(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOLDEN")
EJAE, AUDREY NUNA AND REI AMI: (Singing as Huntr/x) I was a ghost. I was alone. (Singing in non-English language).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
That's a track from the K-pop group Huntr/x. But you know, Huntr/x doesn't really exist. It is a fictional band from the new movie "KPop Demon Hunters," which didn't stop the songs from appearing all over the Billboard charts. And that got us beginning to reflect about other bands from movies who have great songs. Stephen Thompson from NPR Music joins us. Stephen, thanks so much for being with us.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: Stephen, how good is Huntr/x? I mean, are they anywhere near to BTS?
THOMPSON: I mean, I think it's an unfair comparison to compare a fictional band to a real-life band, especially when, as in this case, the fictional band is entirely animated. But I think that what "KPop Demon Hunters" gets right - and, you know, "KPop Demon Hunters" contains two bands; there's Huntr/x, the good guys, and Saja Boys, the bad guys - is that both of those artists are performing K-pop songs that are extraordinarily well-crafted.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUR IDOL")
ANDREW CHOI, ET AL: (Singing as Saja Boys) Keeping you in check. Keeping you obsessed. Play me on repeat endlessly in your head.
THOMPSON: They're extremely well-written. They are performed by professional K-pop singers. And so you really get a sense watching it that the people who made this movie love and understand K-pop and are really, really working to get it right. And I think that's one of the big secrets. If you're going to have a fictional band, you'd better make it as good as a real band.
SIMON: Look, I've got to ask, 'cause I'm of a certain generation - (Singing) hey, hey, we're the Monkees. I mean...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...They were a fictional band, and they would live to have reunions - or like the group from "A Mighty Wind" or "This Is Spinal Tap."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TONIGHT I'M GONNA ROCK YOU TONIGHT")
DUMMY REF HARRY SHEARER, MICHAEL MCKEAN AND CHRISTOPHER GUEST == SHEARER, MCKEAN AND GUEST == MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing as Spinal Tap) Little girl, it's a great big world, but there's only one of me.
THOMPSON: Well, I think, in all of those cases, though, yes, you have actors, you know, kind of performing as, you know, quote-unquote, "fake bands," but those actors know how to perform. They are performing the vocals. In many cases, they're playing their own instruments. They ended up kind of putting together, in effect, real bands, even though those bands are in the pursuit of fiction.
SIMON: Which songs - fictional band songs - really miss for you?
THOMPSON: I think when it doesn't work, it's often because the movie in question is kind of telling instead of showing. You know, you get a lot of these cases where a singer shows up and everybody's like, wow, I'm very excited about the concert, but then the song just kind of sits there. There have been several movies in recent years that are kind of built around fictional artists. "The Idea Of You" is a film that has kind of a fictionalized version of Harry Styles.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GUARD DOWN")
NICHOLAS GALITZINE, ET AL: (Singing as August Moon) Had me up inside a temple. I could not choose.
THOMPSON: But those songs just don't transcend. They don't feel like they're what is inspiring the story the way that they do in films where it works. There's a movie recently called "Opus," where John Malkovich plays a reclusive pop star who comes back after decades, and people are just talking and talking and talking about how brilliant his music is and how they just can't believe how brilliant this new song is. But then you hear it and it just sounds cheesy and dated, and you're just sit - even though the song is, like, co-written by Nile Rodgers, it's not like they didn't try. The song just lands with a plop.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DINA, SIMONE (OPUS)")
JOHN MALKOVICH: (Singing as Moretti) Hold me, baby. Hold me tight. Kiss me, girl. It's Saturday night.
THOMPSON: I think that's where you get into trouble. Especially when the movie - one thing that I really look for in movies like this is if everybody is talking about how great the music is and the music is actually great, that really feels like, wow, you not only checked a box. You leveled up. And that happens, I think, sometimes in surprising cases. It certainly happens in Spinal Tap. It happens in "KPop Demon Hunters." It even happens in the movie "Eurovision Song Contest," where they have Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams...
SIMON: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...As a fake Icelandic duo performing in the...
SIMON: I love that song.
THOMPSON: And their song - the song that was nominated for an Oscar, it has to be tremendous. It is like the culminating scene in the movie. It's called "Husavik." And the song that they wrote for it actually does what the movie says it's doing, and it completely soars.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUSAVIK")
MOLLY SANDEN AND WILL FERRELL: (Singing as Sigrit Ericksdottir and Lars Erickssong) Where the mountains sing through the screams of seagulls. Where the whales can live 'cause they're gentle people. In my hometown. In my hometown.
THOMPSON: If that song had not hit as hard as it did, the whole movie would have fallen apart. And so that's the kind of craft and care that I'm looking for.
SIMON: Any kind of music you wish would attempt this more?
THOMPSON: I don't necessarily find myself thinking like, oh, they need to - I want to see this more with jazz or I want to see this more with heavy metal or hip-hop or whatever. What I really want is songs where the craft of songwriting and the craft of scriptwriting come together. I like it when the fictional songs are crafted with kind of the same care that goes into the storytelling and that are kind of woven into the movie like pieces of exposition or plot development. And I think "KPop Demon Hunters" really works that way. I think "Turning Red" - the Pixar movie that also has fake K-pop songs - those songs are tremendous. I really like it when the songs are adding something to the movie and not just giving you a break from the movie.
SIMON: Stephen Thompson from NPR Music. Stephen, thanks so much. And hey, hey, we're the Monkees (laughter). Sorry.
THOMPSON: Indeed. Thank you, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M A BELIEVER")
THE MONKEES: (Singing as The Monkees) I thought love was only true in fairy tales. Meant for someone else, but not for me. Love was out to get me. That's the way it seemed. Disappointment haunted all my... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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