Neo Culture Dadaism and "Gnarly"(2025)
An Essay
Yesterday on April 30, 2025, girl group, “KATSEYE” released the “Gnarly”, their first new song in almost a year. While the video is stunning, as is to be expected from a HYBE group, the song itself has already proven to be divisive, with many claiming it to be completely dead on arrival. The harsh beat and “nonsensical lyrics” sound nothing like what we’ve come to expect from them. In fact, I’d say that the structure of the entire song is unusual and in a landscape of safe and formulaic pop, releasing a song of this nature seems like a good way to ruin your career. The response from fans seems to indicate this is the end. However, I’m here to make a case for why this type of bombastic and discordant music is exactly what we need right now.
Dadaism is an art movement that developed in 1915 as a response to the horrors of World War I. The war effectively changed the way humanity interacted with one another, as we saw warfare and mass murder on a scale never before seen. Empires crumbled and cultures disappeared from the face of the Earth, and it all happened in 4 years. Naturally, people grew disgusted with the way things were. Our societies and their rules had led millions around the world to slaughter and disease. Isn’t it fair to say then that those rules, that structure, was not also diseased? Many artists seemed to think so and thus Dadaism came to be.
As a philosophy of art, Dadaism has no philosophy. Essentially, the rules were that there were no rules. Dadaists made nonsensical poems, songs, sculptures, and paintings all aimed at highlighting the nonsense of modern society. The more confusing and hard to describe the better. The most famous Dadaist work is Marcel Duchamp’s, Fountain (1917) which is just a urinal, laid out for all to see.
This art spoke to the precarious nature of the times and would’ve offered the artists creating this art a lot of catharsis as the war raged on. Dadaists were also staunch anti-bourgeois leftists and making art out of available materials also served to hint at the possible anti-capitalist future they hoped for. While the movement itself didn’t last long after the war, its impact can be felt today, popping up in unusual places and during difficult times. Like for example, “post-pandemic”, late-stage capitalist, hyper-online Kpop.
It is not surprising that a song like Gnarly would come out now in this iteration of the kpop industry. Kpop is spread very thin, to put it lightly. The largest companies in the industry have swallowed up their competition with little pushback and have made a mad dash to expand into other markets. This means dozens of new groups debuting each year, thousands of songs being released with increasing video budgets, and more and more “Foreign” idols debuting each year, often with their unique ethnicities being used as promotional material for the group. The girl group, “Hearts2Hearts” is one such example as member Carmen made waves as the first Indonesian idol to debut under SM entertainment. The result was a lot of eyes and an entire country of new fans, who have proved more than willing to show their appreciation through merch and album sales. There has also been a notable effort to westernize Kpop and it is rare to come across a successful group that doesn’t have English releases or multiple members who can speak English. As a part of that push, kpop companies increasingly turn to western songwriters who are given the incredibly difficult task of creating Korean songs with widespread western appeal. This dissonance- the bright brutality of the industry, the ridiculous asks made of songwriters, and the pressure-cooker that the idols themselves live under, is the perfect formula for brash music, commonly referred to as “noise music” to thrive in. While execs see flash and think “who cares- the kids will love it” the artists and the idols have a means to express just how maddening it must be to create and work under these insane conditions. But it doesn’t end with “KATSEYE”, in fact there is one song in particular that dropped in 2021 that I believe is the perfect example of this resurgence of Dadaism in Kpop.
On September 17, 2021, NCT 127 released their third album, “Sticker” as well as a music video for the titular title track. To say Sticker is an abrasive song would be putting it lightly. With screechy horns and audacious flutes, Sticker is off-putting upon first listen and quickly became a meme, an example of how “bad” kpop had become. I myself was completely baffled when I first heard it, deciding it was a flop and that I’d never revisit it. However, after another year of living through a pandemic, dealing with the stress and uncertainty of that time, I decided to give Sticker another chance in 2022. I found that I loved it and really appreciated what was being communicated by the choice in instrumental. Life is crazy, terrifying even and our leaders have led us here through their ignorance and greed. Why wouldn’t you have a flute solo in the middle of a rap verse? Literally who cares? This acknowledgement of the sheer nonsense that we were all living through made me feel more grounded in my own reality. Affirmed that yes, this (gestures around) is crazy, it’s not you, now hold these lyrics about how my love is a sticker.
We haven’t really left that time of uncertainty. In fact, things have morphed and changed and now I can comfortably say that things are about to get just as bad as they were. Maybe not in the same way but enough that the strain will change the way we live our lives. And that’s nuts. Gnarly, even. Of course then, I could use a song that points this dissonance out and lets me laugh along with just how ridiculous everything is. Tesla is gnarly, twisted and extreme in all the worst ways. Mansions in the Hollywood Hills are too. Kpop is Gnarly. Music is Gnarly. Living is Gnarly. Life feels a little less painful when you can point out the discordance in it.
In all seriousness, I give it 3 business days before it becomes a hit SOMEWHERE, even if it’s just with really niche kpop fans or assorted dance crews (actually that’s exactly who this is for). It’s definitely not a forgettable song, not with all those vocal stims. Which is the future of music, btw. Doechii confirmed this for me with “Anxiety”, which is just one big TikTok vocal stim. Prepare yourselves accordingly. Anyway this was a fun one, hope you enjoy!
-Whit
yk what hell yeah