College of Medical Technology
Legazpi City
PROJECT IN LOGIC:
HAS K-POP
LOWERED OUR MUSIC STANDARDS?
(A Term Paper)
Submitted by:
Angelica Mae C. Andes
BSMT-1
Submitted to:
Mrs. Deborah Monge
HAS K-POP LOWERED OUR MUSIC STANDARDS?
By Jason Yu (a.k.a. Yangta) 4:46 am - 01/01/2013
Its 10 PM on Saturday in the bustling city of Seoul, Korea. As a gentle breeze swept through the capital, nightfall was well underway. One of the biggest K-pop concerts in the capital had just arrived at its finale.
As thousands of screaming, cheery fans started their mass exodus from Olympic Park stadium to the nearby subways, I started to follow suit alongside the exiting press members. While nearly every fan left happy, with smiles and laughter abound, I was torn. “Korea’s #1 group” signs were flown earlier, while squeals of “SNSD is the best, most talented group in Korean music!” were heard in unison. Yet, I wondered how fans defined “best” and “most talented.”
While I do support K-pop, I was also disappointed at what I just witnessed at the concert. I may be hated by many for saying this, but has K-pop really distorted our musical tastes for the worse?
Last year, one of the largest concerts, the 2011 Girls Generation Tour, took place to the delight of many fans here in Korea. As one can imagine, the coverage of the concert was insane. From new stations covering the venue, nearly every Korean music site reporting on it, to even fans as far as France and the US flying in, the nine ladies were the object of everyone’s affection. It seemed the ladies that popularized the words “Gee”, “Hoot”, “Tell Me Your Wish”, and “Run Devil Run” into K-pop lexicon could do no wrong this night.
But there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. The thoughts that many other, incredibly talented singers were being snuffed out by the idol pop machine. There is the feeling that the musical bar was set too low in recent years.
Was