K-Pop, J-Pop & Western Music Fusion: Exploring Covers by A.C.E., Rose, and Goose House

This week we are going to touch on a similar, yet drawn-out fun topic from the past. 

Earlier this month, I proposed the idea of Girls Generation singing other styles of music in my post: Why It Would Be Neat if Girls Generation Delved Into Other Genres of Music .

This time the topic is similar, but is now expanded into a fun version that looks at the potential that both  genres have for the entertainment future compared to what has been available to us fans by the artists so far in the 21st century. 

Last week, I discussed Tzuyu from TWICE's music highlighting that she did a cover of an Ava Max song and a Taylor Swift song. Covers of western music and K-Pop singing with a western twist are not limited to only Girls Generation and Tzuyu, but many other K-Pop/J-Pop artists have done covers of western songs. K-Pop groups such as A.C.E. performing a cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" and individual artists like Rose from BLACKPINK singing a cover of "Eyes Closed" by Halsey. Additionally, a J-Pop band such as Goose House performing a cover of "Take Me Home Country Roads" by John Denver.

"Someone You Loved Cover"

   

There are a lot of things I have to say about this video and cover. In one way I can relate to the message of the song because of the loss of something that mattered to me. Donghun, Jun and Chan had strong masculine voices that fit with the lyrics, at the same time their voices and talent make the song appealing to someone who may not be a fan of either A.C.E., Lewis Capaldi or K-pop. The cover was so great that it nearly caused me to tear up or at least want to because it was so well sung. Lastly, since this is trio of a group of 5 doing a song of one artist, I liked their idea of alternating vocals instead of unison singing. With respect to the original singer and to the idea of unision singing, this was a creative idea that added to the emotional impact of the song (Official A.C.E., Youtube, 2019).                              

"Eyes Closed" Cover

Rose's voice was enhanced in this cover of Halsey's song, "Eyes Closed" because it was the first time I listed to a solo member of BLACKPINK sing. In contrast to the trio of 5 from A.C.E., this music video cover was great in its own way. It had a great lead in and had fitting vocals for the song type. It was enjoyable to listen to and it was interesting that the cover was shorter than the original version, but the shortening in this cover takes a unique turn to focus on singing ability (BLACKPINK, Youtube, 2018). 

"Country Roads" Cover

   

John Denver was one of my favorite singers growing up. I remember when I was seven that my dad used to have a CD of his in the car. When I used to listen to it before school started, I would ask my mom to replay songs such as "Rocky Mountain High" and "Country Roads". Therefore, it was awesome to sing a Japanese group sing one of my favorite childhood songs growing up in one of my favorite languages. This music video can be enjoyed by anyone! (Goose House, Youtube, 2013) All of these covers are great examples of eastern music meeting western music, but the idea gets even larger than that. Imagine not only famous K-Pop/J-Pop artists creating covers of popular western artists, but imagine them integrating western music into the genre completely. 

The covers in this list serve as an example of what is already happening in modern history of K-Pop/J-Pop singers performing covers of western songs. An interesting answer to my own question would be that it seems like K-Pop is already heavily influenced by western music through a lot of the dancing and style of singing in their albums. J-Pop however is still maintaining its appeal to its own market which is Japan. It can be easily heard through the instruments and tones that J-Pop songs have. I happen to like it a lot, but imagine if western music was more integrated into J-Pop, it would change the production of the music as well as the goal of the marketing to match that of the K-Pop music industry. That would be something new, yet surprising. Coming soon, I will take time to discuss the past influences of western music on Japanese City Pop from the 1970's and 80's to listen to what happened in the past and imagine what would happen if there were modern or future attempts to integrate western music into Japanese Pop.  

Don't forget to tell me what you thought of the ideas presented and whether or not you agree with them.