Month: January 2017

[Review] Mysterious – Hello Venus

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Hello Venus has finally returned to the stage. From memory, they did not promote the songs that they released last year. The tracks they released last year (Glow and Paradise) are also included in the recently released mini album, which title track is Mysterious. Last time they were on stage (which was 2015), the group promoted I’m Ill.

I know it is only the start of the year. But this has to be one of the best songs of 2017. I am in love with it. It has been replaying for a number of days already. It is really catchy and addictive to listen to it. What caught my attention was the whistling in the introduction. It is bright and very interesting. I know that there are a few songs that use the whistle intro, but this one does it perfectly and leads very nicely into the song. The verses were a little bland for my taste. The chorus really picks up the song and gives it an extra breath of life into it. Overall, vocals were okay, but there weren’t any stand-out moments. The instrumental provided a great backing for the vocals with the brass instruments taking the instrumental to another level. There is also a nice swing sound in the song. The rapping was very short and that is also another disappointment. There should have been a longer rap portion because: a) the song needs it (what we heard in the chorus was perfect and fitting. It just needed to be extended to give it more impact) and b) the rapper sounds amazing. But while I did find a few flaws in the track, I am still playing this song and will definitely continue with it.

The music video stars Cha Eun Woo from Astro and Seo Kang Joon. Both are label mates of Hello Venus, who are under Fantagio. I guess the plot of the video was that the girls were investigating a very mysterious man, who in this case is Seo Kang Joon. Not sure about Cha Eun Woo’s character, though. I know he plays the conductor or a staff member on the train. But is he helping the mysterious guy or the girls? I am assuming he is helping the guy. The ending could have been many times better. Given the rest of the video, the ending was horrible. I would have expected a plot twist or at least an answer to who the guy is. But instead… ‘Hello Venus?? ‘. Overall, the video was fun to watch (minus the ending of the video). This has to be one of the best videos released by Hello Venus. The sets were bright and vibrant, fitting that nature of the song. Their acting is okay. Seo Kang Joon and Cha Eun Woo did a pretty good job (despite me not knowing what side Eun Woo was on – his facial expressions were pretty good).

The choreography for Mysterious was pretty good. It is fitting for the song and doesn’t necessary go over the top this time. The more mature and feminine concept which they were going for really works well with the group.

Rating – 7.5/10

Recap of MAMA 2016 + Thoughts

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It has been a month and a half since the MAMA awards ceremony. Do you remember much from it? Well, here I am with another recap of the MAMA 2016. As we all know, MAMA is one of the biggest award ceremonies that celebrates South Korean music in 2016. It also looks at the achievements of artists and music within the Asian continent, as well. Once again, this year the ceremony was held in Hong Kong on the 2nd of December 2016.

So who attended the awards? Well, YG Entertainment artists were a no show for this award ceremony, which is considered odd, as they tend to go to the MAMA awards and sweep the awards each year. Instead, the performances during the ceremony came from: GOT7, BTS, EXO, NCT, Taemin (SHINee), GFriend, Twice, I.O.I, Seventeen, Red Velvet, Taeyeon (SNSD), Monsta X, Suzy (Miss A), Zico (Block B), Dean, Crush, Eric Nam, BeWhy, Lee Juck, Ko Sang Ji, Yoo Ah In and Yiruma. NCT Dream, I.O.I and SF9 performed on the red carpet. The MAMA awards also invite international artists to perform on the show and this year they invited Timbaland, Gallant and Wiz Khalifa.

Who won an award? See below!
Best New Male Artist – NCT127
Best New Female Artist – I.O.I
Best Male Vocal Performance – Crush ft. Taeyeon (Don’t Forget)
Best Female Vocal Performance – Ailee (If You)
Best Male Dance Performance – BTS (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
Best Female Dance Performance – GFriend (Rough)
Best Solo Dance Performance – Taemin (Press Your Number)
Best Collaboration / Subunit – Suzy & Baekhyun (Dream)
Best Rap Performance – Cjamm & BeWhy (Puzzle)
Best Band Performance – CN BLUE (You’re So Fine)
Best Male Group – EXO
Best Female Group – Twice
Best Male Artist – Zico
Best Female Artist – Taeyeon
Best Music Video – BlackPink (Whistle)
Best Album (Album of the Year) – EXO (EX’ACT)
Best Song (Song Of The Year) – Twice (Cheer Up)
Best Artist (Artist Of The Year) – BTS
However, the list does not stop there. There are few extra awards given out to the Korean artists. Also, there were also awards given to other Asian artists for their success. While I won’t be listing those awards, you can check Wikipedia’s page for the 2016 MAMA awards for the winners.
World Performer Award – Seventeen
Worldwide Favourite Artist – GOT7
Best of Next Artist Award – Monsta X & BlackPink
Best Producer – Black Eyed Pilseung
Best Asian Style – EXO
On top of all of that:
Best International Producer: Timbaland

Awards first. Thought it was okay. There were some which I didn’t agree with such as Best Music Video, Best Band, Best Rap, Best New Male Artist but those who won those awards also deserved it as well. I think the Daesangs (Song, Album and Artist of the Year awards) were what everyone expected, so no surprises there. I honestly did not expect Crush to win Best Male Vocal Performance. Clearly, he didn’t as well.

In terms of the performances, this has to be one of the messiest MAMA awards that I have ever seen. Incorrect artists names were written on the screen, performances were unappealing, an anticipated performance was removed. And that is probably what we saw on the outside. Imagine what happened behind the curtains! The worst performance was, by far, Timbaland’s collaboration with Eric Nam. Eric Nam put in his fair share of effort. Timbaland, like everyone is saying, had no idea what he was doing there. And besides his award, we don’t either.

So whose performances did I like? Seventeen & GFriend’s collaboration, I.O.I and Twice’s stage (just minus the cringeworthy introduction) and BTS’s stage. Everything else just seemed a little underwhelming. You can judge and watch the performances above. The playlist only contains Korean songs, so Timbaland’s collab with Eric Nam is not there. As mentioned above, MAMA is one of the biggest ceremonies of the year, so I did expect a lot. Maybe I am just harsh or unappreciative. Sadly, I just was not enjoying the stages this year.

Okay, so that is my recap and thoughts on the MAMA awards. Comment below with your favourite performance! Maybe you enjoyed the show more than me.

 

[Review] Wonderland – Jessica Jung

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Jessica made her return with her second mini-album, Wonderland. The mini-album was released as a special Christmas album (and like every other year, I am extremely delayed with these Christmas related reviews). For those who don’t know who Jessica Jung is, she was formerly a part of Girl’s Generation or SNSD, up until 2014. She made her solo debut and return to music in 2016 with Fly and Love Me The Same.

Wonderland is an okay track. The only part which I am most satisfied with is the instrumental of the song. The song sounds somewhat exotic or tropical with the EDM influences. It drew my attention straight away for its unique sound. Overall, it made the song feel a little more laidback and chill. The rest of the song did fall short. Her vocals are okay, but not her best. The verses felt empty and detached from the rest of the song. The chorus was undeveloped and not that catchy. The only reason why I would listen to the song is for the instrumental. Her vocals don’t seem to get in the way though. Rather, they almost felt like the instrumental of the song (and the instrumental was the vocals). Odd way to describe it, but that is how I feel about the song.

It seems like Jessica has finally upgraded from her house in the middle of the desert to a nice countryside town. Yet, she is still searching for that snow. But the difference is, she finds the snow in this video. And she looks quite happy after finding her “Wonderland”. But like the song, the video fails to attract you. Minus that connection between this video and her debut video, there really is nothing else to touch on. The scenery was quite beautiful, but it wasn’t enough to make the video more appealing.

I actually enjoyed the dance. It was simple but, to me, was quite fitting for the song. The chill feeling that I mentioned earlier was definitely portrayed in the song, as the dance was not too complex. The last thing we need is for the song to be chill and be watching choreography that would have been more suitable for a hardcore dance track!

Rating – 3.5/10 (Sorry)

 

[Double Review] Dreamer + Watch Me More – Uhm Jung Hwa

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The Queen of KPOP has returned. It has been years since we last heard from Uhm Jung Hwa on the stage. To be precise, 2008 was the last time she promoted on stage as an artist with her hit D.I.S.C.O, which features T.O.P from Big Bang. For those who don’t know, Uhm Jung Hwa made her debut, on the stage, in 1993 and is currently one of the most senior artists in the industry. Her hits include D.I.S.C.O, Poison, Invitation etc.

Dreamer is a dance track that has this sensual sound that you can definitely hear throughout the song. It is almost a sound that you would associate with Madonna. Come to the think of it, since both ladies are ‘Queens’ in their respective industries, it is a sound that royalties of their magnitude would do.  While Dreamer (and Watch Me Move) are new songs, she maintains that singing style that is known for. The song is quite catchy. I also noticed a really even balance within the song. Her vocals do not overpower the song, but the instrumental doesn’t overpower her voice. The only thing I would have to say about the song is that it really doesn’t scream. It stays the same from start to end and it just doesn’t seem to have a peak moment. Watch Me Move is a song of a different style, but can also be described the same way. This song is more dance track, more Madonna sounding and more pop-ish (if I had to add). Like the other track, Watch Me Move is quite catchy and addictive. It also stays true to her style. However, this song does peak and I do think Watch Me Move is a much better track than Dreamer. The start of Watch Me Move reminds me of the songs that would be used in the soundtrack of How To Get Away With Murder (Yes, I am a big fan of the show. Come join the club!!!). Actually, I thought the song would have fitted the soundtrack while I was listening to the song.

Love both videos. They are something on another level that I don’t think many artists will ever reach. Once again, I am referring back to Madonna. There is that vogue concept running throughout it as well. The video also screams out Kylie Minogue during the early 00’s. Both had a mysterious theme flowing throughout it. Dreamer was a lot darker, while Watch Me Move had a little splash of colour. They both do not necessary have plots and that make the video less appealing to watch because, at a certain point in time in the future, I will consider the video boring. But at the moment, I am just taking it all in as it is. Not a big fan of her make-up in Watch Me Move. It does creep me a little bit when I look at her. I love the scene where she (along with the backup dancers) start dancing in the hallway while facing the windows. That looked cool.

The dances are quite good. For a person who is nearing her 50s, she still manages to pull off the looks and the moves for both songs. From the vogue moves in Watch Me Move to the confident choreography in Dreamer, everything looked perfect and amazing.

Dreamer – 8.5/10

Watch Me Move – 9/10

[Review] For Life – EXO

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EXO made their return with a special Winter album and the title track, For Life. This is not their first time releasing a Winter album, with Miracles of December and Sing For You preceding the track. The release also serves as their 5th mini album, to date.

EXO returned to their ballad songs with the release of For Life, which makes the most sense as ballads give you warmth and suit the colder season in South Korea. And what they are doing is amazing. Not saying that they should just go to ballads now on (I don’t think many people would react well to that), but what they do every Winter with their ballads is amazing. For Life consists of a very nice balance of strings and piano in its instrumental. It doesn’t sound grand, but rather simple, which I think is a charm of the song. The guys sang the song beautifully, even the rappers participating in the vocal work this time around. The verses sounded a little dry and boring. But the chorus was what blew my mind. It caught my attention from the very start and it sounded amazing. It is a little hard to explain in words here, but if I were you and you wanted that ballad fix of yours, this is the song to go to at the moment.

I like the plot of the video. One-half of the video was made to look like the guy was looking for the girl, with the bracelet as motivation to finding her. The second half consisted of her looking for the guy, to give the bracelet to so he can find her in the future. The video stars an actress to whom I don’t know the name of and the following EXO members: Chanyeol, Kai and Suho. Each of the members and the actress did an amazing job in the video. While the song is quite slow (and the video is quite fitting in terms of tempo), the video was surprisingly interesting to watch. I thought the video would be boring, but in the end, the video was a stand-out for ballads overall.

Rating – 9.5/10

[Weekly Chart] 2nd Week of January 2017​

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Welcome back to this week’s charts! Unfortunately, I am extremely busy (hence my lack of reviews lately). But I am hoping to actually get some released in the next few days.

A major shift on the charts, with the songs topping last week dropping quite heavily on the charts. This made way for newer songs to make their debut. If you read my reviews, NCT127 did not achieve a favourable review. However, it manages to be the highest debuting song this week, at second place. With many songs making their debut this week being quite catchy, I wonder how the charts will be next week.

Astro makes their return to the charts this week. I have left an asterix there to indicate that they have re-entered the charts.

This week’s chart is a little short, as I have to go, but do come back next week for the charts!

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.

8th Jan – 14th Jan 2017
Title Artist Status
1 I Wish WJSN (Cosmic Girls) (↑ 4)
2 Limitless NCT127 (new)
3 I Think I Love U Sonamoo (new)
4 Mysterious Hello Venus (new)
5 April Story April (↑ 4)
6 Paradise S.E.S (↑ 23)
7 Decalcomanie Mamamoo (↓ 1) (Final Week)
8 Boom Boom Seventeen (↓ 4)
9 Remember S.E.S (↑ 10)
10 I Wait DAY6 (new)
11 Oh Na Na K.A.R.D (=)
12 Last Goodbye AKMU (new)
13 Highlight Seventeen (↑ 12)
14 Can You Feel It Pentagon (↑ 1)
15 Last Dance Big Bang (↓ 14)
16 Excuse Me AOA (↓ 14)
17 A Lie B1A4 (↓ 10)
18 White Night UP10TION (↓ 10)
19 U R My Only One VARSITY (↑ 12)
20 Confession Astro *
21 FxxK It Big Bang (↓ 11)
22 I’m Fine Vromance (new)
23 Bing Bing AOA (↓ 20)
24 For Life EXO (↓ 8)
25 I’ll Be Your Man BTOB (↓ 13) (Final Week)
26 U KNK (↓ 9)
27 Touch Shinhwa (new)
28 Paradise Hyorin (Sistar) (↓ 4) (Final Week)
29 It’s Raining Snuper (↓ 7)
30 I’m Fine VICTION (↓ 17) (Final Week)

Recap of MelOn Music Awards 2016 + Thoughts

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Look at the time, it has already been 2 months. The 2016 MelOn Music Awards were held on the 19th of November 2016. The award show is one of the few awards shows that focuses on the digital side of KPOP and is centred around the MelOn Charts and fan votes.

The show invited a range of artists to perform on the stage this year. The lineup included: BeWhy, 10cm, Seventeen, Mamamoo, BlackPink, Jung Eunji (APINK), Red Velvet, I.O.I, iKON, Twice, Zico (Block B), GFriend, BTS, Sechs Kies and EXO. Other artists (such as AKMU, Bolbbalgan4, Hong Jin Young, Yoo Mi Rae), actors and comedians were in attendance as well.

Below are the winners on the night. Afterwards, I have left some comments regarding some awards:
Top 10 Artist – Twice, Taeyeon, Red Velvet, Zico (Block B), GFriend, EXO, BTS, Mamamoo, BeWhy, AKMU
Best New Artist – BlackPink
Best Rap/Hip Hop – Zico ft. Zion T (Eureka)
Best Ballad – Jung Eun Ji (Hopefully Sky) & Lim Chang Jung (The Love I Committed)
Best RnB & Soul– Suzy & Baekhyun (Dream)
Best Rock – Ha Hyun Woo (Don’t Cry)
Best OST – Yoo Mi Rae (Always)
Best Trot – Hong Jin Young (Thumbs Up)
Best Male Dance – EXO (Monster)
Best Female Dance – GFriend (Rough)
Best Folk – 10cm (What The Spring??)
Best Indie – Bolbbalgan4 (Galaxy)
Netizen Popularity Award – EXO (Monster)
Hot Trend Award – Zico
Best Music Video – Red Velvet (Russian Roulette)
Song Writer Award – Hitman Bang
MBC Music Star Award – Seventeen
QQ Asia Artist Award – iKON
Kakao Artist Award – EXO
Hall Of Fame Award – Sechs Kies
Album Of The Year (Daesang) – BTS (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever)
Song Of The Year (Daesang) – Twice (Cheer Up)
Artist Of The Year (Daesang) – EXO

I think the awards overall were fair. They summarised 2016 pretty well. So, I am not sure why people are so ticked off that their favourites didn’t win this and win that. But I guess it is just something we have to just get used to, given the competition. Sure, it was disappointing for I.O.I as they were the only invited guest to perform on the show to not win an award. I am sure the people behind this award show could have pulled an award out of thin air for them (A particular award show in Korea gave out numerous awards recently, but I am quite sure they all mean the same thing – just renamed differently). Also, I always thought Jung Eun Ji’s song was folk, but for some reason, it was categorised as a ballad in this show.

Moving along to performances: only a few caught my attention. The award show overall felt a little empty. Seventeen’s little remix for Very Nice sounded really amazing (full version please!) and their dance intro looked really cool. BTS had a spectacular interlude (I don’t know what to call that small segment between Blood Sweat & Tears and Fire), that was truly lit (I debated whether to write that, otherwise it would have said – ‘their performance was on Fire’). GFriend had a very beautiful stage, with Yuju’s beautiful/powerful vocals and that really nice butterfly effect and their award-worthy dancing. I also loved their orchestra remix (that was overpowered by the original instrumental) of Rough.

Highlight of the night would probably BTS’s reaction to winning the Daesang. Those few seconds where they had to do a double-take and make sure that they actually won.

And that is just the recap, my thoughts on the awards and performances for the 2016 Melon Music Awards. Do check back because I will be posting recaps and thoughts for other awards shows as I finish them.

[Review] Limitless – NCT127

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NCT127 have been busy sweeping the awards ceremonies for the new artist of the year awards. But they have also been busy with their recent release, Limitless. The group made their long awaited comeback with their second mini album on the 5th of January of this year. They previously made their debut with Fire Truck last year and is the first subunit of NCT to officially make their comeback.

While I was not a big fan of their debut track, Limitless is only mildly better than the other. Maybe it is because NCT 127 does not appeal to my taste in music or they just haven’t released a song that I think suits them. What I did like about this song is that is showed off their vocals and rap a lot more, with minimal processing and autotune. The one thing that I did not like was that croaking sound that formed part of the rap. Compare Mark’s short rapping with Taeyeong’s rapping in the song for example. Mark’s has a very clean drag at the end of each line (second verse), while Taeyeong’s consisted of that really annoying croaking sound at the end of each line. The vocals were much better, with no criticisms there. You can already tell who I am going to say did a better job. To me, the song wasn’t memorable or catchy. There were not enough hooks in the song to get me to go back. The instrumental sounded refreshing but at the same time, it was quite ordinary and really doesn’t stand out. While the song is titled at Limitless, I thought it was limited in quite a few departments and that truly left me disappointed.

Two videos were released side by side for Limitless. One of them is labelled the Performance Version, which I won’t be looking into that much here. The other version is titled as the Rough Version. The majority of the video was shot with an old camera (or a modern camera slapped with that grainy filter that we should all remember from the 90s). The only reason why I think they opted for the graininess is for artsy purposes.The rest of the video was shot with you everyday modern camera, which provided a better quality.  Let’s just say I much prefer the HD shots, rather than that home video look. Besides that, the video was boring to watch. There wasn’t much else going in the video. The guys don’t do much besides stand around and act mysterious while staring at the camera. There were a few choreography shots, but nothing worth commenting on here.

The dance was rather disappointing. There wasn’t anything impressive. Fire Truck had a good dance because it was fitting for the song. But the dance we have here was mediocre at best. Their performance video was pretty good, though, better than their Rough version, in terms of quality.

Rating – 4.5/10

[Review] A Lie – B1A4

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B1A4 made their comeback with their 3rd full album on the 28th of November (2016). The title track for the album is A Lie. This is the group’s first comeback since their Sweet Girl comeback in 2015. The group has focused predominately on solo work in 2016. Sandeul made his solo debut with Stay As You Are. Jinyoung and Baro focused on acting, with Jinyoung also producing on the side. CNU has performed on stage in musicals and Gongchan has filmed variety shows (Wikipedia, 2017).

A Lie is a pretty good song to listen to. It is a unique song and I can’t really describe it in words. Think of a pop song with very strong ballad influence. The song isn’t upbeat or anything, but much slower and melodic. The acoustics in the song is also something that shines very brightly. The vocal work in this song is also amazing. All of the members shone in the song. Even the rapping was made to fit the song quite nicely as well. While the song’s verses were quite slow at the start, each verse ended up having a really great buildup to the chorus. However, the song should have had more of a hook to it, to make it even better. The song was good while it was promoted because the song was there being played. But honestly, the song is not that memorable. I did forget about the song after the promotions ended and haven’t been listening to it lately (A good song is one that makes you go back to it – at least that is what I think). While all the other elements were pretty good, the impact the song made was quite minimal, unfortunately.

The music video was a little on the boring side, but the ending was really good. The video was very fitting for the lyrics of the song. A couple shares happy memories together, but when it comes to arguments, the guys said harsh things to the girl. Which lead to her packing her bags and the guys feeling regret for telling her to leave during those moments. The video depicts just that, however, without the moments where they scream or form that “crack in the relationship”. I personally think it would have been a lot clearer if those moments were shown. Because one moment she is having fun and other moments have her feeling sad and packing her bags. That transition would have made more sense (unless I skimmed the video too quickly and missed those parts). The ending was probably the best when Jinyoung had to come to terms with his partner leaving him. The effects of the paintings disappearing (since she was the one that painted) looked really cool and that one scene added a lot of meaning to the video.

The dance is okay. Not impressive but still very fitting for the slower tempo song. I did like those small sections of build up, particularly CNU’s part in the second verse. Where each group did the same movements at separate times (you probably have to see it to understand what I am getting at). It looked really cool!

Rating – 6.5/10

KPOPREVIEWED 2016 Awards – Part 2

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Click here to see the list of nominees for this year’s awards and scroll down to find out who wins!!!

If you have yet to see Part 1 (which also explains this corner) please click here.

BEST MALE ROOKIE GROUP

2016 saw a lot of new boy groups make their debut on the stage. Compiling the list of nominees for this section was extra hard because there were so many great debuts that just missed out on a spot on the list. The winner of the Best Male Rookie Group 2016 is Astro, who made continuous comebacks after their debut, pushing them into the spotlight. Honourable mentions are given to VRomance for their debut song, She.

Astro (Winner)
VROMANCE (Honourable Mention)

BEST FEMALE ROOKIE GROUP

Like the male rookie group section above, a lot of girl groups made their debut in 2016. And a lot of them provided us with the hottest tracks of the year. WJSN, otherwise known as Cosmic Girls, made their debut with Mo Mo Mo and came back with one of the best tracks of the year: Secret. They are my pick for Best Female Rookie Group. Honourable Mentions goes to BlackPink and I.O.I (It was very hard to choose for this category).

WJSN (Cosmic Girls) (Winner)
I.O.I (Honourable Mention)
BLACKPINK (Honourable Mention)

BEST MALE SOLOIST

As every other year, solo artists are debuting and making comebacks. 2016 saw the long-awaited debuts of some main vocalists of different idol groups and the return of solo artists that we have known for a while. The winner has to be Zico (Block B) with his ballad track: I Am You, You are Me. This one track alone has been a chart topper and gave the rapper a new side. Honourable mention goes to Eric Nam and his surge in popularity this year with his releases.

Zico (Block B) (Winner)
Eric Nam (Honourable Mention)

BEST FEMALE SOLOIST

2016 was a very big year for female solo artists. Like the male solo artist awards, big names came back, while long-awaited debuts were made. My pick for the winner of Best Female Soloist goes to Taeyeon (SNSD). Her singles have been remarkable thus far. Honourable mentions goes to Hyosung (Secret), whose song is still being replayed, half a year after release.

Taeyeon (SNSD) (Winner)
Hyosung (Secret) (Honourable Mention)

BEST MALE GROUP

So many to consider. Can’t count with my fingers for this category and the next. But it has been a big year for male groups (and likewise female groups). Out of all the artists, I have to pick Seventeen as the group that stood out the most and hence are the winners here. As for honourable mentions, GOT7 takes it this year.

Seventeen (Winner)
GOT7 (Honourable Mention)

BEST FEMALE GROUP 

As mentioned above, girl groups have also had a very big year in KPOP. And there were too many to count as well. But my overall pick for Best Female Group has to be Mamamoo. 2016 has been their best year yet and I hope there are even better years to come. Oh My Girl receives honourable mentions for their releases of high quality and catchy songs.

Mamamoo (Winner)
Oh My Girl (Honourable Mention)

BEST ALBUM

Now, I promised album reviews this year and my apologies, I failed to deliver. I asked you guys again (thanks to everyone who contributed to the survey) and album reviews are still something you guys want. I can’t review every one of them, but I will try my best to cover the main and biggest releases. As for 2016, Wings released by BTS as their 2nd Studio album is my pick for best album. I also thoroughly enjoyed the songs released by B.A.P as their third studio album, Carnival, which also takes Honourable Mention.

Wings (2nd Studio Album) – BTS (Winner)
Carnival (5th Mini Album) – B.A.P (Honourable Mention)

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Many great videos were released this year. From amazing plots to great cinematography, or just the standard video that looks amazing, 2016 had it all. My picks for both the winner and honourable mention were videos that were long in length, but one focused on an action-packed story and the other for its complexity. The winner is B.A.P‘s Skydive and honourable mention goes to BTS‘s Blood Sweat & Tears.

Skydive – B.A.P (Winner)
Blood, Sweat & Tears – BTS (Honourable Mention)

BEST DANCE/PERFORMANCE

And as with every year, KPOP groups and solo artists have amazing dances that should be commended. There were so many top contenders, that it was quite hard to compile the list of ten. But nonetheless, my pick for best dance would have to be GOT7‘s Hard Carry and honourable mention goes to The Eye by Infinite.

Hard Carry – GOT7 (Winner)
The Eye – Infinite (Honourable Mention)

 

BEST SONG OF THE YEAR

The hardest award to decide for. Hahaha… I put down 22 songs for this award. 22 amazing songs. And now I have to narrow the list to just 1. The difficulties. That being said, I won’t announce it words. Just watch the video below. But before that, let’s look at the honourable mentions that I manage to narrow down from that list of 22. Hover over the pictures to find out who and which song were picked. Note that these honourable mentions or the winners are not chosen via the end of year charts, but my thoughts alone.

Decalcomanie – Mamamoo
Hard Carry – GOT7
Find Me – Hyosung (Secret)
Secret – WJSN (Cosmic Girls)
Windy Day – Oh My Girl

And my pick of Best Song of 2016 goes to……

veryniceseventeen.gif

VERY NICE – SEVENTEEN

Congratulations to all winners, honourable mentions and nominees. Everyone in general!!

KPOPREVIEWED 2016 Awards – Part 1

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I am officially back everyone. And finally, I am moving along with the posts. This is the replacement to the normal Best of the Bests that I do at the end of each year. Essentially, they are the same thing, just a different name for them. This is just for fun and is just my thoughts relayed into a post. I did want to include you guys in the voting this time around, but because of my vacation, I had skipped over it. Maybe next year, if nothing pops up.

I usually post the nominees up in a separate post. However, because of time constraints, I have linked the nominees on a separate page by clicking the link below, instead of writing them out.

CLICK FOR THE NOMINEES AND CHECK OUT THE WINNERS FOR PART 1 BELOW

RISING STAR AWARD

This award goes to the groups that have seen the most growth in 2016. Past winners have risen from the rookie status (usually) or ‘nugu’ status and conquered the year they were awarded in. Looking back there are a number groups that took over 2016. But the rising star award goes to Twice and Seventeen. It is quite obvious why. Both groups had a following already in 2015 but 2016 saw more success, proving them to be a force to look out for.

TWICE (Winner)
Seventeen (Winner)

BEST INSTRUMENTAL

This award is self-explanatory, given to the song that has the best instrumental. This is something that I talk about in review and is vital to the song (though I have heard amazing acapella in the past). It seems like simple took out the award this year with the instrumental of The Rain by Ladies Code taking out the award. But don’t worry because the EDM based song Fire by BTS took out Honourable Mention.

The Rain – Ladies Code (Winner)
Fire – BTS (Honourable Mentions)

BEST COMEBACK

Comeback after comeback after comeback. It is like shifting through a needle in a haystack. Any artist could have been nominated for this but I chose VIXX as the winner for this. Their comebacks have been consistent but unique each time. Their releases have you asking what they have planned next. As for honourable mentions, BTS takes it. Given their releases in the past year, I have to say I was very impressed.

VIXX (Winner)
BTS (Honourable Mentions)

BEST SUBUNIT

It seems like subunits have dropped off the trends list this year. Actually, they have become quite rare. That being said, there have been some notable subunits in 2016. My pick for the winner is EXO-CBX, which consists of Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin. Their song, Hey Mama, was extremely catchy and fun to listen to. Honourable mention go to NCT Dream for their release of the fun and equally catchy Chewing Gum (plus they performed on hoverboards).

EXO-CBX (Winner)
NCT Dream (Honourable Mention)

BEST RAPPER

Not a big fan of rapping but I have to be honest, there are many great rappers here that show me otherwise. A few rappers in idol groups have released mixtapes this year as part of their solo work, further showing their influence on the industry. The winner I have chosen is Zico (Block B). All of his solo releases and collaborations have been extremely popular and successful in the past year. Honourable mention goes  Suga (BTS), whose mixtape and work within BTS have also amazed me this year.

Zico (Block B) (Winner)
Suga (BTS) (Honourable Mention)

BEST VOCALIST

Vocals are something that I admire the most. So, it was rather hard for me to narrow down just 5 nominees, particularly since there were more shows where vocalists of different idol groups and actors/actresses could participate in. My radar jumped when I heard the winner sing on those shows. I am talking about Sandeul (B1A4), whose voice sounded amazing in his solo work and collaborations on Duet Song Festival. I chose Mamamoo for honourable mention as their vocals are no joke, slaying with almost everything they release.

Sanduel (B1A4) (Winner)
Mamamoo (Honourable Mention)

BEST COLLABORATION

Collaborations are still popular and with SM Entertainment’s SM Station in full effect for 2016, we saw a more diverse range of collaborations that have never been seen before. My pick for the best collaboration of 2016 is Hit Me by MOBB, which is a collaboration between Mino (Winner) and Bobby (iKON). Honourable mentions go to Tiffany (SNSD) and SanE for their SM Station track, Heartbreak Hotel.

Hit Me – MOBB (Winner)
Heartbreak Hotel – Tiffany (SNSD) ft. SanE (Honourable Mention)

BEST NON-TITLE SONG

These songs include songs that were simply released as a part of the album but forgotten as it was never promoted. Some of them were performed with the title track for one week but have since not been performed. Songs that deserve some sort of recognition as well. My pick of honourable mention is I Miss You by Mamamoo, which was included in their first studio album. The winner of the best non-title song goes to Sistar with their track: String. String is actually one of the few songs that are not a title track that was replayed constantly on my phone.

I Miss You – Mamamoo (Honourable Mention)

To find the second part of the 2016 KPOPREVIEWED Awards, Click Here!!!

 

[Double Review] Remember + Paradise – S.E.S

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S.E.S have finally regrouped after 13 years for their 20th anniversary. They officially made their comeback on the 1st day of 2017, however, had previously performed on a few stages in 2016. For those who don’t know, S.E.S joins the ongoing trend of first generation groups regroup and making comebacks. S.E.S made their debut in 1997 but later disbanded in 2003. The group lineup remains the same as their early stages, which includes Bada, Eugene and Shoo. Their comeback compromises 2 title tracks, Remember and Paradise.

The group returned with two very different songs. Remember is a ballad that will remind you of the good memories. Listening to it brought a smile to my face and I am sure that it will for you as well. The melodies are really brought out nicely by their sweet and spectacular vocals. Like a few other songs I have reviewed so far, the song has a really soft sound to it, but it makes the song even better in this case. Paradise is a more upbeat song that we tend to link to S.E.S. It takes you back to those days with their retro sounds. Their vocals are also quite nice in this song and their rap is pretty good as well. I absolutely fell for this song while listening to it for the first time. I particularly thought the second half of the chorus (떳떳떳떳떳떳떳떳하게). Quite addictive. The one thing I did notice that while the group do make you remember the retro sounds, they do have elements that fit in with the modern sounds of today. And that actually goes with many of the first generation artists who are fitting in perfectly with the new sounds of generations after theirs.

Remember’s music video is a little boring to watch. It mainly consists of closeups of them singing and walking around. There are a few scenes with extras and a little boy. But those scenes carry no significance to the video besides adding another warm feel to it. That being said, that warm feeling compliments the ballad nature and the overall song. Paradise’s video is more up my alley. The ladies, in this video, shows off a more feminine and mature side. The video is made to look artsy with the different filming effects that they used. However, I feel like that took away from that mature feel that I first got. Though I am quite sure it was meant to be artsy in the first place. It is also quite stunning how they look like they haven’t aged at all. Some parts of the Paradise video reminded me of EXO’s Monster’s video, particularly those security cameras. I actually do enjoy the Paradise video quite a bit and have returned to it a number of times already.

I have yet to see a live performance for Paradise yet. Please link if there is one. But from what I could see in the video, I guess age is just a number. Because these ladies are still dancing as if they just debuted.

Remember – 7/10

Paradise – 8/10

 

[Weekly Chart] 1st Week of January 201

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Welcome back to 2017. These are the charts for the 1st week of Jan 2017.

This particular chart is a little awkward because there are a lot of songs released during my absence and just debuted on the charts. These songs will be marked with an asterix (*). These songs will appear on the charts for a limited amount of time starting this week, according to their release date. For example, Boom Boom by Seventeen only has 4 more weeks on the charts and For Life by EXO will appear on the charts for another 7 weeks).

Songs that debuted on or after 1st of Jan will follow last year’s chart and appear for 9 weeks (marked by the normal ‘new’ sign). Songs that have spent some time on the charts prior to my absence (like Mamamoo’s Decalcomanie) will simply have a coloured arrow (no numbers) showing if they have dropped or rose since the last chart at the end of November last year.

Also, a few songs should have made their debut this week. Since this week has been a little awkward and tiring for me, I did not have the time (or energy) to listen to all of them. Hence, they will start their 9 weeks from next week. My apologies. Artists in this category include NCT 127 and AKMU.

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.

1st Jan – 7th Jan 2017
Title Artist Status
1 Last Dance Big Bang *
2 Excuse Me AOA (new)
3 Bing Bing AOA (new)
4 Boom Boom Seventeen *
5 I Wish WJSN (Cosmic Girls) (new)
6 Decalcomanie Mamamoo (↓)
7 A Lie B1A4 *
8 White Night UP10TION *
9 April Story April (new)
10 FxxK It Big Bang *
11 Oh Na Na K.A.R.D *
12 I’ll Be Your Man BTOB (↓)
13 I’m Fine VICTION (↑)
14 She TOPSECRET (new)
15 Can You Feel It Pentagon *
16 For Life EXO *
17 U KNK *
18 Wonderland Jung Jessica *
19 Remember S.E.S (new)
20 The Closer VIXX (↓)
21 Bermuda Triangle Zico (Block B) ft. Crush & Dean *
22 It’s Raining Snuper (↑)
23 Ti Amo T-Ara (↓)
24 Paradise Hyorin (Sistar) (↓)
25 Highlight Seventeen (new)
26 Playing With Fire BlackPink (↓)
27 Milky Way VIXX *
28 Mystery Hyoyeon (SNSD) *
29 Paradise S.E.S (new)
30 Rising Sun Beatwin *

[Review] I Wish – WJSN (Cosmic Girls)

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Cosmic Girls, otherwise known as WJSN, have made their return to the stage with I Wish. They made their debut in 2016 with MoMoMo. A few months later, the girls made their first comeback with Secret.

I Wish, to me, is a combination of both their debut song and Secret. It had the seriousness of Secret but also the cutesy and brightness of MoMoMo. It is also a perfect song to lead from Secret. Honestly, it is a song, that as you listen, it gets better and better. Let’s look at my criticisms of the song. The sounds in the song aren’t hard. Nothing is overpowering, even the vocal work is performed at a higher pitch than their past songs. But that is a problem. It makes the song forgettable. It just made the song fluffy and too light on the ears. The rapping was okay. It’s just everything was sung at a high pitch and then Exy’s deep rapping voice comes in. Can’t really blame her for that, though. I also watched those line distribution videos for the song and it seems like Yeonjung is more favoured. I like her voice and all, but I feel like she is overshadowing some of the group’s other vocalists (slowly remembering names). I know for a fact, through this song, that the other members have great vocals. Let’s look at the highlights of the song. A moderately catchy chorus, a very upbeat (and interesting) instrumental for this season and nice use of autotune during the chorus.

The music video is a mixture of weird and Secret. My assumption with the video is that it is about dreams or our imagination. Only dreams would appear that wacky. And since the song is called I Wish, it makes senses. Kind of. It would make more sense if it was titled as I Dream. Anyway….. There is one thing I noticed about this video and Secret. It’s just they zoom out a lot during the choreography scenes. There are some closeups, but when I watched this video, it was the only thing I could remember from it. For this video, when they zoomed back in, they went quite close to the girls, which made it feel somewhat uncomfortable. Maybe I am just being a little harsh and naive there. Moving along, I do hope Cosmic Girls continue with these videos. They make you think about what is going on here and I always return to try to figure out what is going on.

The dance is okay. Not that impressive, but matching with the cutesy and bright vibes I mentioned earlier.

Rating – 7/10 (This review was meant to be released a few days back. But it has been so hot where I live, I could not function properly).

 

[Review] Boom Boom – Seventeen

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Seventeen made their comeback at the start of December with their title track Boom Boom and 3rd mini album, Make A Wish. They previously made their comebacks in 2016 with Pretty U and Very Nice, which earned them more fans and allowed the group to become more well known.

The song is pretty good. There are parts of the song which I thought were pretty cool. I love S.Coups’ rap in the song and thought DK’s adlibs at the end were quite cool. The song had that catchy vibe with the continuous “Boom Boom” repetition. It seems like the song was designed for the Hip-Hop Unit. Their vocals fit the song more than anyone else in the song. I just felt the song didn’t string together as well. The slowdowns didn’t match with the rest of the song and Dino’s rock part caught me off guard (that also didn’t match with the slowdown, but fitted with the rest of the song). It was another example of songs where there are a lot jammed into one. Also, the song lacked impact. The song just didn’t live up to the “Boom Boom” title. More “Boom Boom” please! I know the group is big, but something needs to be done about the line distribution. The same members keep on getting overshadowed, which is quite unfortunate. But besides those thoughts, I still enjoyed listening to the song.

The video raised one question for me. But what was in that box that led them to do the expedition? Like anything could have been inside that box. And I don’t know if that mission board (on the wall) could help that much either. Tells them what they will need to expect to get to it. I love it how everything is all thought out and going perfectly, until Mingyu steps on a hidden trap and screws everything up. But then they run from the explosions, with smiles on their faces. It looks like they are having fun, rather than worrying about getting blown to bits. But nonetheless, the video was very cool and fun to watch.

The dance is where I will be praising the guys the most today. The dance is quite awesome and looks cool. I love the final chorus with DK showing a little Michael Jackson influence and everyone else circling him. The start looks like a lot of practice for the level of precision. One person too late could make it look like a failure. S.Coup’s rap part fits perfectly with the song. (That final sentence was meant to be joined with another sentence. I just don’t know how to integrate it in anymore).

Rating – 8/10

[Review] Excuse Me – AOA

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AOA has made their return to the stage with their first album, Angel’s Knock. Their first album includes two title tracks: Bing Bing (released earlier) and Excuse Me (currently being reviewed). This is their first Korean comeback since Good Luck, released back in May last year.  Since then, Youkyung (drummer) left the group and the girls released a Japanese album as well.

While Bing Bing failed to live up to my expectations, Excuse Me does just what Bing Bing did not do. The song itself is amazing, catchy and very addictive to listen to. The chorus was the highlight of the entire song. The song brings you back the days where the disco and retro vibes were the strongest. Mix in a hint of electronic influences to give that retro a more modern, rather than outdated feel and the song really hits a home run. The vocals here, along with the instrumental are blaring perfectly. None of those two let you down when you listen to the song. However, Jimin’s rap sequence did ruin the song for me. For once it wasn’t Jimin’s rapping but rather the unfortunate mash-up attempt of EDM in the song. The producer should have kept with that disco and retro vibe for her rapping. But besides that, the song is amazing and it is a song that makes you wanting more.

The girls go for the detective concept with the Excuse Me music video. All of them share the mission of finding a mysterious guy whose hat is always tipped at an angle. If that doesn’t shout shady to everyone else, I don’t what would. I know you probably think I hate Jimin because I always have something to say about her. But, the way she walks out with the cup of water splashing all over the place gave made me nervous of the cup of water. Hahahaha.. What am I talking about? My other problem with the video is that Seolhyun’s dress doesn’t look like it comes from that era. Rather, it looks too modern. But besides that, the video has a unique concept and it looks quite cool.

While I did like the Bing Bing dance, I am not much of a fan. The small twirling around and prancing-like steps really don’t look mature or sensual. Instead, it looks cutesy and doesn’t go well with the concept. However, it is quite memorable, to be honest.

Rating – 7/10