Placing Authenticity Over Perfection

I’ve been watching a lot of Kpop videos on YouTube the past several months and, as with the time when I was a huge fan of Jpop, I only searched for live performances of the groups because I don’t enjoy watching music videos.

Music videos, like movies, are perfectly crafted stories with shots from different scenes and settings, and has no room for errors. Any imperfection is edited out and retaken again and again until the desired image is achieved. That gives it a lack of authenticity and makes it feel more like I’m watching photos rather than videos.

Even for live performances, I prefer those with live singing over lip-syncing. I’d rather catch videos of live singers perpetually going slightly off pitch than those that put up a perfect lip-sync. The stirring pleasure of watching a real performance is indescribable.

Recently, I’ve been very hooked to GFriend’s Rough. I’ve got no idea why the English title is Rough when the original Korean means “running through time.” Regardless, I’ve never felt goosebumps watching people dance and this was the first time ever I thought a dance routine was perfectly choreographed to fit the song. I’ve re-watched their performance of the same song at different live events countless times and still feel awestruck by the ingenuity of the choreographer. For this song, there can perhaps be no better choreography.

If, like me, you appreciate live singing even if they are slightly out of tune, enjoy the video below. Otherwise, focus on the dance. My only disappointment with the video is if only the camera had remained still, it would’ve better given the impeccable dance routine a much deserved attention.

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