The length of this essay is so gnarly🩵

take that how you will cuz it’s not easy to be the absolute shit

Before I start, let me get some definitions out of the way.

Sometimes, works of satire utilize caricatures or parodies to drive home the point. Not all caricatures or parodies are works of satire, and not all works of satire are caricatures or parodies. Semantics will always be semantics in that meanings will always evolve, but when it comes to having critical discussions, I think we should also consider denotations as much as much we do connotations, just so the conversation maintains a sense-filled state (some of you move mad in the comments😭).

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My thoughts on the discourse surrounding the discourse on gnarly:

I’ve seen a bunch of critiques pop up about people’s positive reactions to gnarly, and it begs one question for the general public:

Why can’t some of you fathom that some people genuinely like the song?

From some nct fans claiming that the comparisons to sticker are “disrespectful”, to the ktube/tiktok video essayists all trying to psychoanalyse those who claim gnarly is a work of intellectual genius, those who dislike the song won’t stop letting us know that they think gnarly defenders are weird.

They complain about the way kpop fans won’t allow other fans to dislike songs, and how criticism is dead in kpop because of it (which I agree with). But, the minute I say I like gnarly, I’m suddenly “trying so hard to sound intellectual”. Nawa for people who aren’t that much different from those they criticize sha🤣

(this is the point where i say that i know people questioning my taste isn’t them saying consequentially that i can’t like a song, i’m just pointing out the tiny hypocrisy in casting so much doubt on those that like a song, when you complain that kpop stans can’t let you dislike songs in peace.)

And don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen valid conversations about kpop stans’ need to intellectualize things in order to validate their taste (or subsequently, invalidate other’s tastes) or the misuse of the term “satire”. The creators who brought it up are right: a lot of people try to hold on to a sense of intellectualism so they can shut down those who hate songs they like, and often times, they misuse words in the process.

However, this is not exactly what I’ve seen with gnarly.

A lot of people writing pieces in defense of gnarly seem to really only be stating why they like the song in response to those who unfairly criticize the song. If you criticize something someone likes, ofc they will come out and state why they like it, especially when their reasons for liking it directly oppose your reasons for disliking it. I think that’s to be expected with all kinds of music. it sometimes does, but it doesn’t happen always because people want to be contrarian or look deep for liking what others consider trash. They may just think it’s truly treasure, and as such want to defend that. Whether it’s for genuine love or ego, we can’t always be sure.

(Gnarly feels meta, when you consider the original artist, Alice Longyu Gao. So I think some fans could also not really believe that someone could try something meta and do it poorly, or that something this poor can just be poor and not meta. It’s another angle definitely.)

A lot of this discourse would be eliminated if we realized that people hear different things in music, and think differently about what they hear, and are allowed to do so.

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So what do I think about the whole gnarly is/isn’t satire discourse?

Gnarly reads as a caricature of kpop to me. It takes the meaningless, almost zany aspects of kpop lyricism and cranks the intensity up to a 100. Kpop fans eat that up when it comes in small doses. But gnarly is fully in english, and it is sang by mostly english speakers; kpop fans couldn’t fathom or stomach it.

(The funniest thing to me is that those lyrics were the some of the most grammatically correct/coherent weird english lyrics I’ve ever seen in kpop, but kpop fans position them as the worst. They objectively aren’t 🤣)

A major line of reasoning I’ve seen people use to say gnarly isn’t satire is the classic “the company gave them the song”. Some fans believe that the sole fact that a gigantic musical corporation sourcing and green lighting a song that critiques generic, soulless art and fame is enough to make such a critique disingenuous and thus invalid. If you only consider the above sentence, you’d probably agree. The only thing is, though, that the song, the usage and the circumstances surrounding it are way more nuanced than that.

For one, you not meaning what you say, is not enough for what you say to not be true, especially when you are not in a position to “mean” anything. The corporation may not mean to critique soulless art or fame, but to me, that doesn’t make the critique less valid or less true, especially since I hardly think a firm is in a position to or to not levy any sort of criticism as they produce a wide range of work, only the artists are.

Them okaying the song isn’t enough for the song’s message to be written off as non-existent, and when you consider the fact that Hybe greenlights a range of music, from soulless to objectively profound, the whole narrative of “you are what you are criticizing” falls a little flat when it comes to them (if that is what those who use that talking point mean to say). The human experiences discussed in the songs that are greenlit aren’t unreal, just because a corporation greenlit it. The fact that they searched for the song says more about the company, than it ever will about the song.

And to add to that, the song is performed by human beings. This isn’t news to any of you, but please stick with me. Even if the company outsourced this song because it “sounded cool” or whatever, the performers could understand and mean every word of what they sing (scream), and I think that makes it somewhat more genuine.

Imagine you were covering drivers’ license by Olivia Rodrigo, and you also happened to relate to every word of that song. Every note you sing would have even more meaning and soul, because you are singing about experiences and things you believe in. It’s the same logic that I would apply to gnarly. What if the girls understand intuitively what they are singing about and do in fact mean to criticize soulless music and fame? Would the critique still be disingenuous because they didn’t write the song themselves? The answer to that will depend on what the girls actually think, but I’m not in their heads so I don’t know.

The talking points I’ve outlined seemed inadequate to me; that’s why I countered them.

But with all I’ve said still, I don’t think gnarly is intended to be satire.

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In the midst of all the discourse, I saw only one opinion, by a youtuber named “wireshred”, that shut down the satire narrative adequately for me.

And that opinion was that you cannot criticize the exact thing that you are. Katseye’s music is generic, with generic themes and generic lyrics, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to mean any criticism of that type of music. Especially not if they return to making such music with their newest release.

The only thing they can mean to do (that won’t appear hypocritical) is caricature or parody themselves, but even that is subject to the mindsets they have about the song, mindsets which we will never be privy to.

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Sha whether or not it’s a caricature, I still like the song. That doesn’t mean anyone else has to, I’m just saying that I do and that’s okay. The song could even just be something the girls found silly, and there’s also merit in being silly for the sake of being silly and that can exist whether the song was written by the performers or not. (I also think hybe meant it for shock and performance value, seeing as they did a 180 with “Gabriella”, but that’s just by the way).

Gnarly is neo in effect, but not so much in execution. It is as polarizing as NCT songs can be, but it doesn’t have enough of the technical genius needed to prop it up to an A1 on the neo scale.

It’s loud and brash and made my ears ring for 30 minutes after my first listen. It felt like metal work. It made me giggle when I thought about how polarizing it would be. I love noise goodness. That electric guitar is insane. They performed their butts off. The dance is iconic. Gnarly is a fight. Gnarly is a movement. Gnarly is neo. Gnarly is a construction site. Yes, you really can describe everything with one single word.

I like both gnarly and sticker, and I’m not ashamed to admit that. Sue me.