What You Didn't Know About WG's American Single "Like Money"

The following is a reading originally titled "Bionic Women:" Identity Reconstruction Through Electronic Recording Techniques, written in 2013.

As holder of one of the world’s largest music industries, America is responsible for some of the most progressive trends in music. However, it would be foolish to deny the artistry and innovation that many global acts are continuously actualizing, simply based on the fact that they are considered outsiders in the West. As a retaliation to being alienated and in an attempt to be heavily consumed, global artists have turned to electronic and pop music. Although these genres are heavily critiqued by people who refuse to have fun, electronic recording techniques have the unique ability to construct identities based on pure sound, rather than physical presence. This can be seen in the works of many American artists, but also in the work of the Wonder Girls. In “Like Money,” the Wonder Girls use reliable, time-tested synthesizer techniques to create a seemingly shallow, generic pop song. However, by incorporating the newly popular recording technique of dubstep, the song takes a deeper turn: The Wonder Girls use the violent qualities of the genre to construct a new, stronger identity for themselves in America’s capitalist patriarchy.

Although “Like Money,” gives the immediate sound and appearance of something thematically shallow and trite, the voice of girl groups should not be automatically marginalized due to their apparent subject matter, as suggested by Will Stos in his essay, "Bouffants, Beehives, And Breaking Gender Norms: Rethinking 'Girl Group' Music Of The 1950s And 1960s." In the text, Stos discusses the pervading influence of girl groups on postwar American culture. Music created by girls, for girls is often marginalized and then subsequently “altered to be more appropriate and acceptable for their target audience,” which serves to skew the original intended message. However, Stos denounces the common stereotype of the placating woman and and claims that, “Both implicitly and explicitly subversive lyrics and actions by performers reveal a much more complex genre of music that was being both created and consumed by young women.” Due to the power structure of the patriarchy, women are forced into secondary roles. In order to challenge the culture in which she is unsatisfied, a woman has no choice but to use mainly implicit means, and this labyrinth of struggle leads to unending “complexities” in her expressions. According to Stos, the key to the analysis of girl group music lies in it’s “contradictions.” In “Like Money,” the five Wonder Girls take on the dual role of, not only performers, but also “critics of [culture’s] implicit positioning and subjectification of girls.” Ironically, to call attention to issues such as violence against women, the girls must put themselves in a position encouraging violence, ridicule and objectification.

The concept of WG's "Nobody" was an homage to 50s and 60s American girl groups

To fit the American pop music mold, “Like Money” begins with an explicitly inoffensive sound, only to dynamically shift itself into greater meaning as the song progresses. “Like Money” begins with the simplistic and common sound of a keyboard synthesizer. This instrument is no stranger to 21st century American pop music, and the dark smoothness of its tone serves to disguise its stabby, staccato rhythm. Within the first couple of seconds, disconnect and contradiction can already be found in this song. Only a bit farther in, the bass and drums enter; this new, steady rhythm overtakes the previous one, eventually creating a build up of something borderline polyrhythmic by the second chorus. Before the vocals start, the girls introduce themselves, another common element found in pop music: “The wonder is back,” is a barely audible whisper suggesting the girl’s celebrity among the public. However, this is completely unearned to the American pop scene, as proven by Akon’s subsequent self-introduction. By languidly lengthening both vowels, the word “Akon” overtakes all previous sound, suggesting the dominance of this male figure.

Within the very first verse, there is another upsetting jar between the tone of the song: sub-vocalist Sohee begins singing, her voice light and soft. Autotune is prevalent, solidifying the girls’ objective to represent performers knowingly putting on an idealized show. The distortion of her voice also serves to cover up any trace of accent, in an attempt to lift the Wonder Girls from the prejudices against non-English speakers in American culture. In contrast, the next vocalist, Lim, has an abrasive voice, one with talk-like quality, fitting her character but seemingly not the song, as she also fills the spot of secondary rapper in the group when necessary. The discontentment of her voice over instruments with smooth qualities is striking, but inevitable for the situation of the group: her role as a Wonder Girl is complex in itself, as she is the newest and most fluent English-speaking member in the Korean-based act, who is also fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. This is one illustration of how the contradictions found in “Like Money” extend beyond the song itself, into cultural and even individualized issues.

Lim "Christina" Woo officially debuted as a Wonder Girl in 2010 with single "2 Different Tears"

Despite its initial welcoming ambiance, the Wonder Girls also add another, subversive genre into “Like Money.” While synthesizers, percussion and bass lines seem to be a necessary foundation for any turn-of-the-century pop song, dubstep has only recently made its way into the global music market. Notably, dubstep is created through implicit means: silent low frequency oscillators are inserted into a pre-recorded track, destroying the previous sound in favor of one more progressive, yet questionable. Instead of fitting in smoothly, it undermines the pre-established musical authority and is a purposeful distortion of sound.

Dubstep is also become prominent for how it has been characterized by the mainstream American pop scene. Specifically, dubstep seems to rely on a sense of violent release that the audience feels while listening, as illustrated in some recent works of film/music video director Anthony Mandler. In the music video for “As Long As You Love Me” performed by recent sensation, Justin Bieber, the singer and his love interest run away from an overprotective father, only to be caught, leading to a violent encounter between the two men, all between blaring bouts of dubstep. When the video climaxes, the music becomes heavier and romantic scenes of the lovers are increasingly juxtaposed with clips of physical abuse, until it is impossible to discern action or plot, only contrasting imagery. For a few disturbing seconds, Bieber is seen covered in blood and bruises, but still singing of his unwavering love to the audience.

This is an example of an explicitly expressed discontent between love and violence, used as only a male can have the freedom to do so. Luckily, Mandler has also worked on films with women protagonists: in “I Knew You Were Trouble,” a cross-genre song which combines both analog and digital techniques, performed by Taylor Swift, there is a similar scene in which violence is inflicted upon the main male of the story to a resounding dubstep drop. Interestingly, Swift is pulled away from the ruckus because physical violence against women seems to hold too strong a taboo; perhaps because it reflects society's real issues too straightforwardly. Once again, romantic and sexual imagery is mingled with violence, suggesting an unvoiced connection between these indulgent emotions and music.

Audiences have to destruction and terror, which includes a release so violent it brings out the animalistic nature in humans. According to philosopher Edmund Burke, the purpose of art should be to reach the “sublime,” a state of superior being induced by strong feelings. When applied to music, it is easy to see how the “sublime” can be obtained by artists like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and the Wonder Girls. Electronic genres can be considered closer to a mind than a body as, similar to Athena, they are borne directly from a higher, purely intellectual machine. In contrast, musical instruments represent a bodily, earthly connection between tool and human. Unlike musical instruments, which favor the able bodied, electronic techniques are all-inclusive, as proved by the sheer variety of pop acts that have excitedly embraced experimentation with new electronic genres.

At the end of “I Knew You Were Trouble,” Swift ends her video with the poignant statement “I don’t know if you know who you are, until you lose who you are." After the destructive ongoings, Swift has been stripped of her personal identity. In a similar vein, the Wonder Girls use dubstep to deconstruct their preconceived identities in media. As “Like Money” progresses, both dubstep and synthesizer techniques become increasingly apparent. Notably, Akon’s solid presence continues throughout the song, eventually prevailing into the both the the second verse and chorus. As an American male solo artist, he is perhaps the antithesis to a Korean girl group. This rapper’s inclusion is arguably an example of one of Stos’s “alterations,” to make this song more commercially appealing to the intended audience. A featured rapper gives the American audience a relatable performer, in order to create a sense of comfort.

Click here for more comparisons of American and Korean songs.

Despite this, his lyrics are far from pleasing. He raps, “stop listening to your friends” because “they just want your man,” encouraging animosity between women, attempting to break up the comradeship of the Wonder Girls. He continues, “why is it so hard to trust me?” ironically asking the girls to do with him what they have been manipulated out of doing between themselves. As the only male voice, Akon symbolizes the American industry, famed throughout history for its promising, yet ultimately disappointing nature. His voice drips with his signature autotuning techniques, making his presence inhuman and impersonal.

The Wonder Girls attempt to counter this through their own lyrics: “Look, boy, I’ve been through some things / seen a little sunshine, seen a little rain,” rapper Yubin alludes to their previous successes and failures, referencing the lyrics to their previous joint American/Korean release “2 Different Tears.” She confronts the male voice directly, demanding respect and credibility. Dubstep is most prominent at this point of the song, giving Yubin a surprising solid directness as she attacks this generic male persona. In the face of objectification by the patriarchy, she infantilizes this “boy” through her condescension, obliterating his threat to her. In the music video for the song, headphones materialize on Yubin’s head as the distortion of dubstep, synthesizers and vocals are combined into a brief, halting crash. The headphones reclaim the often questioned musicality of dubstep, and therefore fill the rapper up with new power to reclaim her own personal identity as well. “Let me teach you how to love me” is the Wonder Girl’s retaliation against the unforgiving industry and culture that constantly denies and marginalizes them. After destroying and rebuilding themselves, they are ready again for male’s love, but this time only on their own terms.

“Let me teach you how to love me” is the Wonder Girl’s retaliation against the unforgiving industry and culture that constantly denies and marginalizes them

The Wonder Girl’s newfound freedom becomes even more significant when given economic context. The most prominent line of “Like Money” is the repeated hook, “love me like money.” Although this phrase seems unromantic and not indicative of a healthy relationship, the Wonder Girls sing it proudly, almost shouting the catchy chorus. The word “love” is structured against reverb, causing it to lose meaning and emphasis. Instead, “money” is chosen to leave the echo, implying its greater importance. This is breaking another feminine stereotype: the idea that women prefer romantic love over other rational conventions.

Apparently, the Wonder Girls are not the only women with this new mindset. According to Kyung Moon Hwang in A History of Korea: An Episodic Narrative, after social reform in the 1990s, divorce rates skyrocketed in Korea. “[This] development [...] represented only a portion of the larger phenomenon of Korean women belatedly gaining the freedom to pursue interests, careers, and family arrangements long enjoyed by Korean men.” The electronic techniques used to distort the girls’ voices also begin to distort the lines between constructed feminine and masculine qualities. Although women began to enjoy new freedoms in Korea, Hwang notes “big business as a conspicuous exception" The social reforms were imperfect in Korea, but in the new space created by “Like Money,” a brief Utopian world can be achieved, in which women handle money and business as men do.

This type of rigid perfection is something only computer generated sound can create. With synthesizers and dubstep so far from natural human sounds, the girls can take on a role that is infinitely liberating from their physical bodies. “I’m not just a girl,” Sohee sings in the first chorus. She does not push away her identity as a woman, but acknowledges it as only one part of her whole being. This idea is extrapolated in the music video for “Like Money,” in which the girls are introduced as women with “robotic enhancements”, with the goal of “complete domination.” Instead of being considered second class citizens as women, they bypass the barriers of human society completely by becoming greater than it. It seems ridiculous that “perfect bionic women” would be created only for the purpose of dominating as pop stars, and yet, this is just indicative of how important voices in pop culture and music are to American society.

"Complete Domination"

All of the discussed techniques capitalize in the climax of “Like Money,” found in end of the bridge. The reverb placed on “love me” since the beginning of the song becomes overpowering, until it threatens to consume the whole song. A frustrated cry comes from member Yenny, expelling the plague of “love” and all its resulting complexities. This feral cry is another example of how dubstep and other electronic recording techniques can feed the animalistic nature of humans, even though they have no physical connection or form. Fed up with having to construct a word so meticulously in order to express, Yenny’s vocal sample is fierce and vicious. “Love me! Love me!” Sunye demands after she has been passed the adlib reign. She sings over her own lines of the chorus, using a multi-track recording technique. The metaphor of money is completely dropped, in favor of something more honest. However, with the word “love” holding no agreed connotation, it is impossible to discern the true meaning of her emotion. She may be pleading with the American industry to accept her, for men to stop treating her as an object or even simply for her fans to continue to provide her with mental and/or financial support.

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Despite its “ample material for analysis of the barriers women face within the industry, as well as how they could still operate within these barriers, demonstrating agency and creating material that audiences could read in unintended ways," popular girl group music is not without its critics. In his essay “Bettered By The Borrower: The Ethics of Musical Debt,” John Oswald says, “Listening to pop music isn’t a matter of choice. Asked for it or not, we’re bombarded by it. In it’s most insidious state, filtered to an incandescent bassline, it seeps through apartment walls and out of the heads of Walkpeople." In “Like Money,” the Wonder Girls make no move to challenge this misconception, reveling in its own strong bassline and indulgent hook. However, it seems Oswald’s alleged “bombardment” of pop music has still not been strong enough to open his eyes to the cultural and social possibilities of analyzing and creating it, and those of a similar mindset will forever be subjected to a missing voice in their music repertoire.