K-pop girl group Ive sample a well known disco classic for “After Like”

K-pop girl group Ive have been getting a whole lot of attention as a result of their song “After Like” sampling Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic and gay anthem “I Will Survive”. A song that a whole bunch of K-pop fans could not identify between them when the teaser for the song hit Twitter.

I’m not gonna be (too much of) a bitch. I have to remember that not everybody is exposed to as wide a range of music across generations as some of the rest of us. And we know that younger K-pop fans have a very snow globe view of music, and react horribly to any criticism or takes on K-pop stealing pulling from other genre’s and artists.

These K-pop streets stay treacherous as all hell.

HENNYWAY.

SO. This song from Ive.

The “After Like” teaser caught my attention in a big way, because it was such a jolt from everything I knew of K-pop up until that point. I cannot recall a K-pop song which has used a sample of such a well known song so prominently before. So it made me curious to check out the full thing.

There have been many discussions lately around sampling following the release of Beyoncé’s album Renaissance, which samples and interpolates a whole bunch of songs. Some are calling it lazy. Some are completely disrespecting and rubbishing the art form of sampling. But I actually think this song from Ive is a better showcase of what I feel is lazy sampling. Or if we want to be really specific, re-using elements of a song. Because it sounds to me like the popular riff from “I Will Survive” was recreated and not sampled.

The use of “I Will Survive” is the only memorable part of the song, and is the only thing that really carries it. A re-used element or a sample carrying a song is no bad thing. Kanye’s West’s “Through the Wire” is a great example of a great song where the sample helps carry it. But Kanye isn’t just letting the sample do all of the work; he also brings a lot to the song. With “After Like”, Ive aren’t bringing much to the table. You could say ‘Well, this is K-pop’. But then I think of a song like BoA’s “Better”, which prominently samples another song AND re-uses elements from it, yet manages to build so much on top of these things to deliver a song that feels new and isn't reliant on either of these things. If you take “I Will Survive” out of “After Like”, you’re not really left with anything of note. So little of the melody or elements of “I Will Survive” are woven throughout the song. The sample is just thrown in. The hook of the song isn’t even sung over it, which is wild to me.

Still. “After Like” is a better song than Blackpink’s “Pink Venom” and Girls’ Generation’s “Forever 1”. And I wouldn’t have been miffed at all if either group had made a comeback with this song. But Teddy Park could never. That man does not have the range. And SM Entertainment’s A&R’s most certainly woulda had the song finessed.

But given that Ive are still a new group, utilising the most famous part of a popular song was a good way of getting people talking and roping the likes of me into even checking out the song. And it will also have the song reach ears beyond K-pop fans. So regardless of how I feel about the song, Ive’s team definitely made the right call.