Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
It’s pretty well established that Korea isn’t the most gay friendly country on Earth. Speaking in generalities, it’s one of those deals where as long as you’re in the closet, people pretend gays don’t exist, but the moment the community makes the news, they’ll get hated on with thousands of years of ignorance and accusations that they’re ruining the country.
With all that considered, you can understand then why I found the lyrics to GLAM‘s “Party” so surprising. Not only is it a K-pop group (and a rookie one at that), but it’s one from a relevant company in Big Hit Entertainment (JYP Entertainment) and is distributed by Loen Entertainment, and they’ve been getting the regular idol rookie group press.
Quite frankly, I’m surprised that nobody relevant (we’re not either, obviously) has yet mentioned the fact that the lyrics to the song allude to a lesbian relationship and telling people who have a problem with it to shove it up their ass.
Can I kiss ya baby girl?
You know that? Look at your charm, it’s so great
Even if you fall down, beautiful smile
Are you a boy? Girl?
I don’t care – passion is the key,
a hot heart is your ID
If you’re alone, come here
put everything in your hot heart
Girl I like ya really really like ya,
now just jump up and leave the rest to me
Okay, maybe it’s not so much an allusion as it them directly saying they’re in love with a woman and are in a lesbian relationship.
A Kiss XXO, anyone can be a Romeo
A touch of your lips XXO,
if the heart starts to race, you’re Juliet Juliet
Because we break the rules,
we dodge the rules
Got the right to break the wall
everyone move
Opposition for opposition won’t work
take off the blindfold that covers your eyes
(Be confident) We’re a minority
(Fling it off) We’re ET that came to earth
Uh … wow. I don’t say that to convey that I disagree with the message, actually quite the contrary, but I’m just floored that this would be included in a K-pop song.
I mean, essentially, the song is saying, “We’re lesbians, we’re in love, we’re breaking down cultural/societal barriers, we know we don’t have majority support, but fuck you and don’t be a close-minded prick.”
Welp, I’m hard.
In a world where idols try so damn hard to have swag, develop street cred, and be “true” artists — where fans will go to incredible lengths to assign meaning to random pop songs — here’s a group (ROOKIES!) that’s actually stepping out on a limb with their content and who actually seem to have a relevant and positive message to bring to the table. I’m. Actually. Shocked.
Chances the media picks up on this sooner than later and makes a deal out of it?
It’s like so superior to anything…like omgaaad!!
I would defo go lezzy for the one that looks like an asian Lady Sovereign.
And I like them. As in expecting much more cool things from them.
I knew 2012 would be a great year. I just hope the song AND the group is received well.
LGBT is not something to be proud of over there…
its sounds ambiously bisexual if you ask me.
The song is not my taste but overall I’m pleased to see a rookie girl group that has some members with real attitudes…The ( I suppose ) main rapper reminds me of an older version of Janey from GP Basic, her rap is quite easy to listen to.
Regarding the lesbian message, I kinda fear when the media finally blows this up stupid parents will claim the scene with the rocket symbolizes that the group wants to make their daughters gay – as if Amber didn’t do it already lol
though the message is good and daring, i’m not buying it completely because GLAM are still “manufactured” idols to me.
i’d buy it if the actual songwriter sang it. or did someone of the group write the song?
musicwise the song is cool, but i’m not really fan of the mv. it’s not my style.
exactly, if they had some say on the lyrics, it would be great. But since they most likely don’t, i can’t take this seriously; it’s just like any other ‘image’ or ‘concept’ a group has to adopt to sound cool and different…The song is pretty hard to get through as well
Except it actually is different and rebellious rather than pretending to be.
Of course it’s produced, but it’s actually done with a different message.
I never said the members themselves gave a shit, but the company greenlit it.
I’m aware that it’s produced and that’s what I said in my comment, I also said that it actually is an unusual content for a kpop group.
“the message is daring(=different/rebellious)”
And I didn’t think that you thought that the member gave a shit, you didn’t write anything about it. I was just stating my thoughts about this in general.
I’m just not buying it completely because in my eyes this “concept” serves mostly for publicity. And of course I could be wrong. It’s not a bad thing though, because it DOES raise awareness on a touchy subject(maybe not much though, but at least a little bit).
But I could always change my mind about their sincereness later. Like for example if they participated in a campaign for gay rights or something like this. I don’t think “serious matters” should be done halfheartedly. It makes me question the people behind it, and that doesn’t happen with idol groups where it is obvious that they’re here for entertainment.
Well if they did it for publicity, they failed. :o
I bet Kumi would be proud of these lyrics! But I doubt a PV like Kosokoso would come out in Korea for another 1mil years ;_;
As I said somewhere: awesome message, totally meh song.
Actually, the song is pretty fucking awful.
Wow I was actually reading that article on Koreabang that you highlighted there… People really think gay guys just jump on whatever guy they see? -____- Wonder what they say about female police officers.. (majority just think about male officers) I bet the people commenting have no problem with that. But man many of those comments show lots of ignorance…
Ehh, the lyrics and the video are almost completely different. The lyrics may have their topic but their video looks like they are trying to spread the “glam” which looks like its something that is from within.
The lyrics to me mean show bisexuality not a strict “orientation” because we see males and females doing the same thing and I don’t know if I can find the significance of the three black people towards the end. Perhaps threesomes or bisexuality since there were two guys and one girl.
Lol, when I was reading over the translations the other day, I was like ‘well, this sure is something new’ and I was really surprised that no one talked about it (like akp) but I think I can see why they wouldn’t.
:O and heeey, you used the lyrics from my website lol *happy dance*…
That’s your site?
Yup, all mine. :D
Yea I love this group but aren’t they with Big Hit Ent. Same as 2am and Homme.
Forgot to add the also drink beer on TV and have no curfew like other idols
http://forums.allkpop.com/threads/glam-members-enjoy-their-freedom-on-the-streets-with-couple-of-beers.8004/
If they are with Big Hit, then I dunno why the video is on Loen’s channel.
Loen Ent is also a distributor and in contract with JYPE ( and many other, is listed on it’s Wiki page ). That’s why Big Hit’s Glam is also featured on Loen’s channel.
Interesting, will update.
A very daring “concept” if you ask me,I just hope they don’t change it in the future…
So yeah, the video is straight do-do
The live is pretty impressive very crisp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H8ptiuB1LA&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=wJ0cn7otRX0
This vid shows the coreo better….and no I’m not stanning them at all pffft :P
“take off the blindfold that covers your eyes”
I like this line a lot because it can apply to more then one issue in Korea. I hope they keep singing songs about the issues SK has, maybe they’ll change something.
Nu-est also did a song against bullying, this trend must continue.
Sexuality is a lot more fluid than people think.From the lyrics these girls arent necessarily talking about being lesbians but one girl liking another.
The labels are part of the problem.”you’re this,you’re that’ whateves,fuck who you want to fuck.(do it safely ofc). If only boys were as free in this department, break free of the heteronormative narrative.
I think it’s the stereotypes that follows ‘labels’ that’s the problem, in my opinion. If a person tells you what they are (it could be anything… Christian, male, Muslim, preppy, doctor, plumber, goth whatever) then the majority decides to put you in a box with everyone else who is under that ‘label.’
..And people already put labels on others before even confirming that’s what they are.
“And people already put labels on others before even confirming that’s what they are.”
That is my biggest problem.It’s what happened with Frank Ocean,people were now saying he is gay or bi when all he did was admit to falling in love with a guy,once.He didn’t say he was gay or bi.
Labels in those cases become restrictive.Maybe that person doesn’t identify as gay,straight or whatever else,they just like who they like at whatever time.
Of course there those of us who are just one thing,but that shouldn’t be expected of everyone.
But there are also those who embrace what they are, regardless of stereotypes. But that Frank Ocean thing…. admitting he liked a guy right before his album came out… But yeah, I think the stereotype (which can be taken negatively or not) seems the bothered thing.
The gay community does this too though. They take people who don’t even mention homosexual feelings and just infer that they’re gay and label them as such.
Everybody wants to be part of a group and to feel like they’re part of a group. Hence, labels.
Most of the time people label themselves to feel a part of a group though.
Sure, forcing roles is bad, but heterosexuality is the norm. Dunno why people even bother to dispute that. Probably because it doesn’t fit their agenda.
Not sure if it’s true or not, since I’m basing this on the blogs I’ve read about it, but the fluid sexuality is supposedly the way sexuality is treated in Japan. Some people prefer to be open about it, get involved with the community, etc. while others may just accept it as just a single facet of their lives and prefer to not get involved with the gay pride thing. Whatever makes you happy is the best option, really.
Gay community is significant in Japan, but it’s not mainstream, IMO.
Their concept should involve making out then.
And some scissoring.
The song itself is okay, but the message is great. The mv didn’t go along with the songs message at all.
I’m wondering what were the motives for making a song like this? To get attention or something. I applaud the person who wrote this song. Although, it just seems like a way to get some attention in a world filled with mediocre rookie groups. I’ll wait to see what they do next.
Yeah, don’t quite get it.
I guess the idea was maybe to work both sides? The typical music video can appeal to everybody and maybe mask the lyrics since most fans don’t even care about that shit.
Then again, it’s not like they’re getting publicity for this specific issue either. Well, yet at least.
Anyone knows if the song has been banned already?
Not really good to relate homosexuality to ET imo.
I get the idea of it benig foreign, but that just reinforces people phobias.
Seeing how they (the rookie group) are battling with hundreds of other groups this year in the kpop industry just to make a few bucks, this “controversial” move may make a small dent.
Maybe.
What’s the reputation of Loen Entertainment anyway? Slave owners like SM or elitist wannabes like YG?
Seems like only the big three have “company personalities” or brands, although I don’t know why that would be. There are plenty of other companies just as influential right?
It seems like Loen and that one Mnet company that signed with Hyori are pretty big and successful, I’m confused as to how the big three are really considered the “biggest” in Korea (unless it’s all just a fake act)… Because that would be sad since they don’t earn that much in the first place o_o
what? maybe you should look into the history of the big 3 a little more. SM started the whole kpop idol business with H.O.T, S.E.S, shinhwa, BoA, dbsk, etc. and still has many successful groups. JYP had g.o.d, Rain, WG, 2pm/2am, YG had 1TYM, Jinusean and has bigbang. 2ne1 and se7en also bring in money.
groups from the big 3 aren’t the only groups that are relevant but the big 3 have the greatest number of successful idols groups/soloists. the big 3 have also made wayyy more in terms of tours, esp SM. CUBE is probably the only other company that is doing really well but not on the level of the big 3 yet.
I wouldn’t say shocked.
It’s a marketing ploy for niche demographic.
Their agency is just testing the waters for a semi-controversial approach to an almost saturated market. Why do you think they are using ROOKIES for this approach? If it fails, oh well. But if it sets a trend, then hello more money.
Next thing you know, top idols are singing pseudo-lesbo songs.
Entertainment. Business as usual.
I don’t think the gay community is strong enough in Korea to move meters like it is in America or even Japan.
That’s why they are testing it out with rookies, silly.