Month: January 2017

[Review] Love Affair – Niel (Teen Top)

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Niel from Teen Top has returned with his first comeback and second solo mini album, which is also titled as Love Affair… It has been a while since I last heard from Teen Top. Though, they have been in the news lately, as their contract with their current company is to be renewed this year. From what I could tell, it seems a renewal is most likely and a March comeback is also on the books.

Once again, I am not really falling into Niel’s solo title track as I want to. His solo debut was good, but it didn’t really leave much of an impression on me after a while. It’s not because I dislike the artist, but rather, his solos don’t captivate me, as other artists do. This time around, Niel has gone for an acoustic prominent song, which the guitar being the primary instrument in the song. You can also hear hints of synths throughout the song. As the song progresses, it starts to become faster and more upbeat, but still keeping that mellow sound as heard in the slower parts of the song. His vocals seem more polished and emotional to me, in this song. That is one of the strong points in this song. While he does draw out some notes in the song, it doesn’t really sound that way. The song doesn’t sound like extra seconds are added to it because of the drawn out notes. The rapper, Giant Pink, whom I have never heard of before, does a really splendid job in the song. The rap segment flowed very nicely and complimented both the song and Niel as well.

The video can be split into two segments. The first is all the choreography scenes. The second are the interactions with the female lead. His acting in this video is pretty good. Watching the video, you can feel the emotions. You can tell how desperate he is to be with the girl, especially at the end. You could also feel the emotions in the choreography. I will touch on them later on. But they really compliment the emotions in the acting. The sets for the choreography is wonderful, especially the one with all the mirrors. That looked amazing. I don’t understand why they had to slo-mo some of the dance moves (such as the crotch rubbing one). Maybe to appeal to a particular fan base, but I thought it looked really stupid, given the emotions that I keep on mentioning in this part of the review.

His dancing is really impressive and it definitely left an impression on me. As I mentioned above, emotions could be felt in this dance when it is paired with the music video. On stage, it looks really cool and majestic. I personally don’t think the backup dancers add much to the performance, besides something else to look at. But my eyes are already preoccupied with following Niel across the stage. Hahaha…

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 7.5/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 6.5/10

2016 End Of Year Charts

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Better late than never, I guess. Welcome to the End Of Year Charts for the year of 2016. This took a little longer to do than what I had anticipated. I do this annually to rank the songs released in the year and see which songs top the year.

As usual, I utilised the original review score, but also re-reviewed the song, videos and performance (where applicable). An increment was given to songs released in the last four months of the year. However, this year’s way of ranking is a little different to previous years. This is because this year I took time out to try to record the number of times I listened to the song (as accurately as I can). Also included is the weekly charts that I did since May (while they weren’t launched until July 2016).

The final addition to this year’s chart (i.e. the weekly charts) also meant that the songs released after May would have been ranked higher than songs released prior to May. One of the few things I observed with the charts. I have also coloured and bolded the songs that I put forward in the KPOPreviewed awards (Part 1 here and Part 2 here) as Best Song of the years to see how they ranked on the charts.

Here are some other facts/rules for the songs to be on the charts:

  • 215 songs were included in the chart (but only the top 100 is published this year).
  • The first song to be included in this year’s chart is iKON’s Dumb and Dumber. The last song eligible to be on the charts is EXO’s For Life.
  • To appear on the charts, the song must have been replayed for over 10 times. Some songs were removed as they failed to make that requirement.
  • EXO had the most songs (6 songs) on the charts this year (Lotto, Lucky One, Monster, Hey Mama, For Life and Dancing King (ft. Yoo Jae Suk)). Mamamoo, Seventeen, BTS, Oh My Girl and VIXX followed behind with 3 songs on the charts each.

So without further ado, I present to you the final chart of 2016.

No. Title Artist
1 Very Nice Seventeen
2 Decalcomanie Mamamoo
3 TT Twice
4 Hard Carry GOT7
5 The Rain Ladies Code
6 Blood, Sweat & Tears BTS
7 Very Very Very I.O.I
8 The Closer VIXX
9 Hey Mama EXO-CBX
10 Sky Dive B.A.P
11 Pretty U Seventeen
12 Secret Cosmic Girls
13 Russian Roulette Red Velvet
14 The Eye Infinite
15 Windy Day Oh My Girl
16 Find Me Hyosung (Secret)
17 I’ll Be Your Man BTOB
18 Confession Astro
19 Playing With Fire BLACKPINK
20 Fantasy VIXX
21 Fighter Monsta X
22 Tell Me What To Do SHINee
23 You’re The Best Mamamoo
24 I Like That Sistar
25 Last Dance Big Bang
26 Why So Lonely Wonder Girls
27 Ti Amo T-Ara
28 Beside Me Davichi
29 Navierilla GFriend
30 Toy Block B
31 Chewing Gum NCT Dream
32 Carnival Gain (Brown Eyed Girls)
33 For Life EXO
34 Boom Boom Seventeen
35 Rough Gfriend
36 Dynamite VIXX
37 Fri.Sat.Sun Dal Shabet
38 Secret Time Spica
39 L.I.E EXID
40 White Night UP10TION
41 Fire BTS
42 FxxK It Big Bang
43 Listen To My Word (Aing~) Oh My Girl
44 Don’t Believe Berry Good
45 Paradise Hyorin (Sistar)
46 Fly GOT7
47 Give It To Me Seven
48 Stuck Monsta X
49 Save Me BTS
50 Oh NaNa K.A.R.D
51 Feel So Good B.A.P
52 Destiny Lovelyz
53 Lollipop IMFACT
54 Can’t Help Myself Eric Nam
55 Stalker UKISS
56 One More Day Sistar
57 Hit Me MOBB ft. Kush
58 Lucky One EXO
59 Doo Doom Chit Crayon Pop
60 Queen History
61 On The Way Home Sunny Hill
62 Shooting Love Laboum
63 Bobby Doll Song Ji Eun (Secret)
64 Love Is Davichi
65 Ribbon Beast
66 How People Move AKMU
67 Whatta Man I.O.I
68 Monster EXO
69 1 of 1 SHINee
70 Free Somebody Luna (f(x))
71 Take Me Now FT Island
72 It’s Raining Snuper
73 Lotto EXO
74 Journey to Atlantis Laboum
75 Angel Berry Good
76 Knock KNK
77 Nodding Woohyun (Infinite)
78 Liar Liar Oh My Girl
79 U KNK
80 Aphrodite B.I.G
81 Letting Go Day6
82 Home Run GOT7
83 I’m Fine VICTION
84 Here I Am Yesung (Super Junior)
85 Borders Amber (f(x))
86 Lip 2 Lip Nine Muses A
87 Only One APINK
88 Bingo 24K
89 Dancing King EXO x Yoo Jae Suk
90 Body Mino (Winner)
91 Cheer Up Twice
92 Heartbreak Hotel Tiffany (SNSD) ft. Simon D
93 Better Day 100%
94 She Vromance
95 Gorilla Pentagon
96 11:11 Taeyeon (SNSD)
97 Dream Suzy (Miss A) & Baekhyun (EXO)
98 Good Luck AOA
99 New York Mamamoo
100 Somebody Like U Dal Shabet

[Review] Don’t Say No – Seohyun (SNSD)

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After much anticipation and requests, Seohyun from SNSD or Girl’s Generation has finally made her solo debut. She joins Tiffany, Taeyeon, Yoona and Hyoyeon, who each have made their solo debut in the past. She makes her debut with a mini album, which also shares the same title as the title track, Don’t Say No. And her solo debut has proven to be a success with her song topping charts and winning awards!

I was expecting a ballad from Seohyun, not a dance song. So this song caught me off guard. But it is an amazing song to listen to. As soon as you hear the song, you notice her vocals. They sound spectacular and really suit the song. Her adlibs, at the end, really pack a punch. The instrumental is your typical pop, but with a nice touch of retro to it. This may sound like I am looking down on the song, but I would also describe as the sound as snappy and almost sassy. I mean all of that in a good way. There might be a better way to put it, but that is what I got from the song and lyrics. The chorus did an amazing job at giving the song a lift. The bridge changed the song up, giving it an edgier vibe, but still keeping to the sound of the song.Saying all of that, the verses felt a little empty and needed more of a punch to make it perfect. But even though I have written that the song still sounds amazing. That punch in the chorus and at the end does make up for it (but the differences between the parts were apparent).

The music video is okay. SM is going back to their box days with this comeback, not something I was expecting since SM have been bringing out a few good videos in the past year. While the box set wasn’t as apparent (they used an open plan for this video), it did still feel restricting. In the video, Seohyun is cooking up a storm for her partner. Just she is serving chains and bolts, not spaghetti and mushrooms. She ends up killing him (I can see why. I don’t think that meal was edible. My guess for the cause of death was lead poisoning – a lot of it). We then see his body in a coffin, by a fridge, in a graveyard. I guess she stored the body for disposal later on? Talking about the graveyard, Seohyun managed to pull off one of the wackiest outfits I have seen in KPOP in a long time (talking about her massive, floppy hat). While I debate the point of a floppy hat, I think the use of it was intentional, to give her that dark and mysterious look, telling you what she is capable of.

Thank God her clothing on the stage is tamer and less wild. Imagine dancing in that hat! She did an amazing job with the choreography. While it doesn’t technically wow you, I always felt that she was overshadowed when she performed with SNSD. It shows her off and gives you a look into her style and moves.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

[Weekly Chart] 4th Week of January 2017

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Welcome to the fourth and final week of January 2017. Lunar New Year just went passed and I would like to wish you all the best in the year of the Rooster. May the year be full of luck, wealth and happiness!

So much green in this week’s chart. That is quite surprising because I am used to seeing so much red usually. As expected, Suzy’s solo debut, Rain’s comeback made it onto the charts. They join 2NE1’s final song and Luna, Solar and Hani’s collaboration. Pentagon’s newest song, Pretty Pretty, landed on the 31st spot and (according to my prediction) will rise next week.

Hopefully, next week we will see IMFACT, MelodyDay, Red Velvet and Zion.T on the charts. As usual, songs released on Friday (and on some weeks, Thursday) will be included in the following week’s chart. An example of this is Melody Day’s latest release (on Friday 27th of Jan). As it was released on a Friday, it would be included in the following week’s charts (between the dates of 29th of Jan to 4th of Feb).

A reminder of the what the colours in the status column mean.
Green (↑)  – Song has gone up in ranking

Red (↓) – Song has gone down in ranking

Blue (=) – Song has remained in the same position as the previous week

Orange  (new) – Song debuts on the chart

Grey (Final Week) – Song appears on the chart for its final week.

22nd Jan – 28th Jan 2017
Title Artist Status
1 Hobglobin CLC (↑ 17)
2 Chase Me Dream Catcher (↑ 1)
3 Excuse Me AOA  (↑ 6)
4 I Wish WJSN (Cosmic Girls) (↑ 1)
5 Honey Bee  Luna (F(x)) & Solar (Mamamoo) & Hani (EXID) (new)
6 Bing Bing AOA (↑ 2)
7 Don’t Say No Seohyun (SNSD) (↑ 6)
8 I Think I Love U Sonamoo (↑ 9)
9 Highlight Seventeen (↑ 11)
10 I’m Fine Vromance (↑ 14)
11 Mysterious Hello Venus (↓ 10)
12 Touch Shinhwa (↑ 14)
13 Oh Na Na K.A.R.D (↑ 1)
14 Yes No Maybe Suzy (Miss A)  (new)
15 I Wait DAY6 (↓ 11)
16 Goodbye 2NE1 (new)
17 April Story April (↓ 15)
18 Paradise S.E.S (↓ 8)
19 Boom Boom Seventeen (↓ 12)
20 Limitless NCT127 (↓ 9)
21 Pretend Suzy (Miss A) (new)
22 Love Affair Niel (Teen Top) (↑ 7)
23 A Lie B1A4 (↑ 2) 
24 Fxxk It Big Bang (↓ 3)
25 Downpour I.O.I (↓ 19)
26 Last Goodbye AKMU (↑ 1)
27 For Life EXO (↓ 5)
28 Remember S.E.S (↓ 9)
29 The Best Present Rain (new)
30 Last Dance Big Bang (↑ 1)

And that is all for this week! I hope you all enjoy the next week and succeed in whatever you will be doing! There will be new reviews out this week. Thanks a lot and check back next week.

 

[Review] Hobglobin – CLC

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With the help of Hyuna (former member of 4Minute), CLC has returned with an 180-degree change in concepts. The bright and bubbly girls are gone. Instead, the girls have gone down the hip-hop route, with a tougher and bolder image. And with the change in concept, the girls have been receiving a lot of attention for it. The last time the girls were reviewed on the site was with their track, Oh No No.

The song is really good, there is no doubt about it. I could never have imagined CLC doing a song with heavy hip-hop roots. But who knows, it may have been the change the group is looking for. The song itself also delves into EDM for its instrumental. Everything sounds great, ranging from the vocals to the rapping, which proves the move to an edgier sound worthwhile. I honestly cannot wait to see what else the girls have up their sleeves. But the more I listen to it, the more I can hear the similarities between this song and 4Minute’s Crazy. From the structure to the delivery of the song, the similarities are quite prominent. And I think this is intentional but at the same time, I feel uneasy with this idea. With 4Minute (the company’s most profitable girl group) now gone, the company has pushed CLC to where 4Minute once stood. Essentially, they tried to keep CLC’s fans happy with a comeback but also appeal to the taste of 4Minute fans who wanted more. The tactic is (so far) working, with the extra attention on the girls, but we don’t know how far into the future will this continue to work. I just hope that, in the future, the company can let the girls can bring their own colour and twist to their songs, rather than market the girls as 4 Minute 2.0. While it is too early to tell, the next release will allow us to draw a conclusion.

The 4Minute influence is very strong in the video. Even some of the members are dressed like you would expect Hyuna to, in a more edgier video. It isn’t necessarily bad but like what I said above, ‘hopefully they don’t market the girls as 4Minute 2.0’. The 360 camera shot looked really cool. While 4Minute’s Crazy did utilise a 360 camera, I liked how the girls also turned around with the camera. I liked the sets that were filmed for the first part of the video (the black staircase, the abandoned garage room, the purple background room) more than the house set with pink lights. The lighting for the latter was really horrible and the set just didn’t have the right appeal to match the concept and the song. Overall, I like bits of the video, while other bits I did not enjoy.

The choreography is really bold and tough, which is really fitting for the song. It is so weird to see the difference between this choreography and a past routine, such as Like. I think the dance is really cool. The chorus was amazing. Seunghee and Sorn’s dance segment during the first verse looked amazing, even without the 360 cameras.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7/10

 

[Review] The Best Present – Rain

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Rain has returned to the music scene after 3  years. The last time he was on the stage he released 30 Sexy and La Song in 2014. Since then, Rain has been busy with a world tour, setting up his own company and getting married to Kim Tae Hee. This track marks his return to the industry with promises of more music promotions in the future. The track, The Best Present, was produced by Psy.

I wasn’t much of a fan of his previously two releases, so I fussed about the hype that much. But I didn’t anticipate the release of such a great track. The track is literally smooth. His husky vocals just slide along with the song. The song can be described as a slow, rnb dance track, suiting his message in the song. It’s either thanking his fans for their support or he is singing how his new wife is “The Best Present” in the world. The instrumental isn’t that memorable, but like I said before, it is very smooth. The song just lacked one thing. It needed a peak. It’s not monotone but it felt too consistent. The song tries to reach the peak with the dance instrumental break but falls short of its goal. Maybe the instrumental should have had a few extra instruments to give it that extra push, but what we have presently is good enough. To be honest, I am more impressed with his vocals and the smoothness that I heard (sorry for repetition of the one word), so I am not exactly too bothered with the lack of a peak.

There are two things that make this video: simplicity and choreography. So I will be joining the performance review with the video review. I do like simple videos from time to time. This one does it well. While there isn’t anything in the video besides a white and black background, the way the background was used was pretty smart. Different coloured filters and lighting were used to change the colour. However, the background can only captivate you so much, especially by the second time you play the video, so that is where the dance comes into play. Now the dance aspect of the video. It isn’t boring to watch. Rain’s dance has been iconic from day 1 and while this one isn’t necessarily memorable as his past routines, it is still pretty amazing. His movements are fluid and smooth, which suits the track. When I watched this video, I couldn’t help but hold my breath, especially at the dance break. It truly did look amazing.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

 

 

[Review] Oh Na Na – K.A.R.D ft. Heo Youngji

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Yes, another release from 2016 that I will be reviewing in 2017. And it is going to be the final one so far. K.A.R.D is a co-ed group under DSP Media that consist of J.Seph, BM, Somin (former member of April) and Jiwoo. This song and the few others that will follow will feature a hidden artist. For Oh Na Na, the Hidden member is Youngji, a former member of Kara. The group uses playing cards as a way to represent themselves, an interesting concept.

The track is a modern mix between the EDM we hear constantly in music, with the re-emerging genres of hip-hop and RnB. And the track mixes up these genres perfectly. The instrumental is very striking, catching your attention with its bold sounds.The vocals and rapping by the members sound amazing. Each member compliments the song in their own. The chorus is very addictive to listen to. The “Oh Na Na” sounds fantastic and is the catchiest point of the song. I also thought the instrumental breaks after the choruses were really good as well. Youngji’s featuring doesn’t really do it for me, unfortunately. Her part is designed for her, but that part doesn’t really fit in well with the song. The whole song has this heavy beat beating throughout it. Youngji’s part took away that repetitive heavy beat, added some slowness to the song and forced the song to have a higher pitch (which didn’t suit the song as well as expected). It was a nice slowdown, but I preferred that repetitive heavy beat that we had in all the other parts of the song. Besides that, I liked this track a lot. When I was on holidays, it was the one track that I kept going back to.

Not as impressed with the video as I was with the song. The quality of the video just wasn’t up to par with the quality of the song. I would have been happy with just the choreography shots. The rest of the video just felt detached from each other. There wasn’t anything connecting them together. I did like the night city scenery in the background, though. My next complaint would have to be the lighting in this video. Some parts you could see the members. Other parts (including some of the dance segments) were just too dark and you could only see the outlines of the members. Finally, Youngji’s part made me laugh. I know she is the ‘hidden member’ for this song. But she didn’t have to put on a black hoodie. She looks either like the Grim Reaper or the guy from the new drama Introverted Boss (Guess who started to watch dramas now). While I am sure she was told to wear that to look mysterious, she looks ridiculous more than anything.

The dance looked amazing. There was a hint of sexiness in the dance, but nothing overpowering. It had the hip-hop vibe through it. I really loved the dance at the instrumental breaks and the body waves at the “Oh Na Na” parts.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 3/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

[Double Review] Pretend + Yes No Maybe – Suzy (Miss A)

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Suzy, from Miss A, is a South Korean treasure. While she does perform with her group, she is more known for her acting in dramas such as Dream High, Gu Family Book and Uncontrollably Fond. However, a solo album or release of some kind has been requested for the idol for quite a while now. She has featured in OSTs for dramas and in 2016, she collaborated with Baekhyun from EXO for Dream. At the end of 2016, a solo debut was confirmed for January 2017 and her solo album was released on the 24th of January.

Pretend was the pre-release track for Suzy’s debut. Pretend is a ballad with a soft jazz instrumental. Almost like elevator music, but not as bad! The vocals in the song are unique. Instead of being clear, they have been edited to sound as if she is singing straight from a microphone. The vocals for the verses are quite soft, while the chorus is where she is the loudest. I do prefer the chorus because you can hear more clearly. The ending was a little abrupt and I think the song should have eased into silence, to make it sound better. Have to mention the lyrics for Pretend because they are very meaningful and when she sings, you can hear the emotion that she pours into the song.

Overall Rating for Pretend – 8/10

Yes No Maybe is Suzy’s title track for her solo debut. Like in Pretend, Suzy did a great job with the emotions in Yes No Maybe. Vocally, I think this sound much better than Pretend, mainly because you hear her more clearly and her vocals are at a more appropriate volume level. Her vocals were very fitting for the song, as well. I am not exactly sure how I would describe the instrumental of this song. There is a retro sound to it, with what I believe is Latin influences. I really enjoyed the beat of the song. While it is not a party or modern type of dance song, I do want to get up and jam to it. It’s a really good song that was perfect for a solo debut.

I really liked the video for Yes No Maybe. It has an eerie look that for some reason matches the song pretty well. We see Suzy mainly under a red filter or in shaky shots, which represents the hazy memories that a person might have after a night out. The video also features a male actor, to whom Suzy is seeing. Most of the video shows her by herself, aimlessly wandering the streets but she ends up going back to the guy.  It’s the later part of the video that doesn’t make sense to me. She is seen fleeing the scene and in the foreground are two bodies. One body of the guy in the bathtub and one body of another female on the bathroom floor (that is what I am assuming since only legs are shown). So she killed him (but we don’t know why). My assumption is because he is seeing someone else on the side. That ending made me go back to the video a few times to try to understand the storyline, but as you can see, I didn’t get far. The cinematography for the video was actually quite good as well.

What the performance for Yes No Maybe needed was a sensual choreography without becoming overwhelming. And that is what Suzy delivered. It isn’t anything that impressive or memorable, but that expected sensual feeling (to the right extent) was there. I did like the use of the red strings at the start of the performance. Though, I feel like a red ribbon would have given a bolder look.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating for Yes No Maybe – 8.5/10 

[Review] I Think I Love U – Sonamoo

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Sonamoo made their comeback with I Think I Love U on the 9th of January 2017. This is their first comeback since the release of their 3rd mini album and the title track, I Like U Too Much, back in June 2016.

The track isn’t too bad, but it just fails to capture the attention of the listener. I loved the sirens and the first few seconds of the song. It’s nothing you would have expected from a girl group who went on board with a cutesy concept. The verses in the song are quite good. They show off the vocals and raps very well, further proving the girls’ potential. The verses themselves sound strong and well defined with the retro-sounding instrumental.  The chorus is what loses me. The chorus felt too light and fluffy, compared to the verses. It also failed to be catchy or have any hooks. Overall, it made the song have a boring side and not stand out. Honestly, I feel like I have covered everything. If it was an amazing song, I should be able to talk about it. If it was terrible, then there would have been more to talk about. The fact that I only covered the song in a few lines just goes to show that the song isn’t amazing or terrible, it was just boring.

I found the video a lot more interesting than the song. The girls are mannequins in the trash, from what I believe. They wake up and stumble across a vending machine which sells a cute guy. To get the guy, they have to ‘insert a heart’. And where do they find a heart? In fluffy, stuffed bunnies scattered around the area. Obviously, they all want the guy to themselves, so they act shifty around each other, especially when they find a random stuffed bunny. In the end, all of them couldn’t find a heart, so they give up and return to where they originated from. Turns out, the cute guy is missing. Flashbacks showed one of the girls hanging back and finding a heart (very close to home) and end up with the cute mannequin guy. The other girls find out and start pulling him apart. The video was funny to watch. Besides all of that, everything else felt like a normal KPOP video.

Choreography wise, it looked quite nice. Nothing too complicated or simple. Instead, a nice polish flair was noticeable in the dance. While I complained about the chorus before, the dance during the chorus was very fitting and memorable to me.

Song – 4/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 5/10

[Review] Chase Me – Dream Catcher

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This is my first review of the year for a new group. And I feel like there is no better way to start off, but with Dream Catcher. The seven-member girl group is currently under Happy Face Entertainment, which also houses Dal Shabet. The lineup for the group consists of JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, Dami, Handong and Gahyeon. Dreamcatcher has an interesting history, as they aren’t actually a brand new band. They were previously known as Minx (also under Happy Face Ent and were a five-member girl group), who made their debut in 2014. At the end of 2016, it was announced that the Minx would re-debut, with the addition of two new members, into Dreamcatcher.

And Dreamcatcher has delivered with an amazing song. Chase Me is a dance track with a rock-inspired instrumental. The song sounds a lot like a typical J-POP song or an anime opening. The song starts off with a prominent and mysterious sounding piano playing the in the background. The song starts to pick up with the use of the electrical guitar during pre-chorus and throughout the chorus. The song slows back down to the piano, which sounds creepy and then later picks up again. This change in tempo and style seems almost like an adrenaline rush. Every time I listen to their song, I can feel my heart racing with the tempo of the song. Personally, for this reason, I kept on returning to the song to re-experience that feeling, but now, I am just back because the chorus packs a punch and is so catchy. Their vocals and rapping were quite good and matching with the song. It’s a powerful track and if you like your Japanese pop or anime openings, this song is the one go to.

It has been a while since I last saw a KPOP video produced for a girl group that delves into the horror genre. The girls act as ghosts in the video, while the lead male actor goes into the haunted hotel to investigate these ghosts. But there seems to be more to the typical ghost investigation because at the end of the video we see him smiling at pictures of the girls and then we get the ‘to be continued’ notice. So I am dying to find out what this all means and what his connection with the girls are (and also what other songs/ideas to continue the horror theme). Talking about the horror in the video, it is done right. I love how the video was edited to fit the fast and slow parts of the song. During the chorus, the editing was a lot choppier and that horror aspect came through really well. During the verses, the scenes were a lot slower and showed flashbacks of when the girls were innocent before they reached their demise and haunted the hotel.  The ghostly moves that were made were cliché and don’t necessary scare you. But they do give off a tense atmosphere in the video. However, regardless, I did enjoy the video as it was very matching to the song.

The dance was something that fell a little short, compared to the rest of the debut. While the song and video seem to be memorable (let me get back to you in a few months), the dance doesn’t have that mutual feeling.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 9/10 
Dance – 5/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

 

[Review] Touch – Shinhwa

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Shinhwa has returned with their 13th album since debut. The album itself was released in two parts. The first part was released back in October 2016, as Unchanging Part 1 – Orange. The second part, released on the 5th of January 2017, comprises of all the songs released as part of Unchanging Part 1 – Orange and five new songs, including Touch, the title track for this album.

I am a little torn about the track. Once again, it is a track that doesn’t really appeal to me vocally. Honestly, that aspect is quite forgettable. But the track does stand out for other reasons. The EDM based instrumental is something that the boys haven’t really done before. It’s modern and trendy, suiting the current times. Going hand-in-hand with the instrumental is the structure of the song. The main reason why the instrumental does stand out is that there is no chorus to the song. Instead, the beat drops and we get a very complicated but powerful instrumental break each time. It is a little different, but it isn’t the first time an unconventional song structure has caught my attention (Check out Rainbow’s Black Swan). That being said, with no chorus, the song felt empty and did lack that hook. While the instrumental breaks were interesting, they didn’t do much to fill that empty void that the chorus would have filled from the start. Half of me is disappointed for that reason, but the other half did fall for that uniqueness.

The first thing I noticed after watching the video for the first time is that the video is very slow. I understand the slowness during the verses of the song because the verses are slow. But the scenes for the instrumental breaks are just too slow. Those parts sound almost as if it is choppy, fast-paced and impactful. But the video didn’t match those feelings. The majority of the video consist of the guys acting sad and heartbroken. There really isn’t anything to complain about there, but it does make the video become more boring if I was to continually watch it. There were a few scenes added where they act a little angry (with the now cliché ‘slow-motion-of-the-object-made-out-glass-smashing-on-the-floor’ or the ‘damage-the-mirror-somehow-and-stare-into-a-cracked-mirror’). But like the instrumental breaks, they don’t do much when it came to captivating me. The anger I guess ended up being a little more extreme by the end of the video. The guy burning the letter from his lover ends up burning his house out and the guy who lied in the bath tub (which again is in the middle of the room) completely flooded the room.

The dance looks cool and very precise. It matches the beat of the song really well. I have to admit, though, it does look pretty slow and lazy (at the instrumental breaks). The dance doesn’t really peak until the end of the song during the two solo parts. But still, the dance looked cool nonetheless.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 5/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 5.5/10

[Review] I’m Fine – VRomance

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VRomance has recently made their comeback with a ballad. They dropped their new song, I’m Fine, and their latest mini album on the 5th of January 2017. The 4-member boy group, dubbed as the male version of Mamamoo, made their debut in 2016 with She.

The track is good but quite underwhelming. The group made their comeback with a ballad to suit the cold season, which makes sense. But it failed to stand out and the entire track is too plain. She was a more vibrant track, which I think suits the group more. This track does do a better job at showcasing their vocals, with that being the one thing that I am impressed with. Everyone shined really well, while some members were overshadowed in their debut track. The bridge of the song was quite good as well. But the verses and chorus just lacked colour and didn’t live up to the standards that other ballads have set. While I am a sucker for orchestral instrumentals, it, unfortunately, did not make up for the disappointment I felt. That being said, the instrumental by itself is pretty good as well. It matched the vocals without overpowering them, which is a plus. Another plus are the lyrics, which tells a lover (or loved one) that they can leave and that everything will be fine in the end. but I will talk about them later on in the video. The song, while its individual aspects sound nice, just didn’t deliver overall.

The video was very touching. The video starts off with an elderly man, opening his photography business, like any other day. The pictures that he puts outside or hangs in his studio all have a story behind them. We see those stories as flashbacks in the video. Chandong, also makes an appearance in the video, through a flashback of a relationship falling apart. The man’s wife (I am assuming)  walks into the store and asks for a picture of herself to be taken. It later showed that she passed away and the picture was, in fact, a picture in preparation of her passing.  In the end, he hangs the picture of his wife on the wall of his shop, waves goodbye and closes up the shop. After looking back at the shop, he turns around and it is revealed that the elderly man is, in fact, Chandong. The vocals and the lyrics play a part in tugging the emotions out of you, when you watch the video. And it is perfect. The lyrics talk about someone leaving (let it be lover or a loved one), hence why we saw a lot of stories of people leaving. Though the closeup of the group singing was included in the video, I feel like they could have been omitted entirely and no impact would have been made to the video.

Song – 5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Overall Rating – 7/10

[Weekly Chart] 3rd Week of January 2017

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Welcome to the third week of January 2017. Another busy week, but I have been trying hard to push out reviews for you all!

The charts for this week was everything I had expected. But there was something that caught me by surprised when I looked at my Excel spreadsheet for this week. For a girl group who just debuted, Dream Catcher is proving to be a powerful force in my books, as they debuted in third place this week! Looking forward to the next few weeks and their future releases if they are capable of doing that!

Some songs didn’t make the cut this week including Suzy’s solo and Rain’s comeback. I can only predict that they may make their debut on the charts next week, but we will have to wait and see. For next week, you can expect Solar, Luna and Hani’s collaboration to make an appearance; along with 2NE1’s farewell song, Pentagon’s newest single, MelodyDay, Suzy (again) and many other collaborations.

Next week is going to be another of those complicated weeks. The end of next week (for those who don’t know) is Lunar New Year. I am trying to schedule reviews for those days, but I don’t know how far I can get with the reviews in the next week. Next week’s chart will also be up on Monday, rather than Sunday. That is just a little notice for you all!

A reminder of the what the colours in the status column mean.
Green (↑)  – Song has gone up in ranking
Red (↓) – Song has gone down in ranking
Blue (=) – Song has remained in the same position as the previous week
Orange  (new) – Song debuts on the chart
Grey (Final Week) – Song appears on the chart for its final week.

15th Jan – 21st Jan 2017
Title Artist Status
1 Mysterious Hello Venus (↑ 3)
2 April Story April (↑ 3)
3 Chase Me Dream Catcher (new)
4 I Wait DAY6 (↑ 6)
5 I Wish WJSN (Cosmic Girls) (↓ 4)
6 Downpour I.O.I (new)
7 Boom Boom Seventeen (↑ 1)
8 Bing Bing AOA (↑ 15)
9 Excuse Me AOA (↑ 7)
10 Paradise S.E.S (↓ 4)
11 Limitless NCT127 (↓ 9)
12 Wonderland Jessica Jung (↑ 20)
13 Don’t Say No Seohyun (SNSD) (new)
14 Oh Na Na K.A.R.D (↓ 3)
15 U KNK (↑ 11) (Final Week)
16 White Night UP10TION (↑ 2) (Final Week)
17 I Think I Love U Sonamoo (↓ 14)
18 Hobglobin CLC (new)
19 Remember S.E.S (↓ 10)
20 Highlight Seventeen (↓ 7)
21 FxxK It Big Bang (=)
22 For Life EXO (↑ 2)
23 She TOPSECRET (↑ 8)
24 I’m Fine Vromance (↓ 2)
25 A Lie B1A4 (↓ 8)
26 Touch Shinhwa (↑ 1)
27 Last Goodbye AKMU (↓ 15)
28 Confession Astro (↓ 8) (Final Week)
29 Love Affair Niel (Teen Top) (new)
30 Can You Feel It Pentagon (↓ 16)

In the meantime, hope you enjoy your week and Happy Lunar New Year to all!!!

Goodbye, 2NE1

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I take this moment to drop my other reviews for the time being and honour this girl group. This will not be a review, however. But rather an ode to one of the most important groups (yes, I said that!) in KPOP ever.

For those who haven’t heard, 2NE1 has officially disbanded. Minzy left the band in May 2016 and it was announced that 2NE1 had disbanded on 25th of November 2016, with Park Bom leaving the company. Both CL and Dara resigned solo contracts. 2NE1 was one of the biggest bands of South Korea during their time.

It is no doubt that their songs have been influential in the industry. Songs like Fire, I Am The Best, I Love You, Lonely (just to name a few) have shaped KPOP greatly. They became a group that had a massive following and had hoobae (junior) groups look up to them. Their success has taken them extremely far. Even as soloists, the girls have conquered and fought on alongside each other with their own activities.

But what makes the group so different to others? They pushed for a tougher image. When they debuted, girl groups went for more cutesy and girly concepts. Not 2NE1 though. They were the first (if I remember correctly) to take on the hip-hop concept successfully. They were the ones that wore crazy clothes and had the craziest hairstyle (referring to I Am The Best video).

Goodbye  was released today, as the group’s final song (which features CL, Park Bom and Dara only). While YG has marketed this as their final song, the girls have mentioned that a possible reunion (with Minzy) and comeback in the future is still possible. Given the ongoing trend of first generation groups returning with their full line-up, this is highly possible and I do look forward to that day.

That being said, I do like to see what the four members have in store for us in the future. I know Dara has restarted acting, CL has her solo career (even though I am not much of a fan of her songs, I do like to see what else she can do. If 2NE1 has anything to prove, these girls have endless potential as solo artists), Minzy has her upcoming solo debut and Park Bom has a solo career that she can continue (if she chooses to). Thank you 2NE1 for the past 7 years. And if you are looking for the music video for Goodbye, it is linked below!

[Review] I Wait – DAY6

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DAY6 has started off 2017 with a brand new song. But it isn’t the only thing they are starting off with a new song. They announced that they will be releasing a new song at the start of each month (approximately the 6th of each month) and will prepare concerts for each month. They previously made their comeback back in May 2016 with Letting Go.

If you want your fix of rock in the Korean music industry, you just happened to click on the right review. Let me introduce you to I Wait by DAY6. The song starts off slow, but builds up until it reaches the chorus. Now if you want to start head banging, then the chorus is perfect for that. I am a person who don’t generally listen to rock music. But this song has been one that I have been going back to every single day. The vocals in this song are perfect and shown off really nicely. There is no rap and I am glad that is the case. There is a rock song full of emotion and mellowness. A rap would not have fitted the song. The song overall isn’t that complex, in terms of sound. Easy to rock to and for some reason, it is quite easy to mouth along with the lyrics. The English just rolls off the end of each line effortlessly (I guess that is what you get when you have members who speak English every day). Listening to the song, I could not hear any flaws. Everything was perfect and hopefully, it is a sign of great things for DAY6 and their monthly releases (and everything beyond).

The music video seemed a little cheesy to me. It isn’t a terrible video and I guess that since they will be doing releases per month, the company doesn’t want to go over budget and make everything fancy. But the video could have done with a little more impact. The cloud background was cheesy and didn’t match the video. I believe they tried to match the tempo at each part of the song (other members who sung during more faster pace parts had city scenes and fast-forwarded backgrounds, while Jae was stuck with the slow moving clouds). The faster backgrounds suited the song more, in my opinion, and gave more energy to the song. But what made it cheesy was the way they stood and lip-sync to the song. There was an air of awkwardness during Jae’s part, in particular, which gave me those thoughts of cheesy. The band scenes were amazing, though. They looked cool, hip and trendy, which gave the video a more modern feel (Otherwise, the colour of the video would have given the video a more vintage look).

Rating – 8.5/10

 

[Review] April Story – April

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April has also returned with a slight adjustment to their lineup. They last promoted as a 5 member girl group back in April 2016 with Tinkerbell. Hyunjoo was put on hiatus due to health issues and later in 2016, she ended up leaving the group. In her stead, Chaekyung and Rachel were added to the group, transforming the group into a 6 member girl group. They released their 3rd mini album Prelude and title track April Story on the 4th of January this year.

Another great song. This time April has gone with a very nice orchestra instrumental (with the addition of guitar riffs throughout the song) and something that has a grander sound than anything they have released. The group also adopted a more mature sound with this comeback. Vocally, this song gives the girls a little boost in recognition. While there aren’t any high notes, like in their past songs, each member sounded amazing. Well, for the 3 members or so who sung. I watched those line distribution videos once again. And this song probably was the worst line distribution of all time. 1 member got 2 seconds worth of lines and another member got no lines whatsoever. Instead, the majority of the song was dominated by 2 vocalists, who took a combined 73% of the song (Line distribution as my source here). Now I am reading that some of the members may not be vocally equipped or fluent in the language. So why make them debut? It doesn’t make sense. But I guess that can be talk for another day. The song just felt a little underwhelming, if I was to say anything else. Minus the line distribution, I enjoyed the song a lot.

The music video was quite underwhelming as well. Let me start off by getting something off my chest: that hair needs to go. Now that has been recorded and published for the word to see, I can focus back on the review. The video shows the girls as dolls, who seem to be eying the guy. It seems like the girls like the guy and dream that one day they can walk into the door of the store for him to see (i.e. the ending). The plot was okay and quite innocent. Just the video felt dull and unappealing to watch. Maybe given their past videos, I expected something with a little more colour. But then again it is Winter, so the dull filter is in style. And here I am rambling.

The choreography was quite good for the song. It was quite elegant and very classy to watch these girls dance. The ending in the video seemed messy, so the expectation was the stage was going to have a messy ending. But on the stage, it was perfected and they all look in sync.

Rating – 6/10