East vs West: do critics agree?
- steph
- Aug 30, 2021
- 5 min read
Main Findings:
BTS is the most critically acclaimed artist overall.
LOONA and IZONE are the most featured 4th generation artists as of yet.
General consensus on the best artists.
General consensus on the best years in music [2016, 2017].
I am back, I lied. I said I wasn't going to write anything until I finished my review of CLC's discography (I will have it done by the end of the year I swear) and then I wrote half my review of Jannabi's recent album and yeah...here we are!
As you can see by the title, this article is about Korean and Western views on k-pop by critics, or at least people active in the industry. What prompted this was the disappointment of k-pop stans by the Melon's recent list, 'Top 100 K-pop Masterpieces of All Time'. However, if you have been following Korean critics or the Korean Music Awards (the most acclaimed award show in Korea), that list should not have been a surprise at all.
It occurred to me that perhaps people are upset because a Western perception of "good music" might be different from Korean audiences. Following this, I checked Billboard's 'Top 100 Greatest K-pop songs of the 2010s', and to my surprise, IU's "Good Day" was ranked first. Based on the past decade of music, the aim of this piece is to gauge whether Korean and Western critics think alike.
Housekeeping
I will be using Billboard’s Top 100 picks for the decade that you can find here. For Korean critics, I will use Melon’s list which you can find here.
To make this as fair as possible, I cut out songs from before 2010 on Melon’s list to finalise a list for the best K-pop songs of the 2010s. Thus I will be operating with a "Top 57". 57 from Melon, 57 from Billboard. However I will specify if I include the Top 100 from Billboard in my calculations.
Criteria
Before we get into the nitty gritty, I must make a comment on the criteria used for both lists. There is no specified criteria for Billboard's staff picks. Keep that in mind. In contrast, Melon has four categories by which they devised their list:
Significance: influence in Korea and overseas, contributing to the growth of k-pop and musical singularity.
Success: fandom and mainstream appeal in Korea and overseas.
Artistic quality: the song’s artistic creativity and quality of music.
Performance: choreography, music video and stage performance.
Although Melon's criteria may seem intense at first, considering k-pop as a package, it's completely logical. Foreign and domestic appeal, success, creativity and performance is the key to a GOOD k-pop song.
The selection process at Melon is also more rigorous. Songs go through 3 stages and are scrutinised by a diverse range of critics (from composers to editors of music magazines to broadcasting PDs). Billboard’s are only “staff picks” and we don’t know who the staff are or what qualifications they have.
Do critics think the same?
We are now at the business end of the article. The big question we are all wondering about is whether or not Korean and Western critics have a consensus on k-pop music. My answer is yes and no.
Coming into this, I did anticipate that Western critics would prefer certain styles over others, and that is true to an extent. After all, "Bad Boy" (Red Velvet) and Whistle (Blackpink) made Billboard’s list but are absent from Melon’s. This may be because Melon was working with a tighter space. The best 100 k-pop songs of all time is very competitive ranking compared to a top 100 songs of the decade list. However, there seems to be general agreement amongst the East and the West. 20 of the top 57 songs appeared on both lists. That is almost half and a lot more than I was expecting. 28 if we include the top 100 of Billboard and top 57 on Melon.
Another commonality between Korea and the West was that in the 2010s, BTS, f(x), Shinee and IU were most beloved by critics. BTS with 7 appearances overall (8 inc. Billboard's top 100), IU with 5 (6 with top 100), f(x) at 5, and Shinee with 4 (5 inc. top 100). A peek into the 4th generation will show that LOONA and IZONE are tied overall at 2 songs each. LOONA with "Girl Front" and "Butterfly". IZONE with "Fiesta" and "La vie en rose". However if we only use the top 57 across both lists, LOONA is first. No boy groups at all, though I'm sure that doesn't shock many. At first I thought there would be different tastes, but both Korean and Western critics agreed on the artists that did the best musically.
The biggest ranking similarity is "I am the Best" (2NE1) at 4th on both lists. f(x)'s "Rum pum pum pum" is also #33 on Billboard and Melon. "Sherlock" at 5th in Korea and 6th in the West. In regards to the most popular years for k-pop, 2016 and 2017 are dead even with 15 songs each all together. Billboard's favoured year was 2016 (9 songs), whereas Melon's was 2017 (9 songs).
The biggest difference however, is categorisation of songs. This is due to the different definition of "k-pop" used by Koreans and Western audiences. Korean critics see “k-pop” largely as idol music, whereas Western critics see k-pop as Korean popular music regardless of genre or style. Hence why songs such as “Yanghwa BDRG” (Zion.T - Krnb), “Bonnie & Clyde” (Dean - Krnb) and “A Long dream” (Se So Neon - indie rock) can make Billboard’s best k-pop list and not Melon's. However, the change would not make a large difference to Billboard's top 57, as only 4 songs would be omitted.
I also noticed that even though Melon had a more demanding criteria, we can deduce that Billboard most likely used a very similar method. Most staples, or songs that you would expect to see on either list are present. The only major anomalies are the genre tracks on Billboard's list and the niche songs that would not fit the "hit" song aspects of Melon's process, for example "Midnight Circus" (Sunny Hill) or "Overcome" (Nuest).
Conclusion
Perhaps we can suggest that Korean and Western audiences aren't so different in terms of their critical perceptions. Koreans have preferences for bright pop songs and ballads, and Westerners with grittier "badass" concepts and sounds. Even so, both audiences know there can be objectively good music in both styles. It just takes the right song to appeal to all, and these 57 songs are the cream of the crop. Deep down we know what makes a good k-pop song and the best of the best satisfies both audiences, these lists show just that.
Below I linked a document with a side by side comparison of both lists and a table to visually see the similarities.
I hope this was interesting. My curiosity was definitely satisfied. As always let me know your thoughts in the comments or on my twitter, @lunatheorbit.
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