This is a series that I’ve been working on for a while called Dynamic Duos, where I highlight duos (or sometimes a group) that have produced hits in K-pop without being properly appreciated. This one highlights lyricist Kim Bu-Min and producer extraordinaire Hitchhiker,a duo that have mostly produced hits for SM artists but have helped smaller companies.
Talking about Hitchhiker involves unmasking him, which makes me remember when I once told my sister the identities of Daft Punk. Hitchhiker itself is a CGI animated “superstar” created by Choi Jin-Woo (in the likes of Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn’s virtual band Gorillaz) to experiment with mixing heavy guitar and electronic, club sound . Choi Jin-Woo has actually had a pretty lengthy career in the music industry: after debuting as a solo performer to lackluster sales in 1996 he joined the rock group Roller Coaster, changing his stage name to Jinu and learning bass instead of playing guitar. Roller Coaster itself was pretty experimental, mixing acid rock into their sound and even abandoning rock for electro-pop once. After becoming totally disillusioned with the rock sound altogether, the band split up mid-to-late 2006 and Choi began to focus more on his side gig as a club DJ. Between 2006 and 2009 he and Kim Bu-Min got married and were signed as a producer-lyricist duo under SM Entertainment after the success Hitchhiker had producing a little song you might have heard of called, oh I don’t know, Abracadabra. They then worked from the late 2000s to the mid 2010s with SM upcoming second-generation group f(x) as well as seasoned veterans TVXQ, SHINee (because they were big from the moment they came out), and BoA.
Though Hitchhiker has worked on songs without his wife I’ll only be talking about songs they made strictly as a duo. As always, I’ll be focusing on the best song per artist and only five songs per list.
5. f(x)- “Sweet Witches”
Both this song and the other song the duo made “Ice Cream” are both insanely cutesy songs with very repetitive choruses. But whereas “Ice Cream” sounds like a CF song or s song made for a children’s show, “Sweet Witches” has a quality to it that makes it addictive to listen to it. The lyrics, about a magical remedy that will grant eternal love and happiness, match well with the high voices of the members and gives the song a J-pop quality. It sounds like a song that could play in a magical girl anime (or the first half of Madoka before the, you know, magical girl stuff gets too real).
4. SHINee- Hitchhiking
Here the listener can already hear Hitchhiker creating his future sound as a solo artist. Bu-Min’s lyrics are fantastic and cohesive with the song, talking about being with a person so fantastic they give your life purpose and make them feel like they’re in a different world. Maybe as a shout out to her husband, SHINee want to enter another dimension and create a new world like Hitchhiker wants to create a new sound for himself. Her lyrics complement Hitchhiker’s instrumental with the chorus bringing the listener back to SHINee’s “Sherlock” while also experimenting with a more futuristic and electronic sound.
3. TVXQ- Lucky Star
This song is slower and less energetic than the other songs but it still deserves to be on here. The only two prominent instruments in this song are an electric guitar and a piano, which lets the listener focus on U-know and Yunho’s gentle yet powerful voices. The piano is solely used on the verses to give the melancholic lyrics about being aimless in the world and no one caring. When they begin to notice that someone who loves them was always in their corner rooting for them, the guitar comes in and makes the song more uplifting. If anything this song is about Bu-Min and Hitchhiker’s relationship because Hitchhiker has said that he’s wanted to quit music multiple times but Bu-Min encouraged him and that she saw potential in him that he didn’t see in himself.
2. Girls Generation- Sign
This song fits more into their spy-esque, “Hoot” concept. Hitchhiker synths-up the whammy bar of his bass and adds a basic techno beat with hints of brass to sound like a retro spy exploitation movie. The girls sound like fembots singing about trying to look for a sign of mutual affection with slightly autotuned and echoed voices. The chorus is even more haunting, with them singing a single harmony in a monotone voice that makes them sound even more like they’re programmed robots who were built to destroy a spy with their feminine ways but ended up falling for him. Bu-Min and Hitchhiker successful recreate a retro sound but add a modern twist to it.
Bonus because I like the choreography and it further proves my concept idea. Listen to that harmony. Terrifying.
I can’t believe Hitchhiker invented Infinite. This, this, right here is quintessential Hitchhiker. It shows off his roots in guitar by adding a simple surf rock riff with an electronic sound and Big Band style brass. Whereas other producers would split this up into sections and make this sound like a jumbled mess of three different songs, Hitchhiker combines them seamlessly (if you really want to hear where the magic happens, listen to 1:26-2:13). And Kim Bu-Min does a great job making them sound so desperate. Infinite started off desperate. The lyrics are peak bad-boy break up, with the members not being able to move on after a breakup but are too macho to actually say it. Trying to sound touch with “come back” being said behind them just shows how desperate they are. Not only did the duo create Infinite’s debut song, but they started them off on a hit. And that is the power of a Dynamic Duo.
Here is an interview where Hitchhiker talks about his career until now:
http://www.strange-seasons.com/2014/09/translation-interview-with-hitchhiker.html
Here is Hitchhiker’s latest banger, “Around”, featuring Taeyong from NCT Whichever One SM Wants Him In:
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