June 2019 – Page 3 – KPOPREVIEWED

[Review] Follow – Yunho (TVXQ)

June 13, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged TVXQ, U-Know Yunho (TVXQ)1 Comment

While I have only completed one review for a release last week, let’s take a break for one of today’s releases. Today marks the official solo debut for Yunho, one of the two members of the TVXQ duo and has been active in the industry since 2003. The title track. Follow, is featured on the artist’s first ever Korean solo album as well. Previous solo singles from Yunho that I have reviewed are Champagne and Drop, which were all special singles a part of SM Station.

Right off the bat, I find Follow to be extremely fitting into a style of music that I listen to. I find the instrumentation that kicks off the track to be mysterious and dramatic, which are all things that I am drawn to. I really like the bass element in this track, which really makes the song sound so punchy and deep. I think the vocals are a tad weaker. I thought Yunho showed great vocals, with that odd growl in this voice and that really nice display of a high note at the end of the track. Rather, I think it was the integration of the vocals into the electronic side of the song that failed him. But that was only for the verses. I found they did a good job of incorporating this voice during other parts of the song. That raspier and electronically filtered background vocals that appeared during the hooks of the track were quite fitting and gave an added texture to the track. I think overall, I find the song to be interesting and engaging. Whether if I find myself to be a fan, I guess we have to see with a few more listens, even though it ticks off a few of my interests.

I think when it comes to Yunho and TVXQ in general, a dark concept is definitely a must. What makes this music video stand out is the fact there is a futuristic vibe to it, which I found to be very cool. Per usual, I don’t have any clue on what is happening in the music video. I did see that Yunho may have awakened some motorcyclist spirit in this futuristic world but I hardly doubt that would be the plotline of the video (i.e. a little paranormal thrown in the mix). But this dark concept has me interested and I guess I need to rewatch a few more times to really grasp a plotline to it.

Per usual, Yunho doesn’t disappoint with his choreography. My thoughts are all based on what I saw in the music video. I find his moves to be extremely stylish in this comeback. ‘There is also some attitude in this performance, which makes it very worthwhile to check out whenever it is performed on stage.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 7.6/10

[Review] Boogie Up – WJSN (Cosmic Girls)

June 12, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged Cosmic Girls, WJSN6 Comments

As promised, we will be re-focusing on some releases from the previous week. And I think we should start off with what I consider to be my most favourite release from the last week. WJSN made their return last Wednesday with Boogie Up, their latest title track from their very first special Summer album, For The Summer. The Chinese members of the group, Cheng Xiao, Mei Qi and Xuan Yi, remain absent for this set of promotions due to overseas schedules.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when it came to Boogie Up but I felt an overwhelmingly strong expectation for disappointment. I honestly do not know why that was the case, as I pretty much enjoyed all of their previous tracks. But rest assured, Boogie Up is a gem that I cannot stop replaying. It is a Summer track with a retro sound. I found the track to be quite fun-sounding, very energetic and had a fair amount of cuteness, which was all elements that made me smile and want to dance to the track. It is super catchy, especially with the ‘Boogie Boogie Up‘ hook in the chorus, which my mind begs me to continually replay for. I like how straightforward their chorus was, with only the vibrant instrumentation and hook at the forefront of the track. I liked the verses as they had a nice flow and melody. Vocally, the song is sound. Dawon really got an opportunity to feature more in the track, which made me even more happy (she has an interesting voice). Though, I felt like they could have gone with a little more kick for the rap sequence. Mainly to fit Exy’s voice more neatly into the track.

Like most Summer seasoned music videos (as I have been mentioning in the last few days), the music video shows the members having a lot of fun in the Sun and heat. With the sun shining brightly, vibrant colours and the fact that the music video is set on the beach, I think this has to be the best Summer themed music video thus far this year. Other than that, it is rather typical.

I thought it was a really good performance to watch. I really like the ‘Boogie Boogie Up‘ move they have at the start of the chorus. Thought it was very cute and fitting with WJSN’s more youthful image.

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

[Weekly Chart] 1st Week of June 2019

June 12, 2019Posted in Weekly ChartsLeave a comment

As seen from my reappearance yesterday, I am back and ready to roll! And you may have noticed that I didn’t stick to the weekly post schedule for the past week, including the Weekly KPOP Chart post, which I have always published on Sunday. Things should return to the normal schedule over the weekend. But before I am able to ‘get back on track’, I need to post the Weekly Charts that I missed out from this past Sunday. It is, as you can tell based on the title/feature image, for the first week of June 2019.

Topping the charts once again this week is Oh My Girl’s The Fifth Season, which previously reached the topped the charts for the second week of May 2019. And as expected from last week, CLC edges closer with Me, to the top by sliding into this week’s second position. Last week’s reigning ‘Top Song’ was EXID’s Me & You, and they dropped down to the third position this week. GOT7 remains steady with Eclipse in the fourth week for the third week in a row, while Cherry Bullet’s Really Really returns to the Top 5 this week by completing the Top 5 for the week.

	2nd June – 8th June 2019
	Title	Artist	Status
1	The Fifth Season (SSFWL)	Oh My Girl	(▲ 2)
2	Me	CLC	(▲ 3)
3	Me & You	EXID	(▼ 2)
4	Eclipse	GOT7	(=)
5	Really Really	Cherry Bullet	(▲ 7)
6	Superhuman	NCT 127	(▲ 2)
7	Boogie Up	WJSN	(new)
8	Begin Again	Kim Jae Hwan	(▲ 2)
9	Run Away	Teen Top	(new)
10	Fun	Fromis_9	(new)
11	Beautiful Days	Lovelyz	(▼ 4)
12	No One	Lee Hi ft. B.I (iKON)	(▲ 2)
13	One Fine Day	Sandeul (B1A4)	(new)
14	Feedback	Ladies Code	(▼ 3)
15	Hollywood	AB6IX	(▲ 2)
16	Hold On Me	Nam Woohyun (Infinite)	(▲ 31)
17	Ah Yeah	Winner	(▼ 4)
18	Fancy	TWICE	(▲ 10)
19	Breathe	AB6IX	(▼ 17)
20	Twilight	ONEUS	(▼ 11)
21	Focus	Kim Dong Han	(=)
22	UNDER COVER	A.C.E	(▼ 16)
23	Runaway	Eric Nam	(▼ 5)
24	Spotlight	1THE9	(▲ 8)
25	Beautiful	TARGET	(▲ 4)
26	Picky Picky	Weki Meki	(▲ 14)
27	From Now	VERIVERY	(▲ 16)
28	Boy With Luv	BTS	(▲ 14)
29	Bet Bet	NU’EST	(▼ 14)
30	Bloom Bloom	The Boyz	(=)

Songs leaving the charts this week are:

Boy With Luv – BTS
Hocus Pocus – BVNDIT
Blossom – Eunha (Gfriend) & Ravi (VIXX)
Freesm – HASHTAG [Leaving Charts Early]
Man On The Dance Floor – Stephanie [Leaving Charts Early]
Tu Eres – NEWKIDD [Leaving Charts Early]
Illusion – Jenyer [Leaving Charts Early]
Rings On My Ears – ONEWE [Leaving Charts Early]
Aewol-ri – Kyuhyun (Super Junior) [Leaving Charts Early]
Leave It – N.Flying [Leaving Charts Early]

Thank you once again and I hope to see you all back this coming Sunday for the next Weekly Chart Post!

[Review] Heart Sign – Ong Seong Woo

June 11, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged Ong Seong Woo5 Comments

We have heard music releases from all the members of Wanna One since their disbandment, besides Ong Seong Woo and Kang Daniel. It seems like we will be seeing the latter artist sometime in the coming months, with promises of an impending debut. Things will change today as we move Ong Seong Woo to the list of music releases, who has been notably absent from the music scene since the disbandment. Technically, this isn’t a solo debut, but rather a special single release, joining hands with Pepsi, who recently kicked off their ‘The Love of Summer‘ project with Eunha and Ravi’s collaboration, Blossom.

Listening to the track, the song brought me back to memories of Wanna One debut track, Energetic. It had a similar beat and felt very nostalgic. It isn’t clear if it was meant to be intentional. But given how they managed to slide in the line ‘We Always Wanna One‘, it seems like they are doing it intentionally. However, it isn’t a direct copy of Energetic. This nostalgia was only present during the chorus of the song. The verses and its buildup, while it still follows the electronic dance pop style like Energetic, is quite different. I appreciate this difference to an extent, as I did find those sections to be quite bland in comparison to the chorus and didn’t really feel like it was contributing much. Seongwoo’s vocals were nice. I think he did a good job of making the song feel very dynamic with his vocals. The song does suffer from a linear nature as it sounded so alike from start to end. I feel like this could have easily been avoided with a rap sequence. But overall, ticks for a little throwback to memory lane.

I don’t know who in their right mind would drop food on the ground over images of a beach and ignore that array of fast food on the table. But I guess, Ong Seong Woo had to be completely bored out of his mind to do that. Hahahaha… But he solves that boredom by going to the beach to take images and join up with some friends to have a good time (a common theme in a lot of these Summertime music videos). I think it was a nice video. Of course, Pepsi was on full display, while the emphasis on the blue in the sea, sky and clothes was definitely noticeable. But they made it all balance by featuring a fair amount of yellow (through the sand and beach hut).

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7.4/10

[Review] Wave – ATEEZ

June 11, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged ATEEZ3 Comments

And I am back! Thank you for putting up with my disappearance. Without any more delays, let’s jump right back into the review grind! I thought I start with more recent releases and ‘work my way’ backwards. The first artist up is ATEEZ, who returned yesterday with WAVE and ILLUSION. As I will be trying to catching up on many reviews as possible, I have decided to review WAVE first and return to ILLUSION another day. We last saw ATEEZ through their Say My Name and HALA HALA promotions earlier this year in January.

WAVE features that tropical sound that is heavily overused by industry due to its perfect fit for the Summer season. And while that could be a good cue to start rolling eyes, the song does feature a number of great elements that really throws out that belief of being ‘another’ tropical house track. The first has to be the inclusion of ATEEZ’s intense style that we have seen from day dot for the group. While this isn’t as heavy or serious, I find the song having a good balance between their serious nature and the lightheartedness of the bright season. The second has to be the guitar, which I find really refreshing. It adds to the lightness of the track and really drives the song melodically, which isn’t something I found happening that much in their previous tracks. The vocals and rapping is the third element that makes me enjoy the song. The vocals add to the melody-driven side of the song, while the rapping adds extra texture to the song, which I find to be equally as enjoyable. Overall, WAVE is a nice track. Sure, it turns towards something typical but the group manages to make it one of their own.

When you think of the title WAVE, the first thing you will think of is the beach. And well, we get fairly close to a beach for this music video. While I think a small section of the video is set by a beach, the main ‘wave scenes’ we observe are along the coastline. And I think the coastline is at a place that has featured heavily in past music videos. On top of that, the video showcases the guys having fun at a local supermarket and at a skate park. Not exactly an eventful video when you watch it but definitely quite fitting for the song’s atmosphere and the season they are in.

If their past performances had intensity, then the accompanying choreography for WAVE has personality and character. All smiles throughout the performance, which is a little foreign for ATEEZ in my books. But I like how fun they make the dance, especially with those facial expressions and smiles.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10

[Review] Run Away – Teen Top

June 5, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged Teen Top1 Comment

Making their comeback today is Teen Top with Run Away. As much as I enjoyed Teen Top back when they peaked with their more popular releases, I find that they have dropped considerably in the competitive climate of the KPOP industry. I don’t mean this in a bad way as I find their persistence to be a very motivating influence in my current life. But I cannot simply deny that Teen Top’s tracks are moving towards a ‘typical and mediocre’ description, which was the case for both of their title tracks last year. Let’s seen if they can change the description this time around.

I will get straight to the point. The song suffers the same issue. It is typical and mediocre. Best words for me to really described the song in a nutshell. There were some moments that did grab my attention but the effect did not last long. While I did like the burst of energy that the drop to the chorus gave us, I felt like the buildup towards the drop was quite underwhelming. Hence they couldn’t successfully extract the drop’s full potential. The track does have a beat suitable for the Summer season. It goes for a tropical house instrumental, which we all know is heavily relied upon during this season. I thought the vocals were nice but they don’t go that extra mile. Maybe some power vocals could have lifted the song up to a whole new level? It does sound like I am pointing out something good and then finding the bad in it. But that isn’t the case when it comes to the rapping. C.A.P sounds different. Not a bad different but a very intriguing good different. I personally thought his rapping was probably the song’s most dynamic point. It is clean and it diverts away from the rest of the track (in my opinion). Unfortunately, Run Away does have some negative and positive points but it is a fair track overall.

Music video wise, I thought it was rather colourful, which earns big ticks from me. The colourful nature of the video is also another fitting aspect of the Summer season. Other than that, I don’t have much else to say about the video. It is mainly made up of closeup shots of the members and choreography scenes. I felt like I have already poked their song enough, so to do that to another part of their comeback may rub off as if I have no soul and do not like this comeback at all.

I think the saving grace of this comeback is the performance. I think the best of the performance has to be the powerful chorus. It is fierce and definitely demonstrates that they are still capable of strong dance moves. I do notice some things based on their showcase performance. But I am hoping they are more one-off occurrences or because of the way the video is shot.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 7.5/10
Overall Rating – 6.3/10

[Review] One Fine Day – Sandeul (B1A4)

June 4, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged B1A4, Sandeul (B1A4)2 Comments

Making his solo return yesterday was Sandeul with One Fine Day. It has been a while since we heard from Sandeul or B1A4 for that matter. The group went through some changes recently, with Jinyoung and Baro (the group’s most popular members) departing WM Entertainment (which leaves a very large question mark on top of the group’s name) and CNU’s military enlistment. Hence their lack of members has left B1A4 absent from the public. Sandeul’s last comeback was his solo debut, which occurred back in 2016 with Stay As You Are.

It is no surprise to me that that One Fine Day is a ballad. That is also no surprise, as well, coming from Sandeul, who is quite well known for his vocals in the industry. One Fine Day has a straightforward ballad instrumental, consisting of mainly piano which builds up to a climatic classical infused track. Based on that description, there really isn’t anything fresh or new about the track. The one thing does stand out is Sandeul’s voice for me. I find his vocals to be a little different from before and this becomes a drawing point for me. I find the melody to be soothing and I can feel some emotions creeping up on you towards the end of the track. As much as I think it is decent, the track does seem to drag on, mainly because it is 5 minutes long (which tends to be uncommon in the industry). Decent yes but I don’t think it will be a song that I would continuous replay due to its length. I feel like multiple listens will make this song extremely heavy on me and that wouldn’t be a ‘soothing’ feeling.

The music video falls in line with other relationship centred ballads. But it is one of those rare cases where the majority of the story is there and you don’t have to guess your way through it. Sandeul and the actress meet in a very empty theatre and their relationship blossomed from there. I find this to be a cute relationship and their interactions depict them as a genuine couple. I think along the way, their relationship does seem to become lost and they end up breaking up. While I think she tried to break up in a ‘clean fashion’, he does end up chasing after her, leaving her in tears. I also feel like the bus stop scene was after their breakup and they go onto one last bus trip into the sunset (she doesn’t smile when he smiles and he takes the bus back during the nighttime in tears). I think this indicates that he let her go but tried his best to be cheerful for her. Like these small details and thought it was a nice yet typical story.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.4/10

[Review] No One – Lee Hi ft. B.I (iKON)

June 3, 2019Posted in KPOP, ReviewsTagged Lee Hi2 Comments

Probably one of the biggest comebacks of last week was Lee Hi’s long-awaited return. And unfortunately, I missed it and delayed the review until today. Not to blame other people but I felt like if the comeback didn’t seem too sudden (Her teasers did come out of nowhere for me at least), I would have planned it into my agenda somehow. No One is Lee Hi’s first comeback since 2016 after the release of My Star. Since its release last Thursday, the song has topped charts all over South Korea, showcasing her power has remained the same despite an almost three-year break.

To me, No One starts off with a decent reggae beat. I did feel like the song did lose that particular colour that we normally associate with reggae as we progressed along with the song. While I think that sound compliments Lee Hi’s well-known vocals well, this ‘ loss of colour’ does make way for B.I’s rap feature. It gives the song a blast of intensity, which I think was much needed. Particularly after choruses that did not really seem to be captivating and were significantly underwhelming in my opinion. And it is because of this, I feel like the song hasn’t had the opportunity to stick into my head. It isn’t memorable and it doesn’t have me wanting to replay it. Based on what I have written, I think it is safe to say that I am not exactly into the song. The only thing (at this very stage) that has me interested is the fact that Lee Hi sounds like she curses in the song. ‘Officially’, I think she is singing a Korean word, but there is no doubt that about the presence of the ‘Shit’ in the song (even the English lyrics say so!). I am surprised about the lack of publicity or comments about this.

Not exactly sure what is going on in this video. But Lee Hi seems to be playing a cat with big dreams of falling in love and going on an adventure. While I do think the video is very YG, I felt the video to be extremely bland. I feel like the video is a good reflection of how expressionless Lee Hi’s face, as we have seen throughout her career. On top of that, we are treated to a lot of it throughout the video, as it did a good job of portraying some mystery. Lee Hi looks very pretty and mature in this video, which I think everyone is appreciating. I am not sure about B.I’s hair though. I did catch me off guard and looked messy (I talk from experience as I have a similar shaggy-like haircut as well at the moment).

From memory, Lee Hi doesn’t participate much in the choreography aspect of her performances. So it was nice to see her participate during the chorus. Though, it did seem obvious that she was more focused on live singing and not really perfecting the moves. As for the dance moves, I felt that they were quite bland, channelling the rest of the comeback.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 6.5/10
Overall Rating – 6.1/10

[Weekly Chart] 5th Week of May 2019

June 2, 2019Posted in KPOP, Weekly ChartsLeave a comment

Welcome back to the Weekly Charts post for this week. As you can see, reviews this week from me were probably rarer than some group’s comebacks. Hahahaha… I have been just loaded with assignments from the university. And while I have wrapped some up, I still got a few to go on with. But I do have the week off, so I will try to do better this week. But then again, I should study for my exams…

Topping the charts this week is, once again, EXID’s Me & You. As this is their last song for a while, let’s hope they do not keep us waiting for long and that they can top charts with some new songs soon! Rising to the second position is AB6IX’s Breathe, the group’s formal debut track released last week. Oh My Girl’s The Fifth Season (SSFWL) and GOT7’s Eclipse remains steady this week in the third and fourth positions respectively. Finally, the final song in this week’s Top 5 is CLC’s Me, which I expect to rise further on next week’s chart!

For more of the charts, scroll down below!

	26th May – 1st Jun 2019
	Title	Artist	Status
1	Me & You	EXID	(=)
2	Breathe	AB6IX	(▲ 9)
3	The Fifth Season (SSFWL)	Oh My Girl	(=)
4	Eclipse	GOT7	(=)
5	Me	CLC	(new)
6	UNDER COVER	A.C.E	(▲ 11)
7	Beautiful Days	Lovelyz	(▲ 3)
8	Superhuman	NCT 127	(▲ 1)
9	Twilight	ONEUS	(new)
10	Begin Again	Kim Jae Hwan	(▼ 8)
11	Feedback	Ladies Code	(▲ 7)
12	Really Really	Cherry Bullet	(▼ 7)
13	Ah Yeah	WINNER	(▲ 8)
14	No One	Lee Hi ft. B.I (iKON)	(new)
15	Bet Bet	NU’EST	(▼ 2)
16	SSFW	Chanyeol (EXO)	(▲ 35)
17	Hollywood	AB6IX	(▼ 1)
18	Runaway	Eric Nam	(▲ 11)
19	Violeta	IZ*ONE	(▼ 5)
20	Unspoken Words	DAVICHI	(▲ 6)
21	Focus	Kim Dong Han	(▲ 20)
22	You’re My	Jung Daehyun	(▲ 10)
23	Dramatic	BVNDIT	(▼ 4)
24	Spring Again	Golden Child	(▲ 19)
25	You	Xiumin (EXO)	(▲ 25)
26	Kill This Love	BLACKPINK	(▼ 2)
27	Spring Memories	N.Flying	(▲ 24)
28	Fancy	TWICE	(▲ 3)
29	Beautiful	TARGET	(▼ 4)
30	Bloom Bloom	The Boyz	(▼ 10)