the foreign question

This post isn’t what it probably sounds like. I’m not going into a lengthy, thoughtful, well-considered (ha) spiel about being foreign in England/being foreign in Australia/the evils of having foreign talent invade Singapore (which I don’t really believe in anyway). No, I intend to talk about pop music.

I’ve been listening to a great deal of Japanese music lately; in fact I’ve been listening almost exclusively to it, except when I think I should take a break and put on my entire library for a while. In particular, Jpop groups Kanjani8 and NEWS have been dominating my airtime. I think I’ve actually created a playlist that consists exclusively of the songs I have from them (plus one invading Arashi song). And I don’t really have a lot - maybe 30ish - so you can imagine how many bajillion times I’ve heard each individual song by now, but I’m still not tired of them.

It dawned on me yesterday, while watching a NEWS concert DVD with English subtitles (thus being the first time I’ve actually seen what the lyrics mean in English, I have no idea what I’m singing along to in Japanese most of the time), that actually, if these songs were written in English with exactly the same tune and arrangement, I would probably hate the large majority of them - or at least be indifferent towards. This is because most of the lyrics turned out to be pretty inane, and as far as English songs go… even if everything else about it is wonderful, I have a lot of difficulty really loving songs with bad lyrics. I’m talking lines like “show me your secret paradise, baby” and “let’s dance and throw off our clothes” - which admittedly sound better in Japanese, but still!

Yet - I still love my trashy Jpop songs. It’s totally inexplicable. I know the lyrics are ridiculous, but the tunes are brilliant. They absolutely define catchy and the singing is good (surprisingly, Japanese manufactured boybands can indeed sing). Which makes me wonder what it is that makes me like a song, and whether listening to foreign songs is actually a better barometer of what your tastes are in music, pure music, sans words and meaning and inflection. Or are lyrics and music inextricable from each other? Then why is it that I like these songs in Japanese but not if they were in English? I have no idea, honestly.

6 comments

LcT says:

September 7 2008 @ 5:27 PM

I think people appreciate the tune and lyrics kinda separately, but the overall judgement of a song will be influenced by both - the exact degree to which this happens varies from person to person.

So when you don’t understand the lyrics (or don’t care about them at all), you’ll judge primarily by the tune and possibly end up with a million gay-gay songs on your playlist.

-shuffles feet-

steffy says:

September 7 2008 @ 11:38 PM

i think i’m pretty good at separating melody from lyrics - hence my ability to like songs by shakira

cui says:

September 8 2008 @ 1:10 PM

-patpat- it’s okay, no one is judging your gay-gay playlist. what puzzles me though is why it is that even after knowing how stupid the japanese lyrics are, i still like the song even though i would’ve disliked an english version that’s the same in every other way. is it because my slow brain doesn’t parse “秘密のパラダイス見せてくれ BABY” fast enough to know what it means and so i just enjoy the sound of the words as part of the music? lyrics as music, that’s quite an interesting thought.

HAHA thanks steffy for the reminder about shakira. i actually do like her songs. i think i mentally give her a free pass because english isn’t her first language and all the ridiculous lyrics probably sound sexier in spanish (i say probably because colombians speak a form of spanish i don’t understand). but yeah, maybe i’m not as big a lyric snob as i thought hahaha.

JM says:

September 8 2008 @ 10:30 PM

I think you’ll need to watch the two appearances where BSB appeared on SMAPxSMAP to realise that actually, they can sing, and SMAP can’t. Or maybe that’s just SMAP. *ponders*

I don’t like inane lyrics either, but there are some that are so awesomely absurd that somehow it just elevates the song to another level for me. Eg, the absurdity of Justin Timberlake singing “Hi my name is Bob/ and I work at my job/ I make forty-something dollars a day”. That song was meant to be something of a social commentary (which he completely failed at because he was brought up white middle-class all the way), but the saving grace is the gospel choir backing him up as the song progresses.

For me at least, I’m all about the layering of different sounds, though it’s true I do tend towards the more symphonic and operatic (ie, Rufus) than the Timbalandy kind of layering of beats. >_<

I also love that to this day, no one knows exactly what I Want It That Way is all about. Sometimes songs are just songs.

cui says:

September 8 2008 @ 10:51 PM

i don’t listen to SMAP so i have no idea about them. it does seem to me that dancing and general charisma are more important to japanese boyband manufacturers than singing talent, though. that said, NEWS has at least one member who sings reeeeally pretty.

Sometimes songs are just songs.

HAHAHA thank you for that, it’s the most insightful thing i’ve read all day! really really. so true!

JM says:

September 9 2008 @ 7:31 AM

i just enjoy the sound of the words as part of the music? lyrics as music, that’s quite an interesting thought.

That is exactly why I have such a high tolerance for cheesy boyband songs! Though Japanese is a far more melodic language than endless “baby”s. Then again I’m a melody/harmony snob, so what do I know?

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