A Rather Diverse Playlist (At Least I Think So)

So, over the course of these blogs, I've gone over quite a few different types and genres of music. Of course, here will be no exception as I have plenty more to share. However, I suppose the difference here is that I would be covering the more niche pieces of music in my playlist, stuff I don't think many (at least here in the States) would listen to.

That being said, I would like to start off in Japan with a musical genre known as "vocaloid." It's not everyone's cup of tea, which is understandable given that this genre separates itself from others using synthesized vocals and rather cutesy or energetic characters attached to said voices. Of course, there are actual voices behind each character, but the real stars are the characters attached. Vocaloids have become a huge part of modern-day Japan's music, so much so that there are whole concerts revolving around these fictional characters. That being said, most of today's generation may be familiar with the name "Hatsune Miku." Now, she isn't the first vocaloid to have been brought about, however she's the most well-known of the bunch, separated by the group with bright blue twin-tails and an almost school-girl design. But enough about Hatsune Miku and back onto the topic at hand, vocaloid. Vocaloid as a genre, covers many different genres, ranging anywhere from pop to rock and just about anywhere in between. Now, this isn't the first time I've actually had vocaloid music on my blogs, for those who've read my first one, some may be familiar with this song!

That one has been one of my favorites for quite some time and had been a favorite well before I knew what vocaloid was. Oh, and just for the hell of it, here are some of my more frequent listens as of the moment, these are by Syudou, Inabakumori, and Wowaka.

These, as well as most vocaloid songs in general often highlight mental health (both good and bad), problems with trying to conform to societal standards, and the toxicity of love (both of self and of others). One of my all-time favorites to watch and listen to is this "Inochi no Tabekata" by Eve, who is also the composer of "Kaikai Kitan" the opening theme for Jujutsu Kaisen.

This is my favorite, along with a good portion of his other songs, because they're tied to a manga that goes by the same name as the song. Although, the songs (without context of the manga) highlights the struggle of mental health and the fight to keep going despite the shadows that plague our day-to-day lives.

Moving on from that is somewhere not particularly too far from Japan, that being Guam. While it is part of the US the music from there tends to be significantly different there than here. That being said, traditionally speaking, much of the information on the music before it was inhabited by other countries has been lost, however, elements of the music and culture that persisted to some degree throughout the years, consists of call-and-response type of singing, chanting, the stick dance (bailan pailitu) and lots of dancing in general, which may not be what it was before colonization.

Now, interesting isn't quite the way I'd describe how I feel about the music and culture, but it's something I'm rather passionate about as Guam is where my father's family is from. A little bit of history regarding Guam, is that up until roughly my generation, Chamorro, or CHamoru as written in other cases, was dying language and culture. The reason this is, is because of how often Guam had been colonized throughout the years and especially during times of war. This is reflected in the language, as often bits and pieces of other languages, such as Spanish, can be heard amongst Chamorros when they speak. This is also normal for their music, dances and food. There are a lot of similarities, but also plenty of differences. Nowadays, especially now more than ever, Guam's language and culture is slowly being revived, even if it wasn't necessarily what it once was pre-colonization. Just as a nice bit of information for those who are really curious (feel free to skip over this of course) here's a movie that came out recently in regard to our culture and how it's starting to come back.

Among my list of countries, another country that happens to plague my playlist is France. Do not ask me where, because I wouldn't be able to answer that, however I do know it's France in general. Although, for some context for later, is that France being France, it's heavily known for love. That being said, the next few songs, which are by Videoclub, hold some sort of value regarding love in the modern day.

What I find interesting is how similar and different songs in French are compared to here in the States. Love is a common theme, but while most in America are break up songs or traditional love songs, the two here roughly (I don't speak French) talk/hint about the general problems and grievances of the modern relationships. More specifically, the toxicity that rises from obsession of love and also the need to keep up appearances when it comes to relationships.

Going back to Asia, I'll be going over Korea, or more specifically South Korea. Now, K-pop is very popular among people around the world, but there's a lot that goes into K-pop culture. K-pop is typically known for their boy/girl groups, choreography and catchy melodies that make you want to dance with them. K-pop is a modern aspect of Korean music and is very well loved by their fans. Now of course, there's a lot regarding the culture, more specifically around being an idol, that's very toxic, such as the intense diets, but I won't go into too much detail about that since it, unfortunately, gets just as intense as their diets.

I think the most interesting thing to me about K-pop culture is how different they tend to be about their groups compared to other groups. Most K-pop groups are very particular about the amount of people in groups as well as the appearance of them in general. For the songs I chose in particular, they are from ENHYPHEN and Stray Kids, both songs of which are about intense emotions. With ENHYPHEN, their song "Brought the Heat Back" is about intense feelings of jealousy that creates conflict and madness both internally and externally, albeit more internal than external. Then there's Stray Kids' "Chk Chk Boom" which is a song about confidence, determination, and a way of saying that they'll strive to be at the top.

Overall, Japan, Korea, and France are just some of many countries I have songs from in my playlist, and for anyone who happens to be wondering what my fourth is, technically it's the US, however, Guam is an anomaly that is declared as part of the US, without actually being part of the US, at least culturally speaking. However, most of the songs or videos I've chosen hold deeper meanings or are very important culturally speaking. I hope that you may enjoy them or maybe enjoyed learning a bit about them as much as I did while fixating on them quite some time ago.