yay… but wait, HOOT in japanese??? wow…
i fell in love with the whole album… what the– but the price… OMG… if i buy it here it’ll be like Php 1000+
…sigh… i wish it could be affordable. :3 anywhoo…
i got addicted listening to the teaser that i almost raped the replay button… the tracks are really amazing. 🙂 can’t wait for it’s full release. i wanna hear most especially beautiful stranger, bad girl, let it rain, hoot,– okay i want to hear it all!!!~ definitely can’t wait.
SNSD daebak!! SNSD fighting!! ❤
Man I can’t wait for thissssssss! JAPANESE ALBUM?! OMG I’m so excited 😛 HOOT in japanese..lovin’ how it sounds now. I really like “Let it rain” and “Born to be a lady” 🙂
hey where can I order?? damn I love the songs and I love them all!!! 🙂
FIGHTING!!
which one the best song???
the song “beautiful strange” is like “womenizer”
I had just finished watching the 2nd JPN Album Teaser and I have this to say.
1. Bizarre looking cartoon hosts with squeaky, high-pitched voices at the start of the video. Hmm… I must the only one who isn’t miffed nor excited to see this type of (hackneyed?) concept when it comes to hosting on television, especially in Asia. However, the “Annyeong Haseyo” at the end got me rolling my eyes in underwhelming response. Cute, but not cute. Next.
2. SNSD’s new appearance for Q2-Q3 of 2011 and their trademark introduction at the start of every interview or promotion. With impeccable beauty, they have got my undivided attention and eyes glued to them for the duration of the entire segment, especially Taeyeon. Also, the apparel they wore were splendid.
3. Seohyun’s English. No noticeable sign of the egregious “Engrish” and with two Korean-American members fluent in the English language probably teaching her, it’s nothing short of “perfect”. Her accent is prominent throughout as her way of speaking English sounds identical to how she speaks in Korean. Not a bad thing, of course.
4. Previews of the songs and MVs’ which constitute the album are arranged in an organized manner/layout (with a few placeholders) is way better than the previous teaser in terms of coordination in video format. With disorienting colours, shapes following an erratic pattern and previews of the each individual song playing in no specific order, it made me think that a 7-year-old was messing around with editing software and created a less-than-sub-par teaser. With the release of the 2nd teaser, at least I know what’s currently happening on-screen.
5. I don’t really care for how a song sounds like as a casual music fan. As long as the music sounds palatable enough to suit my musical tastes (which isn’t high at all) on a dark and stormy night with headphones on, it suffices. Although “Beautiful Stranger” sounds strikingly similar to T-ara’s “I go crazy because of you”. More on that another time.
For their first JPN album, I think I can safely say, that I’m looking forward to its release even though being contented with what I have means I’m not going to purchase it.
4.
*and is far better than…
**general lack of consistency…
imo it’s really really difficult to make the triplet-based dance songs not sound too similar to each other. Womanizer, Right Round, Heartbreaker, IGCBOY, and now Beautiful Stranger. Although the 2nd teaser’s snippet of Beautiful Stranger reminded me of “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It” XDDD
RDR almost set itself apart for being a triplet song by being more laidback than the above examples, but I’ve really only heard one triplet based dance song that hasn’t strongly reminded me of the above, and that was because the melody was more like two sets of sixlets per measure instead of four sets of triplets per measure.
amazing songs for their first ever japanese album :). there’s not one bad song in this, and i hope they make at least 2 new pvs for some of the songs and 1 bonus for “Hoot” cause i love that song, and would love to see a japanese pv version, loL!
The spazzy visuals are commonly used to accompany music played in clubs, They’re not just random, they’re keyed to certain frequencies/specific synths and thus the pattern with which they’re arranged in the song.
It’s SM’s way of saying “this album is worthy to be played in the clubs. It is not just your everyday idol music.” Smart move to market SNSD in Perfume’s image of being performance talents rather than aidoru, which do still have the connotation of being talentless in Japan.
It was, however, kind of hack for them to use Enlightenment to generate those visuals, as you can see several videos of electronic music and/or club footage using those same visuals patterns,(for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFy40tbN_Oo) so it means that basically they plugged the song into Enlightenment and let her rip.
But I do have to say the way they editted the songs together for the first teaser was really amazing. Got my anticipation thrumming so much that the second teaser reminded me not to rein that in so I don’t set myself up for disappointment. I’m In Love With the Hero sounds like it’ll be epically schizophrenic though, so I remain eager about that one.
I see. Thanks for the comment.
I’ve lost track of how people manage to view certain things from a different perspective and how music is executed to meet consumers needs and preferences nowadays in any country.
Although I generally open another tab for surfing and minimize the window where it’s playing music. Reason being they often use a placeholder like a single image throughout the entire video, such as this:
There are times where a certain video will pique my interest enough to watch it, like the teasers. But I was initially bewildered at the bright, techno visuals for the first teaser, unaware of a specific purpose behind it. Even after gaining some valuable knowledge, I still prefer a single picture to serve as the background for when music is playing for the duration of the song/video over something that could potentially give me a headache.
Nevertheless, thanks for the response.
@ SunnyBunnySoFunny
Yes, you’re right, I have overlooked some very prominent examples of U.S. artist commercial endorsements. I think the point I was truly grasping at was made by that Bloomberg video that RagingXL linked to above, where U.S. artists like to think of themselves as more “authentic” musicians, and not a bunch of top-down manufactured and packaged products (which is the charge thrown at kpop).
Yes, you’re right about the cosmetic endorsements. But about those perfume endorsements, I’m pretty sure they have some sort of “ownership” in the particular perfume lines that are created for them. Personally, I don’t mind musicians hawking instruments and recording equipment (it’s the tools of their trade). About those rap stars you listed, almost all of those examples you gave were companies (and products) they created themselves or have partial ownership stakes in, so it’s not really a 3rd party endorsement. Being an owner is cool, and profitable.
Gone are the days of mega-stars being paid mouthpieces for unrelated products like Pepsi…. with the exception of the Super Bowl ad. It seems like the Super Bowl is sort of like Halloween where anyone can be in any ad they want, get paid a lot of money, and look cool doing it (Eminem hawking a Chrysler… which was more of a political statement about his hometown). But those are generally one-offs, not often seen again.
But it is true that U.S. acts are not the independent “artistes” they always claim to be, nor is Kpop a bunch of auto-tuned robots. Boy, SM/SNSD should have gotten some stock in Goobne Chicken before they shot commercials for them.
@RagingXL
Saw your Bloomberg video link… very interesting. So why, in your opinion, was it the Hallyu wave to take Asia by storm, and not, say, Jpop? Was it the case that Jpop had success in the second largest music market in the world (as LadyIgraine said), so there was no need to branch out, whereas Korea is a “smaller” country with no great music-buying tradition, so the only way to grow their music industry was to grow… out. Was it just luck that kpop really took off when the internet exploded, so they inadvertently stumbled upon a new way to globally promote. It is also true that K-dramas are far more widely received in Asia than Japanese and Chinese productions, right?
Oh, and sorry to EVERYONE for my wall of texts, but I am learning a lot from the text walls you guys are writing. I’ll be going back to work on Monday. Thanks.
I’d say it’s a combination of all of those things, but yeah, ambition is probably the largest reason. Jpop had no real motivation to reach to the international market, so they didn’t bother to really use the internet, although technology is still playing a role in the rise of Jpop artists.(http://deliciouscakeproject.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/i-have-seen-the-future-the-death-of-akb48/)
Just 3 or 4 years ago, I’d say Jpop was still more well-known in America just through its association with anime and the geek market. And coincidentally or not, up through 2008, at least, Kpop was still pretty bubblegum and emulating Jpop images if still fostering better performance talent. It’s in 2009 that everyone turned to dance music that was very accessible to the mainstream public everywhere, whereas bubblegum still has a firm hold in Japan. And bubblegum is such a dead market in the West, with a “kiddie music” stigma, which makes Jpop very hard to market to someone without an open mind.
I wonder how many international fans of Kpop before 2009 weren’t Jpop migrants compared to now?
The reason Kdramas have become so well-known above other asian dramas is interesting to me as well. Film critics still loooooooove Japanese films, but I wonder why that acclaim hasn’t carried over to Jdramas? Maybe it’s another case of the Koreans being much more aggressive about promoting the Kdrama internationally, even getting Hulu to host a section for them.
I don’t want to write another long and drawn-out answer. The video pretty much explained the Kpop vs Jpop the way I would, it’s more exciting and entertaining, better audio and visual stimulation, resonates with youths around Asia better, and it’s phenomenally exportable due not only to it’s more international nature but Korea’s deliberate push to spread its culture.
In the late 90s to the early 2000s, Japanese content was the barometer of Asian entertainment driven by anime, Jpop and J-dramas. But things changed when the first Korean Wave started in the early 2000s with the explosive popularity of K-dramas due to its ability to connect well with Asian audiences. Kpop was already around back then with its own unique style (NOT copying Jpop I’d argue), but it took a back seat to dramas. A lot of Kpop fans nowadays including myself have followed Korean music since then and witnessed its evolution. In my opinion, the main reason why Korean content is more popular now is because of its ability to adapt to trends and tastes & preferences better than its Japanese rivals, along with all the other reasons as stated in the video. Besides the business model, I personally think Korean artists have their Japanese counterparts beat in terms of looks, talent, and overall entertainment value.
I think its cause Kpop pretty much value the image of “PERFECTION.” the amount of trainings Kpop idols receive gives them a lot of advantage if you compare them to Jpop idols (excluding solo artists of course) in terms of talents and looks. But the reason Jpop is more bigger is cause it has a lot of varieties: although J-idols are indeed very popular, Jrock, Visual Kei, Soloists are all very much alive and a favourite amongst the japanese. Kind of like how the US has a lot of varieties and it can be categorize with different types of genres. But, Jpop is also on the decline over the years in terms of popularity. That’s why japan is starting to open up to Kpop more than before.
One of the reasons why SNSD is so popular amongst the Japanese female is cause they represent the “STRONG FEMALE”. a girl group that caters to the taste of women is considerably rare in the japanese market. (the only female j girl groups i can think of that have the same attributes are SPEED and SCANDAL). because of JE monopolizing the japanese market, girl group companies had no choice but to cater to the otakus and that’s why japanese girl groups in japan are what you see now…mediocre talents and at the same time girl groups you can meet. however, the arrival of SNSD in japan broke that norm: they not only have the looks and the talent, most importantly they’ve got PERSONALITIES to match :). japanese women found something congenial with SNSD because they are the type of girl groups they’ve been wanting to idolize for a long time. also, the japanese media favour girls with western looks like kuroki meisa, anna tsuchiya, and the current sasaki nozomi. SNSD however, promote their ethnicity with charisma…they are asian and PROUD OF IT! despite plastic surgery rumors, japanese fans adore them because SNSD brought with them that “cool” side of the girls.
I remember watching a Youtube video of U-kiss launching into an impromptu Backstreet Boys song at a fanmeet in the Philippines. The audience was screaming along to every word, to an English song well over 10 years old. I remembered that the U.S. used to be good at producing well-packaged and choreographed dancing groups like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 98 Degrees, etc. Even those well-trained stars of the Mickey Mouse Club churned out some pop stars. Can that model return to the U.S., or would they just be objects of derision?
I do agree that part about Kpop being better at adapting to trends. A Dutch politician was asked why Holland was so innovative. He said that it wasn’t that Holland had great ideas, it just knew that it was a small nation, so it was highly likely that the best ideas were elsewhere, so they had no compulsion against finding the best ideas and trends from their neighbors and stealing them. I kind of feel that Korea (a shrimp between two whales) kind of has the same attitude.
For me, I like kpop because the stars are talented, and (more importantly) likeable, and I feel I know them through their variety appearances. Honestly, the only thing I know about Lady Gaga (outside her music) is that she likes to smoke pot while writing songs (as told to 60 minutes).
The problem is that right now the image of the idol as seen in Asia is linked to the teen starlets of Disney and Nickelodeon in America. Instant stigma right there. Even the stars themselves are anxious to break away from the clean Disney image, from how Miley and Lindsay have gone through all of their shenanigans, and other former stars like Hilary Duff and Corbin Bleu try to distance themselves from their Disney days as much as possible. No one really knows about Nickelodeon’s attempts at making a music star since Drake, which was forever ago. And Justin Timberlake makes fun of his days as a boyband member without the fondness that HOT or GOD members have. As the Bloomberg video mentioned that authenticity is important to the reputations of music artists in America, to be “well-packaged and choreographed”, especially with a clean image, goes against everything we’ve been told authenticity is. Lady Gaga smoking pot is an example of that, because our music history shows that most great songwriters do abuse substances and go through very terrible personal lives that become the sources of inspiration.
What’s interesting is that even before the BSB and such is that way back when the US entertainment system was actually studio based just like Kpop, with their own stable of stars and TV being all sitcoms or celebrity-based variety.(And those sitcoms could be seen as analogous to today’s Kdramas) Instead of music videos, those stars would perform amazing song and dance routines in movie musicals, but nonetheless they were definitely idols. Frank Sinatra’s fangirls even had the nickname of Bobby-Soxers, the predecessors to today’s ELFs, Cassies, and SONEs. Even after the studio system collapsed boybands and girlgroups were still popular through Motown and such, like the Ronettes and the Jersey Boys. imo the death of the idol movement as the dominating force of American entertainment began around the 60s when the Vietnam War and Watergate ingrained a cynicism into American culture that prevents us from truly believing in the kind of kitsch that idols represent, as well as a mistrust of large scale systems like the studios that produce idol stars. That’s why most of the time idol stars are confined to a fan demographic of mostly tweens or younger, as they wouldn’t have necessarily grown into that cynical mindset, similar to how by the time I reached first grade kids were already rejecting Barney as beneath them. The 60s were also when lyrical content began taking precedence over melodic aesthetics, as the emphasis on introspective lyrics supported the rise of the singer-songwriter. This is reflected in The Beatles’ career, who started as a clean-image boyband sensation headlining the British Invasion but evolved into more sophisticated music(techniques, intrumentation, lyrics, etc.) as America’s music tastes changed.
Glee has come the closest to the mainstream accepting teen idol silliness, but even Glee works only because it’s also about making fun of the squeaky clean High School Musical stereotypes.
Arbitrary Greay:
That’s some incredible knowledge you got there, thanks for sharing all that insight. Despite being in the US I do not know much about the history of US idol pop music and how it evolved. I grew up in Asia until mid-late 90s with things like anime, Mando & Canto-pop, Hong Kong action movies and the only Western pop influence I had was Michael Jackson. I have a vague idea of what is considered authentic and what is not, like the video said, I am the type of person that is more concerned about being entertained rather than chasing what is “rootsy”. When I watched SNL last night with Justin Timberlake, Lady GaGa was the musical guest and I can’t help but double face palm when she performed “Born This Way”. If that’s our idea of being “authentic”, then it surely is not my cup of tea, as it was a grotesque and twisted performance and it gets your attention purely on shock value. I have no idea how people can genuinely enjoy watching such things. On the other hand I much enjoyed watching JT do the robot and other various silly antics.
The thing is, Idol groups in Asia never had the overly negative stigma that idol groups here had, of course they were also tagged with “talentless” labels and such, but it didn’t stop them from gaining widespread popularity. One of my friends who isn’t into Kpop (but is very much into Top 40 mainstream pop) keeps accusing Kpop of copying the US with all the groups and how Asian tastes are lagging 10-15 yrs behind, my response was that Kpop has always been about groups, and the popularity of groups is more of a result of the business model rather than trying to copy US trends from 10-15 yrs ago. However I will admit Kpop itself is highly influenced by the West by way of Michael Jackson, himself a product of the Motown model, which the closest thing to the business models of SM or YG today. I was instantly a fan of MJ back in the early 90s because of the addictive beats and melodies but I was more in awe with the visual experience of his dances, his performances were truely “superhero” as the video stated. In many ways Kpop performances brings back those fond memories and is the only type of pop music I know today that puts so much emphasis on live performances and looking good while doing it. While the US mainstream pop has gone away from it and has become way too commercialized without giving me the same level of enjoyment. The “authenticity” game of US pop is considered too edgy and even hardcore in Asia, and the reason why Kpop works so well compare to US content in that region is because it combines the desirable and attractive Western influences with an Asian language, personalities and values that are much easier to accept for the Asian audience.
“I am the type of person that is more concerned about being entertained rather than chasing what is “rootsy”.”
I suspect this is the stance of most people who prefer Apop to western music, including myself. Well, that and the part where I don’t know what the lyrics mean so I can’t facepalm over the stupidity of them. :3
Lady Gaga is actually someone who could have been rootsy,(have you seen her predebut performances? Holy cow.) but saw that spectacle was the way to success. Her shock value performances are kind of tongue-in-cheek at this point, seeing how far she can go before America says “enough”. Rootsy/authentic traditionally applies to non-mainstream genres. What lets Gaga be in some ways considered authentic is that she’s fully self-produced from her music to her styling, unlike someone like Rihanna who is just the performer. Authentic generally refers to the content of the lyrics and how much they personally apply to the performer.(The more they draw from the performer’s own life, the more authentic)
(BTW I thought the BEP Superbowl Halftime was the least boring show in years, but apparently the general opinion is that it was over-produced, a total sell-out, a disgrace, should have gotten “real” artists like Bon Jovi, etc. Sounds a lot like the complaints against Apop.)
The contrast to Apop is best written about here: http://www.cultofpop.com/old/2005/06/why-jpop-part-five-cult-of.html
(The article is written specific to Jpop, but I think it still applies)
Thing is, America is too large for performances to rule the day anymore. I think I went a year or two of hearing Gaga songs before I ever saw any video footage of her. MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore. Concerts rarely get DVD releases, and if they do get broadcasted on television it’s on some unknown channel available only on very expensive cable/satellite, and people watch SNL for the skits, not the performances. The most visible place to have your music performed for the nation to see is Glee, as it’s cover of Cee Lo Green is what made his song become popular. Putting the effort into live performances won’t yield as much money as cranking out another hook song will. Ironically it’s Gaga(and Katy Perry, ugh) that’s making visuals important to pop again.
2nd teaser is alright…. O-O
but still reckon Monmon’s ver was better
hoot in japanese…haha…..never heard of it!
most of their songs are quite techno and the melody is different….i just feel that…..
born to be a lady is nice! love it!
how i wish i can buy the album…T.T…
SNSD, fighting! ^^ i anticipate all your songs!
here’s the interview promoting the new album and upcoming tour
the second teaser is much better..
@Arbitrary Greay
You have a lot of interesting insights there, not only on this comment but on previous ones analyzing song structures. You should consider starting your own blog so you could Deconstruct Kpop without getting your comments buried.
I saw a documentary on AMC (I was stuck in an E.R. and couldn’t change the channel… Citizen Kane is a good movie by the way) about the Hollywood Studio System and how they managed every aspect of your professional, public, and private life. The first woman to break free had to sue under California labor laws and then had to suffer through a blacklist (hello JYJ). I of course thought of Kpop. The idol system provides great quality control while feeding the music shows, the variety shows, and the dramas, so they all have a hand in keeping it going.
1. Will the system ever break? The parade of idol groups reveals a never-ending supply of trainees who want a shot at stardom. If they have to go through the trainee system, then even better, their path is laid out for them. Moreover, aren’t choreographed dancing groups inherently a top-down system? They just don’t happen organically, unlike how a bunch of friends can get together and start a band, or a solo singer could show off his/her talent. As idol groups retire, members may launch solo careers off an existing huge fanbase, and that just may kickoff a solo trend.
2. Asians are (generally) more deferential to their elders. In the wake of the Fukushima crisis and its (mis)handling by their government and corporate heads, one Japanese analyst said it was the FIRST time he ever saw open mistrust of authority figures. So even if the idol system were to loosen its grip, would there be any meaningful changes to music styles/content/lyrics?
4. Could music shift rapidly if there was a recession, or heaven forbid, a war? We saw how the public was in no mood for idols in the aftermath of the Cheonan sinking. In the U.S. we saw how grunge arose in the early 90s in response to recession and put the 80s hair bands out of business. The mid-to-late 90s was “peace and prosperity” so we got boybands/Britney. They faded fast as we began the new millenium with recession and war, which caused its own music reactions, at first patriotic, then skeptical (Green Day, Dixie Chicks, Eminem). That was an over-simplification of recent U.S. mainstream music but you get the idea.
I know Cary Grant was the first actor to go freelance when the studio system was still in place, and managed to still become one of the greatest actors in film history, but I don’t think others were able to follow in his footsteps. The real game-changer was RKO Studios agreeing to follow government regulations, splitting the film production and theater sectors into separate companies.(Analogous to a Kpop company being both idol production and music distribution) YGEnt might be able to force the system to change similarly.
“Moreover, aren’t choreographed dancing groups inherently a top-down system? They just don’t happen organically, unlike how a bunch of friends can get together and start a band, or a solo singer could show off his/her talent.”
It could be argued that Perfume happened organically. They were all attending the Actors School in Hiroshima, and I guess they found a way to audition together to get on a label, like a band.
However, Perfume didn’t get popular until after they started being produced by Nakata Yasutaka, and being styled to match his music both in image and choreography. So while they may have formed organically, they still found success through top-down.
But what do you mean exactly by “the system”? The BSB/Nsync wave, the Spice Girls, and Jpop all prove that you don’t need the studio system to produce successful idol groups. SweetS proves that you can even produce an extremely talented group without training them for years and years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLpmUazRo7I
The oldest girl in SweetS is younger than Sooyoung, and the linked video is right around their debut, which was around when route0 disbanded. Six degrees of Apop! (And somehow two of them had managed to be in groups before SweetS!?)
There all they needed were super-harsh auditions.
“So even if the idol system were to loosen its grip, would there be any meaningful changes to music styles/content/lyrics?”
I’d say no on the content/lyrics front, because it’s a cultural thing. America’s entertainment was just as kitschy and clean before the cynicism, and as you said, the deferential and hierarchy-based Asian culture makes the spread of cynicism more difficult. Music styles are going to change anyways because as said before, Kpop watches the trends carefully unlike Jpop.
“Could music shift rapidly if there was a recession, or heaven forbid, a war?”
Your examples in US history are quite interesting since they contrast with WWII, which actually boosted the idol system as they made the rounds urging people to buy warbonds, and made escapist films to help people forget the hard times.
In Jpop the rise of Morning Musume in the late 90s was attributed to Japan being in the economic dumps and looking for a source of happiness, which idols provided. And after the earthquake, SKE48 released a single that was a gigantic “cheer up!” type song, as well as uploading a performance of one of the B-sides dedicated to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The single sold over 200k in its first week and charted for 6 weeks afterwards. UFA(a management company) also put together a charity song featuring all of their talents, including the entirety of the idol conglomerate Hello!Project.
War would probably affect Kpop in a huge way simply because a whole slew of male celebs would probably join the army. Girlgroups could probably make a killing though by entertaining the country in the meantime or helping with support efforts.
If you’re looking for Kpop deconstruction, just read The Grand Narrative.
I tried keeping up with The Grand Narrative. I read his analysis of some After School and Kara songs, and it was like I was back in Sociology class. Of course, kpop didn’t develop in a vacuum, and I do appreciate his linking things to problems in the larger Korean society. In other words, exactly the kind of things I don’t want to think about when listening to a pop song. Thus, his website is not as much … fun… as say “Ask The Korean.”
Getting back to SNSD, imagine if the girls had to divvy up their singing lines and develop their choreography themselves? The girls make it look seamless, but it is funny when one person doesn’t stand in the right position or rotates out of the center the wrong way, causing problems for the girls around her. An organic SNSD would need to decide on a true leader(s), much like say Western bands have their leaders who impose their vision on the group (Eddie Vedder, Bono).
I agree with you about the death of the live performance spectacle that I missed so much from U.S. pop stars and boybands of the recent past. You really got a lot of value for your entertainment dollar. Now just for fantasy sake, if SNSD were to ever debut in the U.S., what would that entail, exactly? Do we have shows like Music Bank? A live performance on the Today Show? Not happening if there is just one slot open per week in the summer. A performance on a late-night talk show could happen, but then the host would walk over, shake their hands, hold up their CD, and we would never hear them speak No one plays music videos. There are no variety shows to go onto to show their personalities and charm. They would be too pop for an NPR interview, but they could go on FM morning zoo shows where they would be asked rude questions, and then they would have to share mics because I don’t think radio studios are built for 9 guests (outside of the Stern show).
It’s not too late for the Wondergirls to reconsider their whole U.S. venture. Now if 2NE1 could do some collaborations with U.S. stars like will.i.am then that could possibly give them a halo effect so others might check them out. “2NE1 featuring T-Pain”!!!
Yeah, I forgot to mention that The Grand Narrative is so focussed on gender issues and is rather depressing to read, but it is the blog most dedicated to Kpop deconstruction.
It’s interesting to me that only rarely does a girlgroup have or want to have the creative control that their boyband counterparts tend to demand or get, unless they’re a band.(or After School, but that’s all Gahee. XD) They also seem much less likely to display as many non-idol talents, even when we know that they have them. T-ara’s Eunjung only did that martial arts display once, whereas Sungmin does his all the time. And we know the girls have learned boxing for conditioning purposes. Hyoyeon did mention that she was learning how to choreograph from Jaewon, but we’ve never heard anything more about that since.
Debuting in the U.S. basically means trying as hard as you can to get enough radio airplay to get your song stuck in peoples’ heads. And then doing concert tours, I guess. But mainstream success is all about radio airplay.
The late night shows could be kind of considered variety, but their interview portions are reserved for people who are already famous.
I thought the performance on So You Think You Can Dance, could have been a good opportunity, but the problem is that they just danced Nobody regular, which next to the performances of the contestants looked pathetic. If they had done something like their Rainstone Remix dance maybe it would have caught some attention.
JYJ did a whole bunch of collaborations for their album, but I don’t think it’s helped. It’s not like most people even know or care what will.i.am is doing in his spare time like producing for 2NE1.
JustaTip:
In response to SNSD being created from a top-down system. I wrote a long “dissertation” back in March and won an article contest for SNSDKorean’s 3rd anniversary on what makes Soshi Soshi and what’s makes them different than all the other pop acts. Part of my analysis argued for SNSD showing traits of being an organically created group rather than a manufactured one. SM executives probably had no idea what they heck they were putting together when they threw these nine girls into a group (with some girls being last minute additions and drop-outs), the result had more to do with luck, and maybe some credit to SNSD’s own efforts to make it work together. The type of chemistry and synergy they’ve demonstrated is not something easily fabricated in a top-down system, and their level of teamwork exceeds even some of those truly organically created bands. Many small agencies are still trying to replicate the magic with all the new groups that are debuting without realizing how difficult it is, and you can see many new groups are struggling to gain traction with the public and some completely fell off the radar. SM sure has the expertise to maximize the advantage when they’re dealt with the aces, as in the needed the luck initially for the girls to gel but knows exactly what to do with it to take it to the top, akin to a seasoned professional poker player (sorry for the gambling analogies). Keep in mind that some of the girls have known each other and been friends for years as trainees, so it is partially fostered by the top-down system, but with nine girls so many things that could go wrong, we’ve seen groups half the size go through twice the turmoil.
As for deciding on a true leader, in my opinion Taeyeon couldn’t have been a better fit for that role, she may not be the natural aggressive leader, but her style works perfectly with eight other larger-than-life personalities. She is the most senior in terms of age, plus she has the talent to back up her status (there are many leaders whom otherwise don’t demonstrate any kind of leadership in a talent category, and are leader simply because of seniority/age). As any artist who aspires to grow musically, SNSD has demonstrated their desires to have more input in the creative process, Yuri writing the lyrics to Mistake is a great start, and I expect the girls to be more involved in the production of their music going forward.
Man… my comments for some reason keeps getting filtered into the approval process even when I’m not attaching any links to it. Has the board identified me as some kind of troll? LOL.
Man … the discussion on this post goes beyond the actual title.
The comments doesn’t talk about the release anymore, but more towards the showbiz and the system behind it.
Anyway, I’m so grateful. Since I started reading this blog, I got a lot of lessons and learn a lot of new things about the music, the business, the entertainment industry, and the culture as well.
Keep posting guys! Share us your insight and your perspective.
Yea, we really need a forum for off-topic discussions. Plus I thought we showed more than enough enthusiasm for the new release, that we should probably talk about something enlightening instead of just spazzing all the time.
There are websites designed for that specific purpose, you know. Unless you want to petition for a portion of this site to be dedicated towards discussions for topics such as “the music, the business, the entertainment industry, and the culture as well.” like what Microbot has mentioned. Or as an alternative, you could move the off-topic discussion(s) to any of the long-forgotten posts that nobody seems to bother visiting any more since this fansite has tons of them instead of flooding recent posts with semi-irrelevant yet educative discussions. There may be a few who might support this suggestion, especially those who benefit from not only reading up on SNSD from this blog in their spare time, but also learning from the wealth of information laid bare in front of them, especially RagingXL, JustaTip, Arbitrary Greay and LadyIngraine, but I wouldn’t count on it.
btw Terrez, GB match, 5v5 on BO this Friday. Dom’ on WMD.
Man … I imagine someday we could make a book about our ladies, based on materials from posts and comments on this very blog.
Since this blog has almost day by day updates about our ladies, their activities, their achievements, and our thoughts about them. I think we could make some kind of chronicle, a SNSD chronicle. There are enough materials and there are also a lot of people posting here who are very good in writing, sharing their thoughts, and analyzing other people’s comments. They could be the authors.
What do you think?
Thanks for the reminder, Emi.
Glad to see you got my message and posted the comment.
Say… what brings you to SNSDKorean? I know it’s kind of a dumb question since I asked you to do this as a favour.
I hesitate to plug, because I’m even more abrasive/argumentative over there, but I do a lot of discussing at the snsd_ffa lj community. We’re not necessarily fully supportive of SNSD over there, though, despite the name and still being fans.
I guess another alternative would be to have a “discussion post” that gets put up every week similar to the OMNTD and Dramabeans FFA Fridays, so that any discussions that pop up in comments can continue in that thread instead. That way they’re more easily found than if we moved to a dead thread.
This.
Whatever floats your boat is all Emi and I have to say.
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