With the exception of a few songs, love is the main central theme of Korean pop music. The topic is easy to identify and appropriate for everyone to follow as every person will be unified or crushed by affection. As most know there are different types of adoration and different ways to approach the subject. Some songs vary from love’s initiation, to love’s confusion, to love’s pain, and of course to love’s recovery. This music gives a viewpoint on the daily struggles of love and its aftermath that many go through.
It’s common for a male to make the first move when it comes to dating, but what if it’s the girls’ turn to be in charge for once. In “Female President”, female group, Girls’ Day commences the song by showing how incompetent they feel next to their love interest. The girls are on standby as they wait for him to make the first move.
As happy as he makes them feel already maybe they can return the favor and be the first to ask the questions. Korea’s first female president was elected before this song was released so the girls wonder why is this binding custom of the guy having control still in place when it comes to love. Girls’ Day wants women everywhere to know there’s nothing wrong with ” start[ing] first”. It’s time to become confident and start the domino effect of love.
After love begins what happens before the end? The male group, VIXX uses the unusual but eye-catching dark concept of Jekyll and Hyde to convey their turmoil with love.
After an imbroglio they assure their loved one it was just the “crazy person inside of [them)”. They try to guarantee her that they would never harm her in any way, but love makes you do crazy things. They’re devoted to her however sometimes the bad times take over. They’re devoted to her but how can they contain their negative feelings. To cure their hearts of the fear she has to seal the love between them and accept both sides. The man and the demon. One “just can’t control” love, it’s impossible as they repeat it throughout the whole song. Their affection is mind boggling and hard to understand because they’re torn inside, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
When one’s heart is about to be trampled on, all they can think is “please don’t!” Soloist, Jung Joon Young shares a moment of his encounter with his past love in his song “Spotless Mind”. If it was anyone else meeting an ex-lover’s memories of their times together would flow through their mind, but Jung Joon Young is the exact opposite with his ex. His brain is “spotless” when it comes to her. The recollection of their love is nonexistent in order to erase the pain he suffered through their relationship. When she appears in front of him crying he’s confused. He doesn’t know who she is or why she is in tears. We know she misses him and is remembering their life together, but to Jung Joon Young this is their first encounter. Eventually he does realize how important they might have been to each other however “that’s probably why [he] erased [her]” in the first place. When a person one loves and trust breaks him or her it’s a traumatizing experience. We all have different ways to cope with a loss such as this.
Love in Korean Pop Music. (2021, Dec 23). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-theme-of-love-in-korean-pop-music/