Rock in K-Pop has gotten really stale or is it just me? (1 Viewer)

[Myco]

With the rise of more rock inspired kpop songs from various groups there's one thing I always noticed.

There's nothing happening with the instrumental, even Dreamcatcher's (the queens of this genre) more recent release fell under that.

I think Billie's "Ring MA Bell" is the perfect example for that.


I absolutely loved Billie so far, but Ring MA Bell has to be their weakest title track thus far.

I'm a sucker for rock or rock inspired songs
BUT
the rock is so uninspired and boring. Most of the time it feels like "maybe adding a electronic guitar is rock enough" for most songs. Throughout the whole song from Billie, it's just the same there's nothing happening with the instrumental. No drum fill to change the rhythm, no exciting bass line etc..

When I heard that VISION from Dreamcatcher was their hardest Korean comeback yet I was excited, just to be disappointed at the end.

Sure the rock inspired songs do change up their instrumental from verses to choruses but there's nothing really that makes them stand out as a rock song. I don't know if it's the "playing safe" aspect of it or to make it more commercial.

WOODZ chorus of his song I hate you is a great example of great rock inspired track imo. As well as (G)I-DLE's Tomboy. But apart from those 2 songs I haven't really enjoyed a lot of the rockier releases from last year. But I also gotta mention the vocal delivery of these two songs are much more enjoyable than the earlier 2 I mentioned. Maybe it's just that what I don't like about the other songs - but I think that's just as important as the instrumental for rockier songs.



What do you think of rock songs released the past year? Do you feel the same or the complete opposite of my opinion?

 

[Ahsoka]

Today I learned Dreamcatcher had a comeback of some kind
Tbh I didnt care for either of the songs you liked. I did like Ring Ma Bell, but haven't listened to Dreamcatcher so I can't say. But its not actually that common that I love rock songs in kpop even in past years, unless they're from actual bands or early Dreamcatcher.

 

[Wingfrost]

I haven’t liked the majority of Dreamcatcher’s newer releases tbh, but I loved Ring Ma Bell and I Hate You. I think it just kind of depends for me personally.

 

[Myco]

Today I learned Dreamcatcher had a comeback of some kind
Tbh I didnt care for either of the songs you liked. I did like Ring Ma Bell, but haven't listened to Dreamcatcher so I can't say. But its not actually that common that I love rock songs in kpop even in past years, unless they're from actual bands or early Dreamcatcher.

makes me wonder how many other comebacks you don't know exist from last year

 

[Ahsoka]

makes me wonder how many other comebacks you don't know exist from last year

Far too many

 

[Kataphract]

I feel that producers in teh k-scene aren't really comfortable/confident so they go conservative with it.

my theory anyway.

 

[chiefchilly1]

I really liked Ring ma Bell I thought it was great but you might as well have to ditch kpop to find anything that’s good rock. I don’t think it sells that well and kpop plays it too safe.

 

[Hoemantic]

"Rock" in kpop always sounds super generic to me. The only rock ish song I really enjoyed was Goodnight by Dreamcatcher.

 

[omni]

A lot of it felt like an uninspired trend trying to follow the success of good 4 u and later TOMBOY. Not a big fan of the style.

But I Never Die had good rock songs, TOMBOY included. Vision and Maison were also good, although the latter is poppier.

 

[Myco]

I really liked Ring ma Bell I thought it was great but you might as well have to ditch kpop to find anything that’s good rock. I don’t think it sells that well and kpop plays it too safe.

i do have my rock bands outside of kpop for my daily rock dosis, but yeah i do feel like kpop plays it too safe as well

 

[Michael]

... but yeah i do feel like kpop plays it too safe as well

My main reason why I feel kpop rock falls flat in my opinion.

 

[litc]

With the rise of more rock inspired kpop songs from various groups there's one thing I always noticed.

There's nothing happening with the instrumental, even Dreamcatcher's (the queens of this genre) more recent release fell under that.

I think Billie's "Ring MA Bell" is the perfect example for that.


I absolutely loved Billie so far, but Ring MA Bell has to be their weakest title track thus far.

I'm a sucker for rock or rock inspired songs
BUT
the rock is so uninspired and boring. Most of the time it feels like "maybe adding a electronic guitar is rock enough" for most songs. Throughout the whole song from Billie, it's just the same there's nothing happening with the instrumental. No drum fill to change the rhythm, no exciting bass line etc..

When I heard that VISION from Dreamcatcher was their hardest Korean comeback yet I was excited, just to be disappointed at the end.

Sure the rock inspired songs do change up their instrumental from verses to choruses but there's nothing really that makes them stand out as a rock song. I don't know if it's the "playing safe" aspect of it or to make it more commercial.

WOODZ chorus of his song I hate you is a great example of great rock inspired track imo. As well as (G)I-DLE's Tomboy. But apart from those 2 songs I haven't really enjoyed a lot of the rockier releases from last year. But I also gotta mention the vocal delivery of these two songs are much more enjoyable than the earlier 2 I mentioned. Maybe it's just that what I don't like about the other songs - but I think that's just as important as the instrumental for rockier songs.



What do you think of rock songs released the past year? Do you feel the same or the complete opposite of my opinion?

I liked ring ma bell and vision and tomboy (but not nearly as much as ring ma bell) and didn’t like the woodz song

a lot, like good boy gone bad I didn’t like

generally a lot of rock kpop songs are meh to me tho

 

[ani07]

meanwhile me...



thinking of this masterpiece when thinking of rock in kpop.

 

[quarkie]

It's always very hit and miss imo. I'm not a fan of most of the songs from the last year that are rock infused to be trendy... especially the pop punk inspired songs.

The only act I feel like is really pulling it off well is Choi Yena. Both of her albums felt like love letters to early 2000s pop punk like Avril Lavigne.

 

[Myth]

Oh I like all of these songs.

I think producers can get more creative with the genre... hell rock has genres within itself. There's all kinds of ways to do rock and yet we don't see producers pull through that wealth of ideas.

 

[Pirioca]

If you want the pure rock sound of Dreamcatcher, listen to the 2nd part of their Dystopia concert:



Dreamcatcher sounds much more like a rock band there because of the live instrumentalists. I wish they would use a full band in the studio recordings too.

 

[Pirioca]

I think producers can get more creative with the genre... hell rock has genres within itself. There's all kinds of ways to do rock and yet we don't see producers pull through that wealth of ideas.

You need to search in the corners to find the special bands there. For example why I need to stumble randomly over Loody Bensh? I would have never expected to find a Power Metal band in South Korea. And why can't Loody Bensh collab with Dreamcatcher for a few songs?



Two examples of more relatively unknown Korean Metal bands: Messgram.



Synsnake:



At least Rolling Quartz got more popular recently.

 

[Pirioca]

More K-Pop with Rock vibes!