celeb news Kpop producer on the success of Cupid: “music, not the bling”

[fememeist]

 

https://amp.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/bands/article/3220298/k-pop-phenomenon-fifty-fiftys-producer-siahn-groups-winning-formula-prioritising-essence-music-over

 

Quote

K-pop phenomenon Fifty Fifty’s producer Siahn on the group’s winning formula – prioritising ‘the essence of the music’ over looks

• Girl group Fifty Fifty’s song Cupid made them the fastest-ever K-pop act to land on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where they’ve now been for seven weeks
• Siahn, the man behind the small-label quartet, reveals how tackling ‘fatigue points’ and prioritising music over aesthetics has made them an unlikely success
• When launching Fifty Fifty, the producer says the main goal was to create something that would transcend the traditional K-pop genre and give birth to music that would remain relevant for years to come.
• 

 

he literally said music not the bling

 

 

[elevate]

They're all pretty, though. And if by "transcend the Kpop genre" they meant "create a generic Western sound" then they are correct, they did do that 

 

It's a fun song and I'm happy for their success but let's not pretend that it's some groundbreaking feat. Contrary to popular belief, there is a decent amount of innovation in the Kpop sphere. I think Teddy also talks about how he doesn't like the "K" added to "pop" and wants to transcend that, too, and then also creates very generic beats, lol. 

[Gorjesspazze9]

Kpop is just Korean music. It ain’t that deep

[cyclone]

That song is the definition of booty especially the vocals and mixing

[cyclone]

They need to rename that song "midpid" instead of 'cupid'

[Orsay]

it just sounds like a generic Western pop song  it is a bop though im not mad!

[Heirloom]

7 minutes ago, cyclone said:

That song is the definition of booty especially the vocals and mixing

 

7 minutes ago, cyclone said:

They need to rename that song "midpid" instead of 'cupid'

 

Damn ma is it that serious

[cyclone]

5 minutes ago, Heirloom said:

 

 

Damn ma is it that serious

I hate that ******* song

[Yawn]

tbh the song is resonating hard with the geepee. imagine if this song had BTS or BP unhinged fanbase inflating the numbers on top of the casual listener breakthrough. 

[rhaenyra]

The song is good but he's acting like he's Mozart 

It's not that deep sir 

[HASHTAGPOW]

Teddy Park outsold 

[OrgVisual]

7 hours ago, elevate said:

They're all pretty, though. And if by "transcend the Kpop genre" they meant "create a generic Western sound" then they are correct, they did do that 

 

It's a fun song and I'm happy for their success but let's not pretend that it's some groundbreaking feat. Contrary to popular belief, there is a decent amount of innovation in the Kpop sphere. I think Teddy also talks about how he doesn't like the "K" added to "pop" and wants to transcend that, too, and then also creates very generic beats, lol. 

all of this. If people truly think a Doja Cat leftover is music not the bling then sure jan...

[New Edition]

Hybe and YG fans are losing it over this being a hit while pretending to be unbothered

 

The success of this song not only exposed BP and BTS's supposed "American success" (with no hits ) but also came at a time when we all thought Hybe's new gg New Jeans would be in this position at the beginning of the year with Ditto. 

 

It's all a ki 

[New Edition]

In fact big company KPOP stans in general are very mad about this group/song and I foresee its gonna get ugly once this song reaches Top 5.

[jorjapuss]

The song is huge. I see a lot of random videos using the sound on YouTube short , tik tok etc

[Beyonnaise]

Stans of kpop artists who make nothing but drivel calling this song generic is a scream 

 

It's a cute little TikTok jingle, but bigger than any in the West in many years, probably since Gangnam Style. I kinda love the way this unknown group and company came out of nowhere to slay this hard. A disruptor!

[Chemist]

it's cute but there is nothing groundbreaking about it . It resonated with the western audience because:

 

• They released an English version almost immediately
• it doesn't have cringe-worthy rap parts with lame lyrics
• it doesn't have the annoying high-pitched singing voice that K-pop often embraces in groups like Twice

[Grizzo]

Cupid sounds like a poppier version of Kiss Me More to me (but less catchy of course) 

[IVY]

[cloudbusting]

the girls in here getting mad already 

 

Tell Me deserved but I’m so happy they’re having this moment

 

 

[Phaunzie]

What in the generic hell?, Ten seconds into the song and I could tell this was made to capitalise on the American market and make money. Literally this is just a generic western pop song with Korean singers.

 

It is nothing special. Not even a Kpop fan, this lacks personality and sounds like a manicured, formulaic, creativity bankrupt pop song.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Phaunzie

[Communion]

21 hours ago, elevate said:

They're all pretty, though. And if by "transcend the Kpop genre" they meant "create a generic Western sound" then they are correct, they did do that 

What? The success of Cupid is shocking because it's the kind of cheesy bright song traditionally Korean audiences, not Western audiences, would eat up.  You'd expect a Blackpink song to smash in the US, not this.

[fememeist]

34 minutes ago, Phaunzie said:

What in the generic hell?, Ten seconds into the song and I could tell this was made to capitalise on the American market and make money. Literally this is just a generic western pop song with Korean singers.

 

It is nothing special. Not even a Kpop fan, this lacks personality and sounds like a manicured, formulaic, creativity bankrupt pop song.

Generic doesn’t mean much if word of mouth and just being a damn good catchy song helped this song propel into the worldwide hit that it is, and we’ve heard other generic pop songs from our western girlies, so once it’s made by an Asian it’s suddenly held to a higher level of criticism 

[elevate]

2 hours ago, Communion said:

What? The success of Cupid is shocking because it's the kind of cheesy bright song traditionally Korean audiences, not Western audiences, would eat up.  You'd expect a Blackpink song to smash in the US, not this.

But even "cheesy bright song" has a lot of variants, and I think Cupid leans more into the light, dreamy, earworm vibe more so established with Western songs than with Korean ones, and that have already proven to be hits with others, like BTS's Boy With Luv a few years ago which I also really like

 

 

 

 

I think the lighter Kpop songs that you're associating with SNSD, Girl's Day, and more poppy Sistar and Kara are being produced by nugus like this:

 

 

And these songs, which have roots in 90s Jpop as well, generally don't do well with Western audiences. Have a quick skim through the songs and you can hear the distinct difference between cheesy Kpop and cheesy Western stuff. Both fun in their own way, though. I still think it's a shock to see a random group achieve success like this, but the producer pretending like he's done something new is silly to me. 

[Phaunzie]

12 hours ago, fememeist said:

Generic doesn’t mean much if word of mouth and just being a damn good catchy song helped this song propel into the worldwide hit that it is, and we’ve heard other generic pop songs from our western girlies, so once it’s made by an Asian it’s suddenly held to a higher level of criticism 

Pls tell me how this doesn't sound like the type of western pop song that beaten to death? It is generic, hun and I can say it with certainity. It also doesn't matter if it was made by an Asian, it is still a generic pop song, in sound, in lyrics and in formula. I have no problem criticizing today pop so no I am gonna treat it the same as with another western pop songs.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Phaunzie