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I May be Biased, but the Y2K Nostalgia Revival in 2023 is My Favorite Thing and NewJeans is Capitalizing on it.
PART I:
As a child, many of my favorite memories involved my mom showing me some of her favorite songs, like TLC’s No Scrubs and Destiny’s Child’s Bills, Bills, Bills. At the time, I did not know what a “scrub” was nor did I know why they “couldn’t get no love from me,” but those experiences shaped my perception of music, fashion, and art. However, I inevitably found new interests and left my love of pre-2010’s music on the backburner. That was until K-Pop did something I never expected: they brought back Y2K in a way that set my nostalgic heart on fire enough to think I was back in 2010.
Long gone were the days of dial-up internet and hanging out in McDonald’s parking lots with friends, but in July of 2022, NewJeans grabbed my “Attention” both physically and in song name to bring me back into the early 2000s. For context, NewJeans is a 5-member girl group formed by ADOR under HYBE Entertainment with the goal of becoming inseparable from pop culture. Min Hee Jin, CEO and head producer of ADOR, stated “Pop music, like clothing, is a part of culture that is inseparable from our everyday lives” when asked about the meaning of the name “NewJeans.” It was clear at this moment that NewJeans was going to be a group Gen-Zers would fawn over.
From the Y2K inspired outfits covered in butterfly hair clips to the R&B-inspired sound reminiscent of Korean artist S.E.S. (which were inspired by American artist TLC), I was hooked. Colorful imagery and sporty outfits flooded the music video while the dance was performed in an open soccer stadium before suddenly switching to an LED-filled virtual stage. The bright visuals were definitely a sight to behold. It genuinely caught my eye and I quickly became excited to see what was next for this upcoming girl group.
In the same month, NewJeans released another song titled “Hype Boy” that quickly drew mass attention on TikTok through the “Hype Boy challenge.” “Hype Boy” was released alongside multiple music videos. Members Haerin and Danielle starred in a music video together and members Minji, Hanni, and Hyein had separate music videos. Each music video focused on the girls in their journey of falling in love with their “hype boy.” The nostalgia hits me in waves as I see the brightly colored bubbly graphics contrasting with differing scenes of skate parks, ferris wheels, and museum hallways. It created an aesthetic that is hard to describe other than it felt simultaneously old and modern at the same time. More importantly, NewJeans did not shy away from taking a modern spin on the nostalgic trends of meeting your lover in a skate park or at a pool party. Which you would think is more common now, but my generation tends to not go outside as much! In a turn of events, member Hanni’s music video pairs her with a genderqueer person as her hype boy showing that their concept transcends heteronormativity in a beautiful modern reincarnation of the Y2K style. NewJeans not only emulated Y2K, but embraced modern societal views of gender and sexuality acceptance to promote a message that looks past tradition especially since South Korea is still a conservative nation. In addition to “Attention” and “Hype Boy,” NewJeans released two other songs at the same time titled “Cookie” and “Hurt” which both boast a laidback tempo with hints of R&B inspiration vocally.
As the summer era of NewJeans came to an end with them releasing a total of four singles, I began to ponder what the five girls would do next in this realm of nostalgia as the temperatures became colder. Would they come back more upbeat than ever or would they take a more emotional route causing me to reminisce about my childhood or lack thereof? Clearly, it is going to be the latter in this case.
Returning with a more melancholic sound drifting away from R&B, NewJeans released “Ditto” alongside two music videos with one side being A and the other side being B as if you were to play a cassette tape. Immediately, this slower side of NewJeans caused me to pay extra attention as I wanted to see where they would go with the concept of reminiscing. The lyrics start off with “Stay in the middle / Like you a little / Don’t want no riddle / Say it say it back, oh, say it ditto / Can’t wait till the morning so say it ditto.” Immediately the feeling of nostalgia was awoken within me once again. It reminded me of having simple childhood crushes where you are standing there waiting for them to return your confession. The impatience and nervousness of being unsure where you stand with a crush really spoke to me. Visually, the music video was stylized to appear as if it was made in the 90’s. The members don school uniforms and appear to be casted as high school students consoling a friend (who remains out of camera view for most of both music videos) that has a crush on a guy near them. Out of uniform, each girl wears a sporty yet winter/fur themed outfit reminding me of something I would pick out of the closet as a kid. As far as each side goes, A and B contain different clips yet tie in together to explain the story of “Ditto.”
Mentioned earlier, NewJeans appears in side A as highschoolers that are comforting their friend who is scared to confess to their crush. Side A ends with the mystery girl staring off into a snowy plain locking eyes with a deer before switching to the same girl now alone without any of NewJeans around her as she walks off into the rain with her umbrella closed. Drawing attention to the “deer caught in headlights” idea being a trope reminiscent of early 2000s movies for me! Side B takes the point of view of the mystery girl as she follows NewJeans around yet never gets close to them. As her phone rings with NewJeans calling, she proceeds to ignore it before walking into the school hallway and locking eyes with the deer once again. However, this time, the deer walks away as the girl walks home with her crush giving the impression that she finally confessed. This side ends with the mystery girl years later recollecting her times with NewJeans in a tearful yet happy manner further emphasizing this song was meant to invoke a nostalgic response.
From the first note, “Ditto” stood out to me as the song that set NewJeans apart from everyone else in the K-Pop music industry currently. I recalled my childhood in a much softer, yet also sadder way. I recollected the late nights spent out with friends exploring the fields surrounding my house or goofing around in empty parking lots. It truly made me yearn for simpler times before responsibilities piled up. I was also heavily reminded about how much closer artists were with fans before technology advanced even further and made it more dangerous. The song could also be taken as a metaphor for artists and their fans showing that even though their fans feel close to them, the artists are never there physically in their lives.
Throughout each song, NewJeans represented nostalgia in its purest form. The girls managed to invoke a variety of nostalgic feelings ranging from summer crushes to the more serious feeling of loneliness in winter. While these events are nothing special on their own, thinking about it in a new perspective brings out a softer, more sentimental side that sometimes only music can invoke. By setting up NewJeans with such a nostalgia-inducing concept, HYBE slingshotted them into inevitable stardom. While capturing and reciprocating feelings that are close to the hearts of many Gen-Zers, NewJeans solidified their spot in the global music industry. And honestly, I will forever support their endeavors unironically being their “hype boy” in the most genderqueer way.
PART II:
While considering the variety of genres out there, I immediately thought an op-ed or some sort of opinionated genre would suit my writing style. Even before settling on my specific topic, I wanted to use a genre that would allow for the most flexibility in how I can write as I hate being stuffed into strict guidelines of what I can or cannot do. I tend to be an opinionated person who loves sharing personal anecdotes and helping others relate to some of my personal interests, so that narrowed down my choices a lot more. Once I settled on an op-ed, Y2K and NewJeans quickly came to the forefront of my mind as the topic. I am very much giving my thoughts on the topic of Y2K nostalgia and how it relates to NewJeans, so an op-ed made sense nonetheless. I still had to include reasonings and background on how I believe NewJeans is capitalizing off the Y2K nostalgia revival, yet I was given the freedom to clearly include my relation to the topic and how it affected me personally. I find personal anecdotes valuable in helping readers relate to a topic they might otherwise not be interested in, so including them was very important for the successful conveying of my opinion.
Some general conventions of an op-ed include making sure the point being made is clear. The point that I made was NewJeans is capitalizing off of the revival of Y2K and how many Gen-Zers find nostalgia in it. I had some issues with this originally as I had to narrow down my topic into a few songs/music videos that I believed to encompass the most Y2K essence instead of covering their entire discography. I also needed to include a reasoning as to why someone should care about this. Even though it is not completely stated, it can be inferred that this op-ed is for those who enjoy Y2K aesthetics, K-Pop, or just reliving nostalgic feelings in general. My favorite characteristic of an op-ed, however, is the way the author gets to push their own voice out there. It was extremely satisfying to put my own thoughts and personal experiences with nostalgia and how NewJeans satisfied the inner-child in me. It was also fun to research more about one of my favorite K-Pop groups to learn more about how and why they are so successful in doing the Y2K concept.
Throughout the writing process, I found it really easy to abide by op-ed guidelines as they are almost strictly biased towards the author by giving freedom over most aspects as long as it has clear ideas, a unique tone, and brings information to the table that readers can take with them. I was able to convey ideas in a hopefully clear way that introduces readers to a topic that they might have never seen before. If anything, I consider myself successfully abiding by the conventions of an op-ed as long as a single reader can take away information from my piece. Stylistically, I tried to follow more of a magazine-style rather than a traditional newspaper op-ed. This still followed op-ed guidelines as I had a clear, unique stance and tone throughout my article that allowed readers to see and hopefully understand my opinion. It also allowed for an open-ending that lets readers form their own conclusions after.
One of the more fascinating aspects of an op-ed is that I can pretty much address any audience I want to with it. For example, some op-eds written by DailyTrojan staff may focus on political issues to inform a general student body or those who are interested in politics. With my topic, I was able to write for K-Pop fans, Y2K lovers, and anyone who appreciates the feeling of nostalgia. While it becomes more common, seeing articles dedicated to informing more people about how K-Pop relates to their personal lives are still quite rare. I enjoy reading about the personal experiences others have with K-Pop, so it was important for me to write something similar and put it out there for others to see.
It was a fun experience to take a shot at writing an op-ed. Whether or not it lands correctly towards my target audience, I am happy to have created a piece that stores all of my love and passion for supporting an artist that makes music reminiscent of my childhood. I value the idea of creating personal ties to music, so through this experience of writing about NewJeans, I certified my love of their music even more!
References:
Cherrie, Serah S. “HYBE’s New Girl Group is Called “NewJeans,” And Its Meaning Is Actually Pretty Clever.” Koreaboo, 23 July 2022, www.koreaboo.com/news/hybe-new-girl-group-named-newjeans/.
Destiny’s Child. “Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills.” YouTube, uploaded by Destiny’s Child, 25 October 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiF6-0UTqtc.
NewJeans. “NewJeans (뉴진스) 'Attention' Official MV.” YouTube, uploaded by HYBE LABELS, 21 July 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=js1CtxSY38I.
NewJeans. “NewJeans (뉴진스) 'Ditto' Official MV (side A).” YouTube, uploaded by HYBE LABELS, 19 December 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSUydWEqKwE.
NewJeans. “NewJeans (뉴진스) 'Ditto' Official MV (side B).” YouTube, uploaded by HYBE LABELS, 18 August 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=V37TaRdVUQY.
NewJeans. “NewJeans (뉴진스) 'Hype Boy' Official MV.” YouTube, uploaded by HYBE LABELS, 19 December 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=11cta61wi0g.
S.E.S.. “S.E.S. ‘Dreams come True’ MV.” YouTube, uploaded by SMTOWN, 10 November 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uiR4SrDGZk.
TLC. “TLC - No Scrubs (Official HD Video).” YouTube, uploaded by TLC, 31 January 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrLequ6dUdM.