This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about vocal direction (or, how those in the studio during the recording process experiment with a singer’s tone, delivery, emotion, etc. as it fits best in a song). You can watch almost any group’s behind-the-scenes recording videos to get a taste of how it works, and I’ve always found it a fascinating process.
My favorite example of immaculate vocal direction in a K-pop song is Love Like Oxygen by Shinee- the way Jonghyun hits the consonants in the opening line has such an immediate, punchy effect, and there is no way it wasn’t a conscious choice when recording the song. It makes an impression. Strong vocal direction can save a line from feeling discordant or genuinely corny. Gaeul’s “It’s explosive, it’s aggressive, it’s a little bit offensive” bit during IVE’s Bang Bang could have sounded clunky or awkward, but she puts so much attitude into the delivery that the listener is sold.
On the other hand, a lack of clear vision with regard to delivery and tone tends to stick out like a sore thumb. I’m truly not trying to pile onto discourse, but this is why Eunchae’s first part in Boompala sounds out of place compared to Yunjin’s looser and more committed vocally-fried delivery of the verse before. I think it’s primarily a vocal direction issue, because she sounds perfectly fine during her other parts in the song, but it’s a small example of how the way idols are being instructed to perform lyrics can have a huge impact (positive or negative) on how the song is received. It doesn’t matter how technically good a singer is, either. Sometimes a line just lands wrong, no matter who sings it.
Overall, I just think it’s an often overlooked and underappreciated part of the K-pop process, an artistic and collaborative element that I would be interested to learn more about. Do you guys have songs / specific lines you feel make an impact because of their specific delivery? What are the parts in K-pop songs that have you thinking, “Surely they could’ve done another take?”
submitted by /u/Vast-Border5993
[link] [comments]
