Today marks the start of a series of posts under #KN10YEARS which I shall discuss in detail on whatever is this phenomenon that has kept me going, which I refer as Klassic Note. So firstly, I will kick things off in here by talking about what it is about, and what makes any song out there worth adding to my song list.
Yes, I know this should've been done back in 2017 but I can still remember how it feels, and many of the "rules" which I shall refer to in this post, still applies today.
(LONG POST WITH NOTHING BUT TEXT WARNING)
WHAT IS KLASSIC NOTE?
Klassic Note - as it has been previously abbreviated as "KN Song Awards" as taken from my initials because I didn't have that much creativity for a name back in 2011 if I'm not wrong - is the name for the analysing, exploring and in general, my song list after treading into the Japanese music industry circa 2007. I felt that back then the sudden surge of new songs and exposure to various styles of music even within specific genres affected my life drastically that I notice it was worth to remember them. And what better way to do so with awarding and complimenting at scale? And here we are.
THE MOTTO
Klassic Note in general had three main motto, two of them are used within the 10 years from origin.
For the 5th year anniversary in 2012, I knew that I should come up with a general direction for this project, and also try to describe the mood and goal of such a project, and with that, I focused on "Searching For A New Melody", which brings upon the fact that all I've been doing since the start is to explore, to find new melodies, to find different feels which can express my daily life, and I think I've done a real good job to follow that motto. From different genres and music styles and an array of artists to follow, this was an adequate representation.
However, as times changed, so did the feels. Setting judgement and giving certain levels of criteria to so objectively give songs from all walks of media, I thought of using certain level of objective criterion so I can distinguish the good ones from the everyday oens which I will still give with increased comfort following the artists I liked in style. So in comes "Searching For A Different Melody" as of 2017 to better represent Klassic Note, which shows the need to hear something different other than sticking to the usual comfortable melodies and styles or even genres, giving what was previously impossible to pass for song requirements a better chance, and giving transformation bigger credit for the goal to impress.
THE RULEBOOK
This, of course, is not THE rulebook because I'm human. I have my opinions, so I won't just give any song off the streets. Neither am I a robot, so requirements in this post won't always apply. Release time, size (single, album), marketing and relation of the artist with me in Klassic Note are heavy factors which have changed over time. But today, we shall talk about what did make most of the songs stay in the list instead of being brushed away as quickly as I finished hearing the first chorus. Yes, let's talk about it.
But before that, we need to talk about song structure. Specifically today's pop music structure. I'll like you to take a short read at Wikipedia if you have the chance, but if you don't, I'll give you a quick brief to what I think is in a song. Four terms you need to be aware of before we talk about them. Verses are parts of the song which lead to the chorus. Pre-chorus are right before the chorus and are typically shorter than the verses. If you don't know of the chorus I don't know if you know music or not becuase it's the part of the song everyone cares about. And finally, the bridge is the part of the song which creates an alternative transition from the (typically) middle of the song ie. second chorus to the final chorus and eventually, the end of the song. Other than these four, most of the parts of the song can be flexible, as these are more easily identified.
So, the rules, and on what I have given and have not given over the years.
Firstly, in melody. The melody describes what notes go into a song, and how they sound greatly affects how much we remember the song in general because we can hum or sing them. That is the essence of the song. What I do give is unique melodies: the better I can't relate to any song and I like, the better chances I'll remember it, and the higher the compliments I'll give every year for the awards. In early years this wasn't much of a case, as there weren't many songs to compare to (FYI my song list before Klassic Note is pathetic, just so you know), so it was pretty much everything I come across. We'll talk about that later. So, newer songs in later years came into increasing judgement on how different they are or actually, how comforting they are in famliarity, typically more of the latter as we see the lack of creativity in the music industry in general. What I do not give typically are those that do not fall into any of these categories, most notably in recent years the increase in "off-beat melodies" I would like to call it, as they create familiarity in melody but add a note or two in every phrase, making it impressional but less than convincing than me because it feels like a prick on that cactus which is a new song just slightly modified. And that applies to all parts of the song, most notable in the chorus because again, it's the impresison maker. It also appears most often, at least based on my experience, on the bridge part of the song as songs typically set to give a good impresion on which is known as audio previews released publicly before release, and giving a disappointing full song on release. These cases are most often seen in Anime songs written by producers in major labels instead of mainstream artists who are more dedicated to explore different melodies and styles. Other than that, some artists do exhibit unique melodies which can be memorable and happen more often with indie artists (as when I heard of them) including sunday morning bell, Lattice., amongst many others.
Secondly, in genre. In Klassic Note, I define genre differently from style (which I will talk next after this) and as what type of music is generally agreed upon in the industry, so for me it's kind of a gray area which can be exploited often so I can give melodies. In this case, it's most often a low priority factor. What I do give is what I have heard before. In early years, I have a Commendation mention of song genres I give over the years, and starting from familiar genres like Pop and Rock I have thus far advanced to having given Rap, Jazz, Heavy Metal, Electronic and Punk genres over the years. But yeah, I still give bias to song genres I feel comfortable giving, mostly in J-Rock and J-Pop, or a combination of both. Many Collection Artists in Klassic Note are there because their genres align with my interests. What I do not give though, are beat-based genres. I know it's compelling to have listed some of them which fall into this category, but hey, I'm being flexible, and as I mentioned earlier, not a heavy factory. However, the Techno genre has always been a no-go in Klassic Note from the start, and I hesitate to give any song even if the melody is good, and I generally avoid artists who touch on that genre of music or exhibit such styles. (It has been broken in 2018 but I'll leave that for another story) Also, because the definition of genre in Klassic Note is vague, a couple of songs which are prioritised of melody will be forgiven of this genre, namely from in 2017 Shishido Kavka's "Tachiagare" which can be argued to be in the Electronic/Techno genre and which I highly praised in the Song Awards. It was held back due to this rule as she stays 14th in the song rankings of that year.
Next, in style. Style in Klassic Note is defined as how an artist expresses different emotions, namely those with upbeat melodies and those with an emotional or sentimental feels to it, as far as I can feel. Rap is a good exception to this and is also seen so I guess this is a third style. For most artists, they (have to) display several different styles that will define them, and it's always shown in most artists, so liking one or the other in Klassic Note is not unusual. For example, KANA-BOON possesses all three styles. Their songs come with a variety of lively tunes, emotional melodies and of course, rapping songs which they do every now and then. Personally, I'm a fan of the lively songs, not so much on the emotional ones typically because they don't come up with a good melody every time, and rapping is out of my league for them. So yeah, just an example on how artist generally get my attention, and also how I give songs for artists and figure out if they have anything in style I can eventually like. Not a dealbreaker in first impression, but more for further analysis and inspection once the artist comes under the microscope.
Then, there is the instrumentals. If you've only been hearing the melody of any song, you've bene missing out. Part of listening to a song is to hear everything that is in it. The full audio spectrum. So yeah, from guitar riffs to drum beats to techno beats (not going there), there's always an instrumental melody or beat to remember by. So much so that since 2008 I've been introduced to intstrumental only bands from time to time, from SPECIAL OTHERS to PHONO TONES and so on. These artists remove the need for vocals for instrumental melody playing throughout, even for a long track length. And as distinctive as a melody, these make sure you'll remember the song itself as long as you can hear them. What I give and do not give though greatly depends on what I like and think is great, but the standards are generally lower compared to singing.
To a lesser extent and only preent in recent years, is lyrics. I know some people swear by song lyrics to give songs, but coming into a music industry for a language I have no idea about, this doesn't apply. Which is why the above rules take precedence in a world of not giving lyrics so I don't get distracted by the theme of the songs based generally on love and sadness if you are outside of Japan. In Klassic Note, you get a variety of emotions just listening to music itself, and the lyrics only came out of light as I continue to listen to more songs and sing along to the lyrics, from pronunciation to reading Japanese itself. With that, it brings a whole new level of comprehension and appreciation for the song(s), especially if it expresses a certain emotion. This however won't do good on song which have little meaning, but that is fine since this is not a dealbreaker rule, especially on first listen because the melody is more prominent than the lyrics since I can't comprehend them that fast to leave an impression.
And lastly, obligations. Because I like Anime, it has always been the reason for me to give songs in Klassic Note. Today, I have to give an Anime theme song if I have to give the corresponding show. Yes, it's a rule. So yes, maybe bad songs may have appeared from time to time to lower the quality throughout, but hey, there are good songs. More on that in the future posts, but yeah, this one I cannot dismiss. From Linked Horizon to practically anything in the "K-ON!" series, it's hard to see how this might throw the balance off what my bias is towards giving songs using the rules above. Another common trend which happens from time to time, is giving of cover songs. Whether it's for an Anime or an artist chose to release a Cover Album, it's another reason for me to give them songs for something they did not write, and that sometimes falls into two main categories: songs I have never heard of and I think the artist sang well, or - in more relevance to hearing songs for 10 years - songs I've heard of in Klassic Note. So yeah, standpoints for these have changed over the years, but since Collection Artists are getting their Tribute Albums which feature other artists covering their songs? For now I'm avoiding the awarding and addition of cover songs unless they are real good. Remixes of songs are even more of a no-go so don't bother asking if I give any of them.
THE WHITELIST
As with all rulebooks there are exceptions, and this is no... exception. Becuase there are too many differences out there (I always give them, and I want to end this post already), I'll just list a couple. Remember this is not an exhaustive list, but the most common trends that are observed throughout the years listening to Japanese songs. (I may just add a few more over time if you want to read this long post again)
In present context, it is harder for me to give emotional songs today not because I don't have emotions, but it takes more time to absorb the message and mood delivered by the song, and that does not work in recent years. In early years it was easy to give along with a compulsory school education and regular ups and downs, but moving on this will be harder as the rules in the book may not count anymore. Instead, giving lyrics may come in handy and first impression of the melody became higher determining factors compared to the others since I won't bother to listen to them a second time if I didn't like it at all. The Awards every year are good examples of what I give every year in terms of style, not genre, is never consistent.
Another thing which will likely break the rulebook is also, the inclusion of objective judgement. As mentioned from the start, this makes it a lot harder to give songs based on any rule or even any impression, as it continues to tie me into rejecting songs because of a certain lack of quality eg. verse is boring, and then ignoring everything else in the song which can potentially be good. To this, a solution is typically to give them a second chance as long as I find the need to, so Yogee New Waves is a good example in 2017 where I started off with giving zero songs and ended the year with two. This greatly hinders on the progress of giving good songs versus giving songs which I like, both important and presented very realistically in Klassic Note itself. Anime songs are another good reason this exception exists too.
| WHAT I GIVE | WHAT I DON'T |
|---|---|
| Familiar and/or fresh melodies | Poor song parts esp. chorus, bridge |
In summary, we discussed in our first post for KN10YEARS what Klassic Note is about, its motto, and what goes to giving any song. Six rules are presented as reference to any song that is given over the past 10 years, with exceptions that are typically forgiven since it likely presents a unique mood that I'll not forget. As they say, music reflects on life, so if you listen to any song be sure to think if it represents what you feel right now. With so many songs out there, it's hard to even comment on all of them.
Next we shall kick start on The Klassic Note Spirit, starting from the top again from the origins, and presenting two years worth of stories every week until December where I will reveal The Master Plan for KN10YEARS. Cya guys then. First post on origins will follow shortly after this post.
