Kim Suk-young chooses to analyze “Twinkle” by TaeTiSeo and “Who You?” by G-Dragon, as they are two practices of pre-recorded video works that aim to imitate the aesthetics of a live performance, rather than conforming to the K-pop phenomenon of having a kaleidoscopic theme. What is another example of a K-pop music video that shares the characteristics that Kim identifies in “Twinkle” and “Who You?” Discuss your additional video using concepts Kim introduced in her chapter 3.
Kim Suk-young explains liveness in music videos as “a commitment to interactiveness” (2018, 198). Many of these music videos that stray away from the kaleidoscopic rule find inspiration from American Broadway musicals especially from the Roaring 20’s, which displayed live performances with a “crisscrossing of multiple temporal destinations and spatial zones that illuminates the interface among K-pop, Broadway and Hollywood” (Kim 2018, 161). Liveness in music videos not only allow interaction between the audience and the star to create a sense of closeness, as if the audience was actually in front of the star, but also a sense of nostalgia created by these multiple temporal destinations.
D-LITE, better known as Daesung from Big Bang’s Japanese single “Look At Me, Gwisun” is another example that exemplifies liveness in music videos that share characteristics with Taetiseo’s “Twinkle”, as analyzed by Kim. The music video starts off with a regular D-LITE turning on the television in his home where a much more glamorized D-LITE is about to perform a song. Later on, we see him dancing along to the performance at home. These scenes showcase the performance aspect of the video as regular D-LITE is the audience watching the live show, much like a Broadway musical, as well as the interaction and response between audience and star even though it’s through a television screen. A lot of the video consists of D-LITE performing on a stage with other dancers, spotlighted by theatric lighting and a neon sign spelling out his name. These components in the music video are very similar to Taetiseo’s “Twinkle”, where the girls perform on a stage illuminated by neon signs resemblant to cabaret shows and eclectic Broadway musicals from the 1920’s. The videos “deploy conscious signs of a proscenium stage to invoke the notion of live performance” (Kim 2018, 181). The style of “Look At Me, Gwisun” and its music video is inspired by trot, an homage to the earlier decades of Korean popular music, which find its roots from Japan. This reference to a previous time period leaves the audience feeling nostalgic for the past. Nostalgia plays a prominent role in Japan’s perception of their cultural authenticity and identity and actually strengthens their nostalgic nationalism. (Han 2008, 25). This is probably why the song appeals to the Japanese audience so well, even if its outside of the typical K-pop genre.
It would be great to see K-pop straying away from the status quo of music videos and instead embrace liveness, as it has a unique power to sell the experience and music (Kim 2018, 164) as well as increase interactiveness with its audience. They’re not only able to portray a different kind of story but also allow the audience to feel like they’re part of it as well, creating a level of intimacy and realism that isn’t experienced through flashy music videos that feature solely focused on the idols themselves.
Author: Nia Ru
Citations:
Han, Benjamin Min. “Reliving Winter Sonata: memory, nostalgia, and identity.” Post Script, Summer 2008, 25+. Literature Resource Center
Kim, Suk-Young. K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018.
AILEE 
Nia, I like it, it’s a surprising choice to compare to Kim’s examples, but everything is going well until (Bam!) the essay suddenly ends. I feel like you’re missing something, at the very least make your conclusion a separate paragraph and expand on it a bit (you certainly aren’t near 500 words yet, are you?). I’d also like to hear your own take on why nostalgic things that refer to -another- culture are successful in communicating with a Japanese audience (since this song was in Japanese for the Japanese viewer). That’s a complicated topic, but… it seems like you’ve just rushed over it and I’d like to hear more.
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Thanks for the helpful feedback Dr. Saeji! I will be sure to elaborate more on my essay based on your comments.
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Firstly, I agree with Dr. Saeji in having a distinct body paragraph for your conclusion. Nevertheless, I would like to commend your essay as it not only incorporates Kim’s ideas of liveness, but also looks at “Look At Me, Gwisun” side-by-side to “Twinkle.” It would be interesting if you (or your group members) could attempt to unpack how and why D-Lite’s music video attempts to compile all these different performance mediums together, and how that could comment on the idea of spectatorship that is involved in “liveness.”
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D-Lite’s “Look at me, Gwisun” is able to create this “liveness” by relating to the feelings of the audience. His music video is different from the usual flashy Kpop videos in a sense where we feel like we are part of the journey rather than just watching something unattainable from a far. For example, by having the introduction scene being a representation of us the viewer, it immediately creates a sense of connection to our desire for success which is portrayed in the television. When it starts doing the dance and you see all the different types of people doing it, it further adds onto the interactiveness because it portrays that anyone can do it regardless of your background. Overall, although the music is flashy, it provides us with this sense of interactiveness and “liveness” because it makes it seems like it is still within our reach unlike flashy Kpop videos which make it seem like you are just watching idols do something that is impossible in reality.
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Thanks for your helpful feedback Ms. Wang! I will definitely work a little more on my conclusion.
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Well re-watching the music video “Twinkle”. i see that the music video was definitely inspired by hollywood and the roaring 20’s. The clothes that SNSD wears and the backdrop in most scenes follow the style of the old hollywood. i feel that this attachment to the US and to hollywood is a major part in korean music itself. They aspire towards hollywood and aspire towards becoming famous internationally, especially to become famous in America. It’s quite funny how much Korea looks to America fame-wise. There’s hollywood in the US and Hallyu in Korea. With this music video, Kpop’s aspiration is even more emphasized. The title being twinkle would mean the music video is in a sense about becoming a star and famous worldwide. Yet most of the scenes we see are depictions of fame that happens in hollywood. Like the red carpets and all the paparazzis fighting to get a shot of the idols. Although this does happen in Korea, it’s has been much more known to happen in America. Along with the red carpet, Hallyu and kpop possibly adopted many of it’s celebrity symbols from hollywood and America. But that seems reasonable since Hollywood is the biggest entertainment industry worldwide and also what most countries aim for in their own entertainment industries. Moreover in this day and age we see that Hallyu has progressed so much compared to when it started. Hallyu and Kpop has become one of the biggest industries in Korea, a strong supporting power in Korea’s economy, and so i find it quite silly for Kpop to still be aspiring towards Hollywood. Instead they should work thrive to be the number 1 entertainment industry all over the world and aspire to become Hollywood’s rival and not their partner. Since competition promotes growth, Kpop and Hallyu shouldn’t try to adopt the american ways but instead try to become better than America. Ultimately strong competition between the two entertainment industries would benefit the consumers since it creates more original and novel material for public. In conclusion from what i see the korean entertainment industry and become more and more advanced and it’s contents becoming more and more refreshing and interesting.
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You make very good points and I agree with many things you said except the part about Hallyu and Kpop being Hollywood’s rival. Firstly, you say that Kpop should thrive to be the number one entertainment industry in the world. To my knowledge, Hollywood can be considered the number one industry in the world for film and television, and that is based on grossed profits. Kpop and Hallyu seem to follow a different structure, focusing more on the idols rather than Hollywood’s heavy focus on the contents. I believe that these two structures should not be rivals because they fill different niches. Furthermore, according to many instances of game theory, competition will only reduce the reward for both sides. If they are partnered together and both benefits, then they will have the greatest potential value. If they spend the time and energy being each other’s rivals, it will reduce both side’s potential values in order to have a “winner”. I personally believe that there can’t be one sole industry like Hollywood that con dominate the whole world. What Hallyu and Kpop does well is taking what the people are already familiar with such as Hollywood and adding their own cultural and personal tastes in order to affect their target market, may that be consumers or other businesses.
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I think that the interactiveness of MVs certainly do make them much more lively and able to connect better with the fans. But I feel that this sort of interaction between the idols and the fans can be achieved in other ways through MVs that don’t feature a live-performance-like concept. For example, although most MVs showcase dancing elements along with other aspects such as a story, a further synthesis can be seen in MVs that feature a story or a message being told through the dancing. In other words, the dance elements are crucial to the overall story or song. An example of this is BTS’ “Fake Love” where the dance moves convey several key messages that are important both to the song and to the story behind the song. One of these messages is “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” which is conveyed through hand gestures.
While this may not be quite similar to the sort of live-performance aspect seen in G-Dragon’s “Who You?” and TaeTiSeo’s “Twinkle,” the interactiveness of MVs such as BTS’ “Fake Love” can be exemplified through the story-like aspect of their dances. This is because, instead of MVs that feature an array of random concepts coupled with dancing elements, or MVs that only play out a story in a mini-movie format, MVs like BTS’ “Fake Love” are interactive in a way that when they perform that song live, the audience can see the story that was being told through the MV in their dance moves. So, in a way, the live performance is almost like the MV itself, because when you’re watching them perform the song live, you can see the elements of the story being told and unfolded through their dance. Thus, fans who learn the dance will also be able to tell this story, and in that sense, there’s a sort of interactive aspect at play between the idols and the fans.
Although it’s refreshing to see MVs like “Who You?” where there’s a kind of “story” being told through the fans’ perspective, I feel that there are definitely other ways that MVs can incorporate this sort of “interactiveness” too. BTS’ “Fake Love” – at least to me – has an interactive element in it which differs from the live-performance-like MVs, but still manages to connect with the fans in a way by telling a story through their dancing. In any case, it’s interesting to see the different types of strategies and elements that MVs may use to interact with the fans.
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Great post! I certainly enjoyed watching Taetiseo’s “Twinkle” as the concept for the music video was quite different from your usual atypical K-pop video. It was exciting to watch a video filled with concepts that I was very familiar with. It’s also interesting to note that the above music videos you’ve chosen to focus on all incorporate an American-style live performance. It ties back to the class material we’ve learned during lecture, reinforcing the claim that K-pop in general is heavily influenced by western influences and both Hollywood and Broadway are major influencers in American culture. By reinforcing western concepts and culture throughout their music video, idols are also able to attract a difference audience. International fans who are a fan of Hollywood or Broadway will watch the video and feel a connection, even though they may be unfamiliar with Korean culture and are not able to understand the lyrics.
As you mentioned, these K-pop videos exemplify liveness through the use of a live performance theme. I think liveness is important to increase interaction between the artists’ and their fans. It’s another form of promotion to keep fans feeling connected, engaged and heard by their favorite idol group. Aside from their music videos, idol groups often have fan meetings to provide an opportunity to greet and thank their fans. Holding concerts and tours are another example of creating a magical experience between the fans and artists. By experiencing their live performance in person, it creates feelings of excitement and happiness for those attending, which is what I believe they are also trying to portray and imitate with live performance themed music videos.
– Cathy Leung
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