2025 is a very strange year. Some months seem to drag on forever and the others just disappear quicker than you can say K-POP. The winter months, January and February, felt incredibly elongated to me, but the closer to calendar spring, the faster the time moves. In January, a London based independent artist Chaidura released “Memory”, his last track from the well received Temple Paradise EP and he announced that his next musical project will be completely different. I thought we would be forced to wait a long time to hear it, but in a blink of an eye, just like that it’s early April and Chai is back. The newest song is called “VIP LDP” which stands for VIP Let Down Package and seriously, if you thought Chaidura cannot surprise you anymore, he is proving you dead wrong. VIP LDP is on the extremely opposite end of the musical scale from “Temple Paradise” and frankly, I can’t get enough of the new version of Chai.
“VIP LDP” cover
It’s really strange to write about the older and newer incarnation of artists. Many years ago, Kylie Minogue jokingly compared herself to a bar of a soap, when the press dubbed her updated scenic image “a new, better Kylie”. Musicians are known for reinventing themselves every couple of years. Madonna for example, is a true master of rebirths and new versions, she literally named each of her alter egos from different albums and was known for staying in character for the entire duration of her months long tours. She was Dita on “Erotica”, Marilyn on “Material Girl”, Louise Oriole in “Bad Girl” (absolutely fantastic video directed by David Fincher), Madame X, Veronica, Evita for the musical. Reinventions are essential to survive in the creative industries, where trends and fads are changing as quickly as the weather.
Chaidura doesn’t have Madonna’s budget nor her staff to assist him with the changes, but he is doing amazingly well on his own. You can barely recognize the yokai like spirit from Temple Paradise in the K-POP idol that emerges on VIP LDP. The new image accompanies a brand new sound too. Musically, the “old” Chaidura balanced somewhere on the line between metal, grind-core, alternative rock and visual kei, the new one is Asian pop, RnB, rap and soul influenced.
“VIP LDP” stands at just 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I’m used to hearing music that melts multiple genres and sounds, but even I was surprised how different the new song sounds compared to his previous singles. Forget about heavy drumming, crazy guitars or thundering bass. “VIP LDP” will take you into the realm of highly produced Korean-like pop with clean vocals, EDM passages, rhythmic beats and robotic/electronic voice effects. The shortness of the track seems to be absolutely intentional. Chaidura squeezed as much K-POPness into the composition as is humanly possible. The listeners can find every genre defying characteristic here: strong electronic beat with repetitive melodies, hooks and loops, middle tempo in the verses and fast tempo in the choruses, harmonized vocalizations and auto-tune effects, mostly hidden in the backgrounds. At the two minutes mark, the beat speeds up considerably and the EDM elements overtake the hip-hop/new jack swing foundation of the song. The track is infectious, upbeat and melodic, ready to be played over and over again.
Chaidura photographed by Jazzy Parr
There is no official video to “VIP LDP” just yet but Chaidura released several dance routines that are also very typical for the modern K-POP: slow, “pointy” movements, repeated to create the illusion of flowing and perfectly matched to the lyrics. He is dressed in loose, baggy and vibrant, colourful street clothing popularized by the American hip hop artists such as TLC or Missy Elliott. The lyrics however are very atypical for the genre: the song is quite sarcastic, mocking in tone and cheeky at times. It is composed of repeated, loaded and semi rhetorical questions (“is your brain on vacation”, “did you have a mild concussion”, “where is your medication?”).
At times, “VIP LDP” sounds like a K-POP satire. I’m not sure if that is what Chaidura wanted to do, but it’s brilliantly planned, composed and executed. The VIP Let Down Package is not letting anybody down. Chaidura is at his best and I can’t wait to hear what’s next. Maybe the next song will be styled as a Klingon opera? Who knows. Stick around to find out!
Follow Chaidura online:
https://chaidura.myshopify.com/
https://www.facebook.com/chaiduraofficial
https://www.instagram.com/chaidura _
https://www.tiktok.com/@chaidura
https://soundcloud.com/chaidura
https://www.youtube.com/@chaidura
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5G44MxEPEbE3JMDz1azv9N
https://discord.com/invite/xEAftePfdY
“VIP LDP” is out now independently.
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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