Popular K-Pop & J-Pop Terms Explained Using Song Examples

Good evening fellow K-Pop and J-Pop fans! Tonight, I wanted to discuss with you some common K-Pop and J-Pop terms and how they apply to never before discussed songs and songs mentioned in this blog so far. 

K-Pop Terms

• 메인보컬 (Mein Bokeol or Main Vocal)- K-Pop term that means the lead vocalist of the group. When it comes to songs/music videos that I have discussed already such as TWICE's "Heart Shaker" and "Dance the Night Away", Jihyo seemed to be the main vocalist due to being given many prominent lines for those songs as well as being at the center of the dance group. It has not always been like this though because Nayeon has had the lead being the center dancer and main vocals in songs such as "Fancy" and "The Feels". Personally, this is a great way to lead a K-Pop group and it would be fun to see other members such as Tzuyu or Dahyun be given more prominent parts in songs, but it makes sense that each member has the parts they already have because of the roll their individual part has in making the song/music video sound and look great. (JYP Entertainment, YouTube, 2017-2019; 2021). 

• 고음 (Go-eum)- K-Pop term that means the high notes of a song. In the SNSD music video, "Mr. Mr.", Taeyeon shined alongside her group mates with her powerful light lyric soprano voice. All of them sang well, but Taeyeon is a great example of a K-Pop singer able to hit the high notes (SMTOWN, YouTube, 2014).

• 비트 드롭 (Beat Drop) – K-Pop term that describes the higher points of energy in a song. BLACKPINK's "DDU-DU DDU-DU" is a great example of a K-Pop song that contains an engaging and satisfying beat drop. The build up in the pre chorus was not disappointing because of how awesome the beat drop sounds in the chorus (BLACKPINK, YouTube, 2018).

• 간주 (Ganju)- K-Pop term for a song's interlude. ITZY's "WANNABE" is a K-Pop song with a fitting instrumental break that works to finish the final chorus of the song very well. Depending on the song and story, this is an entertaining way to present the story of the songs to fans. It was definitely the right choice to add one towards the end for this song (JYP Entertainment, YouTube, 2020).

• 후렴 (Huryeom)- K-Pop term for a song's chorus. MOMOLAND's BBoom BBoom is a fantastic example of a song with a strong chorus and is personally one of my favorite K-Pop songs of all time. It is very energetic and a great beat for dancing to. The lyrics of the chorus are very catchy and so fun that it makes one feel like dancing/hoping along with the beats (1theK, YouTube, 2018).

J-Pop/J-Rock Terms

• 転調 (Tenchou)- a Japanese music term meaning "key change" that describes the pitch of the song changes up or down. FLOW's "Go!!" is a dynamic example of using tenchou in the music video. The tenchou used in the last half of the song sounded very epic, funny and smooth. This J-Rock song has remained one of my favorite to listen to over and over again for a long time (FLOW Official YouTube Channel, YouTube, 2017).

• 間奏 (Kansou)- a Japanese term for "instrumental break" and it is similar to the Korean term "ganju". In Nogizaka46's "Kimino Nawa Kibou", the instrumental break in the middle of the song felt quite relaxing, dreamy and atmospheric. As a great example of a J-Pop song with kansou in it, it feels like a song perfect for listening to when wanting to relax after work or wanting to relax on a rainy day (乃木坂46 OFFICIAL YouTube CHANNEL, Youtube, 2018).

• 高音 (Kouon)- Japanese term for high pitched/ falsetto vocals. Hikaru Utada's "First Love" is simply a famous J-Pop song where Utada hits the high notes very well and expressively (Hikaru Utada, Youtube, 2016).

• 疾走感 (Shissoukan)- Japanese term to describe a fast paced song. Perfume's Polyrhythm is a perfect example of this type of J-Pop song because of the ambient background effects and soundscapes. The song is well sung and is a unique sounding song, the background effects sound very well incorporated (Perfume, YouTube, 2013).

• 余韻 (Yoin)- Japanese term used to describe highly atmospheric tracks. "Ikimonogakari" by Blue Bird is an emotional piece of music that is fitting as a Naruto Shippuden intro song. The fade off at the end of the song leaves the listener with the appropriate nostalgic effects that they are supposed to feel both from the song and anime (いきものがかり OFFICIAL YouTube Channel, YouTube, 2020).

With these ten terms, that concludes our evening study of K-Pop and J-Pop terms. I hope you had fun learning them and that they were informative in your exploration of fun and interesting K-Pop and J-Pop topics!