Video Analysis of “Joah” by Ky Kim

On April 10, 2013, Bak Jaebeom released his first three-track digital single, JOAH, which successfully took off worldwide and further proved his exceptional musical ability as an independent artist. The title song “Joah” is rooted firmly in American R&B that organically represents Jaebeom’s American background through authentic lyrical, aural, and visual aspects. By creatively mixing American hip-hop genre rules and styles with Korean sentiments, “Joah” not only effectively spreads K-pop beyond Korean markets to the rest of the world but also allows for an ongoing development of hybridization and syncretism in K-pop (Um 2013: 52). Furthermore, rather than being under a Korean idol system, Jaebeom’s self-produced music comes across as more genuine and naturally charismatic for both American and Korean audiences.

The music video of “Joah” is a great example of cultural hybridization as well as a perfect representation of Bak Jaebeom himself. It is definitely one of Jaebeom’s sophisticated songs that heavily emphasizes his vocal skills more than his performative and sexual components which are often regarded as his trademark among his fans. Influenced by the Jackson 5, the song gives off feel-good, old-school musical vibes, along with the funky brass band. This playful groove fits smoothly with the lyrics about Jaebeom who actively expresses his feelings towards a women he fell in love at first sight. The simplicity and purity of his lyrical conveyance contribute to the overall authenticity of the song and it illustrates a unique colour of Jaebeom. As a Korean-American artist, Jaebeom usually never leaves out English in his lyrics. Due to his nuanced, multi-cultural understanding of both countries, Jaebeom’s strategy of recording his music in both English and Korean is a clever way for “overcoming the language barriers that potentially impede transnational flows” (Benson 2013: 32). This is one of the reasons why he can reach global audiences: he always holds true to his culturally American roots, while also embracing his ethnically Korean roots.

However, it is not only Bak Jaebeom who utilizes English in K-pop, the K-pop industry as a whole indeed frequently incorporates diverse stylistic input from abroad, which supports the growth of hybrid K-pop though Korean-English mix in lyrics (Jin and Ryoo 2014: 119). Having said that, not all of K-pop idols originate from an American background. In fact, Jaebeom’s musical roots grew out of his passion for dance, and as a competitive b-boy, he developed enthusiasm for hip-hop music and culture from his hometown, Seattle. Such unique identity of Jaebeom is well demonstrated through the visual elements of the music video as well.

It is undeniable that mainstream “Korean popular music is driven by the visual” and memorable images and signature dances from those videos become a principle in K-pop (Epstein and Turnbull 2014: 316-17). Despite that, the visual elements of “Joah” are quite subtle yet appropriate. The video is fuzzy and filtered, and the cinematography resembles a vlog video which is usually shot handheld resulting in a shaky, amateurish footage; however, this stylistic choice creates a stronger connection with the lyrics as the video becomes more personal like a vlog and it maintains Jaebeom’s sweet and unexperienced sensibility. In addition, the warm tone as well as the close-up shots that emphasize facial expressions and movements of Jaebeom and Clara can evoke a nostalgic feeling among the audience.

Although the music video was filmed in the streets of Seattle, the “overall feeling constructed by the [lyrics and] images is carefully designed to deliver the familiar – rather than the strange or exotic;” moreover, the choice to film in Seattle with various people of ethnic background not only strengthens the idea of Jaebeom’s reminiscence of his past but also supports the notion to make the unfamiliar to become familiar (Lee 2006: 139). Through this process of emulating American styles, “Joah” adds new nuances into the existing K-pop music industry and represents the hybridization of popular culture in a global context.

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Works Cited

Benson, Phil. “English and Identity in East Asian Popular Music.” Popular Music 32, no. 1 (2013): 23-33.

Epstein, Stephen with James Turnbull. “Girls’ Generation? Gender, (Dis)empowerment, and K-pop.” In The Korean Popular Culture Reader, edited by Kyung Hyun Kim and Youngmin Choe. 315-336. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014.

Jin, Dal Yong, and Woongjae Ryoo. “Critical Interpretation of Hybrid K-Pop: The Global- Local Paradigm of English Mixing in Lyrics.” Popular Music and Society 37, no. 2 (2014): 113-131.

Lee, Hee-Eun. “Seeking the ‘Others’ Within Us: Discourses of Korean-ness in Korean popular music.” In Global Media/tion in and out of Context, edited by Todd Joseph Miles Holden and Timothy J. Scrase. 128-146. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Park, Jay. “박재범 Jay Park '좋아 Joah' [Official Music Video].” YouTube Video, 4:05, April 10, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtCJC39SqU. (accessed 12/08/2018).

Um, Hae-Kyung. “The Poetics of Resistance and the Politics of Crossing Borders: Korean Hip-hop and ‘Cultural Reterritorialisation.’” Popular Music 32, no. 1 (2013): 51-64.