Casual reviews of KPOP songs, music videos & dances
Author: kpopreviewed
Hi, my name is Tony and I am the man behind the site, kpopreviewed. Currently an university student who wants to introduce people to KPOP and if you are already into KPOP, different groups and bands.
For a while, we all thought that Choa would be officially make her solo debut with Flame, but rather she is only credited as an artist featuring on a project album. Which is somewhat disappointing because Choa was good vocals that managed to wow audiences last year when she participated in King Of Masked Singer. Flame is a remake of a song released by Jang Hye Jin back in 2006 which featured Gary from Leessang (or Running Man). Unfortunately, Choa’s single did not make much of an impact when it was released (even though the anticipation was high) and was sadly forgotten.
And I am going to be truthful, I was one of the people who have forgotten about the song. You all probably know that I am a major sucker when it comes to ballads, falling for them almost instantaneously. This ballad, even though the melody was great and the song had me swaying for it, did nothing to satisfy the need for the song to be addictive or somewhat catch my attention to continue going back to the song to listen to it. The orchestral instrumental was really good, but the drums that were playing throughout the song were either overpowering or had the bass turned up quite a bit. The original song is said to be quite emotional, carrying the sorrow feeling. Choa did an excellent job of carrying the same feeling over for the remake, but as I said before, failed to make the song more appealing to the listeners.
The music video is amazing. I don’t think any other video would have suited the song anymore. We see a vampire, who used to be a young girl and at certain times can become deadly and kill people. Since becoming a vampire, she cannot go into the sun and hence sets up all these lights and candles in her room to remind her of the memories of the past. Of course it is not enough and she finally decides to venture out into the sun, even though she knows she will die. I can say that the her memories of the sun and light are like lovers who want to be with each other, but cannot due to some sort of barrier. Essentially, the flame is still there to rekindle their love but it is up to the people to make that flame become a fire. That is how I interpreted the video, and thought it was rather nice. I love it how Choa was singing in the caged area in which the girl had kept as a place to keep her prey. It adds that extra excitement to the video. How it does? I sat here wondering if Choa was the prey.
The package was great, but if the song appealed to me a lot more and was not easily forgotten, it would have been perfect. 8.5/10
One of my goals for this is to review more Japanese songs. And it has been a goal that I have been trying to achieve for the past few years. While I spent some time reviewing only a limited amount of Japanese songs during the first six months of last year, I barely did any reviews in the second half of the year. But I did take some time to discover new artists from Japan and hopefully, when they release something this year, I will jump onto it and review it. SHINee made their comeback to Japan after promoting in Korea last year with a brand new album. D.D.D was the title track for the album, which had the same name.
The song is like a rock and dance mash up which sounds pretty good. There is a lot of auto-tune to start off the song and that was a major turn off for me. But I stayed around and the rest of the track is great. Just that auto-tuned was too excessive in my opinion. When I first heard the chorus, I was a little torn. The genre of the chorus seemed to be a little different compared to the rest of the song. I personally like the chorus now, just sometimes when I listen to the song over and over again, it just feels a little disjointed and does not match well with the rest of the song. Vocals were not that strong in this song, but it suited the instrumental. Minho’s rapping was bomb as hell in the song. Personally, this sound goes well with SHINee in my opinion. If they went with this sound in Korea, I think it would be a worthwhile move for them. Come to the think of it, a Korean version would be nice. Overall, I think this is a great song, but it took a few listen to take everything in and consolidate different aspects of the song.
The music video had a more edgier feel to it. More than what we are used to. The video is quite dark and suits that rock theme that the song had going for. I feel like the solo shots of the members where they were standing in the corridors or in tight places were the best part of the video. The dance set seemed generic and boring. Not exactly fond of the holograms of the members that appeared in the video. It just looked like their souls were leaving their own bodies. And of course, everyone in the comments on the video is enjoyed the SHINee times 2. Why ahve one SHINee when you get the option of two. I also like it how they have them positioned as if they were having some duel or dance off. The ending was somewhat dramatic. Fire setting the alarm off, chair is being smashed, TV is being smashed, Minho ripping this shirt (per usual) and Onew with his gas…. I had to. Could not resist.
The dancing was not that impressive. There was a lot of bouncing and all, but beside that, there was not much to comment on.
First Japanese review of the year and I promise you: more will be coming. For D×D×D, 7/10.
This is iKON’s second song for their full debut album. Check out their other release: Dumb & Dumber, which was has been reviewed. But on with the review.
I really don’t know how to start off this review and I tried my best to avoid starting it this way. But, I just can’t think of any other way to start off the review. So, compared to Dumb & Dumber, this song was a let down. “If you ever loved somebody, say yeah” sounds like an awkward start to an awkward song. I don’t know, but there are more creative ways to get the audience into the song and have them participate. The song has the rock and hip hop vibe to it, which sounds nice, but sounds so generic. There really is nothing that sets this song a part from the other songs that you get throughout KPOP. It seems boring and quite unappealing to me. Beside Junhoe’s vocals, I feel like everyone else had to strain their voices to get it into the way the vocals are presented in the song. Once again, that complete halt in the song is back to haunt us. Only once, but damn, it ruined the flow of the song for me. But other good points of the song: it is great head banging music.
The people in the video, looked so scary with their colourful socks on top of their head. I know YG has a habit of covering their dancer’s faces and all, but this just looks so low budget and slapped together at the last minute. The video fits in well with the song. The boys are singing what happened to us and the video showed the boys and girls (or their partners) battling out. In what seemed to nearly escalate into a food fight, a massive fist fight and also a little bit of dodge-ball. Ahhh dodge-ball. It has been years since I last played that game. All them painful memories of always having the ball slammed into my nose/face. The video was nice and reflected the song pretty well.
I am glad they got rid of those socks for the live performance. Much cringe worthy. Beside that, I could not see much of the dance. The camera work manage to avoid most of the dance and filmed all the parts where they are avoiding the girls and running around. I don’t have much to say about the dance until I see more.
Quite disappointed with this particular song. To me Dumb & Dumber was much better. 5.5/10
Which iKON song did you like more? I have decided to include all of their promoted songs to in the below poll, so vote away.
Opening the 2016 year with fresh new reviews of acts that either made their comeback in the later half of December 2015. For those who don’t know, I stopped reviews for newly released songs after the 15th of December and went on to focus on End of Year charts, the BOBs and also finish the year off with some reviews that I managed to miss out. iKON is one of those groups that released their official full debut album after the 15th.
I think I can now safely say that iKON is a group that I think has improved greatly with each release. Their debut wasn’t that great in my standards, but every single song they have released so far has shown a new talented side of them to me. This song feels like a party anthem made specifically for the boys. Their rapping and vocals match the song really well. Not exactly fond of the complete halts that the song has throughout it. While they ahve their charm, I also think that something can be used to fill that void. Don’t take me the wrong way, there are some songs out there that need the halts or utilise the silence really well, but this isn’t one of them (at least that is what I think). The song is catchy and addictive. I have a feeling that this song can become trendy as it has that feel to it. The same feel I get when I listen to viral songs like Psy’s Gangnam Style. Like the title suggest, the song sounds wacky and for some reason, completely out of context for a YG group. But they manage to keep to their roots and style.
Every single time I watch the video, I get a feel of the weird and wacky side that Big Bang gave us in Bae Bae last year. Their previous releases have all been serious or light-hearted, but this. Only wacky and crazy can describe this video. The video was well shot and had a great concept to it. I just feel like for some reason, that the Dumb and Dumber duo style would have been a more well suited concept given the title of the song. But I did say that the song was like a party anthem and this video manages to channel in that feel as well. I personally like the ending of the video where the song drops its final beat. Everything becomes down to earth but at the same time still manage to have that wacky feel to it. The video as a whole, is great and suits the song exactly.
The dance for this song makes me think they had a bit to drink just before going onto the stage. Their stage presence is quite large when they performed the song for the first time. (I am watching the performance that performed at the 2015 SBS Gayo Festival). I like how tough they managed to showed themselves to the audience, but with use of fun and a very odd concept. There really isn’t a thing about the dance that sets it apart, but it something that goes well with the song.
Welcome to the end of the year! Each year, I do this “End Of The Year Chart” where I properly rank songs via a personalised ranking system, which shows which songs I liked the most (and which songs I did not like at all – but I won’t name and shame). How do I rank the songs? Simply taking the score that I gave them in the review published earlier in the year, adding it to new review scores for the music, video and performance. Then I add those to other scores from “Songs of the Month” in my Rewind posts and to ensure that I can properly order them, I turn to my iTunes play count. And when I say “add”, there is a mixture of mathematical operations (and I am going to stop here, before I can bore you). In no way is this chart influenced by my choice of best song in the BOBs. But I do highlight them here :).
1
Ah Yeah
EXID
2
Paradise Lost
Gain (Brown Eyed Girls)
3
If You Do
GOT7
4
Closer
Oh My Girl
5
You
G.Soul
6
Love Me Right
EXO
7
I Need U
BTS
8
Sing For You
EXO
9
Shake It
Sistar
10
4 Walls
F(x)
11
Dumb Dumb
Red Velvet
12
I
Taeyeon (SNSD) ft. Verbal Jint
13
Like OOH AHH
Twice
14
Oh Um Ah Yeah
Mamamoo
15
Mansae
Seventeen
16
Just Right
GOT7
17
Crazy
4Minute
18
Insensible
Lee Hong Ki (FT Island)
19
Run
BTS
20
Yey
Beast
21
Between Night n Music
B.I.G
22
Shake That Brass
Amber (f(x)) ft. Taeyeon (SNSD)
23
Hot Pink
EXID
24
Beautiful Liar
VIXX LR (VIXX)
25
Brand New World
Brown Eyed Girls
26
Ring My Bell
Girls Day
27
Hurt Locker
Nine Muses
28
Growing Pains
Donghae & Eunhyuk
29
Run Away
Royal Pirates
30
Black Swan
Rainbow
31
Congratulations
DAY6
32
Catch Me If You Can
SNSD
33
Me Gustas Tu
Gfriend
34
The Answer
Kim Sung Gyu (Infinite)
35
Dope
BTS
36
Pray
FT Island
37
Cinderella
CN Blue
38
You’re Pitiful
Fiestar
39
Hopeless Love
Jimin (15&)
40
Bad
Infinite
41
Might Just Die
History
42
We Like 2 Party
Big Bang
43
Chained Up
VIXX
44
Fire
Mad Clown ft. Jamsil (Mad Child Soul)
45
Bell Bottoms
PSY
46
Ice Cream Cake
Red Velvet
47
Break Ya
LU:KUS
48
Kontrol
Kim Sung Gyu (Infinite)
49
I Feel You
Wonder Girls
50
Wow Wow Wow
Junjin (Shinhwa) ft. Eric (Shinhwa)
And here are some interesting facts about this year and the chart itself!
A total of 180 songs were ranked on this chart, but a total of 195 songs were reviewed this year (which I believe is a personal best).
The first song reviewed and included in the chart is BTOB’s The Winter Tale (released at the end of last year). The last song reviewed and included in the chart was EXO’s Sing For You
A total of 16 girl groups, 17 boy groups and 9 soloists are featured on the chart.
There is a better mix of boys and girl groups this year, compared to last year, where the first boy group did not feature on the charts until after 16th place.
BTS had the most songs on the chart (I Need U, Dope & Run). followed by: EXID (Ah Yeah & Hot Pink), GOT7 (If You Do, Just Right), EXO (Love Me Right, Sing For You), Kim Sung Gyu (The Answer, Kontrol) & Red Velvet (Dumb Dumb & Ice Cream Cake).
Rookies were actually a strong force this year with Oh My Girl, Seventeen and Twice ranking quite high up in the charts.
The following ranked after 50th place: IU, B.I.G, Crayon Pop, VIXX, Seventeen, Changmin, Big Bang, Brown Eyed Girls and CLC.
And finally, this year chart was actually reflected on the BOBs this year. I crowned EXID’s Ah Yeah as best song for both segments.
AND THAT IS IT!! 2015 will be ending shortly. 6 Hours To Go (for me at least)!!! Hope 2015 has been a great year for you all. I thank you all once again for another year of KPOPreviewed. Your support has been amazing. Every comment and like (heck even every view) makes me happy!! Nearly 5 years and still going strong!! Thank you 2015 and I wish you all a Happy New Year wherever and whenever it is time. Let’s make 2016 our year!!! (First review: 2nd of Jan).
015 is at its end, and with days away from the new year, we must reflect on 2015. And per usual: excellent songs, videos and dances have gracefully entered our lives and probably have not yet left us. From comebacks from big name acts to debuts of new rookie bands, 2015 has been a splendid year in my opinion. This year I decided to do the BOBs differently. Usually, I post a list of nominees and categories, but I don’t get you guys to vote for them (nor do I have the capabilities and time to allow you guys to vote for them, but maybe in the future), so I thought I should change it up this year, but posting both nominees and winners in the same post. This is part 2 of the BOBs and part1 was released yesterday (Click Here). Also, the traditional End of Year Charts will be released on the 31st of December, at 11:55 pm, so please wait around for that. Let’s get the post on the road!!!
These awards do not reflect any review score that I gave out this year. My personal preferences will always change (i.e. an 8 review score can currently be a 10 OR a 10 review score can currently by an 8).
RED FONT – Winners, BLUE FONT – Honourable Mention
BEST MALE ROOKIE
Once again, 2015 saw many debuting groups enter the KPOP scene. And this category obviously allows me to pick who i saw as the best new male artist of 2015. And boy were the standards high this year. The nominees are:
I have to give it to Seventeen. They were the only new boy group on the block that left a massive long impression on me since their debut at the start of the year til now. At first 13 members may have sounded a little too much, but the songs they were releasing proved otherwise. Honourable mentions goes to Monsta X who only popped on my radar in the past few weeks. Yeah, their debut did not do much, but what they released after did a lot.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST FEMALE ROOKIE
Same as the above category, many new girl group emerged from the shadows and wowed a lot of people. Most not if all female rookies managed to amaze me and picking the nominees for this category had been one of the hardest things to do this year. The nominees are:
Hands down, it automatically goes to GFriend. As soon as they started, they had the press all over them and their comeback proved to be highly successful, ranking high on the charts. As for honourable mention… I am literally torn between Oh My Girl and Twice. Yeah, Oh My Girl did not do as well for this debut, but their comeback exceed my expectations so much (why? Find out later) but I am going to give it to Twice, as they have only released one song and also ranked incredibly high on the charts.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST DANCE/PERFORMANCE
One of the things that make KPOP so unique is obviously the choreography and performances. And this year saw an amazing variety of performances and dances that made fans all for certain groups harder than ever. Each of the nominees that made it onto the list truly deserve to be the winner as they were all equally unique and amazing. I nominated:
Screw the MAMA awards. The male category was a mess for Best Male Dance Performance. However, I am here to fix it. I am putting BTS – Dope as the best dance of the year. Yes. BTS was not nominated at all and that is so disappointing. Dope was such as “dope” dance that was in sync and perfectly executed. As for honourable mention, GOT7 – If You Do takes it away. Though it was nominated, but it did not win. And I was incredibly disappointed. Anyway, I can say this: all of the nominated dances deserve an award.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST ALBUM
Albums. Not my favourite thing to talk about. Mainly because there are songs on some albums that disappoint me, and hence I sometimes stay away from albums because of that. Each album is looked at as a whole and also each individual song is looked at in detail. I don’t listen to entire albums a lot, but here is a list of just some albums I did manage to listen to as a whole. The nominees are:
At of all of those albums above, there were two stands out. The winner was F(x) – 4Walls, their 4th album. I have to say each and every song on this album I adore to the point where all the songs on there have become more memorable than certain comebacks of big name artists. Honourable mentions goes to Brown Eyed Girls – Basic, their 6th full length album. The album came extremely closely to being the winner, but I do not personally feel the same level of excitement when I listen to the album.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Music videos per usual is an artists main form of promotion. And this year, the music videos released were to of an extremely high standard. Each of these music videos have some unique about them and that is what stood out to me. I chose these based on plot, cinematography, sets or scenery, acting (if applicable) and editing. The nominees I saw fit these categories were:
I think the simplicity was the key for me this year. G.Soul – You won Best Music Video in my point of view. There is essentially nothing in this video beside the singer himself and some lights. But yet it managed to become such an amazing video. Honourable mentions goes to FT Island – Pray. Their concept was so amazing that it was incredibly hard to pass up this video.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST FEMALE GROUP
Now let’s get down to business. I like to call this and the next category “the best artist of the year”. But since KPOP is highly populated with groups, I split them up into genders and call the categories “group”. The female groups this year have successfully wowed me (and probably everyone else this year), with many people being able to pick a favourite. The nominees for Best Female Group are:
I think I am going to agree with the ongoing trend and give it to EXID. From Up and Down, released last year, EXID shot into the limelight with a fancam of Hani and have since re-promoted Up and Down, came back with Ah Yeah and more recently Hot Pink. Each time they make a comeback, they go on to prove their popularity. As for Honourable Mention: Red Velvet. Their successful year yet, and I am 100% sure that better years will come. Ice Cream Cake and Dumb Dumb will remain as favourites for me.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST MALE GROUP
Now let’s move onto the guys. The competition was so tough this year. At first, I managed to list around 20 different male groups that I think deserve this award, but I only ended up choosing 10 nominees. It was so hard. But here are my choices:
I am going to choose GOT7 as the best boy group of the year. GOT7 released three songs: Just Right, If You Do and Winter’s Confession. Put together, GOT7 had one busy year and I saw a very large amount of growth in terms of the boys’ talents and sound. As for honourable mention, it would got to BTS. For this year, BTS has definitely matured and showed an ever fiercer and more powerful side of the group.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST SONG
This category, each year proves to be my worst enemy. It is so hard to choose my most favourite song. This particular category is not influenced (in any way) by the charts that I am releasing tomorrow. The “best song of the year” chosen here are like my subconscious mind speaking, whom I really want to see be given the title. The charts tomorrow are more calculated and take into account my reviews during the year and what my current thoughts about them are. But as I said choosing this category is the hardest. So many songs deserve this title and if I could choose to give out multiple “Best Song” awards I can. The nominees are:
Let’s start with the honourable mentions: GOT7 – If You Do, Oh My Girl – Closer, EXID – Hot Pink & Seventeen – Mansae.
HONOURABLE MENTION
HONOURABLE MENTION
HONOURABLE MENTION
HONOURABLE MENTION
And finally, I give to you, 2015’s Best Song of the Year, which you can probably tell already by the video linked below.
EXID – Ah Yeah
Congratulations, EXID. 2015 has been proven to be your year. You can watch the music video for this year’s Best Song below!
And that is it for Part 2 of the BOBs. Check back tomorrow, for the End Of Year Charts. And then, lets all wait for the New Year to come rolling through? Got your New Year’s Resolution yet?
*All images and gifs belong to their owners/creators. Only those tables are mine.
2015 is at its end, and with days away from the new year, we must reflect on 2015. And per usual: excellent songs, videos and dances have gracefully entered our lives and probably have not yet left us. From comebacks from big name acts to debuts of new rookie bands, 2015 has been a splendid year in my opinion. This year I decided to do the BOBs differently. Usually, I post a list of nominees and categories, but I don’t get you guys to vote for them (nor do I have the capabilities and time to allow you guys to vote for them, but maybe in the future), so I thought I should change it up this year, but posting both nominees and winners in the same post. This is part 1 of the BOBs and part 2 will be released tomorrow with the rest of the categories. Also, the traditional End of Year Charts will be released on the 31st of December, at 11:55 pm, so please wait around for that. Let’s get the post on the road!!!
These awards do not reflect any review score that I gave out this year. My personal preferences will always change (i.e. an 8 review score can currently be a 10 OR a 10 review score can currently by an 8).
RED FONT – Winners, BLUE FONT – Honourable Mention
RISING STAR
Each year, artists see a rise in popularity. May that be due to great songs or great publicity (after all: any publicity is good publicity), this year was no difference. Each of these artists, I have personally seen, some sort of boost in popularity this year. And I get to choose two winners (one male and one female) for this certain category. For this year, I have nominated:
My pick is: EXID and BTOB. Both teams saw a rise in popularity due to one particular member, and slowly each member in each group is become well known in the industry. Keep up the good work, EXID and BTOB!!!
WINNER
WINNER
BEST INSTRUMENTAL
A song is not a song without an instrumental. And in KPOP, the instrumental plays a massive part in hooking us in and getting us addicted to the music. Especially for foreign and international fans who don’t understand the Korean language 100%. So many great instrumentals this year, here are the nominees:
Out of all the nominees, there can be only one winner: Wonder Girls – I Feel You. The girls returned to the stage with a brand new band concept, which totally wowed me. This instrumental has its own retro vibe and I personally enjoyed it a lot. From the drums to the keyboard and guitars, the girls totally deserve this. By far one of the most underrated songs, that definitely deserve an award! Honourable Mentions: F(x) – 4Walls
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST JAPANESE SONG
I also do some Japanese songs on this site. Hahaha… Yeah, I review some Japanese songs from time to time. The variety of singers that I listen to for Japanese songs is usually limited to only the Japanese songs released by Korean artists. This year, the category has been dominated by Korean artists and I hope next year, I can start to review more Japanese artists! Here are the nominees:
I think, I was most addicted to Beast – Can’t Wait To Love You. And that was my pick for Best Japanese Song. It was song that I felt did not fall into the typical Korean Pop or Japanese Pop genres and was pretty unique on its own. As for honourable mentions: BTS – For You.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST COMEBACK
Big name comebacks this occurred and they all managed to rock our socks off. Hahaha… I take into account: song, concept, promotions, looks, impact and a few more categories and suprisngly, the biggest artists that emerge from the Golden Age of KPOP were nominated:
Out of all the comebacks nominated, the one that fitted the criteria the most would have been Big Bang. 2015 was one big year for the band, and they had such an unique concept in terms of promotion. SNSD takes away honourable mention for this category.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST SUBUNIT
Unfortunately, 2015 did not continue the 2014 trend of subunits. However, some new subunits formed from popular bands and some old favourite returned. Here is who I think should be nominated as best subunit:
This one was a little close for me. But I am going to say Donghae and Eunhyuk, which is a subunit belonging to Super Junior. Their song was by far an amazing and left a more long lasting impact on me than the others. The other subunit that gets honourable mention is VIXX LR, which is a duo made up of Leo and Ravi.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST RAPPER
2015 saw a new wave of contestant based TV shows around rapping and hence many artists have seen a boost in popularity after appearing on these shows. Other rappers also remained on stage as part of their groups and amazed the audience continuously during each comeback. Here are the nominees:
Out of all the rappers on the light, I picked Mad Clown as a winner. His song was a hit, it was a great song (now) and while he is not part of some group, he still managed to be placed ahead of everyone this year. Zico (Block B) took out Honourable Mention for his active year. Interestingly enough, both selected artists had someone featuring in their song.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST VOCALIST
When there are rappers, there are also singers. 2015 also saw new programs (and our old favourites) made specifically for the vocalists of all groups. Some vocalists we know have always amazed us, but others have just emerged and became trends for 2015. Based purely on what they sound like, here are the nominees:
I think this category has the most obvious winner, Taeyeon (SNSD). Yeah, she was quite active as an artist, but her debut for I blew everyone away. As for honourable mention, it goes to Solji (EXID). Her performance of Maria still replays in my head. Her powerful vocals in EXID’s performance are also quite amazing.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST MALE SOLOIST
While the above category looked like at vocal performance, the Best Male Soloist looks at their vocal performance, song, impact and dance (if applicable) – i.e. their comeback or debut as a collective. To be nominated, the artists must have been active as a solo artist this year (while the above also included group vocalists). The nominees are:
There is only one artist on this list that managed to wow me the very moment I listened to the song and that artist is Kim Sung Gyu (Infinite). His whole album did wonders and is an album that I am continuously going back to. As for honourable mentions, Lee Hong Ki (FT Island) wins that. His solo debut song was well received and I reviewed it as an amazing ballad.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST FEMALE SOLOIST
While the above category(Best Vocalist) looked like at vocal performance, the Best Female Soloist looks at their vocal performance, song, impact and dance (if applicable) – i.e. their comeback or debut as a collective. To be nominated, the artists must have been active as a solo artist this year (while the above also included group vocalists). The nominees are:
Once again, I am going to give it to Taeyeon (SNSD). Vocally, stunning. It was memorable and lovely to listen to. Honourable Mention was a close call, but Amber (F(x)) stole it from Gain (Brown Eyed Girls). So catchy and bright.
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
And that is it for Part 1 of the BOBs. Check back tomorrow, where I will post the second part of the BOBs, with Best Song, Best Male and Female Rookie; and Best Male and Female groups (plus a few more categories).
*All images and gifs belong to their owners/creators. Only those tables are mine.
Just a little while back, Kim Dong Wan made his solo comeback with I’m Fine and Piece. Having promised back to to back mini album promotions, he was due to release his comeback last month. But I am assuming something along the lines of preparations affected the potential “back to back” promotions. However, he made his solo comeback with Du Du Du earlier this month, fulfilling the promise he made.
Like I’m Fine, Kim Dong Wan brings out his guitar for the song. The other song has that more emotional aspect to it and has sad lyrics to it. This song, however, is much more cheerful and includes the lovingly sounds of his vocals. Honestly, it is a really nice song that suits the season of snow. I would imagine myself listening to this song to just cheer myself up. Lately, I have been saying that the sound “Du Du Du” has to be one sound that makes any song pretty catchy. And well, it makes the song really vibrant and happy. The chorus is quite high pitch but at the same time is quite simple to listen to. Probably be an ideal song to catch any girl’s feeling. His English is quite nice as well.
The music video has this story line to it, which confused everybody the first time they watched the video. Essentially, the video starts off with Kim Dong Wan hanging out with Girl #1. But then, Girl #2 starts to come along and ruin Kim Dong Wan and Girl #1’s happy date. We see Girl #1 disappointed and sad, while it is revealed that Girl #2 and Kim Dong Wan are joking around and wren’t actually a couple. But it was later revealed in the video, that in fact Girl #1 was in on the whole thing and Girl #2 was actually the girl that Kim Dong Wan likes (shown when Girl #1 joins in on in the dancing and Girl #2 was the one he was pointing at). Plot twist much? Yeah it is a little confusing but it makes more sense when you watch the video. That or the bunny was his one true love. Don’t you love it when you read YouTube comments? They clear everything up but at the same time still have that playful side to them. Beside the story line, the video was quite fun to watch. Once again, it was a bright and cheerful video that matched the song’s sound.
Overall, a perfect song and video in my opinion. Little confusing on the video, but hey, it is part of the charm. 10/10
Let’s back track for a few months and review a song. Before Soyu went on a break (if you didn’t know, she has been having back problems and has gone on a break, hence Sistar has been focusing a lot on solo promotions), she released a few songs and per usual I think they were mostly collaborations with other artists. This time around she has gone with a member of 10cm, Kwon Jeong Yeol, whose group is known for ballads. And honestly, Soyu’s collaboration has done it again and slayed me. I put a lot of emphasis on Soyu when i review her songs, but somehow don’t manage to put the same level of emphasis on the other singer, who also plays an important part in the collaboration. So let’s do it.
Once again, the vocals from both artists have been superb. Soyu and Jeong Yeol voices go hand in hand in this song. Both artists have the same level of huskiness to their voices, which compliments each other really well. Everything about this song fits in with the Autumn season really well. From the vocals, to the instrumental just gives off that feel. The song is also quite catchy for a ballad. The chorus just sucks me in and reels me in. I feel like the song ended off perfectly. Sometimes, the ending of songs are dragged out or abruptly, but this ending was perfect. I don’t have much to say about the song beside how great it is.
As for the music video, it is quite nice. The same feel in the music video is in the song, hence they go hand in hand. The screen splits into two and we see to different lives. One of them is the of the guy’s and the other is Soyu’s. And we see them lounge around and act as if they they were recently heart broken. But when we assume they get into different taxis, well, they don’t. Instead, they seemed to be in each lives and enjoy each other company. Another ongoing trend I see in KPOP nowadays (and actually life in general), but someone is bringing out the cameras from the late 1990’s, where the camera quality isn’t that grand and crystal clear. I don’t know why it is a trend but it is. Interesting concept for a video, which looked quite nice and well polished.
Overall, another amazing song from Soyu and her collaborations with great male vocalists! 9/10
First of the last four reviews of the year. Q&A is a collaboration between Ailee, the vocal queen of KPOP and Seventeen, the rising KPOP rookie group. And honestly, it is a really nice song to listen to. It’s bright and vibrant to listen to. There is a strong American influence throughout the whole song, I think. Every time I listen to the song, I know that there is some sort of foreign influence to the song. The song flows quite well and is extremely pleasant to listen to. I love the pairing of vocals. Both Ailee’s and Woozi’s voice go really well together, and top of that, the member’s deep sounding raps really bring the song together. Some of you may be wondering about the title. Essentially, the song’s lyrics are like two people sharing their feelings, but through asking questions and seeking answers, hence Q&A. They are not asking literal questions, just the lyrics (when translated) seem like they’re having a conversation (asking questions and seeking answers). Very interesting concept and equally unique. The instrumental is a little bland, but overall, the song is great to listen to and chill.
As for the music video, the concept is a little clearer. Essentially the girl is making the boys sit through a test to probably determine who would be the most suitable to be her next boyfriend. The boys are studying extremely hard (or too busy posing for the camera). And then we see the boys take the test (but I don’t think they got that far). They even had to result to cheating (with very obvious means). Honestly, the concept of the video weaves into the song a lot more better than the song and I like that about it. Apparently, you get blood noses when you study in South Korea. Seen it in the video and also in many dramas. Funny, cause the only time I get blood noses is when I get I hit in the face with a ball. There also the guys represents different students. Woozi is the one that actually studies, Vernon is the one that looks like they are studying and S.Coups is the one that gives no crap about what he is doing (I am personally a mixture of Woozi and S.Coups. Who are you?). Disappointed Ailee was not in the video.
Time to finally review something that is directly hip hop related. Hahaha… And another song without a freaking music video… WHY?? But, we must go on. We probably all know who San E is, but who is Yezi? Well, Yezi is the rapper of the female group Fiestar. She recently participated in Unpretty Rapstar, which is a show for female rappers. Now Yezi has received a lot of support and gained a lot of popularity with her appearance on the show, which leads to her very first solo, Crazy Dog, featuring San E.
If you don’t know, I don’t really like listening to K-Hip Hop songs, but this one is an exception. I have always been a fan of Yezi’s raps in her song and while I do not follow Unpretty Rapstar, I saw small snippets of her on the show and she sounded really cool and tough. She is definitely a top notch rapper that should be looked out for in 2016. This particular song is pretty catchy and has really addictive yet repetitive beat to this. I love how she repeats “Crazy Dog” in both Korean and English. It is hella tough and quite sexy to hear. A bit torn with San E’s part. He sounds great and fit in with the track, but I felt like maybe Yezi had a little more toughness and sounded much more powerful in her delivery. The trumpet sounds in the instrumental gave an unique sound to the song, one that I would not have associated with a hip hop track. I just don’t associate that instrument with the genre, but hey, it worked really well. It had me head bopping all the way through, so I guess it is a pretty good track.
Overall, a solid track. I really want to see her perform this one stage one day and show the world who is boss. 7/10
I can confirm to you that this is the final review without a music video. 2015 is slowly wrapping up and I will be writing up 4 more reviews before the end of the year (Final review will be released on the 24th). The the BOBs will be released starting on the 29th, and the year ends with the End Of Year Chart for 2015 on the 31st. ANY major group/solo comebacks (i.e. iKON, ChoA (AOA) etc.) that is released from now on to the end of the year will be reviewed next year (and included in next year’s charts).
Jingle Bells Jingle Bells…. Christmas is really taking a toll on me. Too many sleigh bells ringing and Ho Ho Ho’s heheheh… I am only joking, but it seems like B1A4 has jumped on the Christmas song bandwagon with their very first Christmas Single. And it is a pretty good song. Just there were some things that I was kind of iffy on. For example, B1A4’s English isn’t that great. I mistook “I just want to be your good friend” as “I just want to be your girl friend”. Their voices were very husky in this song and I liked it. Honestly, it is the only Christmas song so far that is quite upbeat and it really brings the “cheer” and joy to the table. I, for some reason, have this big smile on my face when I listen to the song. Some of the vocals in the verses could have been a little louder, but beside it is a pretty much solid track. The rapping by Baro is also pretty good. I know he isn’t an underground rapper and whatnot, but sometimes he has pretty good raps. Upbeat Christmas track that I would be playing for the next week? This is it.
And then I realized that there is no music video to this song. Nor is there any performance. Song wise, since it the only thing I can review it on, 7/10.
EXO has returned to the stage with a special Winter album, with the title track Sing For You. This time around they featured all the members, plus made their comeback with a ballad, which is quite different. Their last promoted ballad was Miracles in December, sung by D.O, Baekhyun, Chen and Luhan. Anyway, on to this ballad. The vocals just blow me away in this song. I know EXO is highly capable of singing ballads as there are amazing vocalists. But even the rappers (Chanyeol, Sehun, Kai) all singing a part of the song. And everyone sounds as if they were blessed with amazing vocals from the very start of time. This ballad is quite slow, and while I am not a big fan of those extremely slow ballads, this one is pretty good. It is just a free flowing song that really gets to you. The guitar instrumental that played throughout the song was blissful. There is one thing that would take the ballad to a whole new level and that is harmony. I feel like if the boys harmonise a little more the song would become 100% perfect. There is a little harmonising going on, but it definitely not enough and feels quite limited.
And let’s go onto a brand new corner of some reviews: The Question. For this review, the question is: What in the freaking effing world is a massive whale doing in space? While it probably does symbolise something that many people just don’t get (including me), it just seems a little too far fetched. But this is one beautiful music video. We see all the members hang out, but in reality they are just memories of some members, and some are just lonely. Sehun in space, Kai reflecting in space while he could be out drinking with the other members, Suho and Chanyeol fighting, D.O driving the car by himself. Some people say this is a way to represent the whole members leaving the band news, and I am going to agree with some band, I don’t think that is it. Yeah, some people do manage to point out a lot of evidence from the video, but I feel like the video is much more than former members, but the friends, family and lovers that we all truly miss. Or maybe I am missing the whole point, but I feel like the acting in this was really good. Kai’s dancing was solid and very interpretive. Honestly, beautiful video. But do share what your thoughts on the video are? Or any “confirmed” story lines. But what I have put is my interpretation. Oh and the video matches the song, but I think you all got that from the above.
10/10. Yeah, something could have been added to the song to make it much better, but what we have here is pretty much perfection.
[NOTE: As there is no music video to the following song, I decided to use their last comeback as the featured image]
Not exactly a normal review today. I know I don’t review many songs without a music video, but I am going to make a few exceptions for a few more reviews to finish up 2015. The first of which is Halo’s new song. Halo is a new band that made their debut last year with Fever. They made numerous comebacks since with Come On Now, Surprise and While You’re Sleeping. The group is made up of 6 members: Dino, In Haeng, Ooon, Jae Yong, Hee Cheon and Yoon Dong. I was planning on reviewing their debut song, but cancelled the review because of time constraints.
This song is surprisingly good. Their debut song was really good, but their comebacks lately had been lacking quite a bit. This was something that the band needed, but it did sound quite ordinary. While their songs are dance centred and have a more modern electronic feel, this one has more of a retro feel to it (like While You’re Sleeping) and involves a strong disco feel to the video. Some of the vocals had been auto-tuned to fit the song, and I guess I like it. The rapping did not match the song at all and really felt like it was just placed over the instrument. I wouldn’t call the song catchy but the chorus manages to work its magic. As I said in a review recently, any song with the “du du du” sound manage to become catchy and I think that was the hook in my point of the view in the song. Beside all of that, it is a solid song that really caught my attention. It felt so ordinary that it was screaming at me to look at a band that I had planned on paying attention to.
Yeah, their previous dances were much better than this. Their last few had been more suited for more dance centred songs, but this suited the ordinary feel of the song and is that side of KPOP boy bands that somehow must go through. And I referring to the fact that this comeback once again is a boy group doing a cute concept.
This is an example of a good song in my point of view. I like it, but yeah, I see it as a pretty standard song. 6.5/10
Within a little over a month, Lovelyz has returned with a brand new song. They made their comeback with Ah Choo at the end of October, and surprisingly made their comeback at the start of December. This song just throws me back to the early SNSD days and Kara days. This is a song that honestly feels like it came out during the Golden Ages of KPOP. They went for a more upbeat song this time around. I say that, because it is a lot more upbeat than Ah Choo (which was already upbeat itself). The vocals in this song are pretty nice and fit into that realm of cute concept. As for the instrumental, it is pretty typical, but like the bass sounds in the song. It gave the song more depth and allowed the girls to sound more like from the 2008-2010 era. I think this is a better song that Ah Choo. It has that really addictive beat and the “du du du” sounds. It is a hidden fact that the “du du du” sounds make all songs sound really nice and catchy. But really, it seems like the girls did a really nice job with the song.
As for the video, kind of thankful they are not in a place that is fake. All their music videos have been (sadly) in a box, so to see them embrace the real world makes it oddly satisfying. Maybe I should not have worded it in that way. Not exactly sure what is happening in the video, but it seems like they are all friends and are all meeting up once again. Or that the girl in the snow is holding a box full of memories. While I am not too sure about the plot of the video, I have to admit it was beautifully shot. The scenes were all very bright and matched the tone of the song. The close-up shots of them were spectacular and it highlights each of them individual beauties. Also, what is with this upbeat trend during the season that is commonly associated with slow and snow? Loving it, though so no complaints.
I have yet to see a live performance for this song, so yeah. No dance. [UPDATE: Just saw the dance, but there really wasn’t anything impressive. But the score stays as normal]
SNSD-TTS has returned with their very first Christmas album. Oh sigh… More songs to remind me that the year is about to end. But anyway, this song is okay. It seems to be a mess to my ears. I was perfectly okay with the track being the ballad. Yeah, would have been a slow song and that does not seem to be TTS’s style, but the start was amazing. However, it just suddenly changed and I am still trying to get used to it. But I can’t even say the song “dropped the beat” or whatever. The rest of the song was just blah to me. I still listen to it, just hoping it will catch on, but at the moment, I cringe when I listen to the song. And then the song attempts to end with a 3 second ballad part at the end, which has me confused. Why would you start off with an amazing ballad sound, change it into a Christmas pop song instantaneously, and the end it as a ballad. I don’t think that formula works that way, and who on earth thought it would work? The vocals are amazing (per usual), but honestly minus their vocals, everything else was a major let down. It just sounds like a complete mismatch. If the two were split up into two different songs, I think that would have been many times better than just the one. And Tiffany’s “Come On” parts. Wow.
The lion returns. He is still rejected by the girls after what happened in Lion Heart, so it was unexpected that he would make a return in this video. But beside the lion, it was an okay video to watch. Loving the start where the girls are in those beautiful red dresses. It matched the ballad feel the song had at the start. Then the girls get transported through a portal (in the form of an invitation) into a more playful world. Hmmm… I don’t know but that just screams desperate to me. Desperate to find some kind of way to put the girls into a fast and upbeat feel. And everything in between was okay. But honestly, them acting cute. I don’t see it in them anymore and they just looked so awkward acting surprised in a cute way. And then the ending where they all share a laugh. It looks so forced. It looked unnatural and looked cringe-worthy.
As for the performance, I have no bad comments. Removing the song, the mime was an excellent way to make the stage more unique and suits the time of the year that they were singing. Somewhat disappointed that they are promoting for such a short amount of time though (1 week. They already finished)
Overall, highly disappointed. If only they decided to cut the song into two, I would have been happy. 2/10
Out of all the comebacks nominated, the one that fitted the criteria the most would have been 
KPOPREVIEWED 