Episode 7 – Dissonance
On Episode 7 of K-Pop Unmuted, Stephen Knight and Scott Interrante discuss the idea of dissonance and the different kinds of dissonances found in K-Pop.
In-Depth Discussion of Pop Music
In-Depth Discussion of Pop Music
Excellent episode. Love the thoughtful and informed discussions. It probably went over the heads of most K-Pop fans, since the demographic tends to be very young and knows next to nothing about music, and they tend to focus much more on idol worship, celebrity gossip, and not a whole lot of critical thinking is devoted to the actual songs.
You asked for us to write in with examples of dissonance in K-Pop, and these two immediately came to mind:
SNSD – Visual Dreams – At the 2:44 mark, there’s synth bleep dissonance that builds up and increases volume, while the vocal melody continues on top of it, and it’s a very compelling mixture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxW22JLUmg
Stellar – Vibrato – At the 1:59 mark, the song goes into a protracted breakdown that simultaneous causes the song to cave in on itself and also rises in pitch to build up to the climax. It’s a brilliant piece of arrangement/production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmTdFpIDX8
There are many others, since K-Pop (and J-Pop) tend to be much more adventurous and advanced in how they utilize music theory compared to western pop in general. But these are two I thought of first.