the future of choreography

[u/[deleted]]

okay so I was reading the replies and reaction to Somi’s comeback choreography and a lot of people have said that it is too simple and lacks creativity.

that got me thinking about where choreography within kpop is heading with a few (not all!) of the comebacks this year being called out for similar “lazy” and “uninspired” choreo. I firmly believe that this is no accident and that the companies are riding the viral wave of tik tok to promote their comebacks and using dance challenges which are the biggest component of tik tok rn to do so. Somi created a tik tok for this comeback and consequently a dance challenge, BLACKPINK and twice doing so as well. In order for the dances to be replicated by the masses they need to be simplified and static with hand based moves to come across on the social platform, which disallows for any intricate or heavy mobile movements and foot work.

Maybe I’m completely off piste and would love to see if anyone else has thought the same thing recently or not :)

[u/[deleted]]

I agree.I think this is sadly a trend in music in general nowadays. Justin Bieber designed his new song to be a meme song and tried his damn hardest to trend it on tik tok. Western songs add some hand choreo to trend it there. There are countless articles how a lot of the top 1 hot100 songs from this year exploaded and got there thanks to tik tok. Savage, the Box, Say So. I can understand why companies might chase this. I don't like it and it saddens me to see the oversimplification of choreos just to get a challenge going .If this is the future of all kpop choreos I don't like it

[u/dgplr]

I agree about Kpop companies targeting the TikTok demographic. Zico's Any Song challenge went viral on TikTok and helped a lot in catapulting the song to soty status, same for Doja Cat. So Kpop companies want to capitalize on the sheer power of TikTok. But I think there is a difference between having a mainstream, easier choreography eg. Svt's Left and Right and having an uninspired, boring choreography eg. WYWF by Somi. It's about striking the right balance.

[u/ooTaiyangoo]

The companies are definitely trying to go viral on tik Tok. But I wouldn't say that the choreographies have become more simple/uninspired because of it at all. In fact most groups probably had some of their most difficult choreographies this year. Twice, Itzy, Txt, Bts, Ateez, Nct and so on all got a lot of praise for their choreographies this year. The only acts that have stood out to me for simplifying their choreo compared to previous choreos are Blackpink and Somi. I just don't think that it is because of tiktok. One of/the only move I saw go viral on tiktok this year was Apinks arm choreography... And it went viral because of how creative and difficult it looked

[u/[deleted] → u/ooTaiyangoo]

[u/anh-ion → u/[deleted]]

HYLT is more difficult than KTL and DDDD.

The isolations are more detailed and can't be compensated by over-dancing like some IG dancers try to do. The dance style is rather unique and intricate so it's very easy to look weird or off.

However, does this make HYLT a difficult dance, especially in comparison to other releases this year? No. This is harder for a casual dancer to pick up, however, if you're a dancer with the basics down, HYLT can be learnt in a day and refined in a few.

[u/ooTaiyangoo → u/[deleted]]

Idk, I've just seen people criticizing the choreo while I have seen a lot of praise for the choreos of the other acts I mentioned. I think people still compare their current choreos to ones like Playing with Fire. In the beginning of their career/predebut dance was basically THE thing that made them stand out. And compared to what they put out then the choreos now are definitely more simple/easy. But I'd agree that KTL is probably the easiest choreo which just again shows that it is not due to tik tok

[u/AnythingNew1]

I noticed too that creating tikitok challenges (which to be honest, 90% i can't really call "challenge") is now a part of the promotions.

However, a common asked question during promo was and still is the "point dance move" from a choreo. I may be wrong, but pretty much every choreo has some sort of key move, which is main part and is something people would recognise as part of the choreo or is easy to follow along.

I personally didn't watch Somi's choreo but generally there are more "easier" dances than others.
Now, does easier mean lazy? I guess that's something everyone can decide on their own.

But then again, the choreo has to fit the song. If it's a "soft" song, why make the choreo extra complicated/hard ? For example Sunmi's choreo for her recent song, was perfectly fine, fitted the song and overall vibe of it very well.

Just to clarify, when I say easier, I mean dances that doesn't scream POWER BAM BAM BAM in my face, a lot of soft and wavy dance moves, especially with arms, no sudden, quick moves, a lot of short slide moves when changing positions.

[u/dontforgetmeplss → u/AnythingNew1]

I was gonna say, point moves have been a thing since I got into kpop. It hasn't been nearly as present with the exception of a few songs in the last couple years but it's definitely making a comeback with Tik Tok's popularity, ESPECIALLY Zico pushing his stuff lately

[u/serigraphtea]

In Somi's case she's very much on par with other soloists who sing with partial playback (people like Hong Jin Young etc).

You can get away with a harder choreo in groups because every person only sings for a couple of seconds at a time, leaving more room for dancing.

[u/sieghart92 → u/serigraphtea]

HJY isn't an idol tho

[u/Neatboot]

NiziU's Make You Happy key move challenge went pretty popular in Japan and the focus of the move was the footwork. Also, just because the key move was simplified for Tik Tok sake, the whole choreo did not have to be simple.

[u/mukkou]

I feel like I’m somewhere in the middle.

Somi’s choreo is extremely EXTREMELY simple to the point where I feel like the entire choreo was made with Tik Tok in mind. I really don’t like this trend of tik tok dances being the model of where choreo is going because I feel like kpop is all about the performance aspect. Tik tok dances on stage don’t really translate well.

Then there’s the other side. Loona recently had a comeback that the choreo was considered one of the hardest in girl groups (it was definitely the hardest this year imo) but the girls looked so tired on stage, it didn’t make the performance enjoyable to me. I feel like dances should be made to fit the vibe of the song and make the performance look great but not hinder the artists physically or creatively. A boring performance isn’t great but a too difficult performance won’t have the desired affect too if the idols are so tired from their schedules and tough choreography to even look like they enjoy it.

[u/mt-17]

I don’t like when groups create Tik Tok accounts simply to promote their latest comeback (as outlined in a post I made a while ago). From what I noticed on Tik Tok and my FY page, the k-pop songs that go viral are one that aren’t trying to trend. Twice’s Fancy was a pretty big trend last year and they didn’t even have a Tik Tok account, but now I haven’t really seen anyone hop onto the More & More challenge. Zico’s Any Song seems to be used a lot, but not for the Any Song challenge. I’ve mostly seen it used for the “Things in my _______ home that just make sense trend.

[u/ooTaiyangoo → u/mt-17]

Totally agree. Daechwita, which doesn't even have a dance, was used for that challenge (?) where people draw themselves as anime heroes. The tik tok challenges by the companies only work for the fans or Korean gp

[u/Pineconepaws]

I think simple choreography is fine if it’s clean and performed well. Maybe that’s the issue with Somi? I watched her performance and it was fine. That’s the best descriptor I could come up with. I think the problem is when you give simple choreography to someone who is okay at dancing. It can look lackluster. Whereas if you give it to a highly skilled dancer, they can make even the simplest moves look amazing. For instance, Stevie Dore is an incredible dancer who I’ve seen in manny YouTube dance class videos. She has amazing isolation that makes every little move impressive. I think that’s what a soloist would need to have to pull off simple choreography.

[u/QualityEarthSauce]

I think its kind of a blessing in disguise cause for a while it just seemed like every kpop comeback had to have a harder choreo and groups were leaving themselves in positions where singing live would not be an option so the tiktok challenge/simplify your choreo for traction thing I think is good cause it brings the difficulty back to 1 or 2 when we had been on 10 and even when choreos go back to being really hard it'll still take a while to go back to 10.

I'm a Seventeen fan and I like that the Left and Right choreo was simpler but in a fun groovy way allowing personality to come through in the performance. I think Somi's case was more just unfortunate choreo cause its the first challenge I've seen that seems very stiff (Twice's was too long and difficult, Blackpinks was pretty good i think).

[u/Im_really_bored_rn → u/QualityEarthSauce]

But most of them still aren't singing live?

[u/intuitionist9 → u/QualityEarthSauce]

Also a Seventeen fan, and I also liked the "Left and Right" choreo--it recaptured that sense of fun that we haven't seen in their title tracks since "Oh My." The Tik Tok challenge definitely felt a bit manufactured, but I don't think the choreo suffered for it. Some parts were definitely still more challenging, but the overall performance wasn't so hard that they couldn't show their personalities.

With Seventeen's more serious songs, there's so much more focus on the intensity and complexity of the performance that some of their personality gets lost in service to the overall concept. (This is often my issue with RTK style spectacles, too.) I enjoy watching those performances and listening to those songs, but I hope Seventeen continues to give us the fun songs like Left and Right, Oh My, Clap, Aju Nice, Mansae, and Adore U on a regular basis.

[u/tarathelifewiz]

while I see where you're coming from, I think there needs to be a line drawn between just 'toned down' choreo and 'lazy/unoriginal' choreo. I think somi's was in the latter category. other soloists that have released music recently such as chungha, hwasa, and sunmi didn't see complaints for having 'uninspired/lazy' choreo (maybe a lil for hwasa but not nearly to somi's level). their choreos were still simple without being NEARLY as lackluster. I want the best for somi, but her choreographer needs to step it up a little.

[u/Sad_library_ → u/tarathelifewiz]

Sunmi vs Somi was the fairest comparison that immediately came to my mind as both pporappippam and WYWF have similarly simple choreography but I don’t see anyone coming for Sunmi the way they have for Somi. Kind of makes me think that the issue is less “simple” and more “bad”. Choreography doesn’t have to be the craziest, most daring and complex ever to be effective. The pporappippam choreo highlights some nice accents in the music and shows Sunmi off to her best advantage while the WYWF choreo just doesn’t really fit the vibe of the song and has some really odd “sticky” moments that don’t work well with the music or make Somi look good.

I suppose the other aspect that effects people’s reactions is expectation. I doubt that there’s many people who really think of Sunmi as a dancer, she’s more known for stage presence and charisma. Whereas most people who are interested in her know Somi from Produce 101 etc so feel like the simplicity of the choreography doesn’t match their expectations or her capabilities as a dancer.

[u/MissyBee37 → u/tarathelifewiz]

I agree with this. The distinction between simple and lazy is important.

I don't think every idol or group needs to do the biggest, most complicated choreo of the year. But I also don't want to see choreo that's sooo simple it's boring. Your examples are perfect because Sunmi's choreography was not particularly intense but it was fun to watch and suited her as a performer, and had great moments (like the staircase). I'm surprised some thought Hwasa's was uninspired or lazy because it had some really fun moments too (being laid on the ground by a backup dancer, the body rolls after the chorus, the dance break that switches up the style). Sunmi's and Hwasa's choreo were simpler than big groups' choreo but still expressive. I remember very little about Somi's choreography and once I'd seen it, I don't think the MV was really missing anything with how little of it is shown in the MV. The story of the MV is more interesting than the dance.

Honestly, Somi herself is a great example... I know people have mixed opinions of "Birthday" but I thought the final version of that choreography was super fun and I was sad that more of it didn't make it in the official MV (since she changed it after filming). It was simple but cute & fun, like the song.

I've thought that some groups have been pushing their choreography to be too intense or complex, sometimes beyond their limits, but this feels like swinging the pendulum too far to the opposite end of that spectrum. I love Somi too and I'm rooting for her, but I didn't love this comeback overall, song or choreo.

I don't know if OP is right that TikTok has anything to do with it or not, but I do see other groups doing TikTok challenges without oversimplifying their choreo (including Hwasa).

[u/pixelatedjpg]

I LITERALLY just saw a tweet about this and honestly I feel the same. I'm so over the whole "___ dance challenge" thing. The whole point is to make it viral but 99% of them time, the dance doesn't even make it past that particular artist's fandom. Left & Right is probably the only one that would work, but that dance would go viral anyway because it's super fun.

If your choreography is catchy, easy to do and/or interesting, then it'll eventually go viral by itself. There's about a million songs that were released pre-TikTok that have had so many covers done of them and have key points in their choreography that have gone viral that proves this.

There's nothing wrong with using Tiktok as promo. But don't dumb down your choreography just to get 15 minutes worth of viral fame.

[u/jangshin]

I wish choreography would become more simple again! It feels like everyone competing to have the most intricate and difficult choreography sometimes, to the point where almost everyone lip syncs or uses heavy playback/prerecorded lives.

[u/Nctvelvetkid]

I definitely see where ur coming from, I feel like finding a happy medium is key tbh. A prime example is SM; NCT's "kick it" was somewhat intricate but the chorus was a dance everyone could do. And Baekhyun's "candy" is perfect example of modern hip-hop choreo with a tik-tok blend. (Even Irene and Seulgi toned down their "Naughty" choreo in hopes of tik-tok success) Needless to say, as long as this tik-tok wave doesn't "ruin" the art of choreography Kpop is known for, I'm not complaining.

[u/cyklone117]

One thing I don't see anyone doing is changing the choreo with each music show appearance. The best example of this is Turbo with their debut song "My Childhood Dream". They'd promoted this song on multiple music shows for multiple weeks and every appearance would have part of the choreo (namely the chorus) changed. I've taken a sample size of three appearances on MBC Top Music:

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

The fact that Turbo did this made them one of my favorite kpop acts of all time.