Teddy Riley, the R&B legend, explores the evolution of K-pop and its embrace of American musical influences. He examines how Korean artists seamlessly blend Western styles while retaining their unique cultural identity.
on K-pop in America, Teddy Riley saw the vision. The R&B trailblazer, whose production and songwriting pioneered new jack swing in the 1980s and '90s, turned an ear to Seoul in the late 2000s, producing for K-pop groups like f(x), EXO and Girls' Generation.
The marriage was arguably overdue: A generation earlier, Riley's signature sounds had been all over the single most important breakthrough in K-pop history, the 1992 smash by Seo Taiji and the Boys, the first crew to not only experiment with Western influence but mimic its artistry and fashion wholesale. And so, when Riley arrived to service the now fully built pop industry that had taken shape in South Korea thanks to the 'Nan Arayo' revolution, the producer was well aware of his role in the process.'They didn't have no shame in their game. 'We want the American culture,'' Riley said in 2017, laying bare the source of the younger culture's hip-hop, R&B and post-Michael Jackson disco-pop swagger. But Riley also recognized something distinctly Korean about the synthesized final product.'The only thing that inspires them is American culture and our style,' he said,'but their music is their music and it's really territorial.' Both have released music in English before. What's notable this time is the seamlessness of the imitation, with many tracks feeling as though they could slide undetected into the American Top 40. The music is completely fine — and yet, there is a sedate, by-the-numbers earnestness to even the best songs, one at odds with K-pop's usual excesses. The performance of genre is toned down to the point of feeling almost conventional. To a lover of the form, the effect is both impressive and a little unsettling. And it is representative of a movement building momentum, evident in the work of many artists capitalizing on an American breakthrough this yea
K-POP AMERICAN MUSIC INFLUENCES Teddy Riley PRODUCTION
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