Teen pop stars in the ‘90s before Seo Taiji and Boys came along, they were all IU types - these soft-spoken girls with a pretty face. “I thought it was really curious because we’d never seen anything like that before. Suk-Young Kim, author of K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance and professor at University of California, Los Angeles. It’s hard to say when the exact concept of girl crush arrived in Korea, but precedents can be traced back to the 1990s, with pop singer Lee Sang-eun (also known as Lee Tzsche). The 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2018: Critics' Picks But it often boils down to “you know it when you see it.” Still, a song will hardly qualify for the label if it sounds too cute and bubblegum. The concept goes harder as idols morph into badass, tomboyish and occasionally sexy women. (As with the Western counterpart of the term, the romantic implications of the word “crush” tend to be overlooked, veering into the “gal pals” variety of LGBTQ erasure.) There isn’t really a specific sound to “girl crush” - it functions more as a descriptor of both visuals and message, to varying degrees.
The term could refer to a group’s overarching concept (think girl group powerhouse 2NE1), a more ephemeral song concept (like Girls’ Generation’s sassy kiss-off “You Think”) or even an individual girl group member (TWICE’s short-haired Jeongyeon). No wonder why they are K-pop’s most visible representatives of the concept known as “girl crush” in 2018.ĭefining K-pop’s version of “girl crush” presents a logistical challenge because it has such a dynamic meaning. 55, while the music video went on to become one of the most-viewed in 24 hours of all time.
Listen to “Girl Crush” below.It’s a decadent, outlandish, stylish visual that accompanies lyrical braggadocio like, “In my hands is a fat check/ If you’re curious, do a fact check.” And the song did outdo their previous high-performing singles: “DDU-DU DDU-DU” became BLACKPINK’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry at No. Country singer Dierks Bentley told the Huffington Post that “the song being pulled is probably one of the best things that could have happened to them.” Explaining that the only way to change the industry is to push and shove and the fans will eventually demand those types of changes too. Those are the lyrics to the ballad that have some country fans up in arms. “I want to taste her lips, yeah ‘cause they taste like you / I want to drown myself in a bottle of her perfume / I want her long blond hair, I want her magic touch / Yeah cause maybe then, you’d want me just as much… I got a girl crush.” Their latest song, “Girl Crush,” which is about a man’s ex-girlfriend wishing she was the woman he was currently with, has had its lyrics wildly misinterpreted and the band has been accused of promoting a gay agenda. The band Little Big Town is on the receiving end of an actual boycott going on in country radio. Country music is proving that it is just as dysfunctional as other genres.