Year: 2017

[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

[Review] Bing Bing – 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 (the one being reviewed) and Excuse Me (will be released later). 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.

Bing Bing is like an upgraded version of Like A Cat, released back in 2013. The chorus gave me those feels and sound similar enough to make their previous song pop into my head. There is that sensual feeling to it. Bing Bing is, however, more retro sounding and attempts to appeal to that genre of pop music. But it doesn’t hit the right targets. Instead, I think the has a messy element to it. The first part of Chanmi’s rap was pretty good, then they repeated it. Then they chopped her part up and made it choppy and jagged. Jimin’s vocals throughout were okay. That whininess that I used to complain about is back. I don’t know about her long note in the bridge. A part of me thinks it is interesting, while the other part thinks just doesn’t work at all. It sounds like those long sounding monotone “beeps” you would imitate when you are younger to act as if you are swearing or cursing. There isn’t anything in the song that makes it appealing or makes me want to return to replay the song. The vocals are okay and there isn’t anything else worth talking about.

The video is okay. I like the magical element and how everything seemed to shot on the one or two sets that appeared in the video. Like magic in general, I question the validity of the magic tricks. But then again, thanks to the power of editing and CGI nowadays, we have the Bing Bing music video. The video is quite simple and the girls went for a very sensual but classy look at the same time. Everything looks retro, fitting the song quite nicely. But like the song, it just lacks the appeal and isn’t memorable as you would expect it to be. But if you are a fan of the girls of AOA and their sexier side, do check out both Bing Bing and Excuse Me.

The dance makes sense. “It’s dizzy. Bing Bing. In My Head. Bing Bing“. And then they do motions around the head as if they had a headache or dizzy because of a guy. The dance itself looked quite cool overall. I know it is only the start of the year, but it sets the standard high. The girls themselves looked spectacular performing this song.

Rating – 5.5/10

 

 

[Review] FxxK It – Big Bang

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Big Bang has made their long awaited comeback with their latest album, M.A.D.E. The album consists of all the song released in 2015, such as Loser and Bae Bae (just to name a few), along with 3 new tracks. This is their final release as a 5-member group as T.O.P will be enlisting in the near future. This is the review for just FxxK It. A review for Last Dance was released earlier, which you can access by clicking here.

Compared to Last Dance, I don’t fancy this song as much. However, I still like it. There were a few things that did leave me a little bored with this song. The song fits the party setting quite nicely and has certain parts have a nice kick to it, giving the song a pumping feel. While the rest of the world continues to praise G-Dragon’s rap, I think of the opposite. I don’t have a problem with his rapping. It is just his part feel a little empty. I am a guy who enjoys listening to vocals more than rapping. But we all know how epic GD’s rapping can be (you would have to be in denial if that is the case). So I was a little disappointed. T.O.P’s fitted perfectly with the song.  However, Taeyang’s and Daesung’s part built up quite nicely to the chorus (and in my opinion, did the song a huge favour). The chorus was quite simple but still catchy, like all Big Bang’s choruses. Singing along to it every time it plays. Seungri was left with the bridge and he did an amazing job. My other disappointment with the song (as a whole) felt a little repetitive. It was more prominent here than other songs because I felt it most at my two favourite parts (Daesung and Taeyang’s). But besides all of that it is still a solid party song when you just want to go and have a good time.

Many people are comparing the music video to We Like 2 Party and I do agree with this. Just everything looks more planned out and staged. This music video gives a nice contrast to Last Dance and shows the more typical side to Big Bang that we are used to. Which is the crazy and fun side, like they made a disco into a club within seconds. Just moments before, they were peddling down a market on a 5 seater bike, with a bunch of shop keepers (mainly old folks) standing around awkwardly. Besides that, there really isn’t much to say. I am not disappointed with the video in any way. Everything matched the song and lyrics of the song.

Rating – 7.5/10

[Review] Last Dance – Big Bang

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Big Bang has made their long awaited comeback with their latest album, M.A.D.E. The album consists of all the song released in 2015, such as Loser and Bae Bae (just to name a few), along with 3 new tracks. This is their final release as a 5-member group as T.O.P will be enlisting in the near future. This is the review for just Last Dance. A review for FxxK It will be released very soon.

Despite being released in December, this song leaves a long last impression on you. First time listening to the song, I was blown away. And now it is a song that I am wanting to listen to every time I plug my headphones in. Big Bang has a few excellent ballads up their sleeve, but there is something a little extra with this one that makes it one of their best. I think it might be the circumstance (impending military enlistments) that the band finds themselves in, which gives the song a more emotional and powerful feel. The vocals in this song are superb. Every member takes part in the song vocally, ending with a small yet deep sounding rap sequence by T.O.P. I personally think this would have to be one of their best songs (vocally) ever. The song has a very nice, soft piano instrumental as well. It added to that emotional side that I mentioned earlier and also gave the song a nice swaying effect, which I love. To me, there are no flaws in the song. Nothing is missing, overdone or underwhelming. Everything feels just right with this track.

The music video is visually stunning. Per usual, YG Entertainment did their thing when it comes to music videos. The video fits the song perfectly. You will be surprised how smashing everything and giving the sets a post-apocalyptic feel goes hand in hand with most ballads from a YG point of view (Check out Love Song by Big Bang for reference). I love the cinematography in this video. Everything is shot on an angle and I think it gives a nice effect to the video. G-Dragon’s reunion with his girlfriend for that one last dance at the ending during T.O.P’s rap sequence is quite haunting. But still really something that adds to the video. Someone should just change Taeyang’s hair for crying out loud. I am not a big fan of dreadlocks (refer to any review with someone who has dreadlocks).

Rating – 10/10