When many people saw the song introduction of "Boy with Luv", they couldn't help but be stunned when they discovered that this song was not a native American song, but a Korean song from the Peninsula. Then many people The first reaction is:
"psy?"
Nowadays, most of Ami’s pop music audience has the overwhelming impression of kpop’s psy and the song “Gangnam Style”. The popularity of this song and the horse-riding dance two years ago are really unforgettable.
Even though his popularity has dropped significantly recently, the only Korean singers and songs that have appeared frequently in front of Ami audiences in recent years are psy and the new songs he releases every year.
For many people, Korean songs are equal to psy.
Including Emily, this was the case. After discovering that it was a Korean song, her conditioned reflex was to release a new song by psy.
But she quickly took a closer look and found out that the singer's name was exo. She blinked and recalled it. Suddenly she remembered that she was not unfamiliar with this name because she had heard the singer's name before and remembered it. It was a boy band from the peninsula, and a friend of hers had recommended it to her several times before.
As someone who often comes into contact with pop music because of her love and attention, she has learned about some related situations. Although kpop and even other countries and languages, songs of the style are not mainstream here in Ami, but there are a number of more or less. fans, among which kpop is the most popular type of song.
She remembered that although EXO, a peninsula group, did not have a particularly large number of fans, it had made steady progress every year since the past two years. Now it is the most well-known group in the kpop circle. Recently, it has appeared in some places from time to time. Their names can be seen everywhere.
But because she had only heard about it before and didn't pay much attention to it, and she hadn't heard much of the songs, she was still relatively far away from these peninsula groups. Their fans had their own circle, and she only heard some from her friends.
I heard that many fans of kpop, especially this boy group, are crazy. They like to support and support their idols in real life and on SNS. They recommend to others in the comment areas of Twitter and some websites, just like flies. I can't even drive him away, and sometimes he's really annoying.
But it should be quite interesting that it ranks so high on iTunes. After all, kpop songs don’t often appear at the top of the list.
After reading the introduction and recalling it for a moment, she clicked on the paid download and opened the mv.
Because it is the world's largest popular entertainment venue, many people here in Ame have a natural arrogance towards songs in foreign languages, and many people have some disdain for songs other than their own.
However, although this kind of people make up the majority, there are also a considerable number of listeners who are relatively objective and unprejudiced and only like interesting music. This is the case for Emily. She has no other views on these things.
"oo~~woo~~"
Soon, a piece of music that was completely different from today's popular music in the United States appeared in front of her. The extremely novel style immediately attracted her attention.
Especially when she saw the blue-haired boy standing in the middle at the beginning, she couldn't help but nod and move closer. Just at a glance, she felt that this was a rare Asian face that suited her aesthetics.
As a funk pop song, coupled with the unique music style of the peninsula, the impact and effect brought by the strong rhythm brought by the electric bass and drums, as well as the particularly prominent and clear rhythm, are really obvious. Although she didn't understand the lyrics, the rhythm and melody sounded very cheerful and felt particularly suitable for dancing. After listening to a few words, she couldn't help but want to dance along.
"oh my~my~my~ oh my~my~my~"
The female chorus's feat part is also just right. No matter the tone, voice, or even weight, it's just right. Although it sounds like the most essential part of a song, it doesn't seem to overwhelm it. Instead, the addition of the female voice balances out the nine male members. As well as an overly bright and breezy atmosphere and painting style.
And the English pronunciation is really good...
The style and melody of this song's MV are quite different from Ami's mainstream music. The most obvious thing reflected in the MV is that in addition to the song, the dance part is placed at the absolute core. This is absolutely It's something you don't see in most American music.
This kind of unique, contagious expression of emotions, handsome choreography, and eye-catching dance style are extremely novel for Emily, who rarely pays attention to kpop.
Watching the nine people on the screen standing in a row, or in unison, like one person performing an amazing knife dance, or even though the movements are different, there is a tacit understanding, and the cooperation is so comfortable that people can't take their eyes away from the group dance, just like flying The rapid interlacing and moving, and even the expression management and emotion expression methods of different American and American singers made her feel an unprecedented impact and a strong sense of freshness.
"wow~"
When the music ended and the logo appeared, Alimi couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise and clapped her hands in appreciation.
She felt very happy at this time, and her head had already begun to click to the beat without knowing when. This was the charm brought by music.
There is rarely a song and MV that can make her relax and feel better after watching it, and even think in her mind, "Why don't we go dance" and "What other songs does this group have?" thoughts and expectations.
No matter what others think, at least for her, this is a really great song, with a nice and catchy melody, and the point is that the dance really attracts her.
No wonder it ranks so high.
Taking another look at the real-time ranking of iTunes, Emily was no longer surprised that this Korean song appeared here. At the same time, she seemed to understand a lot of those who usually like to listen to kpop, especially the man named exo. Thoughts of group fans.
Although the styles are completely different, it is normal to like this type of songs and singers.
And it sounds better than psy's songs...
She was making her own judgment in her mind, and clicked the play button again to start the loop. After pausing for a few seconds, she started to click on Google, entered the three letters exo, and clicked search.
Looking at the large number of encyclopedias and search results that came out, and listening to the music prelude that sounded again in her ears, she couldn't help but feel the enthusiasm in her heart, and hummed along:
"oo~~woo~~woo~~"
…………
I don’t know how many people were dissatisfied when they saw a Korean song ranking so high on iTunes of American music. Like Emily, I don’t know how many people saw and listened to "Boy with Luv" through various channels. ", because of this song, I became interested in exo and even kpop. At the same time, various influences slowly fermented and the time came to June 9th.
At midnight on the 9th, Lee Jae-hyo, who was still out of get off work in the office, took a deep breath. Staring at the list that had just been updated on the screen, he could not open his eyes drowsily. He took a sip of the coffee placed on his desk and started to fight. With some energy, I shook my head and cheered up to continue working.
The few colleagues around me also looked the same, most of them were a little absent-minded.
They are all editors affiliated with the entertainment section of a news media, and are responsible for news reporting on Aramco Entertainment.
American pop music and entertainment news have a fixed and large audience here on the peninsula, and what they often do is to come to the peninsula as soon as possible after seeing some of Ami’s entertainment news, and change their local appearance. It will be polished and exaggerated before reporting. It would be better if there is positive news related to the peninsula.
So because of the time difference, I often have to work until very late.
Every Tuesday and Wednesday is the time when the popular music trend chart B is updated. On this day, they will work overtime to check the changes in the list for the first time, write some manuscripts, and collect some news.
Li Zaixiao browsed the newly updated list perfunctorily. Even after drinking coffee, he still had no energy. He slid the mouse from top to bottom with half-lidded eyes. Although he was looking at the computer, what he wanted in his mind was to finish it quickly. sleep at home.
But just after watching it for a while, when he saw a somewhat familiar name, he suddenly felt as if he was electrocuted. His whole body froze. His eyes, which were not big at all, and were still squinted, suddenly widened and opened, because Excessive force stretched the outline of the triangle into an ellipse.
After being stunned for two seconds, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and finally put his head close to the screen. After finally making sure, he couldn't help but scream: "Oh, oh, oh, oh, mo, come and see, come on. Look! The new B list."
"Why are you so loud at this late hour? It's scary."
Li Zaixiao and his sudden shouting obviously made the people next to him a little dissatisfied. After being startled, he rubbed his ears and looked at him with a frown. He didn't take his surprise too seriously. He just glanced at him and said casually. Question: "What's all the fuss about? "See You Again" has ended its winning streak?"
As the theme song of "Fast and Furious 7" and the most popular song in the United States and even around the world in the past two months, "See You Again" has achieved amazing results since its release in March. It ended "Uptown Funk"'s super consecutive No. 1 ranking, and it had maintained the weekly No. 1 spot on the Singles 100 chart since April until last week.
During this period of time, they didn't know how many manuscripts they had written about the song, and they had already gotten a little tired of polishing the Rainbow Fart.
"...It's considered news, so I shouldn't be so surprised."
As the colleague spoke, he stopped looking at his computer and leaned over with his cup of coffee, wanting to see what it was that surprised Li Zaixiao so much.
"Not coming down has nothing to do with "see you again"... Come and see for yourself!"
Li Zaixiao's surprise has not yet subsided. He felt his colleague walk up to him and pointed at a name on the hot100 list summarized on the screen.
The colleague came to the side, adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, and saw clearly the name and ranking displayed on the screen.
No. 38, niaj, "the night is still young" (2014)
last week (ranking last week): #51 peak (highest ranking): #38 weeks on (number of weeks on the list): 4
No. 39, exo, "boy with luv" (2015)
last week: -- peak: #39 weeks on: 1
No. 40, taylor swift, "shake it off" (2014)
last week: #34 peak: #1 weeks on: 41
He no longer cared about the following rankings and names, because all his attention was attracted by the song title and singer ranked 39th.
exo?
"boy with luv"?
A hit single?
seriously?
"Ah jinjia?"
The colleague reacted and screamed in surprise. He instinctively looked closer and looked at the name: "Really xo?"
He knows this is nonsense, because as long as you have eyes, you can see the singer's name very clearly. The three letters 'exo' are concise and clear, not to mention the name of the song "boy with luv" is right behind it. The song that has been ringing around them every day recently can be heard everywhere in the streets of Seoul and even the entire peninsula.
Nowadays, no one can follow the phrase "oh mymymy". To be honest, it's a bit annoying to hear it.
The two people's exclamations immediately attracted the attention of the few remaining people in the office. They thought something had happened, so they put down their work and came over.
But after seeing the list clearly and knowing the reason, he immediately followed Li Zaixiao's example, with a look of disbelief on his face.
"No, is it really true?"
"I was joking before."
Several people looked at each other and felt the surprise in each other's eyes.
Because they saw that EXO and the song "Boy with Luv" are so popular in the peninsula recently, and their usual work is related to music news in Europe and the United States, they also discussed EXO and this song when they chatted privately. Is it possible for the song to break into the United States? He also jokingly said, 'If EXO fans charge collectively and download unlimited times, they may have a chance to log into the hot 100.'
But everyone knows it’s a joke. Being popular on Peninsula and being popular on Ami are two completely different concepts. They are engaged in this field. They know very well that it is really difficult for Peninsula artists and groups to be on this list. Kpop The U.S. market is not a niche market to begin with. Although the audience does exist, it is very limited and is not well received by the mainstream market. There are also many locals who are born with their own preferences for skin color, music, and language. Such prejudice and arrogance.
Forget about those sub-category lists, they don’t have enough gold content, album charts, kpop charts, etc., let alone exo, many small groups have been on the list many times, and some lists are specially set up for these niche music , not many people pay attention to it.
But the Hot 100 is different. Over the years, the entire peninsula has had 100 hit singles. Apart from psy, which became famous with one song, Wirls' "No Body" briefly entered the list, reaching a peak of 76, and Still a short week trip.
This directly caused an extremely heated sensation and discussion on the peninsula. In addition to pushing Wirls' national network to a higher level, it also aroused JYP's strong confidence and ambition, and took advantage of the situation to open Wirls to people. It’s hard to look back, but it’s a career in beauty that has endless aftertaste.
This is the first time EXO has made it to the list. Without any publicity or programs before, relying solely on fans and passers-by to listen and download, the score of 39 is already very, very good, which makes them all a little bit good. Hard to believe.
"Exo and their fans are really angry?"
"How is it possible? How can it be so easy to cheat? There is no news or movement at all. But in Europe and the United States, exo is indeed the most popular among all kpop artists except psy. Previously, "dope" was very popular. It has gained a lot of points, and the number of fans has actually been quite large in the past two years, and it has actually broken up with other groups...but this ranking is indeed quite powerful, I didn't expect it."
"They haven't been on any radio or anything like that to promote it, right?"
"No, EXO has never been to Ami recently. I have been following it for so long, and apart from posting on Twitter, I have even seen a few official promotions."
"Then they can all be on the list?"
The embarrassment of several people in the circle disappeared all at once. They gathered together and started discussing. From time to time, they glanced at the computer screen in front of them that had been frozen for a long time. In their astonished tone, There is also a hint of emotion and pride in it.
Because of various subjective and objective factors, many people here on the peninsula very much hope to gain recognition from the outside world. The same is true in music. Although kpop has learned from many music styles and developed it into its own style, in fact, regardless of Whether they are leaders of major entertainment companies or ordinary citizens, they all really want to be recognized by Ami, the largest entertainment market in the world.
From SM to JYP, several major brokerage companies have continuously tried to let their groups enter the United States and expand the market. Unfortunately, after investing a lot of money, time, and resources, the results have been very few.
After several attempts, it was actually just a matter of gaining a reputation and becoming gold-plated.
Li Zaixiao and others in the industry know very well that as long as they can make some achievements in overseas markets and promote kpop, they will be praised to the sky in China.
This is the reason why psy has such a high status today.
Even those in the industry can't help but feel a little proud of the success of this airborne single, which has aroused widespread discussion in the United States, and they don't know what kind of repercussions it will have among ordinary citizens.
"Stop talking nonsense, this news is really big. Not only EXO, but also fans in the music industry, and even ordinary citizens will be very interested. Please inform Min Hao and the others immediately and ask their department to come out overnight. The manuscript will be sent out as soon as possible tomorrow, so you can seize the opportunity..."
"You're right, Bari, Bari. We discovered it so early. If we were caught first, we would definitely be scolded."
As soon as the words woke up the dreamer, several editors who worked overtime immediately dispersed and began to work in a hurry. The perfunctory and casualness on their bodies had long since disappeared. Everyone was full of energy, as if they had just come to work in the morning.
"that is……"
Finally, Li Zaixiao and his closest colleague still looked at the various data of xo, smacked their lips and whispered:
“I wonder if xo’s momentum can continue to grow.”
"It shouldn't be a one-week trip..."
…
In fact, Lee Jae-hyo and the others were not the first to know that EXO was on the Hot 100, because many Aris had discovered this as soon as the list was updated.
Many Ariel have been paying attention to the music charts of many countries, including the United States, since exo's return in March this year. Every time exo returns to release songs, they will be the first to see the results, such as the results of their songs, and where they debuted. Come over and work hard to promote your idol.
Many of them have also been staring at the B list. They will take a look at it every week when it is updated, hoping to see EXO's name appear on it. Although this approach is obviously unrealistic, it is sincere. The expectations are real.
This is still the case today, but what makes these fans extremely delicate is that this time they actually saw their idol's name on the single hot list.
After people like Lee Jae-hyo and others were as surprised and overjoyed, many people quickly posted the news, screenshots and the like to fan groups and forums. In addition to making Ally cheer when they saw it, the news was also very exciting. It quickly spread out.
But after all, it was already midnight, the time was too late, and the people who knew were still in the minority.
It wasn't until early the next morning, when many people got up and took out their mobile phones, turned on their computers and started to habitually read today's news, that they saw the top trending search reports with red fonts:
"EXO debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, setting the highest record for a Peninsula group and writing a new chapter in kpop!" 》
