kpop | Gloria Weber

Dear Shannon Yseult (and anyone else reading this),

You asked about my thought stream I mentioned last week (about K-Pop tackling Cyberpunk). I’m answering. Because I have just worked six days straight and don’t have anything else. Spoiler: I think I changed my answer.

I think we need to cover how I define Cyberpunk. I think it is a very specific type of high tech future. A future where the lines blur between machine and man and defining what is a “living” creature is murky. Think DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRONIC SHEEP (or BLADE RUNNER for movie peeps). Think GHOST IN THE SHELL for anime or ABSOLUTE BOYFRIEND (or ZETTAI KARESHI in Japanese) for manga. It brings up questions. What are the lines we shouldn’t cross? What are souls? When is something living or not?

And then you have K-Pop. For me the music, on the most part, has a bubblegum, fluffy happy feel (or a sad, cry in the rain mood). Not really the deep stuff of Cyberpunk, right? For the most part you end up videos like SEXY LOVE by T-ARA. Where the girls take on the persona of “living dolls” (robots). But other than coming out of their boxes and dancing, there is no social or moral implications that Cyberpunk spurs. And that’s what I felt stopped it. Far future, high tech? K-Pop can do that. Cyberpunk? No! Well… Maybe?

See, sometime after seeing your comment I remembered something. VIXX’s video for ERROR. So, yes, Shannon. K-Pop can do Cyberpunk. Just not often.

PS- You offered TVXQ’s HUMANOIDS as a possible example. I don’t know if it is all the floating gears, but to me it felt like a far future of a once steampunk world.