Gritty KPop: 4 Things to Like About 5 Groups

Monsta X Facebook

Everyone needs some inspiration to keep them going. While groups like BIGBANG and BTS are still prominent, my Kpop running and workout soundtrack has become heavily weighted over the last 12 months with this roster of artists:

Monsta X

NCT

Stray Kids

Block B

B.A.P

Their birth years may span 12 years (from 1990 to 2002) and they all come from different management companies, but these groups have one important thing in common: a rough, dark, and intense energy. While some groups dabble in it, these groups seem to thrive on the frayed edges. I’ve been thinking about what characteristics they share that set them apart in a separate category that works well with working out.

Attitude

Sometimes, you need a sassy, arrogant soundtrack in your life. NCT 127 tells us they are the “biggest hit on the stage” in Cherry Bomb and NCT U is the boss in Boss and the Stray Kids guys sing that they are mad, biting dogs not to be played with in Grrr Law Of Total Madness. Key to me is that their posturing, lyrically or in their performances, isn’t at the expense of some other group’s sense of self-worth. That’s critical. Block B, the oldest in this group, had some controversies when they began in 2012. They sneered at, instead of with, people and therefore erred.

Vocal Layering

Harmonizing is a normal part of Kpop, but how these groups handle theirs is what makes them stand together, and apart, in my mind. Monsta X’s Dramarama is a good example. These groups all have rich lower registers, including at least one darker, growl-laced voice, that create a solid base for the upper registers to soar over and around. Their producers do a great job painting audio pictures of sensuality, pain, struggle, anger, redemption and comradery. Goosebumps are a regular result.

Dance

NCT Black on Black

There are definitely other acts with just as good, if not better, choreo. However, Monsta X and NCT U both were on the 2016 Soompi Top 15 Choreographies list and the 2018 music videos from Stray Kids and NCT are getting rave reviews on top of their successes in 2017. In all cases, these groups jam intensely to their own raw music, heavily influenced by both hiphop and rap, and it’s a sight to see and experience. You can't help but start following their lead.

Lyrics

In December, I wrote that B.A.P’s Wake Me Up was my favorite song of 2017 for several reasons, including how they spoke out on social issues.  They stand out in this area but are not alone. Stray Kids’s Hellevator is a poignant look at loneliness and the effort it takes to not give up on dreams while their District 9 feels like a chapter out of a dystopia like The Hunger Games, as they discuss power and control. Life's madness must be acknowledged even as we seek to make things better with our own actions.

Kpop is many things- both good and bad. For something a bit darker, but highly energizing, all of these groups are definitely worth a look. It’s also extra exciting to contemplate what the future holds for the younger ones who are just starting out.

Is music important to you? I’d love to hear what songs you’re listening to lately and why. I look forward to reading your comments!

Skill, Will & Thrill

Monsta X at Rosemont Theatre, Chicago 2017

I found an interesting article on NPR’s MindShift by Katrina Schwartz called How Do You Know When a Teaching Strategy is Most Effective?. She discusses work by John Hattie, who builds rankings to hone in on what are best (and worst) influences on student outcomes. What really interested me was what Dr. Hattie said of students: they bring 3 important things to the learning table: skill, will and thrill.

Wow. Those 3 words vibrated inside me for their implications for us all.

Skill

Natural talent? It’s rare. If you’re lucky enough to find something quickly that you’re good at, great. In most cases, however, we learn skills over time. It’s the whole reason behind schools, apprenticeships, mentorships- even libraries and museums. We all need to absorb information, process it, and then work on applying it.

This truth requires something of us, though. We all must develop a comfort with screwing up. Both in the doing and in the embracing of the process in others.

Will

Have you ever felt the flush of shame at not doing something correctly? Have you felt like you want to climb in a hole to avoid the laughter and derisive comments of others? Have you ever decided to not participate in something because of your fear you’d fail or be on “the losing side”?

In my opinion, we do a very poor job at accepting failure in ourselves and others. We’re starting to, but we have a long way. I love how fitness professional Ben Booker drills the phrase “Live to Fail” in his workout videos over and over again. He looks great now, but he recounts how he hit “rock bottom” and only grew when faced with utter adversity and failure. One can take comfort in that idea. It can give us the will to go on.

How do we build our willpower? Not only does our culture need to embrace failure as a normal part of growing and we need to welcome it for ourselves as well, we need excitement. We need…

Thrill

I asked some hard questions before. How about some more positive ones: Have you ever felt you were a part of team that could reach a goal? Have you ever had an idea that kept you up at night with excitement over the prospect of achieving? Has your whole being suddenly and completely lit up with a flash of insight?

If you’re not interested in something, or don’t know the “Why” behind it, determination and skill will only get you so far. Your body and mind might be geared up, but if the spirit is dead, results will be mixed at best. Anyone can (and should) get pumped by a challenge to overcome IF they feel some ownership and IF they feel a real potential to succeed. We need to cultivate our thrill factors to keep ourselves involved in the game, so to speak.

How? We need to put it all together.

Yes, here I go again, bringing up that T word: together. But here’s the thing. If I sit on an island alone somewhere, I have that island’s worth of potential success with my own skill, will and thrill. If I look to the world, though, I have the WORLD of skills to tap into. I have the WORLD of wills to help support my efforts. I have the WORLD of thrills to witness and experience. And they have mine.

Which could have a bigger or better outcome?

Strange Bedfellows

I realized in my last post that I’d fallen into a rut of using the term “Life” in my blogs over the last month or so. I’m glad I’m finally breaking that. And I’m so glad it’s because of this topic.

I’ve been described as “strange” on more than one occasion, probably moreso lately with my continued interest in things such as KPop. (BTW, the Monsta X concert was great for those with seats that allowed you to see the entire stage and screen. Which didn’t include me. That’s all I’ll say on that subject.) I will mention & thank the interesting people I sat with for the time I stayed. In fact, meeting Ryan was one of those random opportunities that make life so much fun. I’m glad we were seatfellows. I wish him and his podcast with Andrea well!

We’re defined, in part, with whom we spend time with.

Today, that time can be spent face-to-face or across vast distances, spanning many time zones. I look at my daily contacts and am in awe. I could never have imagined the network that I have around me today if I was asked to do so even 5 years ago.

Whether I know you via music, education, diabetes, writing, exercise, books, children, family, schools, work, gaming or remotely some other way, you affect me and I am grateful!

Our networks can grow and change daily.

I recently was given the opportunity to write a blog posting titled Dear Teachers: Don’t Forget To Take Care Of Yourselves for TeachThought, whose #Grow17 conference will be running this week in Louisville, KY. I’ve also been contacted to be a possible source for an article for BetterHelp because of a recent posting on my own blog, titled A Good Life. In addition, I’ve had a ton of fun giving out some copies of my book to some amazing educators in the UK and learning more about them and their work. Let’s not forget my new and renewed connections at a family wedding, outlined in Love...And Life!

Most of these connections were made possible through positive social media interactions. Twitter is an especially amazing tool. I never would have met many of these people without today’s channels of communication.

The tiniest things can change a life- yours or someone else’s.

I look back over my life, and I find a series of moments that my life turned on. It could have done so in vastly different ways had I reacted differently to certain people and/or situations. Did I made the right choices? The best choices? I will never know. But my life has evolved to today’s time and place because of these interactions and I have to thank the people and occasions that have led to today.

We all have these powers to affect another person’s life. We need to be mindful of that as we go about our days.

We’re stronger together.

That sentence is gaining more and more meaning to me as I continue to use it. I titled this piece “Strange Bedfellows”, but we’re all bedfellows, in some fashion.

The more we seek to relate to others, the more we can get accomplished. At first look, we may think we have nothing in common with a person we meet. By extending our hand and opening up by sharing a bit of ourselves, we might discover a bond or even create one of those life-turning moments. We’ll never know until we try.

We might not be such strange bedfellows after all.

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Life and Fandom

It’s time for another KPop concert in my life. Wednesday’s journey takes me back to Chicago but this time to the Rosemont Theatre to see Monsta X.

I’m not going to go on ad nauseam this time around about the personalities, rhythms, voices and choreography that are so enjoyable to get into as I did with BTS (but feel free to check out my blog posts here and here). If you want to be driven on a treadmill or weights session, check out Monsta X’s 2015 song Trespass or this year’s Beautiful to get an idea of what the night will be like.

What I’d like to dive into a bit is the idea of bringing younger interests and ways into our lives. Alyssa, over at Mrs. Geology, has a fantastic blog post from 2016 on this general subject called 12 Ways to Approach Your Classroom Like a Fandom. She bases her arguments around an author fandom, however this concept can be applied to any interest that brings people together. Whether you’re a teacher, parent or just have some teens or tweens in your general vicinity, you can apply some of these tricks in your life to bring you a better understanding of and connections with today’s younger crowds.

Trust me, it’s worth doing. They are some pretty amazing people with impressive skills.

I’m not going to go through all her points from a KPop perspective, but I know it’s a doable concept. My time prepping for the BTS concert included lots from her 12 points. I learned how (and participated in!) fan-created polls, fan art, huge fan projects like purchasing & designing Snapchat filters, rainbow oceans and signs to give out to an arena of over 10,000 fans. Fans create pages and group chats on a variety of social media. Fandoms pool information, funds and even lodging and transportation. They create amazing art and crafts to sell or simply share. All of this on top of learning more and more about the actual artists.

Not to be a party-pooper, but I think one of Mrs. Geology’s last points is very important and the least fun to get across:

11. Set clear boundaries.

Whether it’s from books, movies, TV shows, music, videogames or something else, we all need to step out of our fandoms regularly. We all need and deserve time in Real Life (RL) to connect with the Real World and the people and places that physically surround us. There are problems to solve and greatness to appreciate out there. It behooves us to be there and do.

Fandoms can augment, not replace, our lives.

I’m not saying that our fandom relationships can’t continue into RL. In fact, I’m a firm believer they can become valuable relationships in RL. I’d also like to challenge adults to share their own fandom interests to peers as well as youth. Don’t be scared to do it! Making sure we all go to RL can bring even more people together as we introduce all of ourselves to those around us. At the very least, it can give others the confidence to present their own full selves to those around them. Perhaps more will be fixed and enjoyed because of all that effort.

For KPop concert goers, the dreaded letdown from weak boundaries is called post-concert depression (PCD). I hope all the Monsta X fans (Monbebes) enjoy the night and wake up Thursday somewhat ready to jump back into their lives. I also hope we all have RL lives we can enjoy.

And not just until that next special fandom event.

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