“Jackpot” Wave in K-pop
One of the ways to conceptualize K-pop idol group’s uniqueness is to produce a music video. In order to open up better “Opportunities for local expression in both production and consumption” (Lee 2006: 136), K-pop “Visualiz[es] music as a means of appropriation and re-elaboration” (Lee 2006: 136). The idea that, “K-pop music videos today prioritize visual images that appeal to multiple sensory systems” (Kim 2018: 94), makes the groups focus on different elements such as choreography, live performance, or concepts, to fit in the most suitable genre when promoting their groups’ characteristics. Unfortunately, K-pop idols need to have distinct styles of music or concepts in order to survive in the growing Hallyu cultures to catch the audience’s eyes and “Dominate the aesthetic, commercial, and experimental fields of vision” (Kim 2018: 95). While groups from bigger entertainments such as, JYP, SM, or YG have a bigger fan basis, a group like Block B is less fortunate in terms of publicity. However, fixing their concept as the only rascals in the K-pop world, Block B has been one of the few successful K-pop boy groups from a smaller entertainment with no name value to attract the audience. So, in this paper, I will argue about how Block B reinterprets, “Jackpot” in narrative form with villain concept and also the purposes of choosing certain type of words to write this song. In the end, these result Block B to become a new iconic K-pop group.
First, the video shows a weak teenage girl facing a peculiar situation as members from Block B pull childish pranks on her. As the result of what she sees and experiences from these situations, her inner strength grows for the first time. For example, U-Kwon gets into trouble gambling with unfair players, but he fights without using any harmful weapons when the girl is watching beside him. Second, the girl turns into a target on a spinning plank for Park-Kyung, but he only pretends to scare her because she looks naive. Through these various obstacles, she finally learns to overcome her anxiety. Finally, the last shot indicates her fresh start with self-confidence when a girl in full makeover is walking out, giving an act of mild revenge to everyone. This journey in the video amiably puts through each scene having mischievous pranks and some violent actions which reinterpret into simple manners by keeping Block B’s original concept.
Second, “Jackpot” brings new impressions by breaking cliché words to catch people’s attention and introduce a new exclusive style of K-pop music. The lyrics of this song has dominant expressions and straightforward meanings. For example, when Zico sings, “Human greed is endless, and they repeat the same mistakes” (Lyrics Translate 2008), and shows a little girl trapped in an investigatory hallway with Zico on screen, reminds the audience of morality issues. “Instead of providing romantic love and lyrical melodies, pop artists, [like Zico] tr[ies] to maximize melody lines with easy English lyrics” (Jin and Ryoo 2014: 120) helps to intensify the meanings of the English title, interjections of this song help to highlight important words in the lyrics.
In brief, Block B is a talented K-pop idol group that brings new topics to talk about through music in contemporary styles. The song, “Jackpot” includes tougher settings compared to other idols’ videos and this unlikeliness intrigues new audiences in the more or less already defined K-pop world. Having eye catching performances, unique storytelling concept, and using English expressions help to gain “A highly hybridized musical genre that appeals to wider audiences both in Korea and abroad” (Elfving-Hwang 2018: 192). Thus, this song defines the “Central to K-pop both its global musical appeal and its highly produced sound, but even more so is its visual impact and presentation” (Elfving-Hwang 2018: 192). Not only the style of the song defines who they are, but also their new tries makes them extra special.
References:
Elfving-Hwang, Joanna. “K-pop idols, artificial beauty and affective fan relationships in South Korea.” In Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies, edited by Anthony Elliott. 190-201. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
Jin, Dal-Yong and Woong-jae Ryoo. “Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics.” Popular Music and Society 37, no.2 (2014): 113-131.
Kim, Sukyoung. K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018.
Lee, Hee-Eun. “Seeking the ‘others’ within us. Discourses of Korean-ness in Korean popular music.” In medi@sia Global media/tion in and out of context, edited by Todd Joseph Miles Holden and Timothy J. Scrase. 129-46. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2006.
Lyrics Translations. 2008. “Lyrics Translations.” Accessed April 11, 2019. https://lyricstranslate.com/.
Block B 