Norazo has gone through some changes since the last time we featured them, but the central concept has remained the same: producing wacky, irreverent music couched in some truly addictive beats.
Sprite-like beverages are known as cider (sa-ee-da) in Korea, and somewhere along the line, the word has come to mean something very specific in the domestic Internet community. Basically, to say that something is cider means that a situation was cleared up in a refreshingly satisfactory way. The word is especially prevalently used to describe well-deserved justice, or someone getting comeuppance or karma for their wrongdoings.
A hypothetical: if a person was eating something smelly on the subway, and someone told them off, that would be a classic example of a cider. Or, in a K-drama, when the protagonist immediately clears up a misunderstanding instead of dragging it on for eight episodes, that would also be a cider.
An opposite equivalent also exists in Korean internet-speak: the sweet potato (goguma). A goguma is when someone beats around the bush, or a situation doesn’t resolve itself cleanly, or an unsatisfactory conclusion is reached. (The entire Scott’s Tots episode of The Office is a perfect example of a goguma.)
Cider is Norazo’s first comeback after their 2017 member change. Lee Hyuk departed the group and was replaced by Wonheum, who had been active as a singer and actor in China for several years before accepting the offer to join Norazo.
As always, any musings on Norazo would be incomplete without a glance at one of their live performances. One has to wonder if the background dancers had any trouble muffling their laughter: