All areas were affected under the influence of Corona 19, but the pop scene, which gave everyone diverse feelings, was also significant. Celebrity’s 2020 gross income was $6.1 billion, down $200 million from 2019, according to Forbes’ report; in a way, last year is a depressing year for everyone.
But in the pop scene, there was not just a gloomy face. “Dynamite”, released by BTS last August, was attacked by the depression of 2020 with the playful disco sound and the vivid color of the music video and preempted it as a representative song of 2020.
As if to follow their attempts, the keywords of music in the first half of 2021, which pop scenes will take, including K-pop, are comfort and hope. AB6IX’s repackaged album “SALUTE: A NEW HOPE” released on January 18 KST emphasizes the arrival of new hope, as the name suggests.Their title song “STAY YOUNG” sings hope and at the same time names the way that youth walks not as wandering but as “valuable time that can’t be exchanged for money.” The synthesizer accompaniment from the pre-chorus sounds like a step under a glittering star, and the “Fly up, Way up” in the chorus part sounds like a light breath. “STAY YOUNG”, which expresses the shaking youth brightly and hopefully, has been comforting and encouraging to everyone in the deep and dark last year within four minutes.
The consolation to wandering, no, the comfort to youth walking its way, is a steady theme, but if you put on the times’ background, it is also read as a cheering song for everyone, not just youth. Hopeful comfort is enough to understand the keywords that pop scenes should take in the first half of 2021, starting with AB6IX.
