Saturday, May 22, 2010

Current Obsession


Hi guys! WOWW!!! its been like 2 months!!! i'm sooo inconsistent!!!
gahh ok well i can't make any promises but i'll definitely try to post more!

Ok well today, i felt the need to kinda do a post on my current obsession. which is the GazettE.
well actually, J-Rock in general has been the focus of most of my internet surfing sessions!
i've always liked Japanese fashion and culture, but until recently, i was more interested in the Korean music industry and all that good stuff.

so dont get me wrong, i still love Korean culture, food, music..etc. but Japan has really got a hold of me. back when i was an obsessed K-pop fangirl, i didnt even take the time to expand my music range, and for a period of about 3 years, i was all about K-pop. I was always about Korean this, Korean that...if it was Korean, i wanted it! It all started back in 8th grade until about the middle of my Junior year..yeah talk about obsession. But the korean music industry was different than how it is now. Back then, TVXQ was the thing! they were my obsession *literally* i was crazy about them! i bought a lot of their collectors items online. i have photobooks, albums, posters; you name it, i probably have it. So yeah they were the ones that made me really fall in love with Korean music...or so i thought.

i came to realize later that i didn't really LOVE their music....i loved their image. i was trapped by the false image of perfection and i really thought that i was in love with their "talent".
now again, dont get me wrong, they ARE super talented, but i really liked the way they LOOKED. and i didn't really realize how important that was until this past February, which is when i kinda transitioned from K-pop fangirl to J-rock lover.

Now i'm going to sort of compare K-pop and J-rock and tell you why i like j-rock better. so this is purely my personal opinion and i dont expect everyone to agree. but i thought i would let you know.

First of all...Kpop is fun; its upbeat and the artists are undeniably HOT and Sexy and CUTe. but......thats all that matters in the k-pop industry. as long as you have a likable face, a hot body and decent dancing skills, you're in! It doesnt matter if you can sing or not. now a perfect example of this would be Dara from 2ne1. i LOVE 2ne1 i think they are so fun and they are really about girl power which is awesome and i think that the other 3 members are very very talented. but Dara...just isn't. Shes a pretty good dancer, she can't really sing, but she's very cute! and yet shes very popular. i like her but i just dont think shes all that.
in k-pop its about how popular you can get and how many people you can get to like you!
there are groups like SNSD who i think could do without some members. i mean for Pete's sake, theres nine girls, i don't even know all their names!

well anyways. i feel like the music itself is often pointless and have no story and no moral.
it has no emotional significance. k-pop nowadays is basically just a good beat and a the most of the time, the lyrics are stupid and repetative. All k-pop songs are ALL about the SAME thing!! if the songs arent about how much you love someone, then its about how much you miss someone. and if its not about that, its about how you dont need that person. its kinda annoying sometimes. but i have to admit, its catchy and fun...so i cant say that i hate it.

On the other hand though....J-rock..where do i even start??...its simply amazing.
i feel like with J-rock you get the perfect mix of eye-candy, talent and personality and on top of that, the meanings of the songs are really such an emotional trip.
im just going to talk about the GazettE because they are my FAVORITE!
so Ruki is my fav. and hes also the vocalist and he writes a good majority of their songs.
so hes definitely SUPER talented and i just cant find words to tell how much i love him..

Now. before i got tooo deep into j-rock, i had to assure myself that i wasn't into it because of the same reasons i got into k-pop...does that make sense? in other words i had to make sure that i didnt like J-rock because the artists are Hot. you know? and i dont like them just because they're hot! i love j-rock because i feel like when i listen to some of the songs, i can release soo much emotion through them. when i'm pissed, i can listen to a hardcore song and i feel better immediately! when i'm happy, its fun to just kinda head-bang to some songs, when i'm sad there are the ballad type rock songs that are really an emotional release. So not only do i get someone to look at, but their music really touches me in many ways.

and unlike the multiple member k-pop groups, j-rock bands NEED all of their members!! i mean without a drummer, theres no beat. without guitarists, theres no melody...no vocalist, you might as well quit. must i say more?..i mean they arent like the korean pretty boys who are all about how they look and dance, when j-rock bands get on stage its about the music and the atmosphere. *well thats how it is with the GazettE*
When the GazettE gets on stage, they just let go and they let the music be the show.
they don't try to become popular with their looks. *even though they are EXTREMELY sexy*

i dont know i just feel like in all aspects, j-rock is the best choice for me. k-pop is fun occasionally, but it gets boring when all the groups are doing the SAME things over and over and over again. if you don't agree with me, its cool. i just wanted to get my opinion out there! alright so in the comments just let me know what you guys think!! it would be fun to hear some of your opinions too!!

LOVE you guys!

-Melody

10 comments:

  1. I completely agree with you. Some K-Pop songs are FULL of emotion, but the vast majority of them are repetitive and meaningless. The ones that do have meaning are the same old story played to a different tune. I really like the catchy songs and the bubbly rhythms that K-Pop puts forth but one of my reason's for beginning to like K-Pop was the fact that it wasn't like America's mainstream music. I was different. But it seems that lately, the musical styles and some of the visual styles are very similar if not the same. I know that America has a big influence over the rest of the world, but I was hoping K-Pop would retain some originality. I'm not saying that every style acquired by K-Pop artists are copied, because the fact remains the Korea has some of the best fashion in the world regardless of America's influence but things like auto-tune that have become overly used in America are on the brink of overuse in the K-Pop industry. You don't even have to be an above average singer anymore, all you need is plastic surgery nowadays. J-Rock is unlike any other music I've ever heard, and on the contrary, the U.S. rock bands tend to mimic them. I rarely ever hear the same concept in J-Rock/Visual Kei music. I love K-Pop immensity but lately things seem to be a little redundant, or maybe I've just recently realized it. You jumped from K-Pop, to J-Rock, while I jumped from J-Rock to K-Pop back to J-Rock. I feel a little bad, like I'm bad-mouthing a genre I claim to be a fan of. I am still a fan, not really a fan of the current K-POP but the past. Thanks for posting this though! I realize now that I'm not the only one who's started to see K-Pop this way.

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  2. It's good to see kpop fans becoming J-Rock fans.
    I've liked kpop too before this but it gets stale after some time.
    It's meaningless and repetitive compared to J-Rock.
    I think most of the reasons have been mentioned by the previous commentator. lol
    Anyway,my fav band is GazettE too.
    And my fav member is Uruha,he's just SMEXY.
    GAZEROCK IS NOT DEAD! =D

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  3. i agree with you in the sense that they make a repeating lyrics and with the faces.. but i disagree someone in the talent.. their talented too...
    i'm a kpoper and i also love apop.. and somehow i listen too jpop.. and now because of this blog i'll try jrock.... being kpop doesn't mean you will stop from exploring, dont lock yourself..-- ROUKI

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  4. Hey i agree with you.

    K-pop, the songs can be nice and fun to listen to or simply party songs. of coz some will really touch your heart but,
    i stll prefer J ROCK.

    like what you said, Jrock songs hold strong meanings in it. its all about this real world and its happenings, how they look at it.
    by the way, I AM A GAZETTE FAN. :)
    (hehe I GO FOR URUHA~)
    i simply love their songs and Ruki's mesmerizing voice. the 5 of them let their emotions bring them into the song which portray their true feelings, the feeling they want the song to be.
    im you can tell from Ruki's voice that he do not only sing a song. its the feel.

    and their LIVEs, AMAZING.
    i think only GazettE can do it. perhaps im too extreme but i truly think that only GazettE can make it to such an extent.
    All the Headbanging and stuff. AWW I LOVE IT AND I WANT TO GO FOR THEIR UPCOMING Nameless Liberty Six Bullets. but i cant ...

    main point is, GAZETTE IS JUST SUPERRR.
    Songs created by Jrock bands are much more insightful isn't it. one can really sink into the song easily and escape from the real world if one needs to.

    continue J ROCK-ING \M/

    |LOVE DIM SCENE| this album is the sex.

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  5. For me...

    well I have always been a Japan fan. Since young. And I have always loved Japan music and J-rock. I found out that Japanese song lyrics have more meaning then certain Western ones. I thought Korean songs BACK THEN had the same too. Infact they did. But today's Korean music scene is like what you have mentioned. To me...it has become like crap. Prolly worst than those American ones.

    BEfore I knew that, well when I enrolled in college, my class was full of kpop freaks. So I then discovered about Korea. And I wondered why was everyone liking it. I TRIED to get into kpop, but it didn't catch me. I don't like mindless repeating lyrics, techno, autotune and so on. I always prefered the Japanese ones.

    And true what you said about J-rock. That's how I feel too. And I agree. Kpop for a short period of time can be exciting. But it is not relaxing and looking at the simple things in life, like Jpop & Jrock. I feel more relazed with Jmusic. It may be more simple, yet pleasent. More of my thing. SO that's about it.

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  6. Just got to read your article. to me, Japanese music scene is filled with diversity. J-rock and Visual kei artists, J-pop groups, J-hiphop, R&B and Rap. what's more most of them also diverse as well. Like RIP SLYME whose are a J-rap/pop, Funky Monkey BABYS, Home Made Kazoku and Exile, I also like their slow, mid-tempo songs as well. bands like L'arc-en-ciel plays Pop/rock to visual kei-like and even classical ballad, i.e. READY STEADY GO, Daybreak's Bell and BLESS respectively. Ikimono-gakari, Day After Tomorrow and Do As Infinity have diverse, earthly pop feel as well. and these are just the tip of the mainstream Japanese music. Alot of sounds and style in mainstream and underground as well.
    Most Japanese artists seems to like to blur the lines between styles and create music many could enjoy. No musical boundaries. of course, many other around the world does the same as well.
    comparing between J-music and K-music, I would say I see more depth and diversity in the mainstream music in Japanese.
    K-pop are cool, but most are similar with slightly different feel. If you listen to one, you're familiar to all, which is good if you like that genre, but for someone like me who like diversity, I get bored right away.

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  7. you're cool! i totally agree with u!! ^o^ to be honest, i'm anti kpop. but before this, i had listen to some kpop too. =w=" kpop mostly sound the same and repeated all over again(in english)and that's what make me hates so much about kpop. what is the reason to listen to music if it's not about the music itself. still, some retarded fans just going "talk to the hand" with me. they always like "oh! he's so handsome!" "he's pretty cute!" and, ugh! that really pissin' me. they really don't know appreciate the true meaning of music!

    there's once, some retarded kpop fans come to me and said he/she hates jrock because the singer always look old while kpop always look hot and sexy. HEY! IF U WANNA LISTEN TO MUSIC, JUST FOCUS TO THE MUSIC, LAH! the singer is not the priority when listening to music! and there's one over-retarded fan said to me that jmusic sucks and don't have good quality. and the only reason he/she said like that is because jmusic don't have good music video, as kpop music video always have the artistes dancing so they will be "KYAAAHH!!~". and that's only matter to him/her. and another over-over-over-retarded fans said to me that Japanese are fake, gay blah blah blah. and she always attack Japanese culture, not the music. and she always pick a fight with me and always arguing about the look. retard~

    lol! to me J-Rock is the best genre music ever!! i like J-Pop, but not as much as i LOVE J-Rock. but my favourite band is SID. actually, SID is a competition to The GazettE. XD well, i hate to admit it, but i like SID because of some anime. then i fall in love with the vocalist and then i try to search for their songs, and "pooof!" i became a hardcore SID and jrock fan! because before this, i'm just a "listener". and it's like a miracle! at how just listening to their song, can me me feel ease and so emotional. sometimes, i cry when i listen to sad song. but that not including the lyrics yet. :)

    i really respect and salute to jrock because jrock always have the best lyrics. jrock has so much more emotion, depth and variation in it compare to jpop and kpop. but still, jpop is waaay better than kpop.

    and i really loves and always love Japanese singers. they have the most beautiful voice ever. as example, Takuya(UVERworld) he have a very cool and slumber voice, yet full of emotion. HYDE(L'Arc~En~Ciel) he have a very sexy voice especially when it comes to low pitching. Ruki(The GazettE) he have a very matured voice which consist so much emotion in it. as for my favourite vocalist, Mao(SID) he have a very interesting voice. he have a very sugoii, kawaii and kakkoi voice.

    i like it when listening to jrock, at how they can make so many voices, i'll be like "wow~ *speechless*". sometimes, the voice is matured, sometimes it just relaxing and soft and sometimes, they make some hard-rock-metal voice! WOW!~ it really rockin' my world. and that speciality is really hard to find in kpop music.

    and that's that! thank you!

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  8. hello, i do agree with u since i used to be korean fans before. but not crazily, like u, i was later thinking that, hmmm when i listen 2 their music. and same like u i started 2 like jrock when i listen 2 gazette which their songs scream out my pain and so on alice nine song which it made my tears fall because how much i feel like is meaningless before. jrock teach me how 2 become stronger, how 2 come out with good life. but kpop, never. they didn't. all they do is sing n try 2 seduce fans with their looks.

    well that's my opinion :)

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  9. I watched your video first then read this blog. I actually don't find it that long =)) I read it pretty fast. I'm a big kpop fan..and this was really eye-opening. It doesn't mean i'm gonna convert though..not at all. i still prefer kpop over jpop/jrock.I just personally like how it sounds more. But i have to agree with you on pretty much everything. Kpop is really mainstream. The singers are usually not the ones who wrote the song so there isn't really that connection. and all the songs seem to be about love. i really wish there was more diversity in it. But..i have to admit that i'm a pretty superficial person and i want to see a good-looking face. This just my opinion, but i don't find jpop/jrock groups (boy and girl) attractive. I find koreans a lot better looking. And..even though their songs are pretty...generic i guess i can say..i just really like how they sound. and for me, that's the most important thing. Kpop always puts me in a good mood and for me, that's what's important cuz i always wanna be happy.and watching the MV's, the performances are really fun. But i completely understand your opinion and it's actually really true and good. You put a lot of meaning music which is really admirable. but i have to admit that i'm stuck in the mainstream stuff..and i'm happy where i am and that's what's most important :D

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  10. i can't really understand why people compare jpop to kpop. i'm a fan of both. to be straight to the point, creating fan wars like this is a sign of INSECURITY. everyone knows who's rising now. but, im not against jpop, i told you, im a fan too. but i do know that nowadays, kpop had gained their popularity and it's because of their hard-training. almost all of them had been trained for 8-9-10 years. so that's whym they deserve it.

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