PERFUME - SPENDING ALL MY TIME
[5.89]Mallory O’Donnell: If this wasn’t J-Pop many critics would be backhanding it for its indebtedness to (unjustly) hated west coast Hi-NRG and (justly) despised italo-house, but simply because it is, they will praise it for the same reasons. As for me, I could care where something comes from : as songs go, this is forgettable tosh. See, I’ve already forgotten it.
[3]
I read Mallory’s provocative blurb here and I think also of the two recent posts I’ve seen on tumblr calling out non-specific groups of people for liking “Gangnam Style” even though they probably don’t like LMFAO, attributing this to Psy being South Korean. All three have bothered me. This one slightly less so since it’s directed at many critics and doesn’t present it as a problem apart from in musical terms, so sorry to Mallory that this was the final straw, and this is not directed specifically at only one post.
People sometimes like music from Asia for reasons which don’t have to do with the music itself. Sometimes people discuss music from Asia in ways which help to create or reinforce damaging discourses. OK. I may sometimes be one of those people, and would be happy for it to be pointed out if and when I am. If you are seeing specific instances of people engaging with music in hypocritical or negative ways, then it would be great to address those instances (I for one would love to never see the phrase ‘OPEN CONDOM STYLE’ ever again).
On the other hand, making blanket statements that assume exoticisation as the only possible explanation for whole groups of people to like a given Asian act does not helpfully address anything. It says that those acts’ Asian-ness is their sole defining characteristic. If your problem is just with music that you think is terrible getting attention, you could always concentrate on why the music is terrible rather than the speculative motivations of its listeners.
