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!

TWICE: A K-Pop Group Nearing a Decade of Global Success- A Fandom Perspective

How I came to know about TWICE as a K-Pop Group

After talking about FLOW (which I will probably discuss them again in a future post) and Girls' Generation, I wanted to start a post dedicated to talking about TWICE. Below I have included three ratings: the Entertainment Rating to show how much enjoyment I got out of the video, the Quality rating to show the video's quality and the Quirkiness rating to show that how weird the music video was that it caused me to laugh so hard (it is a very positive thing rather than negative). A low Quirkiness rating however is not bad, it just means the song and music video feels more normal and may not have caused me to laugh as hard, yet still has a high entertainment value.

It may be surprising to both you and me, but I have only started to listen to TWICE since August of 2022. Even though they have been popular since 2015, I have not listened to them in nearly three-quarters of the time that they have been together as a group- which is regrettable because they are one of my favorite K-Pop groups of all time. Not only that, but perhaps one of my favorite groups in singing, period. With TWICE's ten year anniversary coming up this October, let's look back at some of their best music videos yet and apply the ratings.

The Three TWICE Videos and Their Ratings:

"Heart Shaker"

The first music video I saw of them was "Heart Shaker" back in 2022 . During my time watching the video and after having watched it, I thought that all nine members were very skilled at entertainment. Their singing was great, but there was something about how the song mixed in with the video itself and the dancing that made it very quirky and funny at the same time. As a new viewer of TWICE in 2022, I never realized that they only had nine members. One should be sure to watch it all the way to the end because the absurdity of it which adds to it being hilarious. Don't forget to count how many members there are at the beginning and compare it with number at the ending of the music video!  (TWICE, JYP Entertainment, 2017)

Entertainment Value: 10

Quality: 10

Quirkiness Rating: 10

"Dance the Night Away"

Another song I tend to re-watch of theirs is "Dance the Night Away" . It was also a funny song because it makes you imagine what would happen if a group of nine K-Pop stars were stranded on an island and all of a sudden started singing and dancing out of nowhere. It makes you wonder if there is an audience  watching them whereas "Heart Shaker" may suggest that there is an audience. (TWICE, JYP Entertainment 2018)

Entertainment Value: 9

Quality: 10

Quirkiness Rating: 9

"Likey"

Lastly, there is "Likey" . While what happened during the song and music video was not as weird as the other two mentioned, it still had funny moments in my view. The settings of the cafe, city streets, dressing room, park, etc. contribute to a solid and entertaining music video, but doesn't seem out of the ordinary as an abandoned island. The dances in the video would be a perfect addition to a dancing video game. (TWICE, JYP Entertainment, 2017).

Entertainment Value: 9.5

Quality:10

Quirkiness Rating: 6

What are your thoughts on TWICE and their music videos? For those who have been listening to TWICE whether shorter or longer than me i'm curious to know how you feel about their ten year anniversary coming up? Feel free to voice your opinion in the comment section below.