Why exactly does "Feather" sound like a K-pop song?

The inspiration from this article starts from a comment that I saw under a video where Feather was being used. The commenter was stating that the Sabrina Carpenter song somewhat reminded me of a K-pop song.

I could not agree more with that comment: when I first heard that song, I tought it was an English song of a K-pop artist.

Since Sabrina Carpenter herself likes K-pop, it should be no surprise that she got influenced by the genre but, obviously, I ended up overthinking it: we know what we mean when we say that a song is K-pop, but it can be tough to tell exactly why a song is K-pop, aside from being in Korean.

However, if you think about it, if Feather resembles a K-pop song so much, then it must be no coincidence that Sabrina Carpenter's fame skyrocketed in the decade where K-pop has also known mainstream international fame.

There's more to this: when I listened to some other songs by Sabrina Carpenter, I was also able to see more resemblances to other K-pop songs and artists.

Let's see which similarities they share more in detail, starting from Feather, specifically from the very beginning of the song:

The song starts with a combination of a piano, which plays the higher notes of the instrumental, and a synthethizer, which plays the lower notes.

Such a combination of electronic and classical instruments is not new in K-pop songs. Here are some examples which reminded me of this beginning. The first is Impurities by Le Ssserafim, which starts with an electronic higher melody and a lower melody played with a piano.

The effect, however, is alluring and mysterious, while the intro of Feather sounds more bright and refreshing:

The intro of the song Cherish by Ive contains the exact same type of synth, combined with a rap part:

The intro of Feather also contains some backing vocals by Carpenter which define the rythm of the song, which appears similar to the rythm of the intro of As You Wish by the K-pop girl group WJSN, defined by a higher electronic melody instead:

There is also no shortage of K-pop songs starting off with background vocals or sung parts. Here are some examples that, however, do not share many other resemblances to Feather:

The last element that I want to focus on before moving on to the vocals is the piano melody, which contributes to the bright tone of the song:

Such a melody reminded me specifically of the beginning of the song Sweet Juice by Purple Kiss, which contains a similar piano melody, which gives the song a magical and whimsical vibe:

Adding a high-toned melody to the intro is also quite common in K-pop in general, since it's a clever way to set up the vibe of the song and make it more whimsical, cute or bright according to the desiderd effect.

For example, in the songs Stereotype by StayC and Pporappippam by Sunmi such tune is played by a flute:

In 4 Walls by f(x), it is played by a synth which is overlayed with a slower low tune which resembles a bell:

Now, let's move on to the vocals of Carpenter. The song starts with some low, almost sung-rapped verses sung with a husky voice that has instantly reminded me of Hwasa, the lead vocalist and maknae of girl group Mamamoo.

Below you can hear a comparison between the beginning of Feather and the first verses Hwasa's solo song Maria:

For most of the chorus, instead, Carpenter switches to falsetto notes, which is also something that often recurs in K-pop songs, given how important high notes are.

The chorus of Feather specifically reminded me of Something by Girl's Day, not because of any similarities in the rythm, concept or sound, but solely because of the heavy usage of falsetto and the upper register:

Ironically, the beginning of the chorus of Maria by Hwasa is also sung using falsetto:

While using falsetto in choruses is nothing uncommon in K-pop, it is not an unique element to this genre. Many mainstream pop songs have choruses sung in falsetto, one of the most iconic being Toxic by Britney Spears:

Carpenter is also a fan of Taylor Swift, who has acquired the habit of thinning her higher notes using falsetto or a heady belting technique, which can be mostly noticed from the Reputation era onwards. One of the songs where this characteristic is most prominent is also one of her most famous songs, namely Cruel Summer:

In the chorus of Feather, we can also notice a complex vocal run:

K-pop is widely known to be heavily reliant on vocal prowess of this sort to create a "wow" factor, as we already mentioned. Not only: high notes are also used to create a refreshing, bright and sometimes cute tone to the songs.

An example is this vocal run from the song Satellite by Loona:

When they were active, Loona often used vocal runs and falsetto to enhance the whimsical atmosphere of their songs. Another example is this complex part in the song Universe:

While all these songs share some small similarities, I also have a specific K-pop song in mind that I find very similar to Feather overall. And this song is Cupid by Fifty Fifty:

While listening to Carpenter's most recent album Short'n Sweet, I also came across other parts that reminded me of other K-pop songs and artists. One example is this spoken-rapped part in Bed Chem, where her voice reminds me of the rap parts of Gowon, a former member of Loona and currently a member of Loossemble:

Here are some of Gowon's rap parts for comparison:

While I like Sabrina Carpenter's songs and personality, and I think she's a talented and hard-working artist, I think that timing played a crucial role in her rise to fame. Indeed, her growth in popularity started off with Feather and her appearances in The Eras Tour in 2023, and with the mainstream popularity of K-pop still in full force.

K-pop is certainly not the only element that made her fame skyrocket this way (let's not forget her important branding work, her talent and hard work), however I do think that, in these years, she also found a mainstream public that was finally ready to understand and appreciate her artistry, and welcome her among pop legends.

Do you listen to Sabrina Carpenter? Do you like her music? Do you also think that her songs have some K-pop elements? Tell me in the comments below!