Nowadays, broadcasting companies produce Kdramas with simple plots and singers perform songs that are easy to listen to.
Whether it’s chaebol families, incurable illnesses or secret births, tvN’s hit “Queen of Tears” brings together all the elements that are considered clichés in Kdramas and, therefore, its developments are rather obvious. A closer look allows viewers to find absurd details, but they continue to watch the series and the viewership rate has even exceeded 21,6%.
The same goes for the series “ chicken nugget » from Netflix which is a mysterious comic book project telling the story of a young girl, Choi Min-ah, who accidentally turns into a chicken nugget, as well as the journey of her father, Choi Seon-man, and the trainee Go Baek-joong, who has a crush on her, and who try to bring her back to being human. Although the webtoon tells the absurd story of a human becoming a chicken nugget, the director closely followed the original work and created such unrealistic content. However, the series went viral and ranked third in the fourth week of March on Kinolights.
We always end up watching Kdramas with a simple story because they tend to offer endings that meet the viewers’ fantasies and expectations. Indeed, in today’s context, where people are already tired of their work, this type of drama helps them forget the worries of reality and feel a sense of liberation.
In recent years, “easy listening songs” have also become a new trend in the music industry. This year, the competition between singers such as BIBI, HYBE’s new boy group TWS, and RIIZE is fierce. They all currently dominate the top spots. With “Bam Yang-gang”, BIBI topped the real-time and daily charts of major Korean music charts, while TWS’s “Plot twist” won four music broadcasts and entered the Top 10 of music charts. Since its release, RIIZE’s “Love 119” has continued to climb the charts for five consecutive weeks and reached number four on Melon’s weekly chart.
It’s important to not only emphasize fandom and performance-oriented music, but also create trendy songs that listeners can’t forget. Among solo artists, IU and Taeyeon were the only female singers to top the charts, while boy groups failed to maintain a good position for a long time. The success of BIBI, TWS and RIIZE led the public to favor songs with easy-to-listen melodies.
This also explains why more and more singers are “covering” music from the 2000s because those melodies are so familiar to audiences and NewJeans, Fifty Fifty, etc. are examples of this. The retro sensibility of NewJeans through “Ditto”, “Hype Boy”, etc. made him a rising star. Despite the mixed reviews from K-pop fans in general towards the easy-listening songs, it cannot be denied that their effect is considerable.
What do you think?