It’s time for QRIMOLE, the series where readers ask Kpopalypse questions! Let’s take a look at the mailbag for the last month!

Whats the difference between these thick sturdy looking headset mics and these thin beige ones?

A microphone with a thicker head usually has a larger diaphragm inside it, which means you (usually) get better frequency response especially in the low end, whereas a thinner mic usually has a narrower spectrum of frequency, so you lose a little of the lows. Not that much of an issue for vocals because most singing isn’t all that broad spectrum anyway, and especially not important for k-pop where the vocalists are often either lipsyncing, or at best, singing along to their own voice on the backing track which is playing at the same time, so the audience actually hears a mesh between their live vocals and their (much better recorded) vocals on the recording. The reason why so many headset mics are beige/cream coloured is to match more closely to skin tone, so small beige mics which have worse sound quality but which are discreet and less likely to snag on something are used in situations where the performers’ looks and dancing are being prioritised, and the black thick microphones are used more often to send the message “gosh we’re getting serious about the music now, we don’t mime, you can trust us”. Not always though. Sometimes it’s just a case of they use whatever is available. Also keep in mind everything I just said is a generalisation, a lot depends on make and type of microphone, and also the use case it’s designed for. And technology is getting better all the time. You might find this page interesting.

plz explain what he means? thx.

In simple terms a label has artists on their roster making product and distributors then distribute the product and get it into stores (be they physical stores or online). A “360 deal” is a type of deal where the label rather than just controlling and taking a cut of your output as a musician, controls and takes a cut of any money-making activity related to your “brand” that you do whatsoever (so things like merch sales, if your YouTube channel goes viral, etc). Generally a 360 deal is terrible for artists because all those little income side-streams now also earn less.

Too difficult to know what his point is though from that small, fairly vague soundbite. “The distribution game has flipped.” Okay, but how? I’m sure he clarifies if there’s a longer video out there somewhere, but this soundbite tells me nothing.

since you’re probably more plugged into kpop fandom discourse than me, do you know what the general reception is to yoonchae in katseye from korean netizens? the generally prudish koreans from where i’m sitting seem to be pretty quiet about one of their “daughters” “slutting it up” in a group full of “foreign whores”. bear in mind that korea is they same country where womens’ belly buttons being seen on tv is considered obscene.

I don’t really pay attention to what netizens think and I suggest other people don’t either. Mind you sometimes I get their opinions rammed down my throat as if they’re relevant anyway. In the case of Yoonchae I have not heard a ripple from anybody, but based on past experience with other idols I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most people in Korea probably don’t give a single shit about Katseye but those that do probably find Yoonchae being in it to be a good thing just because she’s Korean and in a group that’s getting some international traction.

i assume that you’re more plugged into general kpop fan discourse than i am: what’s the general reception around kazuha? i generally only hear about chaewon. (i assume that sakura has retained her popularity from her iz*one and/or akb48 days.)

No idea. I’m honestly not that plugged in either. Most things I hear about her specifically are just about people admiring her dancing ability. I don’t track fan discourse closely as it really doesn’t interest me that much.

favourite bowie?

This one.

hi oppar! is there a backing track that im not hearing being used here? or is it some editing in post, and if so how can you tell? hopefully the lizness of the video makes the question more tolerable for you. thanks!

Thanks, I appreciate you pandering to my biases to make this question more tolerable. This is playback. Yes it’s Liz singing, but she sung it earlier and she’s miming to her own voice on the track. How do we know?

1. At 1:13 during the long sustained chorus note she takes the microphone away from her lips just a fraction too early, but you can still hear the note at full volume. Synchronisation of the endings of long sustained notes is one of the most common things that singers get wrong when trying to fake a live performance – you have to remember where the note ended when you sung it for real, and do it exactly the same way when you mime to your playback. Singers getting the timing for the start of notes right is second nature, but the exact ending of a long note is something that doesn’t come quite so naturally, as there’s often a bit of gray area there, especially in slower songs.

2. At 3:21 we actually get to hear Liz’ voice for real, when she says thank you to the audience at the end. Notice how much quieter her voice is compared to when she was “singing”, and also how the vocal effects from when she was singing are now gone. The lack of effects on her voice here is fine and logical enough – it’s standard practice for the better audio engineers to disengage vocal effects for between-song talk breaks, but what they don’t usually do is also wildly dip the microphone volume, because there is no logical reason to do that. Since Liz is saying thank you with the microphone right up to her lips, it should be coming through at a volume that’s a lot closer to what her volume was when singing. Unlike the first point this isn’t something I’d consider to be “hard evidence” of miming, but when you hear this big volume jump between talking and singing, it does point towards playback being more likely.

So a friend of mine, over the past year, decided to just branch out and do more things and go out to places more. Which is great since she’s taken me to some of these experiences too and I’m also a better person for it.

But now when I asked her how she finds these gatherings to go to, she laughed and said she doesn’t wanna give away her secrets….she tried to play it off as a joke, so I laughed too, and for the day that was that. I genuinely wouldn’t really care about her gatekeeping most days, but I’m beginning to see how she’s scoring legitimate opportunities through just going around and being at these events. Sure, she’s pretty, so most people are willing to talk to her, but the opportunities she’s getting aren’t really contingent on looks as such. And tbh I want to network my way to a better job sometime soon before it’s too late.

My question is how do I insert myself into these supposedly lucrative events and activities? Should I swallow my pride and get on social media more often to find them?

You’ve kind of answered your own question. Just do more networking in person and on socials. Using stuff like Facebook and LinkedIn might help, I hate those sites personally but can’t deny LinkedIn in particular has its use for networking and that’s why it’s popular, it’s pretty much a social network built with corporate networking specifically in mind. I wouldn’t be at all suprised if your friend just keeps an eagle eye out on socials and deliberately signs up to things that look like good networking opportunities. Do the same and you might get some results too.

your thoughts on her thoughts?

True. Self-care is important! What a shame about the thumbnail ruining the surprise in this video.

After your Pink Tape review, I remembered how much I liked Rum Pum Pum Pum back when it was released. As a Brazilian, I just wanted to ask if you noticed that the beat in that song contains Brazilian samba elements in it? It is more easily noticed in the timeframes 0:40 to 0:55 and 2:30 to 2:35.

Didn’t notice. I don’t exactly sit around listening to Brazilian samba, if I’m going to listen to any Brazilian music at all it’s most likely going to be punk or metal. But I can definitely hear it now that you’ve pointed it out.

which star transforms elements like hydrogen into heavier elements through nuclear fusion?

Cocona.

which sociological perspective focuses on macro-level analysis of society, emphasizing how various institutions and structures contribute to social stability and change?

Rainaism.

Because CBX are having such a tough time right now with SM, I think it’s super important we support them. Therefore, how attractive do you think each CBX member is, and could you please rank them based on how likely you would be to date them if a) you were a girl or b) you were gay? This is very important to boost the morale of the fandom. Thank you and peace out.

I think this post has all the answers that you need.

i was researching subwoofer placement for home theatre and this video came up.

@4:52

your thoughts? his arguments seem to centre on the very specific scenario of listening to music. i use home theatre mostly for immersion when playing games and to replicate the cinema experience when watching movies. if i do listen to music it’s just what’s on youtube, i’m not Mr FLAC file audio guy. i do have decent Audiotechnica headphones and an Onkyo AV receiver but again they’re for games and movies mainly.

Yeah he’s talking about the music listening experience specifically. If you want to know about “placement” generally though, regardless of what you use your speakers for – where you place a subwoofer doesn’t matter one bit, as long as it’s on a hard surface, ideally the floor, and that it’s close enough that you can hear it. That’s because bass frequencies are omnidirectional, they tend to pass through everything they hit, so no matter where you put the thing you’re going to get the same bass response more or less. Your other speakers’ placement that you’re pairing the subwoofers with can indeed make a difference, but the subwoofer itself, not so much. Just put it where it fits and make sure nothing can fuck with the vibration of it (so not on a pillow or something).

Are there examples of songs using dubstep effectively to improve the song?

None spring to mind.

idk what any of this means. plz explain in non-music scholar terms.

” but this song does get some huge, huge consolation prize points for not going half-time in the pre-chorus. Blackpink style arrangements are OVER in 2025, to the point where even Blackpink themselves doon’t do them anymore”

If you really want to hear “half time in the pre-chorus” done very clearly and obviously (by someone other than Blackpink), look no further than DKB’s “Irony”:

It’s a good example to use because the song has a straightforward rock style beat rather than something synthesised so it might be easier for someone not schooled in music to hear the difference. But hopefully you can hear that the song starts at mid-tempo, and then at 0:53 the drum hits happen at half the speed to what they were doing up until that point, that’s our half time pre-chorus section. At 1:08 the chorus starts, and at that point the slow part has ended and the song returns to its original speed.

If the taxpayer isn’t paying anything, then I don’t see the issue? 🤷

Me neither. Like I give a fuck what happens to some building that I’ll never visit in a country I don’t live in. Bulldoze the whole shit or leave it standing, I don’t care. Other people’s renovations aren’t my problem.

Your thoughts on her thoughts? I gotta agree, there is definitely a clear pattern of discrimination here.

Yes most likely. Not that I would know much, I don’t really watch or follow other streamers, certainly not the big ones anyway.

why is this seen as socially acceptable? a man gets molested and almost raped on stream by 2 women.

reminds me of how seemingly every other month we hear about a female teacher exploiting a male minor student. I remember South Park did an episode on it where Ike, Kyle kindergartener brother, was involved with his teacher and the nobody took it seriously. The adult characters including the police would react with “NICE”, “Where were the teachers like that when I was growing up?”

UPDATE: @6:36 the streamer assistant who was sexually assaulted by two female streamers/influencers. they were banned from Twitch for only about a day.

Ppl questioned why Said didn’t open up about this earlier, he brought up a previous scenario where he had been molested by a woman and nobody took it seriously. ppl just laughed at him and called him gay.

the linked youtuber even shares his own anecdote of being raped by woman. he confronts her and she fires back “who’s going to believe you?”.

the double standards are crazy.

since there was no real question asked here: good look for her? (@0:46)

No clue whatsoever where you’re getting the “seen as socially acceptable” thing from. Seen as socially acceptable by who? All I see is a bunch of people complaining about it, and about Twitch’s response. Maybe Twitch thinks it’s fine policy-wise but I’m pretty sure nobody else does.

Gyubin looks okay here but there’s something about fanchant videos which is just wrong. If you need to coach an audience into chanting, it must mean that your song sucks. Whatever happened to audiences making up their own chants because they like your song? Oh wait, people don’t have songs good enough for fanchants to organically happen so they gotta try and force it…

A member of my extended family is a loud chatterbox of a religious fundie in the sort of smooth way where they seem really polite while acting like relentless pests trying to convert you and drip feeding you really hateful ideas in tiny doses. I’ve not talked to him in years, going so far as to avoid my auntie because he lives with her and she’s obsessed with him. I feel bad for being so dismissive towards an old woman, but every phone call with her is all about him and what he’s been up to, and she always, without fail, asks why I haven’t come to see him and his pregnant wife. I feel she’s starting to doubt my excuses by now because you can only say “I’m busy” so many times. Another family member recently told me that his wife’s due date is not far and that, if I am invited to any baby-related events, I should go to keep the peace instead of trying to get out of it by lying. But the latter is so tempting. This man has tried to convert me to his very specific denomination of christianity multiple times. I’ve been around him and his church friends. It’s impossible to befriend them. They will not stop pestering you to be exactly like them because they’re trying to earn their ticket to heaven. They don’t have friends, they have stepping stones to god. And since being christian in my country means putting a giant cross around your neck and only invoking your religion as justification for hatred, while also not going to church, not reading the Bible, and indulging in every vice you can possibly think of, people like my family member and his friends are seen as weird even here. I think I might have whined the situation on QRIMOLE a few years ago but I was too much of a milksop at the time to put your advice to the test. Sorry :/// If this man were a normal person I’d do my best to support him even if idc about baby stuff. But he isn’t and I don’t trust him not to put me on the spot and try his tactics on me on what’s supposed to be the most important day of his life, and I don’t trust myself not to retaliate with snark. I’ve no patience for religion, I’m closeted, I have gender identity issues, I’m an atheist. So here’s my question. How would you approach this if you were a meek neurotic gay like me? Should I keep avoiding my auntie and my family member? If you were invited, would you attend any baby events?

Well if it were me I’d cut communication completely. At the very least I’d be brutally honest with my aunt about why I’m not getting involved. “Look, he’s a cunt who keeps trying to convert me to his dumb fucking religion and I’m sick of it”, say that, but nicely. Beats lying in my opinion, which will only prolong the situation, and it definitely beats attending. Life is way too short to do bullshit that you don’t like with people that you don’t enjoy being around and who don’t respect you. If you’re still going to these things in a few months time, it’s your own fault, you’re doing it to yourself. I urge you to cut the umbilical cord. Might cause a few tears now but standing up for your principles will mean a better quality of life in the long term.

thoughts? Win 10 support ended support on Oct 14th and a whole bunch of PCs are unable to upgrade to Win 11. talk about shooting yourselves in the foot. i think Valve could really come through with SteamOS and secure a marketshare if they play their cards right.

According to multiple analyses of Windows device compatibility, approximately 400 million personal computers worldwide that are currently running Windows 10 will not be officially upgradable to Windows 11 due to failing hardware requirements like unsupported CPUs (pre-8th-gen Intel or pre-Ryzen 2000 AMD), lack of TPM 2.0, or Secure Boot issues. This estimate stems from reports indicating that around 40-55% of active Windows 10 PCs (totaling roughly 1 billion devices in use) do not meet Microsoft’s minimum specs.

Just because Windows doesn’t offer support doesn’t mean you can’t keep using Windows 10. Third parties will come up with something probably, with so many people on the old systems they’d be crazy not to, it’s a huge money pit just waiting for someone to step in. There are people who still use older Windows systems anyway. The last time I got an x-ray was only a couple years ago and the X-ray software was running on a Windows XP machine.

I’m K and I run a blog similar to yours but on tumblr. It’s not a total kpopalypse ripoff and it’s in fact quite different but somehow the formatting is similar enough for folks to get it confused with your blog despite running on an entirely different domain and system. I don’t want to be rude so what is the best response to people calling my blog stuff like “kpopalypse wannabe”?

Hmmm not sure. I’d say “tell them to fuck off” but then that’d probably just make people confuse you with me even more. I think blogging in the sense that I do it is pretty much dead in 2025 and anybody starting now, or recently, has missed the boat and is inevitably going to be compared to the tiny amount of k-pop blogs that still exist and are active (and all of which are probably declining in traffic at this point). So it might just be a sign of the times. Maybe post lots of sport content instead as it’s pretty well documented that I hate sport, that should help. Other than that, I got nothing.

I often see music of certain kpop groups and idols called experimental, but who do you consider to be doing or having done truly experimental music? And if so, who’s doing it right?

Truly experimental music doesn’t exist in k-pop. When I talk about groups being experimental (which is rare) I’m talking about it within the field of pop music which is a pretty narrow window of experimentation. I mean I’d consider a true music experiment something more like this:

With everything going on in the world right now, why isn’t there more protest music out? We don’t even have ‘We Love the World’ type of music coming out.

It’s out there but that shit doesn’t sell so it doesn’t get the big marketing push. A lot of it is super cringe anyway and honestly if you heard it, you wouldn’t want to hear it again.

Merzbow using AI, you think this is on character for him or nah?

I met Merzbow and he is a dude with a strange vibe that I found impossible to pin down. Maybe this was the language barrier though, not sure, as he didn’t speak much English, but both me and my girlfriend at the time agreed that he emanated some very strange vibes. Wouldn’t put anything past him, if I read somewhere people found bodies in his basement I’d just be like “well, that checks out”. But honestly, while I don’t really like it, I forgive any obscure small artist for using AI because these little artists usually have no budget to speak of for high-tech productions and for a lot of them it’s either an AI video or some other incredibly shit looking video or no video at all, those are the only options they’ve got. And Merzbow, in the grand scheme of things, is a small artist, there’s no big money in noise music even for those who are well known. It’s when the likes of Blackpink do AI shit, groups that have the clear budget to do better, that’s when it really sucks.

What is the earliest recorded song that you really like?

Probably something by Django. The first shredder!

Hi Kpopalypse oppar, I sent in a question about (a thing redacted by Kpopalypse at reader request) … I thought about it and hashed out some of my complicated feelings about the issue and decided that the best thing I can do is (stuff redacted by Kpopalypse at reader request). So please don’t publish it, or this (for reasons redacted by Kpopalypse at reader request)!

This is just a PSA that any of you can redact questions if you have second thoughts about them between when you ask them and when QRIMOLE goes live at the end of the month. One of the reasons why I think that once per month is about the right publishing frequency for QRIMOLE.

For the asker, I think the conclusion that you came to on your own seems sensible – good luck!

Having been fortunate enough to see around ~11 kpop artists in person (both groups/soloists, not like 11 idols total which could apply to just that one time I saw Loona in Chicago and we accidentally cheered Vivi so hard Kim Lip left,) I feel compelled to say that while stage presence is solely lacking in the majority of performances, it’s not completely absent. Of what I’d consider “stage presence” (based mostly on what idols decided to do during less choreographed sections or how they rile up the crowd during breaks,) I’d say that CL has a lot of it, the rest of 2NE1 all has a fair amount (surprising to me since I only hear about CL,) IU has a fair amount, and Dreamcatcher and Mamamoo have a little bit each but plenty to make their concert experience have “something extra” compared to other groups (and I’m pretty convinced it wasn’t just lighting/choreography/fancy planned interactions contributing, since other groups have that in varying degrees.)

I’m thinking about making a video review of my experiences at kpop concerts – not to be like “these idols are worth/not worth seeing” (which is ultimately highly subjective) but just review my experiences of how these performances and songs land in-person, and maybe how it affects my perspective of “idol as a job.” I’m also not a huge non-kpop concertgoer in day to day life, so idk if I’m qualified to do such a thing. But I have a lot of experience in live theatre and classical music. Any tips on what I should or shouldn’t include in such a video?

This is pretty much the conclusion I came to in my post about stage presence from years back. It’s not totally absent but it’s so fucking rare that it might as well be, as in most cases stage presence is actually discouraged and even considered detrimental because these idols are being trained for television, not the stage. What works best for television is often barely even visible on stage, and what works best on a stage is often just annoying for a television camera crew to deal with. The exceptions are when idols do get proper stage training but it’s only the idols who frequently tour who do that, and then only some of them. Even then, they have to overcome the challenge that songs often feature dance routines that are optimised for the screen that they are kind of obliged to recreate on the stage where it will usually look like crap.

I’d highly recommend that before you start making any videos, that you go and see some rock concerts with rock performers who are specifically known for having a commanding stage presence. Try to get seats or a standing position that isn’t right up the front so you can assess how well these performers manage to project themselves to where you are situated. This’ll give you something to contrast your k-pop live experiences with.

hey oppar, new reader here, but I’ve been reading way too many of your posts from over the years, love the content, and love your cat!!!

Idk if it’s WordPress being a shitty with their search function, or you’ve posted that much over the years, but what got you initially into kpop and reviewing it? I don’t know how old you are (assuming like 30s-40s?) and I haven’t met many people into kpop above 25, but I love when I do as it doesn’t make me feel ancient either.

Hi there, new reader! You’re in luck, I made this video the other day:

(follow up about this question about going to see a Bibi concert and if there’d be less insipid talking than at a girl group concert)

Update: a lot of yapping happened! Towards the end Bibi spent like 20 ish mins walking around the audience asking if anyone had interesting jobs. A girl in the front row said she was a stripper. Bibi thought she said Sherpa and asked the girl if she had been to Nepal.

A girl said she was a landlord and the crowd gasped. Landlord girl gave Bibi a labubu.

I went with my elderly father. He said she had a good voice for jazz and that her songs sounded like The Girl from Ipanema.

I thought that her poopy early “smooth R&B” catalogue sounded way better live. Also her ass looked great in the tight stage outfits. Objectification survey submitters are sleeping on Bibi for sure!

Kpop fans can’t handle reading a song review over half a sentence long without complaining about too many words, but paradoxically their tolerance and patience for yapping at live shows is astounding. It proves that it really isn’t about the music for most people when an artist can spend half their show talking shit and the audience laps it up and doesn’t yell out “play some fuckin’ music” because it’s still giving them the real thing that they’re there for – the parasocial connection. I remember in the 90s hair-metal band Warrant (of “Cherry Pie” fame) toured Australia and were torn to shreds in the Australian music press for talking way too much between songs, apparently there were several talk breaks including a 15 minute bit where the singer recounted the story of losing his virginity or whatever, and only about eight songs. By k-pop standards, that wouldn’t be considered unusual, I guess Warrant paved the way.

*this is crossposted from the ask.oppar page, you mentioned to ask in QRIMOLE for a more technical response- please do! I’ve also included your answer from the ask.oppar page*

Orignal question:

“Hi kpopalypse! I bought a new phone and was downloading my music from spotify, and I noticed that there was an option for a quality setting higher than what there used to be called “lossless” which seemed to take up a bit more space than the usual quality. I only really listen to music with airpods and I’m by no means an audiophile, so I assume I wouldn’t be able to even notice the difference between standard quality and lossless quality, but I was curious what kind of things you’d be listening for to distinguish between the lossless and other quality levels, and what kind of equipment you might need to notice these things. (I know I could probably google this but I kinda just wanted to hear your opinion :D) Thanks!”

Original Kpopalypse answer:

“you wouldn’t even notice the difference in 99% of pop music. where it becomes more obvious is in music with a higher dynamic range, such as classical. drop this question into QRIMOLE if you’re interested in the why and the technical side of this.”

So MP3 compression and other “lossy” compression algorithms work by exploiting something called “audio masking”. The concept of audio masking is easy to understand: loud sounds mask quiet sounds. If you’re listening to birds singing and then a gunshot goes off right near your ear, while that gunshot is going off, you can’t hear the birds at that time because the gunshot is so much louder. However that doesn’t mean that the birdsong has vanished – the birdsong is still there (we’re assuming that the birds are kookaburras who are not afraid of humans or distracted by human activity and are just continuing to sing unbothered by gunshots), and just as loud as before, and your ear is still picking up the birds too, you just don’t really notice it.

Audio masking is a psychoacoustic phenomenon, which means it’s something that happens within the brain, not in the physical world outside the brain. (I’ll probably copy-paste this answer here when my music theory series eventually covers psychoacoustics.) Lossy compression algorithms basically say (if they could talk): “okay, since you can’t hear the birds while the gunshot is being heard, why don’t we just remove the birds completely during that time, and bring them back when you can hear them again?” This is how algorithmic compression actually compresses – by chopping out information that it assumes your brain can’t hear anyway. So applying this to a purely musical context, if a song has a big snare drum happening and a quiet keyboard waaaay in the background, the compression will chop out the quiet keyboard when the big snare drum hits.

So this works pretty well in pop music, where there are very few instruments, and all those instruments have low dynamic range – i.e they are mostly at “digital zero” or very loud, most of the time. Sounds at digital zero (i.e maximum loudness), the algorithm knows to definitely keep those, and most pop music has about 2dB of dynamic range at most. I was told that the first ever music to be commercially released in an MP3 compressed format was Michael Jackson, and that type of music is perfect for lossy compression – vocals up the front, big synthetic beats, very forward in-your-face production elements. Your favourite k-pop dance songs have similar production style and would perform similarly well under lossy MP3 conditions. Where lossy compression falls apart more is in classical music. When there’s a 52-piece symphony orchestra with a much more detailed soundscape, and where the volume variance is much wider and more complicated, and different instruments are constantly moving up and down in volume, and digital zero is avoided the vast majority of the time, the algorithm struggles to know what to chop out and what to keep. The audible result is… not great, and it’s far more noticeable that a lossy compression was used, whereas with the Michael Jackson record you probably wouldn’t even be able to tell.

Is there a thing as “sound of generation” in music? I’m currently 32 and start to feel old, since new music sounds… too GenZ for me? Like even k-pop – I’m all in for music produced between 2007 and 2017, but newer and newer releases make me puzzle more often than genuinely enjoy it. And I’m not sure music is to blame. It works backwards as well: I “kinda” enjoy japanese 1980s city-pop, yet unable to bear it longer than 30-40 minutes uniterrupted.

Music production, like most other human activity, is subject to trends. Certain things go in and out of style as the public discovers, enjoys, and then gets sick of certain sounds. In the 1980s gated reverb was big, in the 1990s more subtle effects became popular, the hard-Autotuned vocal style that was huge and everywhere in 2005 is nowhere to be heard in 2025 outside of very specific genres, flanger was huge in the 1970s but by 1980 it was less common, pop songs in the 1950s were very short, in the 1970s and 1980s they got longer, now in the 2020s they’re shorter again, and so on. But pinning these things down to a specific generation of whatever might be trickier, especially as some sounds can get rediscovered and then the cycle starts again. For instance in the early 1980s city pop disco was very popular, then by 1990 it had pretty much died, then it had a brief revival in the mid-1990s where it was rebranded as “acid jazz” (but it was really just disco), then it died again, then it became huge again when T-ara’s “Roly Poly” became the #1 most relevant song in the universe, then it died again, now it’s being revived again by people who think “city pop” is a genre when it’s actually just 80s disco rebranded yet again… and it’ll die in a few years too. And then come back, probably with yet another new label. And die again. Etc etc. To look at another genre, people have been saying “punk is dead” ever since about a week after The Sex Pistols came out, and they’re still staying it, but punk has never really died and its popularity has just waxed and waned.

I remember being very shocked reading your best of dark ages kpop song list and seing tears by So Chan Wee because this is probably THE kpop vocalfagging 101 song that everybody uses to prove their voice and how well they can sing. What exactly makes the song works so well for you even if you have to listen to a lot of vocalfagging?

When I talk about how I don’t like the obsession with vocals in k-pop I’m talking specifically about two symbiotic elements which feed off each other. One is the abuse of vocal interest. People caring more about what high notes are hit than about the actual song. When the girls who sung the Kpop Demon Hunters song performed it live for a TV show, they detuned the song, lowering the backing track slightly so it would be easier to sing over. This is a completely normal practice, a lot of bands do this, including bands I’ve been in, we’ll change the songs so they’re as comfortable for the vocalists to do a good performance of as possible and they don’t hurt themselves by repeatedly singing at the very tippy-top of their range. Ludicrously, in the case of KDH some people complained about this, and this is what happens when a dumb-as-shit fandom or music culture cares more about showing off singing ability than about what the singing is actually for, which is the delivery a good song. That’s because, for these soulless, morally bereft fans, music doesn’t matter, they only care about the prestige that their faves get by being able to sing a high note.

The flip side of this coin is composers and producers who recognise this interest and pander to it, rather than just concentrating on what they should be doing which is writing a good song. They’ll write songs with showoffy high notes to please the vocal-obsessed idiots, or get the few vocalists in k-pop who can actually sing to do endless wailing showoffy overdubs (or Autotune the ones who can’t). That doesn’t mean however that every song with a high note is written for this reason, sometimes the climactic big note is appropriate, but too often it’s just thrown into a song because the producers felt that they had to have one in there somewhere and didn’t have any better ideas. But in the case of “Tears” the high-flying vocal really works, it matches the energy in the instrumental, it doesn’t sound out of place, like they just threw it in there to show off how well she could sing. The singing serves the song, rather than the song serving the singing.

Which autotune fail was worse? link 1 link 2

Does anyone even expect them to be able to sing live? For all our sanity, we’re better off with the machine switched on.

What groups have you seen live?

Too many to list. No, seriously. This November QRIMOLE wouldn’t come out until February next year if I had to list all the groups.

May come off as invasive but what do you actually do for a living? How much do the books and the site actually contribute to your income vs… y’know, your job? Bullshit some percentages out.

Answered in part, here.

Income split – website/books make less than 1%. The books aren’t really income as they barely even pay for themselves. A friend asked me if I was going to buy a new car with the book money after my first book launched and I said “maybe a nice remote controlled one” but to be real, once I factor in manufacture cost, copyrighting, buying ISBNs etc and especially paying my book cover artist (contrary to many people’s first impressions the book art is by a real person, not an AI), I couldn’t even afford the remote controlled car. The money I get from site donations mainly goes into making more books, and website hosting fees… I’m very thankful to all people who donate or buy books, not because it makes me money but because it prevents me from losing money! I’m not exactly rich to say the least so the small contributions that I get make a big, big difference to my world. Thank you to all readers who have done this! Even if you only ever gave me one dollar that one time, know that your contribution definitely helped.

As an older than the average k-pop fan, or person in general, I’ve noticed how the world is gravitating towards the “old” things again. Vinyl, cameras, etc. I’ve been seeing in the last few weeks an interest in dedicated mp3 players, and not from the FiiO/portable DAC folks. The kids wanting their iPods and their Zunes… ok who am I kidding nobody wants a Zune, then or now. I’m not ready to go back to the days of maintaining my own digital media, organizing files, hoping the metadata transfers cleanly over to a player… As much as I hate streaming because it doesn’t support my favorite artists enough, and I DON’T want to give specific artists streams even if I like their songs, it’s easier. Still, for my money, music never sounded better than when it was the cd era. I know everyone touts how good vinyl sounds, but cds for me were just the gold standard. My question to you is: what do you think of this new trend towards dedicated players? 2nd question I guess: what to you is the hierarchy of music quality in terms of cassette, cd, vinyl?

One more question I’m sorry, and then I’ll leave you alone: Is AsianJunkie actually okay? I’m guessing they’re taking a hiatus but I do hope they’re well, mentally and physically.

I think the reason that a lot of old stuff is coming back into fashion, besides retro-fetishism, is that the old stuff doesn’t track you or try to monetise you up the ass, and lets you actually just simply own the stuff you bought and simply play it.

CDs > vinyl > cassette. CD is objectively the best consumer format for music that has ever existed in terms of sonic quality. More modern formats than CD such as fancy lossless/high bitrate MP3 never improved on the quality and actually made it slightly worse (see here for more detail on why). Vinyl collects dust like crazy, isn’t durable and can’t reproduce the ultra-low bass of modern pop without the needle flying right out of the groove. Casettes are noisy, fragile and prone to mechanical failure, and the art that came with them was pointlessly small (and to think people complained about CD art being small). Analog purism is a wank, “ah but it’s analog” arguments don’t stack up when these audiophile idiots can’t tell if digital was used in the mastering process or not anyway. The big artwork size of vinyl is a plus, but k-pop proved in the 2010s that when you have a very durable plastic disc you can make the physical art out of damn near anything and any size you want.

No idea what’s going on with Asian Junkie. He’s said that he’s alright and seemed amused that people were worried about him. Who knows if he’ll get back into writing, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t. I’d like to think that he’s enjoying his post k-pop writing phase and is spending his sportbux on something to enhance the quality of all our lives.

Your thoughts on his thoughts?

Agree in part. Young people should be allowed to experience the real world more. His observation about Andrew Tate is spot on. However I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with computer games and online porn. Seventy years ago exactly the same arguments were being made against television in people’s loungerooms and Playboy magazine. Dopamine is fine, like any other drug just don’t go overboard. You can play computer games for hours and it’s fine but if you start doing it all day every day to the point where other parts of your life start to crumble, there’s a problem. If you watch smut online a little or even a lot you’re not going to have any ill effects but if you let it control you negatively by ruining your finances or relationships because of it, there’s a problem. Consume whatever you want, just be sensible about it, and if you feel yourself slipping into bad patterns because of it then just cut down a bit on your consumption. Yes computer games and porn are unhealthy if you do them too much. So is exercise. So is drinking water. Do anything too much and it will mess you up. By the way you can get great results from a boring day job by gamifying it, and I’ve definitely learned a few things that have enhanced my sex life by listening to pornstars (for instance, did you know that antihistamines interfere with erectile function, and male pornstars avoid them for this reason? Now you know).

Based on your experience, do you consider it normal for small gigs to take forever to start, more so when multiple bands are performing? Also, do bands feel more sense of urgency when performing in city bars rather than small towns where “it’s more chill”?

This month I went to a metal gig the first time, which started 40 minutes late. Bands performing for 10-15 minutes held up the time with 20-plus-minute soundchecks. I was annoyed at this point, and walked the fuck out when someone brought in a synthesizer.

I am guessing the bigger appeal of small venues is for performers and audiences to kill time eating, chatting, and getting drunk rather than the performances themselves. (I’m from the Philippines, so our culture’s chronic lateness might be exacerbating it, plus we rarely have bigger concerts for artists/bands that aren’t pop, or has-beens from the 80s and 90s)

Sadly, small gigs being disorganised as fuck is completely normal because most people who play small shows play out very rarely and don’t have a professional’s attitude. I don’t get to play on shows where there are also support acts often these days, but when I do, I can always tell the people who are destined for bigger things versus those who will always remain hobbyists. People serious about music may or may not play better than me, but what they will do is show up on time, set up quickly, tune and soundcheck as quick as they can, and pack down at light speed after the show is over to make room for whoever is on next. They don’t spend ten minutes fucking around with their amp trying to get “the right sound”, they sorted their favourite amp settings out earlier that week in the rehearsal room. They don’t drag out soundcheck because while amateurs consider soundcheck a nice novelty, pros get sick of the necessity of soundcheck and will only do it for as long as absolutely required. They don’t wander off to have a beer after the show while leaving their shit still on the stage when the next band is waiting to go on. They don’t take apart their drum kit or complex guitar pedal array piece by piece on the fucking stage while obstructing the next band, they move that shit off the stage quicksmart first and then pull it all apart. Chronic lateness/disorganisation is a problem music-industry wide but only at the small amateur levels, work with any roadcrew for a big artist and it’s a well-oiled machine.

From a performer’s perspective, it’s generally better to play in as big a venue as possible (if you can fill it). More money, more people get to see you, looks better for promo purposes to play somewhere large, also usually better infrastructure and security at bigger venues for performers than at your local pub or whatever. Although some scenes (e.g punk) often say they like smaller venues because it’s more intimate and a closer connection to the fans… that’s usually bullshit, they’d play larger venues if they could fill them. However from an audience’s perspective, the reverse is true – a smaller venue is better. Less crowds, tickets are cheaper (or it’s even free), more chance to see the band up close, sound quality is often better (larger venues have larger sound systems but due to acoustic issues in large venues it’s harder to make it sound good for everybody regardless of viewing position), a more conducive environment to meeting the performers as well if you’re into that.

most unique chord progression u heard in k-pop?

Couldn’t tell you off the top of my head, but it’s probably some song I don’t even like. Unique <> good.

Are there remixes that are as good or better than the original? Every remix I’ve ever heard has been a mess, having no idea what made the original worked and often thinking more complex = better.

No they’re pretty much all either dogshit, or so similar to the original it’s a case of “why did I bother”. Probably the closest thing to a “good remix” I’ve heard is Illit’s English version of “Tick Tack” which is actually great and far better than the original but it’s pretty much a different song in a lot of ways.

I give you two pills, one is red, the other is blue.

Taking the red pill means you can only listen to death metal.

Taking the blue pill means you can only listen to black metal.

Choose wisely.

I’d go for black metal. While I like less groups in the style, I think the better black metal songs are more musically interesting and compelling than the better death metal songs.

What do you think about this cover of “No Celestial” by Le Sserafim, it’s a hardcore/metallic one.

Also, does the production bother you in anyway? I know that K-pop vocals are usually polished to high hell but the backing track is not that “synthetic” sounding IMO.

I like the original more, it’s got a bit more contrast going on. By having it pure metal all the way through it’s just not that interesting, everything just feels kind of flattened out. “No Celestial” was already pretty rocking in its original form anyway and didn’t need a metal cover. There are plenty of other k-pop songs which would benefit a lot more from this type of treatment done right, including other songs by Le Sserafim.

Is groove metal just a slower version of thrash metal?

Not exactly. Groove metal is metal that takes riff ideas from both thrash and the harder end of rap music, basically. So rather than the complicated riffs of normal thrash you get simpler riffs with a m