f(x) is the blueprint. They're still so influential, so your feelings about them being more adequate for later Gens are so right. Every current GG has some aspect of f(x), from the rap style to the adventurous mix of styles, and even the individual looks, something they also innovated when GGs were bound to uniforms and matching colors. And the music is SO GOOD that most of late f(x) music sounds at home now, being timeless quality tracks. Pink Tape is still one of the top 3 or 5 Kpop albums in history, and that's not being hyperbolic. Glad you had this vivid experience in this chapter of Throwback, because after knowing this group, all of Kpop looks different. RIP our angel Sulli.
The whole thing about them fitting in later gens is accurate but at the same time wouldn't work, because it's very much because of f(x) that a lot of current kpop sounds the way it does! Their influence was huge. If they debuted later it may have been the same thing, only at a later date! If they hadn't existed, they wouldn't have been more popular in later gens, because someone needed to introduce these sounds to kpop!!
you know... you do have an excellent point there! I never thought of it that way, just wish they had gotten more recognition for what they were doing back then!
Sad you've missed the video for All Mine, as others have pointed out. Probably would have been too many MVs in one video anyway; but even if it's on your own time, that's a special one to watch. Amber directed the video when SM was basically moving on from f(x), the song itself is a signpost in the brief EDM transition in 2nd gen kpop, and the video feels very personal, natural. Almost felt like it was the first time we were seeing the girls as themselves outside of their SM image. One of my favorites.
these four truly are "it" thats so true~ xp 4walls was still really recent when i started actively listening to more than 2 groups(not that i didnt know more. but i did almost exclusively listen to 4m and oc), its really vivid in my mind how, and because my friend was a big fan too, i would always see screenshots of the mv and id always see ppl tweet about it and hoping begging shouting from the rooftops for an fx comeback. for years afterwards. good times. fx couldve still be going with ease if sm was even just slightly better to their artists. (my longest sigh ever) ♡
I’m pretty sure red light was my first f(x) song. It, rum pum pum pum, and electric shock were the songs I listened to most of theirs. Years later I found out red light was based on the then recent tragedy of a ship( I think? I can’t remember all the details) that had run into trouble and the captain told all the passengers not to leave their area until the red light went off. Not knowing what was happening, they did, and the captain and crew took the life boats and left. All the passengers drowned waiting for the red light to turn off.
Rogue! I am telling you best discography in kpop! Okay, well, maybe not best, but certainly tied with all the best! Tbh, at the time they were active, I'll just say it, they had the best discography in kpop!
Yeah I still listen to f(x) all the time. As you said, a lot of their songs could fit in nowadays. Like, Rum Pum Pum feels like the predecessor to Ive-Eleven 😊. 4walls could've literally been released yesterday. They actually have one more MV after this called All Mine. It's an SM station song, but its the last time we saw f(x) together. SM wouldn't give them an MV so Amber directed and edited the MV herself. Just because I have to bring Mamamoo into everything (😂), Moonbyul was once asked who her ideal type was and she said Krystal 🤣 she was such a fangirl about her. Also Solar has a collab track with Luna from f(x) and Hani from EXID which is badaaaass the.vocals. Hope it's on your collab list 🤞
f(x) members and their roles: Victoria: Leader, Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Sub-Vocalist, Visual Amber: Main Rapper, Sub-Vocalist Luna: Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer Sulli: Sub-Vocalist, Sub-Rapper, Visual, Face Of The Group (Member from 2009-2015, passed in 2019, RIP) Krystal: Lead Vocalist, Visual, Face Of The Group, Maknae
😂 The 4 Walls video is a trippy sci-fi story not directly related to the lyrics, although the lyrics talk about a romantic love being able to be like 4 walls of a building, which protect you. The girls are all living lives in parallel dimensions, some of which they live alone in that big house, some they are roommates, & some worlds the house hasn't even been built yet! We start with Amber dropping the cup in 1 world, which seems to starts a chain reaction where the walls between the dimensions start tearing apart. Amber not having a cup means Victoria in another world spills tea, slips on it & dies still in her pj top, yet another Victoria already dressed for the day suddenly finds she's in woods with no house & so on. The Amber in the woods is also a different one than the 1 that dropped the cup, as she's also not still in pjs, has hair that is stlyed differently & purple instead of brown. The Luna that steps on the broken cup somehow in the woods isn't the same one that's hanging in the air defying gravity or falling/jumping in water, & there are different Krystals too, some of which jump/fall in the water & some don't. As the events keep going, the women apparently start figuring out there's something out of whack with the universe & looking for clues on how to fix it & get back to their lives. Enough versions figure out that the cup has something to do with it, they need to go back & prevent it from breaking. But only those in versions where they live together can anyone do anything, because those living alone won't be able to have someone else intervening. Not sure how knowing what started it helps them go back in time, but hey maybe the multiverse, God or some other higher power is trying to help them fix it! Anyway, the last shots show different versions running to save the cup. In 1 Amber is running, so in her world she didn't drop the cup, someone else did. Another has Luna running, & another shows Victoria running & catching it when her Amber drops it. (This implies that it was actually more than 1 cup that broke at the same time in different worlds which set off the reaction, & them stopping enough of them from shattering would keep the dimensions from shattering.) The main fan theory I heard is that the cup represents Sulli, whose leaving could have caused the whole group to bust up, but their shared sisterhood helped them through & they saved their group. Also I heard "Sulli is the 5th bird which flies off right at the start", but that happens so fast most people can't even count the birds unless you pause the video & can forward slowly frame by frame, which I can't do. Another theory I heard is "the purple butterfly some of the versions follow in the woods represents them instinctively trying to bring Sulli back, but then they realise they can't catch her, she needs to fly free". Not sure about that one, as I didn't think anyone actually followed the butterfly, to me it just looked like a couple versions saw it in the woods. Those are the only theories I heard, & the cup seems likely, because the group really did have to band together & show the company they weren't gonna fall apart when Sulli left. It made them sad, but they understood how unhappy she had been for a couple years, with the stress & depression bad enough she was often physically ill & then criticised for seeming not energetic & smiling enough when performing. So they told her they supported her just concentrating on acting if that's what she wanted.
I miss f(x) so much. They were so ahead of their times both sonically but also structure wise. Foreign leader. 3 out of 5 both outside of the US. First tomboyish female member. I think SM really really didnt know what to do with them as they didn't have a traditional looking Korean star member for them to sell. I think f(x) would have really benefited from the more behind the scenes relaxed feel that newer groups like NewJeans and Lesserafim have where they let the public in more. But when f(x) was around SM was under the "idol at all cost" look which really did a disservice to Krystal and Sulli in particular. It made them come off as mean and cold instead of much more introverted and funny that they were.
legit 4 Walls is soooo good! The more I listen to it the more I love it the same with Red Light! 🥰 But Rum Pum Pum Pum still might be my fav, my brain goes brrrr during it lol I love it!
