Literature Application – Carina Cheng
As Jin and Ryoo mentioned, South Korean society is affected by the United States. In this situation, increasing Korean artists combines English in lyrics for adding force to the music, and also for attracting the more people and extending international market (Jin and Ryoo 2012). By combining English in music, Jay-Park got success due to appealing to young people and keeping authenticity.
Firstly, Jay Park’s combination of English words shows his “rejection of norms” and thus targets the younger generation. Differentiating with the normal K-pop songs about young people’s normal life, Jay Park utilizes some English lyrics to show a special life which is full of party, alcohol, and sex. For instance, in one of Jay Park’s song, _ iffy, he sings about drinking and having a party all the time, and the profanities appear in the lyric with high frequency. These English words which express a particular style of life is a discourse of resistance of norms and a calling out for freedom. According to Jin and Ryoo’s argument, young generations are the majority listeners of contemporary K-pop, and Jay Park’s lyrics appeal to young people enormously by showing them a footloose lifestyle which have huge difference with their normal life (Jin and Ryoo 2012: 118).
Secondly, the success of Jay Park’s music is due to the infrequent authenticity in his hybridized music. In Jin and Ryoo’s article, they claim that some Korean and English combined music lose their authenticity because of missing the representing of local culture (Ibid., 127). This general problem is not able to appear on Jay Park because of his nationality. As a Korean American singer who was born and raised in Seattle, Jay Park does not have to reach a fusion of two cultures when combining English in his lyrics. The combining English words in Jay Park’s music will easily be considered as showing his original culture and thus keeps the authenticity and eventually lead to Jay Park’s success.
In conclusion, the combination of English words in Jay Park’s music lead to his success due to attracting younger generations and keeping authenticity.
Written by: Carina Cheng
Bibliography
Jin, Dal Yong, and Woongjae Ryoo. “Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global- Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics.” Popular Music and Society 37, no. 2 (2014): 113-31.