For whatever reason, a lot of K-pop songs tend not to strike me on the first listen.  They often don’t fare too well on the second listen, either; instead, I’ll wait until the songs have been grossly played out, are no longer being promoted, and have since been completely replaced by the next cycle of comebacks before I start liking them with gusto.  It has seriously taken me the better part of the year to fully comprehend the awesomeness that are  뱅! (“Bang!”) by After School and Hurricane Venus by BoA (seriously, how badass are the first 20 seconds of that song?!).  Something similar happened with pretty much every song f(x) released after 뉴예삐오 (and I’m still not sold by “Hot Summer”).

I thought that Brown Eyed Girls’ last hit, “Abracadabra,” was a sweaty, slutty mess when I first saw the live performance, but the song grew on me after awhile.  I wonder if the same will happen with BEG’s newest single, “Sixth Sense,” which I’m still having a little trouble wrapping my mind around (partially because, like “Abracadabra,” the video is a sweaty, slutty mess – but Ga-In looks fucking amazing, and I have the hugest girlcrush ever):

SNSD is making a comeback (!!!!!) in 2 weeks with an album that is apparently “good enough to debut in the US,” which is, quite frankly, bullshit; SNSD, as much as I love them, will not enjoy success in the US with the plan of assault attack they have on the Korean entertainment industry.  They don’t have enough talent (or umph) to make it and would likely flop worse than did the Wonder Girls.  But in conversation with a professor the other day about which K-pop idols were equipped to “make it” in the US, my answer was unequivocally Brown Eyed Girls.  And I hadn’t even seen that comeback performance yet.

Why BEG?  A few reasons:

  • Vocals.  I mean, Miryo arguably is less talented in the vocals department, but Narsha, Ga-In, and especially Jea definitely deserve the title of “singers.”  When I watch miss A perform and hear their passable vocals, I’m all, “Oh, hey!  No one is off key in this song!  Brava!  This is an excellent performance!”  But with BEG, it’s not even a question of them being on key – it’s a question of them belting out a high note that miss A’s Suzy couldn’t even dream of hitting on her best day.  BEG’s vocals make a total mockery out of the mediocre standards K-pop fans usually apply to performances, considering it a miracle if at least 60% of the song is sung live.  The best part?  BEG does it while keeping up with insanely hot choreography, which is often the excuse less talented singers proffer when they come under fire (“I WANTED to sing well, but it was too hard to sing and dance at the same tiiiiiiiiime!”).
  • Stage presence.  Do I really need to comment here?  Did you watch that performance?  They OWN that stage.   Own it.
  • Brown Eyed Girls are SASHA FIERCE.  They’re not 14 years old and waving around lollipops, nor are there an absurd number of them (sorry, SNSD.  I still love you.  And at least most of you were under 20 when you put that crap out).  The American public is not going to be captivated by a bunch of Asian Barbie dolls prancing around on stage while whining out lyrics about how much they love oppa (and doing a crap singing job while they’re at it).  But I think Americans could get down with the above performance.  It beats the shit out of Wonder Girls’ “Nobody,” at any rate, which broadcast on “So You Think You Can Dance” to abysmal reviews (seriously.  One of my cousins called me after the show and literally asked, “What the fuck was that?”).
  • These girls (well, Jea and Miryo, at any rate) are legitimate musicians who are in the music industry for (I hope, or at least, in this case I believe) the sake of music.  And you could make the argument that BEG, whose members all went under the knife post-debut due to lack of popularity, are thus the same as all other image-obsessed idol groups, but I would disagree.  I would say that BEG went under the knife because they valued their music (not their fame) and wanted it to reach more people – but understanding the (absurd) practicalities and realities of the Korean entertainment industry, realized that their music would go nowhere if their faces didn’t or couldn’t back it up.  Of course, I don’t know any of BEG personally (but GA-IN, CALL ME!  I could totally switch teams!), but that is how I would explain it, at any rate.
  • They are kind of okay at English?  Well, Ga-In for sure needs some work on the L/R thing (I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t chuckle through like, the entirety of the video below, despite its incredibly somber nature), but I see potential.

In short, 한류 means almost nothing if it doesn’t have the potential to reach a market as vast and diverse as that of the American music industry – but K-pop seems not to understand what breaking into the American music industry in an effective manner would entail.  You cannot just coach your idols on English and translate a bunch of their hit songs – YOU HAVE TO TEACH THEM TO SING FIRST.  You have to realize that the idol group trend is long gone (how long has it been since ‘NSYNC and the Spice Girls promoted?) and that Americans are not going to be in the least bit impressed by some kitschy choreography and mediocre vocals.  You need a group like Brown Eyed Girls, who possess the talent, pizzazz, and musical know-how to craft a solid in-road into the American market.  I personally think they can do it and that I should totally be their manager.  Ga-In, CALL ME), and if they did, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.  They are, I would say, the Korean Wave’s greatest hope of expansion out of Asia.

[But SNSD, I still <3 you].