There is trying to pretend to be cool and there is this...

[dangermousie]

Ahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

I have no idea which Asian boyband this is but oh Good God!

Nice of them to not even pretend to be relying on their musical talents.

LOLOLOL.

LOL.

So very pathetic.

Comments

[ilanala]

The funny part is that I believe that's DBSK, one of the groups that actually does have musical talent. Just clearly that's not all their popularity is based on. XD

[booknerd14.livejournal.com]

awwww... that's my kpop group! =(
lol, well in their defense, they actually are pretty talented. more than most of the other kpop groups out there anyway...

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

That's DBSK (or TVXQ or Tohoshinki depending where in Asia you are). Actually, those guys are pretty talented, highly popular both in Korea and Japan. The only non-JE boyband (local or international) to appear in a Johnny programme (SMAPxSMAP).
They are famous for three things ... 1) Their acapella singing is stunning. 2) They sing GOOD English (Yoo-chun lived in the US so he proof reads all English texts). 3) Their fanservice is both cute and strangely believable.

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

As much as I love to dislike them now, 'cause hate is such a strong word, I gotta agree with the above and say that they do have talent.

Well, so long as there aren't any crazy Cassiopeia fans that see this, you'll be fine. ^^;;

[uisceros.livejournal.com]

Ah, DBSK... I actually don't like them very much (I'm a Big Bang fan, it doesn't mesh), but they are pretty talented. But they do tend to strip a lot. Not that I'm complaining... some of them *cough* Jae Joong *cough* are inhumanely gorgeous.

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

ahahahah! I mean, DBSK does some pretty fanservicy-stuff already but I've never seen them go to this length...*kills self laughing* I'm with uisceros, Big Bang trounces them easily both music-and-charisma wise, but they are quite pretty.

[lain7.livejournal.com]

While I tend to find DBSK's musical talent overrated, I'm not seeing the connection between skin and lack of talent. I'm more than happy to laugh at popstars when they sing off-pitch, crack a note, miss the beat or mess up the harmony. Denouncing singers not for how they sing but for their sex appeal strikes me as beside the point.

Similarly, while I don't hold most K-dramas in high regard, I don't attribute their low quality to their high skin content. A problem with the writing? Point out exactly which dialogue/action negatively impacts the theme, plot or characterization. Bad acting? Wooden face, monotone delivery, scenery chewing, a long list of valid complaints. It makes no sense to see ten seconds of gratuitous nudity and conclude that the writer can't write/the actor can't act. Not to me, anyway. I'm guessing it doesn't to you either.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

To me, skin content (in dramas, music, movies etc) just usually comes across as a cheap trick when they want to get attention not via actual merit (of music/performance/writing/etc) but hormones. Nothing wrong with that, but I find it mockable (even if occasionally hormonally appealing) :)

Mind you, I grew up in the USSR, where singers were on in years and not skinny, and stood in front of the mikes in suits/evening dresses and sung immobile, so I clearly have different criteria for singers than most on my flist :) I honestly don't like any stage business at all with my singers - that's why I prefer audio files to video, less distracting.

[lain7.livejournal.com]

they want to get attention not via actual merit but hormones

I'm puzzled by the implied premise that they must sacrifice one to accomplish the other. Why can't an artist offer vocals and sex appeal at once, and let the audience appreciate whichever part they want to appreciate?

They, and by "they" I mean popstars all over the world, tend to sing ballads in addition to dance numbers. Slow ballads which they perform immobile in front of mike stands. It's easy to find live footage of any group singing a ballad, and judge the vocals thereon.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I love the person in the silver jacket who just loses their mind and basks in the glory for a while there.

[ilonga.livejournal.com]

no idea who they are, but that second video that scottishlass posted is awesome.
I like it :D

[hiiyaa.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that but Changmin (far right) actually reminds me of Siddharth so he's automatically win in my book.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

My only thought when looking at that graphic was wondering how long they had to practice to get the timing right...

DBSK...

[calixa.livejournal.com]

Although I will admit they have good singing voices, I find their songs/style/overall images HORRIFYINGLY LAME. So I'm totally laughing along with you here.

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

So, I'm the only one who was at first horrified that they all had tattooed spines like aliens or some horrible sickness ("black spine syndrome") and then after watching it a few times finally realized it was their mike cables?

Love the choreography, it's actually quite witty IMO.

[joonni.livejournal.com]

ah, my favorite group!

lol, what can we expect from boybands that are made for entertainment. They have to serve their fans.

But as with many people here, I just want to say that they do have talent, more so than many other pop bands out there.

Let me link you to some japanese ballads that they sang live. It is bit of a different taste than you saw in the scottishlass's reply.

[yunhalove.livejournal.com]

Yes. DBSK is actually pretty good for a boyband (can sing, can dance, look yummy shirtless). It helps that all of them are dorks who love feeling each other up and bursting out into song and generally being fail.

They all have their respective roles, as well: Yoochun's the one with the perpetually bad hair from the US, Yunho's the really altruistic leader type who is renowned for his moobs, Jaejoong's the oldest, motherly one who likes to cook, Junsu's the best singer in the group who is affectionately referred to as "Dolphin" (because of his high voice) and "Duck butt" (because of his shapely ass), and last but not least is Changmin, the youngest- he's appropriately hungry all the time, hairy in awkward places, exceedingly violent towards his fellow members, and obsessed with porn. (I tell no lies, all this information has been revealed at one point or another, usually via korean talkshow.)

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think most of the top pop groups in Asia do have talent, but it's such a different ballgame over there. And of course, so much of the credit goes to producers and the writers of the songs, as well as the entertainment companies who essentially train these pop stars. (In Korea a lot of them eventually learn how to compose and write music themselves, though.)

I think the plain out-and-out fanservice happens in pretty much every group, and even beyond the pop genre. I swear this one smaller rockband I saw in SKorea had this little joke where the bassist did some dance moves and started pulling his shirt off (and stopped after we saw the tiniest bit of skin). I'm still not sure whether it was just a joke or an attempt at fanservice.

[fireflyangel1.livejournal.com]

Haha this gif is particularly entertaining because they're singing their song which originally had the lyrics "Under my skin" and then the tv stations decided it was too sexy so they had to change it to "under my sky" and this was one of their last performances so they went again and sang the original lyrics as well has showing some skin just to stick to to the man, lol