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.
CHAPTER 3: Alternative masculinity through Seo Taiji’s soft voice in slow songs of the early 1990s
Published 토요일, 3월 11, 2006 by 쟈넷 | E-mail this post
Introduction
The account in vignette number two illustrates people’s sensitivity to how the sounds of voices are gendered. In this chapter, I aim to present the sounds of voices, in music, as a discourse significant to how people construct, display and understand masculinities. The discourses of the sound of voices is something that is intuitively understood by people, people such as the middle-aged men concerned over the appropriateness of their teacher’s voice. In terms of gender, I feel the sound of singing as well speaking voices, plays a key role in how our social worlds are constructed, but remains understudied. Here I attempt to assert vocal sound, as opposed to linguistic meaning, as a primary site where social constructions of gender are formed and contested. Specifically I investigate how a discourse of masculinity plays out in the early slow songs of Seo Taiji and Boys and how Taiji’s extremely soft male vocals present an alternative discourse to those of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary South Korea. I examine Taiji’s vocal styles with special attention to timbre in the following songs: “Nôwa hamkke han shigansok-esô” (1992), “Nôege” (1993), and “Aidûl-ûi nun-ûro” (1994). These slow soft songs’ importance in regards to gender becomes more apparent when we consider that the years they were hits, were also years when many young South Koreans were beginning to question heteronormative gender and sexuality. Before the early 1990s, alternative gendered identities to normative heterosexual identities were virtually unheard of in South Korea. Emerging in the early 1990s, particularly after the establishment of the first homosexual organizations in early 1994, homosexual and queer topics rapidly found their way into public discourses (Seo, 2001). This new movement—part of a broader sexuality politics movement (sôngjôngch’i) which challenged hegemonic gender and sexuality configurations in South Korea—alongside other new young people’s social movements such as shinsedae, caught the attention of media: “…nearly every week and every month, leading organs of the mass media would compete to make reports and special articles on these new movements” (Seo, 2001:71). [1] Amongst this emerging diversification of knowing gender and sexuality, Taiji’s songs were key to the atmosphere of the time. In short, his songs suggested (however vaguely) alternatives to existing social norms. Because of this context, we should carefully examine Taiji’s ‘difference’, which I believe to be a part of his music as well as lyrics and image. Before doing so by analyzing and considering Taiji’s vocal strategies in relation to gender issues, some comments need to be made on the potential of vocal sound to represent and negotiate gender.
[1] For a brief explanation (in English) of sŏngjŏngch’i from an insider’s perspective, including a list of key young feminist groups involved, see Song, 2003:xii-xv.
The account in vignette number two illustrates people’s sensitivity to how the sounds of voices are gendered. In this chapter, I aim to present the sounds of voices, in music, as a discourse significant to how people construct, display and understand masculinities. The discourses of the sound of voices is something that is intuitively understood by people, people such as the middle-aged men concerned over the appropriateness of their teacher’s voice. In terms of gender, I feel the sound of singing as well speaking voices, plays a key role in how our social worlds are constructed, but remains understudied. Here I attempt to assert vocal sound, as opposed to linguistic meaning, as a primary site where social constructions of gender are formed and contested. Specifically I investigate how a discourse of masculinity plays out in the early slow songs of Seo Taiji and Boys and how Taiji’s extremely soft male vocals present an alternative discourse to those of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary South Korea. I examine Taiji’s vocal styles with special attention to timbre in the following songs: “Nôwa hamkke han shigansok-esô” (1992), “Nôege” (1993), and “Aidûl-ûi nun-ûro” (1994). These slow soft songs’ importance in regards to gender becomes more apparent when we consider that the years they were hits, were also years when many young South Koreans were beginning to question heteronormative gender and sexuality. Before the early 1990s, alternative gendered identities to normative heterosexual identities were virtually unheard of in South Korea. Emerging in the early 1990s, particularly after the establishment of the first homosexual organizations in early 1994, homosexual and queer topics rapidly found their way into public discourses (Seo, 2001). This new movement—part of a broader sexuality politics movement (sôngjôngch’i) which challenged hegemonic gender and sexuality configurations in South Korea—alongside other new young people’s social movements such as shinsedae, caught the attention of media: “…nearly every week and every month, leading organs of the mass media would compete to make reports and special articles on these new movements” (Seo, 2001:71). [1] Amongst this emerging diversification of knowing gender and sexuality, Taiji’s songs were key to the atmosphere of the time. In short, his songs suggested (however vaguely) alternatives to existing social norms. Because of this context, we should carefully examine Taiji’s ‘difference’, which I believe to be a part of his music as well as lyrics and image. Before doing so by analyzing and considering Taiji’s vocal strategies in relation to gender issues, some comments need to be made on the potential of vocal sound to represent and negotiate gender.
[1] For a brief explanation (in English) of sŏngjŏngch’i from an insider’s perspective, including a list of key young feminist groups involved, see Song, 2003:xii-xv.
Previous posts
- [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
- [ch. 4] Competition with ‘western’ masculinity
- Conclusion & Coda
- References
- Appendices