Seo Taiji 1992-2004: South Korean popular music and masculinity (my master's thesis)
© Janet Hilts 2006 - please note: this is not the final version of my thesis.
[ch. 2] Popular music and gendered meanings cont.
Published 수요일, 3월 15, 2006 by 쟈넷 | E-mail this post
Other fans tended less to talk about music indicating a range of masculinities, where singers and bands would find themselves placed on various spots between the terms masculinity and femininity on Yong-t’ae’s gender diagram, nor did they talk as confidently about music and gender as did Yong-t’ae and Yun-hûi, both in their early thirties and in some ways more mature. Other fans tended more to talk about music expressing extremes of masculinity and femininity, for example Chin-ha and Kûn-hae who I will discuss later. Other fans who expressed similar conceptions of gender and music were Ki-t’aek and Yu-t’aek. Some of Kûn-hae’s opinions are shown in excerpt 2, and some of Chin-ha’s in excerpt 3. In both we can also see more hesitation and some confusion in talking about popular music and gender, than in the older fans’ talk.
Kûn-hae (26) did not have a lot to say about music and gender. This was partially because we had to meet over msn messenger and from my experience, people tend to say less with this technology. I was a little surprised that Kûn-hae did not have much to say in comparison to many other fans because she was studying in a graduate program in South Korea in which gender studies, or perhaps more accurately, women’s studies, is a major component.
Although she did talk about gender without much hesitation earlier on in our conversation, her talk tended to reflect more of an understanding of gender as primarily a dichotomous system consisting of masculinity and femininity as contrasting things, and less as a contemporary type of thinking where masculinity and femininity are more fluid and changeable. Her brief comments on music and gender reveal her tendency toward the former. She explicitly states that only voices, for instance, which are very masculine or very feminine (‘soft’ male ballad singers for example), express something about gender. All other voices and sounds, she implies, do not express a type of gender but instead express only personal characteristics.
The brevity of Kûn-hae’s comments and her qualifiers “Actually I am not sure” and “I think” indicate some hesitation talking about music and gender. Her brief comments and hesitation cannot be explained by a lack of articulation about the sound of Seo Taiji songs. In other sessions, Kûn-hae often spoke in detail about what aspects of the sound of Taiji songs she liked
and why. For instance, she explained in detail how she liked the exact combination of rhythm, rhyme and pronunciation in the rapping in the song “Orenji” (“Orange”) (2000). Considering this, her hesitation seems to come from the unusualness of the topic. But, I also believe it comes from her sense-making of gender, where thinking about diversity and flexibility of gender is somewhat overshadowed by a more normative feminist, dichotomous conceptualization of gender, which dominates the writing of one of the top professors at the graduate program she attends. In short, Kûn-hae also seems mixed-up and hesitant talking about music and gender because her conceptualizations of gender are neither completely conventionally feminist, nor contemporary (post-structural).
Although Chin-ha (20) talked a lot more than Kûn-hae on the topic of music and gender, she was also hesitant and at times a little confused. She spoke about music as expressing only extremes or stereotypes of masculinity or femininity, and her talk reveals a primarily dichotomous conception of gender. Statements such as “I think, men like songs like men, girls like songs like girls” and “they have an exact sex so guys follow girls and girls follow guys, so guys sing a song for girls, yes” indicate a dichotomous understanding of gender and a conflation of gender types. By saying “like girls” or “like guys”, Chin-ha seems to speak about the natural or normalness of gender opposites: girls as a group are a certain type and guys as a group contrast them as another type.
Furthermore, she expresses the idea that some genres of music are “for girls” while others are “for guys.” She accounts for the high numbers of new kkotminam (literally flower man) singers (who perform ballads or soft pop music) by understanding they act ‘like girls’ in order to be similar to and thus popular with girls. In the same way, she explains that the music of N.E.X.T. (a heavy metal band led by Shin Hae-ch’ôl) is masculine and is for guys, and what's more her addition of a justification for liking them anyways―“Ya it’s just for guys. But I like them because…”― indicates her belief that certain types of music are specifically for males. Her comments about Shin Hae-ch’ôl in contrast to ‘commercial’ idol singers are also interesting. Her statements that Shin Hae-ch’ôl is masculine naturally― “he is just born like that, he is just showing what he is like” ― indicate, to a degree, Chin-ha takes it for granted that gender essentially expresses the ‘natural’ aspects of a person when this person is acting like their ‘real’ self. In contrast, her comments that idol stars act like ‘girls’ for commercial reasons, indicates she conceives their gendered star and performance persona is ‘unnatural’ and her comments elsewhere indicate she dislikes them for this reason. Despite her dislike for male stars who ‘act’ feminine and her acceptance of Chin Hae-ch’ôl’s ‘natural’ (hyper)masculinity, Chin-ha’s comments elsewhere indicated she did not believe males need to be conventionally masculine―in fact her boyfriend at this time was not―which complicates our view that she solely subscribes dichotomous understanding of gender, but allows for more gender variety and change. However, she certainly indicated a preference for stars who do not purposefully manipulate gender in their image or music. She explained that this was one reason she liked Seo Taiji, in contrast to her peers who preferred idol singers and boy bands who were kkotminam.
Kûn-hae (26) did not have a lot to say about music and gender. This was partially because we had to meet over msn messenger and from my experience, people tend to say less with this technology. I was a little surprised that Kûn-hae did not have much to say in comparison to many other fans because she was studying in a graduate program in South Korea in which gender studies, or perhaps more accurately, women’s studies, is a major component.
Excerpt #2
Kh: Actually I am not sure that the sound/voice itself can express gender… Hmm…
Except very masculine voice and very feminine voice [ok]. Some men have very soft voice, and they sing soft ballad... [Right] When I hear them, I cannot feel the masculinity, but just that.
J: Only soft ballad singer's voices you cannot feel masculinity?
Kh: Oh no... [Oh]. There can be other singers, but I don't know the example. Right, there is a soft rapper in Korea. [Oh]. But, just that's all. I mean... the voice and sound are soft, but... they don't show any kind of femininity or masculinity, [ok] just personal difference, I think.
Although she did talk about gender without much hesitation earlier on in our conversation, her talk tended to reflect more of an understanding of gender as primarily a dichotomous system consisting of masculinity and femininity as contrasting things, and less as a contemporary type of thinking where masculinity and femininity are more fluid and changeable. Her brief comments on music and gender reveal her tendency toward the former. She explicitly states that only voices, for instance, which are very masculine or very feminine (‘soft’ male ballad singers for example), express something about gender. All other voices and sounds, she implies, do not express a type of gender but instead express only personal characteristics.
The brevity of Kûn-hae’s comments and her qualifiers “Actually I am not sure” and “I think” indicate some hesitation talking about music and gender. Her brief comments and hesitation cannot be explained by a lack of articulation about the sound of Seo Taiji songs. In other sessions, Kûn-hae often spoke in detail about what aspects of the sound of Taiji songs she liked
and why. For instance, she explained in detail how she liked the exact combination of rhythm, rhyme and pronunciation in the rapping in the song “Orenji” (“Orange”) (2000). Considering this, her hesitation seems to come from the unusualness of the topic. But, I also believe it comes from her sense-making of gender, where thinking about diversity and flexibility of gender is somewhat overshadowed by a more normative feminist, dichotomous conceptualization of gender, which dominates the writing of one of the top professors at the graduate program she attends. In short, Kûn-hae also seems mixed-up and hesitant talking about music and gender because her conceptualizations of gender are neither completely conventionally feminist, nor contemporary (post-structural).
Although Chin-ha (20) talked a lot more than Kûn-hae on the topic of music and gender, she was also hesitant and at times a little confused. She spoke about music as expressing only extremes or stereotypes of masculinity or femininity, and her talk reveals a primarily dichotomous conception of gender. Statements such as “I think, men like songs like men, girls like songs like girls” and “they have an exact sex so guys follow girls and girls follow guys, so guys sing a song for girls, yes” indicate a dichotomous understanding of gender and a conflation of gender types. By saying “like girls” or “like guys”, Chin-ha seems to speak about the natural or normalness of gender opposites: girls as a group are a certain type and guys as a group contrast them as another type.
Excerpt #3
J: What do you think about the sound of a song, the style of a song, for example the sound of a singer’s voice [ah!] what do you think of that having to do with gender?
Ch: Voice.
J: Ya voice, or the style of music or the style of the song, do you think they have a relationship to
Ch: Ya cause they have ah, (thinking out-loud) masculine song. Or the, ya they can have a relationship, ah in the spirit, oh anything, oh I’ve never thought about that! [It’s hard] Ya! (Laughs a little). The song. I think, men like songs like men, girls like songs like girls. But, cause I can’t distinguish that this is like guys’ song this is like girls’ song. Ya , still I think that, ya. Cause ah, they have an exact sex so guys follow girls and girls follow guys, so guys sing a song for girls, yes. […]
J: What about (the band) N.E.X.T.?
Ch: Ya, ah. Well his songs and his appearance is totally like masculine, but it is not his purpose I think, he is just born like that (smiles) he is just showing what he is like. Ya. […] They (idols) could be masculine, but they try to be like girls. They, try to be beautiful for fans. Ya. […]
J: Ah and what about N.E.X.T.’s music?
Ch: Music is also masculine. I can find, I can find, even in the love songs I can find masculinity! (Laughs) Ya it’s just for guys. But I like them because, they try, to make songs with very various subjects, for the same reason why I like Seo Taiji. Ya.
Furthermore, she expresses the idea that some genres of music are “for girls” while others are “for guys.” She accounts for the high numbers of new kkotminam (literally flower man) singers (who perform ballads or soft pop music) by understanding they act ‘like girls’ in order to be similar to and thus popular with girls. In the same way, she explains that the music of N.E.X.T. (a heavy metal band led by Shin Hae-ch’ôl) is masculine and is for guys, and what's more her addition of a justification for liking them anyways―“Ya it’s just for guys. But I like them because…”― indicates her belief that certain types of music are specifically for males. Her comments about Shin Hae-ch’ôl in contrast to ‘commercial’ idol singers are also interesting. Her statements that Shin Hae-ch’ôl is masculine naturally― “he is just born like that, he is just showing what he is like” ― indicate, to a degree, Chin-ha takes it for granted that gender essentially expresses the ‘natural’ aspects of a person when this person is acting like their ‘real’ self. In contrast, her comments that idol stars act like ‘girls’ for commercial reasons, indicates she conceives their gendered star and performance persona is ‘unnatural’ and her comments elsewhere indicate she dislikes them for this reason. Despite her dislike for male stars who ‘act’ feminine and her acceptance of Chin Hae-ch’ôl’s ‘natural’ (hyper)masculinity, Chin-ha’s comments elsewhere indicated she did not believe males need to be conventionally masculine―in fact her boyfriend at this time was not―which complicates our view that she solely subscribes dichotomous understanding of gender, but allows for more gender variety and change. However, she certainly indicated a preference for stars who do not purposefully manipulate gender in their image or music. She explained that this was one reason she liked Seo Taiji, in contrast to her peers who preferred idol singers and boy bands who were kkotminam.
Previous posts
- [ch. 2] Taiji and gender 1
- [ch. 2] Taiji and gender 2 & Conclusion
- Vignette # 2
- CHAPTER 3: Alternative masculinity through Seo Tai...
- [ch. 3] Vocal sound and gender
- [ch. 3] Seo Taiji & Boys’ soft, slow songs
- [ch. 3] Taiji’s vocals in relation to hegemonic ma...
- CHAPTER 4: The relationship of “Hayôga” performanc...
- [ch. 4] Fraternity
- [ch. 4] Remasculinization