- (together) Hi!
- I'm Niki.
- And I'm going to educate you.
(upbeat music)
So, in today's video, I wanted to tell you,
I'm gonna right now.
I spent an inordinate amount of time
on a very dark area of YouTube, and that was
western pop versus K-pop.
- What, are we going with that?
More specifically, I was looking at songs
that had the same name.
So, I thought, "hey, I'm gonna make my own."
- Can you not stroke my leg?
(outtake beep)
- I'm gonna make my own list of western pop songs
and K-pop songs, that share the same title.
- The first song is a actual bop,
that I forgot about until we researched
this video, and that is "Fly" by Nicki Minaj,
and the one and only Rihanna.
- If you haven't heard this song,
one, where have you been?
Two, this song is a real female empowerment track.
What it is, is Nicki Minaj trying to break this mould
that the media has portrayed her in,
and it's got Rihanna laying down her awesome vocals.
- I've got it suck in my head.
(sings) Fly.
- My favourite scene is when they suddenly
get like, super powers, and you can tell this is so
like, late 2000 naughties.
- It was 2012, actually, so that's offensive.
- So, this song is quite literally about
soaring and flying in the face of adversity, there is.
- Not like Zac Efron circa 2009.
- ♪ We're soarin', flyin' ♪
- And I've got a quote here fron Nicki Minaj.
Not literally, I mean, I just found this on the internet.
She said she speaks about how the media has
attempted to box her in, and how that has made her
feel suffocated and, after years of being dragged
through the mud, she's mustered up the courage
to redefine herself.
- The song with the same name from the K-pop world
is "Fly"
by GOT7.
- I have loved this song,
this was the first GOT7 song I've listened to.
But I spent a bit too long looking into theories
about what the video is about,
which is linked below.
This video, there is one theory that is quite strange,
and I will pick up on it, because
you see in the video Junior falls from a building,
and some of the theories say that they think
that throughout this video, maybe, that the group
has died and they're regrouping in Heaven,
as like a metaphorical meaning.
I think that's a bit too heavy.
Look into it, let me know what you think.
But yeah, that's GOT7 "Fly."
- I think, lyrically, the Nicki Minaj song
has more meaning behind it.
But, I guess as a concept, the GOT7 song
has just as much behind it, so it's hard to say.
- The GOT7 MV, and then
Nicki's song.
- And the next song in this roundup
is Little Mix, "Power."
I think this song is a massive bop.
- [Sammy] I prefer the Stormzy version.
- [Niki] Oh yeah, I do actually.
- But when you think about the song, actually what it is
is a lot of under, like,
undertones of sexual dominance, and like,
sexual desire.
- Oh yeah, "you can call me lamborghini, 'cause I'll
be coming first."
(gagging)
Gross!
- No, "because I know just what I'm worth."
- No, she says I'll be.
- "You can call me lamborghini, 'cause I know just
what I'm worth."
- (mumbles) "lamborghini, 'cause I'll be coming first."
That is the literal.
- No, it's literally not.
- Yes it is!
- Oh my god, Google the lyrics.
"They call me lamborghini, 'cause I know
just what I'm worth."
- Yes.
- It's the first time you really hear Jessi rapping.
I don't know if that'll be a new thing
that happens.
And we're gonna contrast this to EXO, "Power."
Now, lot to say about this.
I, contrary to what a lot of you believe,
do actually like EXO.
Do you know "Power?"
- Yes.
But I wouldn't say I've only recently got into EXO.
I've been aware of them.
- Oh yeah, I've been aware for ages.
- I just think that BTS are my boys.
- My problem with this song is
the music video.
I love the track, I think it's got
a lot of energy, it's got a lot of pizazz,
but the music video is kind of.
- Sorry, "pizazz"?
- Yeah, pizazz.
The music video is kind of a bit, what the (bleep).
A budget went into it, and I like.
- It's the one with the gems and the power
and stuff isn't it?
- And it's the one with the robot
that's kind of a doll.
- I don't like it.
If I'm honest I didn't like it, and I thought
it was a bit weak.
- It's so Daft Punk
- I don't, I didn't like,
I mean, it's a good song.
- I love it.
- I wouldn't watch the MV again.
- I really like the track.
I wish it had a better MV.
But yeah, let us know your thoughts on that.
One thing, I haven't prepared any notes for this, but
it just came to mind while I was thinking of it,
we've got "Monster" by Eminem and Rihanna,
she's making an appearance again,
and also "Monster" by EXO.
Both very good songs for their own reasons.
You've got "Monster,"
- (singing) "I'm in love with the monster under my bed."
- By Rihanna and Eminem talkin' about.
- Maybe every time you speak of a song I'll do the singing.
- No.
- Let's do that. Okay, go again.
- Rihanna and Eminem, "Monster".
- (singing) "I'm in love with the monster
that's under my bed."
- Basically it's a song about being in love
with something that's dangerous to you.
But I also think, if you're really into it,
there's undertones of mental health,
and things like this, such as maybe OCD and things.
'Cause I think Eminem,
I'm not making this up,
I think he has OCD.
You've also got EXO's Monster,
which has some awesome choreography,
which is why it's so well-known.
And I think it's One of their first songs
that actually made it massive.
And I really like it.
So check out those.
That was just a segue.
- The next one is J Lo, "First love",
versus Sugar, well Agust D, "First love".
- J Lo, she is very simple with her lyrics.
She likes to be quite clear.
There's not much depth there.
- She's a pop princess.
She just does pop music, and I don't think there's
anything wrong with that.
- It's kind of about J Lo meeting someone
when she least expects it.
They turned out to be perfect for her, and she
wishes that they had been her first love.
- Sounds like a fairytale.
- I swear she doesn't age, by the way,
'cause this MV is probably from like, 2005, I think.
- Yeah, she's got something.
She's blessed.
- She's got good genes.
- Jesus or aliens.
- And I'm not talkin' 'bout Levis, I'm
talkin' about DNA.
- Sugar song, by far deeper, I think.
- By the way Agust D, however you say it,
is actually a flip of downtown sugar
and it plys reference to his hometown Degu,
which is a city in South Korea, lower than Seoul.
And it's DT Sugar, swap that around,
Agust D.
The song is actually about him when he was younger.
He enjoyed piano, he loved it.
And as he grew up, just as you do in your teen years,
you kind of move away from things that you
initially loved, 'cause you find them boring,
but he had this realisation that he did
enjoy the piano, and had fond memories of
what it brought him.
And his first love is music and piano, so
he went back to it, and this song is about his
rediscovery of his love.
- You spend far too long on fan sites.
- No, this is actually my own research, thank you very much.
- Uh huh.
- Amino app.
- I haven't, no.
- Long story short, I think I would give the point
here to Sugar, because it's nice
to hear a song that isn't necessarily
written about, it's a love song, it's an ode to something.
- So, the next set of songs we're comparing is
BTS,
"N.O." or "No",
and Meghan Trainor, "No".
This is an easy one for me, because BTS are my boys.
I don't necessarily enjoy Meghan Trainor's pop.
- I think we're not her demographic.
I think it's very.
- She's there for someone, and it's not me.
This is the crux of what BTS is.
They talk about societal issues in their music,
and it was a new trend.
It was a new thing for K-pop to address these issues.
Just for context, in South Korea,
there's a lot of pressure.
(music plays)
No, I'm tryin' to talk.
There's a lot of pressure in South Korea
on this one exam.
I think it's called the KSAT.
- And this MV focuses on kind of the mental
warfare that goes on during that phase in
these young peoples' lives.
And I think that's why BTS connects so well
with their audience, because they're kind of in
that mentality.
- Meghan Trainor's "No" video is about her time
when she went to L.A. Reid with her new album
and said "here it is, this is it!"
He listened to it while she was there,
got back her and said "it just isn't the one.
There isn't something that is a single, that'll
carry it just like 'All About that Bass'."
She was like "well, I'm not gonna write
another 'All About that Bass', because I've done it,
and that's it."
So, she went away very frustrated, and channelled
that frustration into this song called "No".
- So, ironically, it's a protest song
that does exactly what he wanted it to do.
BTS win that one for me, 'cause its deeper meaning,
again, I think you can get here that I like songs
with a bit of substance to them.
Not that anything's wrong with songs that
don't have lot of substance, or ones that
I perceive not to have substance that actually do.
- It's "Hello" by SHINee, and "Hello" by Adele.
The music video, I need to start on, because it is perhaps,
matter of fact, I've got notes.
It's bopful.
- [Niki] It's perhaps the cheesiest nineties boy band
music video I've ever seen.
- I need to point out that, so this song is
about seven years old.
They managed to give choreo to potentially a
very slow-paced song, and.
- Do you know what it is, it's like a slow
song where they've put (mouth percussion)
in the background so it like, speeds it up.
Right, Adele "Hello", if you don't agree with me,
you're wrong, is one of the best pop songs ever written.
- (sings) Hello.
- [Niki] (sings) It's me.
- (sings) It's me.
- (sings) I've been wondering if all.
- "Hello is just about reconnecting
with everyone else, and myself," says Adele.
"From the other side, I couldn't get over my guilt
of leaving my kid to go and write a record, and
stuff like that, so getting over that, getting on
the other side of that. It's just, you know,
it's just in general, just 'hello' to everyone,
and people that I've missed."
- Aww.
- The music video to Hello, from SHINee, is cheesy AF.
Love it.
Bubblegum pop.
Hello by Adele is this.
- I wouldn't say it's bubblegum pop at all.
I'd just say it was like nineties boy band vibes.
- Yeah, I love it.
I think they're both great.
I'm gonna have to side with Adele, even though SHINee
were my OG.
I got into K-pop 'cause of SHINee, Lucifer.
Let me know if that was your experience.
- (sings) Lucifer.
And unfortunately, can you imagine there's
no sort of western pop stars that have got
songs called Lucifer.
- And that brings us onto our last comparison,
- "Friday".
- It's "Friday".
- Obviously Rebecca Black changed the charts.
(outtake beep)
- There is a K-pop song, which is a collaboration
between IU, and
- Rebecca Black?
- Jang Yi-jeong.
- Both called "Friday" and I.
- Very different though.
- "Friday" by Rebecca Black is just
one of the best songs ever written.
She got a collab with Grace Helbig out
of it so, what ya gonna do?
- Rebecca Black kind of transitioned
into being an online creator.
I don't know what she does now.
I think she's gone back into music.
There are some great shots.
- Wasn't she the first like, viral music star?
- If you know what I, yeah.
No.
- (sings together) "Friday, Friday, Friday, ooh!"
- It's actually.
- Oh my god, it's the same song.
- I will say.
- We just.
I just sang Justin Bieber, "Baby".
That wasn't Friday.
(sings) "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Fri."
- The one by IU and Jang Yi-jeong
is actually just a bit slow.
It's got some nice harmonising.
The only take outs from that is that it was
shot, I think it was shot in a one-take.
- What 'ya gonna do?
- Let us know in the comments your
thoughts and opinions,
and maybe songs that we should look at next time.
And if you enjoyed this,
let us know and give us a like.
- Also, yeah, give us a like, and let
us know if we got anything wrong,
'cause probably we did.
Anyway, we gotta go.
Thank you for watching this video.
If you enjoyed it, give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for more, it's free.
The button's down there, just give it a press.
- We need to get 200,000.
- And we can do it with your help.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day
to watch this video, and we'll see you soon, goodbye.
- Bye!