OP-ED: The Importance of The Naughty K-pop Song

- and I don't mean the visual part of it. That's a whole other story.

I know, I got all excited about it too.

 What I mean to really say is that last week, in the mists of  the February-Boy-Group-Come-Back-Week-Where- Everybody-And-Their-Mom-Except-Exo-Made-A-Comeback-Or-Announced-It, I came across Teen Top's new video for "I Wanna Love" ( total ear worm. I hated it at first, I swear, and now it eats my brain), and in between fighting the worm and wondering why the hell Chunji was eating all that canned pineapple, I remembered the last Teen Top song I got the feels for, aka 2011's " No More Perfume On You".

Looking back, if you had hit the kpop scene then, you probably remember some of the backlash the lyrics got from not just the media, or the ban hammer MOGEF, but from some slightly embarrassed fans, and even some writers on what we consider the "dirty West side" of the cultural spectrum.

Why?

Cuz those little shits are dancing around like underweight cherubs saying "Noona!"

Ahem.  I mean:

..." NOONA DON'T WEAR PERFUME OR  IT'LL GET ON MY STUFF WHILE WE GRIND IT UP ON THE DANCE FLOOR AND MY GIRLFRIEND WILL SMELL IT ON ME!"

As most fans will tell you, it was kind of inappropriate, and slimy, especially from the female majority point of view.

 But you know what the interesting part of all of this was?

That I actually liked it better after I found out what the lyrics meant. And it's not because I'm a pedonoona; these boys are certainly smaller and better looking than I probably am, but we're not so far apart on the number line. No. What I mean to say is that in a pop culture up to the neck in saccharine love songs, and a pretty strict ideal of propriety (despite all the leg and crotch shots) it was quite the pace changer.

 I liked it because it was different from the usual kpop fanfare full of utter devotion, declarations of love, of helplessness without one's other half. Think about how often we hear all the " What should I do!? Otoooooke" or the " Saranghae! Saranghae!" or the "I'm going crazy because of you!"

Hearing something like "No More Perfume", and finding it morally ambiguous, was fun. It was an eyebrow waggler, provocative and salacious in a way that didn't go straight to our groins. Now, I'm not saying I support infidelity, or that cheating is ever a good thing- but it happens. I don't personally believe that anyone ever cheats on a loved one with the intent to hurt them. If someone finds themselves in the mindset to cheat- in that kind of loneliness, or lack of self control, or in need for validation that their self esteem or comfort from their other half can't fulfill, then it's pretty tragic. It's a selfish and bitch-ass thing to do, and maybe you should rethink whether you want to be with that kind of person, but it's also understandable. Not convinced?  Let's take the flip side too; why are songs like "That XX" or Code V's "Addiction" considered  romantic and sympathetic? The narrator in both songs is eying up somebody else's girlfriend. He is potentially going to seduce her. Unrequited love comes not without repercussions and mal intent or jealousy, but often enough in such cases we give our sympathy to the "underdog" and root for him anyway. Either way both that unrequited in love protagonist and the cheating boyfriend might make some pretty selfish decisions.Both scenarios are equally human, and equally morally ambiguous.

It's this kind of human dilemma that kpop tends to lack in it's glitzy repertoire; we have all sorts of dramatic and tragic lyrics, or happy wake up calls, or mushy love songs, but in real life, people make really dumb decisions, or have really bad habits. A song about some of these more morally ambiguous subjects isn't promoting it either. It's telling a story and being relatable to other people. If human art and music is supposed to reflect the human experience, isn't everything outside the "ideal" game too? Sex and the questions of fidelity/infedelity are a big part of the human identity and the cultures we come from, and not just useful for advertising and shock factors.  And it's not that it isn't understandable why kpop is so idealistic; pop music as a whole from anywhere is a form of entertainment for the masses, meant to be easily accessible and easy to understand. However, when we get something like this or Taeyang, G-Dragon, and B1A4's similar "After You Fall Asleep", "Today", and "Baby Good Night", you step into a darker territory, and that territory is for thinking. The fact that there is a moral dilemma presented to the audience, forces them to philosophize on their personal values, the origins of those values, society, and human nature.

The difficult part about this kind of territory though, is that it's definately not a popular escapist method. I know I turn to kpop for it's colorful, upbeat, and fun decorum for the most part, and I'm pretty sure that's true for a whole lot of other kpop fans. When it's really taken a stab at, it kind of changes genre because of the deliberate art direction taken in presenting controversial subject matter.

For example, the music video to one of my favorite tracks of all time, Tablo's "Bad" had a racy and violent video, juxtaposing the sad lyrics of the song with a brooding color scheme and some very graphic depictions of violence and sexuality meant to portray an abusive relationship. However, the themes on addiction, losing faith in people and yourself-not just romantically but in life, allowed people to find themselves thinking and relating to it on a higher level than they could to other typical pop songs.

 But Tablo himself isn't technically considered a part of the mainstream kpop scene, and is well known for penning thought provoking or dark subject matter. Because of this, nobody really frowned around about "Bad". Most reviews called it something like a beautiful and moving artistic endeavor.

( It totally was.)

But the point is that though the writers and producers of  something like "No More Perfume On You" probably weren't trying to make a huge artsitic statement about human nature- it doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate the importance of it's kind of content on another level. Heck, just because something hasn't been dished and spoon fed to you, doesn't mean you can't have it. If there's one thing I've learned as a writer and reader, it's that you can interpret anything any way you see fit, if there's evidence for it. And the more apt you are to look into things that way, the more in touch you are with your emotional IQ.


 So overall it might be kind of different, and it might be kind of harsh; it might even be ugly, but I think we all need to stop frowning, analyze our own double standards, and kind of appreciate the artistry of The Naughty K-pop Song, the same way we all have a little something "ugly" or complex about ourselves we need to interpret to really understand who we are.


Has anybody else identified some Naughty K-pop Song specimens?
Here's some honorable mention:

-GD's " Obsession" and "She's Gone";
-Kim Jaejoong's "Mine"
-Big Bang's "Ain't No Fun" and "Monster"