1
I watched it.
I've been flummoxed by the ticket sales for festivals headlined by pop acts. For a boomer who grew up on the Beatles and the ensuing classic rock, this is unfathomable. Pop was the enemy. No there there. We dug our teeth into "artists," people who honed their skills, wrote their own songs and testified about their lives. They broke apart musical structure, were all about exploration. It was a bonanza of styles. And in order to sell tickets in prodigious numbers you had to have this background and credibility, you could not be a construct of the man, you had to STAND FOR SOMETHING!
No more.
Now the music business is the hit business. And no one questions it.
Which is how it was before underground FM radio in the sixties, but we didn't really return to a pop world until MTV, which created a monoculture. And then younger generations had no frame of reference. If you grew up on Mariah Carey, what were the odds you were going to form a band like the Doors? Never mind Black Sabbath.
Now heavy metal/active rock has sustained by being off-center. It abhors the mainstream, for a long time the acts were anti-streaming. It's about the downtrodden expressing their anger. This is not Def Leppard produced by Mutt Lange creating earworms one step removed from the Beach Boys, nor even AC/DC and its thunderous riffs, no today's metal is more about the noise, the raw emotion, and if you don't have great vocal chops it doesn't matter. But this metal is a backwater. It cannot spread. Because if you too are not an angry outlier you cannot relate.
But at least there's a culture in today's metal.
Now the culture of classic rock was based on a clear dividing line between performer and audience. They were on stage, you were not. You yearned for access, which you could never attain. The band dripped out info, oftentimes cryptically, in interviews and news squibs. The image was one of a fabulous life of drugs and alcohol, women and sex. Didn't they call it "sex, drugs and rock and roll"? No more.
The rock acts wanted what the pop acts had. The exposure, the opportunities to sell out, the hits that generated cash and ticket sales. But in the process they sacrificed their credibility. With the spandex, etc. The rock acts became a joke. So we ended up living in a pop world 24/7. And even hip-hop merged with pop. It was about the hit. And even Huntrix in "KPop Demon Hunters" writes a diss track. This is the world we live in.
So at first I didn't understand "KPop Demon Hunters," the phenomenon. But if you watch the entire flick it becomes clear.
But one thing is evident straight from the start. They've pulled back the curtain on stardom, they assume the audience knows the game.
Like the private jet. Who knew what transpired on the seventies Starship, the jet the superstars leased. We believed drugs and debauchery, but we didn't really know. And then cellphone cameras came along and killed the rock lifestyle. Act badly and video would hit the internet. You had to pull your punches. Furthermore, mistreatment of women was a taboo... You had to be worried about public perception of your antics. But in "KPop Demon Hunters," like today's pop world, everything is right up front for you to see and pick apart. There is no mystery.
And the fans are more than bodies in the seats. They're active participants.
If you watch "KPop Demon Hunters," you're dying to go to a show. It's the best advertisement for live gigs I've ever seen. To be one of the screaming masses in the stadium, just to be there, part of the throng? THAT'S IT! A boomer will say you're too far away, they don't like being in a sea of humanity, but that's the attraction for young fans. That's the culture. Being at one with the act, bonding to them and believing in them.
This is the essence of KPop.
As for the music?
IT'S POP!
2
Now if you're aware of KPop, you know it's based on identity and story. Culture. It's much more than the music. The music is just the glue to keep the entire enterprise together. If you were conscious during Beatlemania, you know that everybody had their favorite Beatle. You did not have your favorite member of Led Zeppelin, that was something different. But you have you favorite member of a KPop act, who has a backstory, which they feed. Everything's on the table.
But not everybody cares. This is also genius. Rather than playing to everybody, they're playing to a niche, but that niche is huge and can sustain them. KPop is more palatable than today's metal, but it's not for everybody. But having said that, "KPop Demon Hunters" has some catchy songs.
Most specifically "Soda Pop." Give the creators credit, this is hooky. The hooks in the rock of yore were the riffs, other elements that wannabes are no longer able to create. Listen to those Beatle records, they were FULL of hooks. Bridges. All kinds of "tricks" to hook the audience.
And it's not only "Soda Pop," but "Golden" and "Your Idol" and...
In truth, this is not a new formula. Hit movie generates hit records. But with the internet we can see evidence of this success. It's right up front. At this very second, "KPop Demon Hunters" has four songs in the Spotify Top 50, and it would have more if Sabrina Carpenter hadn't just released her new album on Friday. Most of the Carpenter tracks will fade soon, some will sustain, but "KPop Demon Hunters"? It's an unending juggernaut. The song of the summer, assuming you believe in that lame construct, is "Golden," but the arbiters can't fathom this, they didn't watch the movie, how can it be so popular? And don't think it's only in the U.S. The Global Top 50 has FIVE "KPop Demon Hunters" songs. And Sabrina Carpenter is evident, but she doesn't dominate. For all the ink about Carpenter, the real money is in "KPop Demon Hunters," it's a true worldwide phenomenon, and we now exist in a global business, with streaming providing everything to everybody all over the world.
As for the music itself... Sure, it's cartoon characters, but one of the most surprising and fulfilling elements of the movie is when the curtain is pulled back after the action is over and they go to real life, showing the actual people recording the songs, singing their hearts out and having fun in a way too many front line performers are not. Everybody's so into their image, their brand, these are just women in a studio...
Soon to sell out stadiums, but that's another chapter. Yes, the tour is being baked right now.
3
So we've got the elements of modern society right up front, the essence of being a fan, and the music, but those are not enough to sustain a movie, to make it legendary.
Actually, I was watching it and didn't get it.
But then, there's a romance. Straight out of "Seventeen" magazine. If you're a young girl, it rings your bell. And although the animation is not up to Pixar levels, the love interests are beautiful and you get it. And the romantic thread plays throughout the rest of the movie.
And then there's the war between good and evil.
Let's be clear, these are Disney-type demons. Did you know the Mouse House has put out FOUR "Zombies" movies? Believe me, these are not the zombies from "Night of the Living Dead," never mind "The Walking Dead." They're just forces of evil. Like the demons in this film. They're bad, but they're not scary.
Now if you want to go deeper, you can talk about the theme of being your real self, and that's a factor, but really "KPop Demon Hunters" rests on the romance and the push and pull between good and bad. And those make a movie.
Yes, you've got a relatively traditional story laid on top of KPop. Once again, with everything up front and personal, nothing behind a curtain like in the classic rock days.
So where does this leave us?
Well, in music, the hit business is all pop. There is an alternative business, and it's pretty large, but it does not cross over, nor does most of it deserve to cross over, it's just not that good. It feeds the audience, the fans, but if you think Jesse Welles is going to be in the Spotify Top 50 you think that he's equal to Bob Dylan, and he's not anywhere near the Bobster's league. Dylan had many covers before he broke through on the radio with "Like a Rolling Stone." Unlike Welles, who's not for everybody, more of a one trick pony.
Sure, so much of today's hit country music is paint-by-numbers dreck. But not everybody in the Americana world deserves mass attention. Then again, Chris Stapleton is a superstar, illustrating that when you've got the goods, people know it and clamor to it. Then again, Stapleton is forty seven and writes and sings and plays.
And if you don't write your own material, you're inherently less believable. Of course there are exceptions, but this was the essence of classic rock, directly from the artist's heart into yours. Trying to ensure a hit, the labels have squeezed out this element, with covers and writing by committee and insisting on co-writers. You might end up with something catchy that is even a hit, but you won't end up with a classic. Like these tunes from "KPop Demon Hunters," they've got no lasting power, they're akin to New Kids on the Block. They're for now.
So...
4
Beatlemania, classic rock, are in the rearview mirror. Swiftmania is real, but it cannot hold a candle to Beatlemania, which affected the entire world, everybody...made people pick up guitars and also pick apart the music, whereas Swift's new album is made with Max Martin (and Shellback), who only needs an act to front the sound, he can create the hits all by his lonesome.
But this is what the audience expects. Which is why music is a second class citizen. Believe me, you want to go to the gig. Music will never die. But driving the culture? "KPop Demon Hunters" is a phenomenon, but it's not evidence of lasting culture, unless you consider KPop lasting culture, which is sub-Disney stuff at best.
There's plenty of money in this stuff, but don't try and convince us it matters, that it's great, that it speaks to underlying issues and changes hearts and minds. If anything, most people today seem to go to the show like lemmings. Brainless. There to see and dance to pop songs while they hang with their buddies and shoot selfies. Everybody in the business is congratulating themselves but there's no there there. I won't say it's equivalent to Kodak before digital photography, but the analogy applies. There's this belief that the public will be satiated by empty calories forever. Ariana Grande? A child star with a good voice? Even Ricky Nelson had more gravitas, never mind making better music.
Then again, it's easy to disrupt music, with the means of production and distribution in the hands of the proletariat. However, today's younger generations have no models, like we did in the classic rock era. And they want success right up front, when it comes slower than ever because of noise in the channel. Their goal is to become a brand. Whereas the acts of yore just wanted to make music, do drugs and get laid. They hoped there was money in it, but for so many when the mania was done there was none.
5
As for the movie...
This proves the power of Netflix. The business is caught up in data. Weekly grosses. Like the irrelevant "Billboard" charts, manipulated to satisfy the retro players. It's always been about mindshare. To really win you need everybody to partake, to see or listen. As for leaving money on the table... God, the dough from "KPop Demon Hunters" is just beginning...there's the music, the tour, the sequel.
And unlike superhero movies, "KPop Demon Hunters" does not assume you have a wealth of knowledge, you can go in blind and still get it.
As for the brevity of success of films/series on Netflix... This is what the studios and streamers who drip episodes out week by week don't get. EVERYTHING is evanescent. Shoot someone today, it's forgotten tomorrow. Memes come and go quickly. Why should it be any different in movies? You strike when the iron is hot, when people are interested they need to be able to partake of it all, to become part of the culture. As for the hoopla in the press... The last I checked more people had seen "Adolescence" than "White Lotus," it's just if you're baked into the old system you think otherwise because of all the old school press.
The world has changed.
If someone had pitched me the idea of "KPop Demon Hunters" would I have known it would be a gargantuan worldwide success? No. The line between success and failure in movies is a knife edge, and if you're on the wrong side you've got a stiff. And the funny thing is the more you play it safe, the more you're ensuring a stiff. You've got to hang it all out there. The audience can tell. The same way they can tell that "KPop Demon Hunters" was made for THEM! Not for critics. Not for anybody but the young people who will buy this stuff.
Do you need to watch "KPop Demon Hunters"?
Only if you're interested in a business lesson.
And if you start, hang in there, it gets better.
But it's not for you. And that's cool.
But it's for somebody. And those people are rabid for it. They watch it again and again, go to the theatre to sing along. That's the passion you're trying to generate. If you're playing to everybody you can't achieve this. If you're afraid of risks you can't succeed.
"KPop Demon Hunters" is an incredible success. It's a cash generator. Kudos.
But if you think it's one step forward for music...
You've got no ears.
And no perception.
You think a dollar today is better than thinking about a dollar ten years from now. You studied business in college, not the liberal arts. Or you're nobody from nowhere who believes they deserve to be a success at age twelve.
Want to see real creativity?
Go on TikTok.
But the same people who are not watching "KPop Demon Hunters" are not scrolling there either.
And either you're in on the joke, you can see the landscape, or you can't.
There's definitely a lot here. And to a degree it's clear. But if you're looking at the present through the past's glasses...
You're lost.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.