After listening to nearly every PSY song in the music artist’s extensive collection of Korean pop club tracks, I naturally became curious as to what popular tunes Koreans have been listening to that aren’t produced by the Gangnam Style-dancing, Daddy-loving icon. Going into my K-Pop hits experience, I halfway expected all of the music to be of the same caliber of weirdness as PSY. It didn’t take long for me to realize, however, that PSY has his own unique style that represents only a small portion of what Korea has to offer.
As is usually also the case for the American Top 40, today’s K-Pop actually has plenty of variety ranging from rap to soul ballads, and is really no stranger than its American counterpart. Because I prefer upbeat over slow and dramatic (especially in this case; the words being in a foreign language means the music is all I can really judge by), I picked out three of the catchiest, most head-bopping pop songs to recently come out of Korea that have nothing to do with Mr. P-S-Y.
"Good Boy" by G-Dragon & Taeyang. Easy to dance to, as showcased by its choreographed music video, "Good Boy" is as purely modern club track as they come. The guttural noise progressions and the sprinkled in "Hey, hey, hey's" found throughout the song seem to be drawing influences from DJ Snake and DJ Mustard respectively, and these musical choices, combined with the high-pitched chorus, make this catchy song feel both familiar and fresh, if a little repetitive.
"Body Language" by San E feat. BUMKEY. With its English-spoken chorus, lighthearted easy-listening vibe, and over-the-top pseudo-subtle sexual lyrical content, "Body Language" nearly passes as a pop song straight off of the American charts. The progressively quicker flow of the rapping in the verses, cleverly egged on by a woman begging to go "faster," although majorly in Korean, held my attention for the duration of the song, and easily warrants repeated listening. Because of its memorability, I chose this song to represent San E over "Sour Grapes," his Hoodie Allen-esque effort with Mad Clown, but both of these tunes really put this Korean rapper’s talent on display.
"Awoo" by Lim Kim. "Awoo" is a unique song, delivering a simple, trance-like track with an elegant flair. With more than a little help from the English subtitles, I was able to figure out that the meaning behind the bright pastel-colored dollhouse imagery shown in its music video was depicting a woman who takes remorseless pleasure in being a romantic tease. The tune perfectly accompanies this message, and, perhaps more importantly, is delivered in a way that’s extremely easy on the ears.
