Category: KPOP

[Review] You Bad! Don’t Make Me Cry – Matilda

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. For any reviews for the end of November and December comebacks, they will be posted next year. This also includes any end of year related posts.]

This is going to be my final review of the year! And let’s end off with Matilda’s latest release, You Bad! Don’t Make Me Cry. Matilda is a 4-member girl group consisting of Sanbyeol, Haena, DanA and Semmi. You may recognise Haena as a former member of the now-disbanded rookie group Kiss&Cry. The group is currently under BOXMEDIA.  The group debuted in March with year with Macarena.

Another amazing song. On the outside and initial listens, it sounds quite messy. But the different parts do fall into place after listening to it for a number of times. The song has a feel different genres mashed into the song. It was strung together quite well. There are parts of reggae and EDM in the song. There were also smaller segments which I can’t seem to categorise into a genre. While the slowdown does work with the track, it ruined the intensity that the rest of the track had building up. Maybe if it was shorter or even completely omitted, the track could have gone for one more hit out the park, to make it a smashing song. The song also didn’t give the girls a chance to show off any vocal or rapping talent. The song was quite addictive, but I do imagine the song becoming a little annoying in the future. That’s just another prediction that I won’t know if it will happen or not.

The video was okay. Quite a low-budget and the editing, especially for the final chorus, was quite bad as well. Like when I am driving, I hate it when people put their high beam on during the day. In this video, the high beam was on for some of the parts. Luckily those segments were short. But besides that, everything else was okay. The only thing that should have been included somehow was something striking. It is a song that captures your attention, so something in the video should have been there to capture our attention as well.

Their performance isn’t really that interesting. I’ve only played their performance for the song, to be honest.

Rating – 6/10

[Review] Miro – Romeo

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. For any reviews for end of November and December comebacks will be posted next year. This also includes any end of year related posts.]

Romeo returned this year in June with their 3rd mini album. Both their mini-album and title track were titled as Miro. Romeo is a boy group that has been in the industry for nearly 2 years now. I did review them once before, at the end of the 2015 year, for their Target comeback.

Miro is probably my favourite song from Romeo thus far. It is honestly quite good. When I first listened to the song, I felt like it was very typical. It just didn’t seem to stand out. But I returned to the song a few weeks later and started falling for it. It was really catchy and an addictive track to listen to. The chorus, by far, was the best part of the song. The start of the song sounded weak and wasn’t up to par with the rest of the song. But when the song starts to build up, it was when the catchiness of the song started to kick in. And not once did the song stop to take a breather. It was fast paced and the tempo kept constant, which made the track work pretty well. The instrumental itself packed a punch on its own. My only issue with the track was with the vocals. But rather it wasn’t ‘what’s wrong with the vocals?’ but rather, ‘what’s missing?’. They were okay. It would have been nice to have a member belt out the chorus, particularly the end. It would have pushed the song to another level.

The music video stars Minho from SHINee, which did catch me off guard. Didn’t expect this appearance. But I think it did attract some attention, which is good thinking on the company’s part there. While I did like the choreography parts of the video, the rest seemed a little boring. Like they couldn’t get passed a gate, so they went to look for keys. When the keys were found, the gate opened and they were mysteriously transported to a chess board and Minho picks up the queen. I read somewhere that the video adopted an Alice in Wonderland. Minus the actual sets, I don’t really see an Alice in Wonderland concept. Overall, I guess it was an okay video.

The dance was pretty good. Also read somewhere that they were inspired by Maze Runner. Hmmm.. Alice in Wonderland and Maze Runner. Such an odd combination. Love how fast paced and fitting the dance is for the song. Their moves also look quite cool. They also sound amazing live.

Rating – 8/10

[Review] JJan! Koong! Kwang! – Momoland

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. For any reviews for end of November and December comebacks, they will be posted next year. This also includes any end of year related posts.]

Okay, so I have done a lot of reviews for boy groups lately. So why don’t I do some for girl groups? There are quite a few girl groups that made their debut towards the end of the year, so I have chosen to do Momoland. Momoland is a 7 member girl group who are currently under Duble Sidekick Company. The lineup includes Nancy, Hyebin, Nayoon, Ahin,  Yeonwoo, Jane and JooE.

This is such a cute song. Yeah, I know that this is a song that falls under the cutesy concept. But I tend to watch a lot of cutesy song with a straight face. But this one has me singing along. It is really catchy and addictive. Vocally, they may not be standing out. But I love the way the song was composed or produced. The ‘Jjan’ that starts off each chorus is like a mini explosion that occurs, which gets you into the mood. The rest of the chorus is pretty neat. The saxophone bridge and that chanting segment sounded amazing. Not a major fan of the start. The “Do you like it Momoland?” sounds awkward. The instrumental at the start sounds pretty slow as well, but the song starts to pick up at the chorus, which does save the song, in my opinion.

Unlike the song, the music video isn’t that  cute. The video reminds me of Laboum’s videos in the past. Not that I am saying Momoland copied Laboum. It just felt similar. I also don’t really understand what is happening in the few scenes where they are like sitting amongst trees and sleeping. I don’t have much else to say about the video. It works well with the song, but it doesn’t look cute like how the song sounds.

I am torn about the dance. Some parts looked cute and felt just right for the song. Other parts looked awkward and exaggerated a little too much. I really like the dance at the bridge and the chorus.

Rating – 7/10

[Review] I’m Fine – VICTON

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. For any reviews for end of November and December comebacks, they will be posted next year. This also includes any end of year related posts.]

There are a lot of boy groups debuting this year. VICTON is another group that debuted recently. They marked their first release on the 8th of November with their first mini-album and the title track, I’m Fine. The group is currently under Plan A Entertainment, which also houses APINK. The group contains 7 members and the members are Seungsik, Seungwoo, Chan, Subin, Hanse, Sejun and Byungchan.

The song doesn’t really capture your attention nor does it sound amazing. But I think I can settle by describing the song as good. As I said, it is outstanding or excellence, but it does have its perks. For example, the track is quite funky and catchy. The chorus is addictive. Their vocals during the chorus does irk me a little because it doesn’t match with the instrumental. There just seems to be a little too much going on at the chorus. I think it is the thick vocals combination (person who is singing the chorus + the back-up vocals) that throws me off. Their vocals by themselves during the verses and the ad-libs at the end prove their potential. The rapping is also quite nice to listen to. The verses are a little dry and bland for my taste. The song relies too heavily of the catchiness of the chorus for me. There isn’t much else to make it a track that is mind-blowing or top of the class though.

The music video stars Naeun from APINK. She geniunely looks happy in this video. Her interaction with the group is quite minimal though, which is a little disappointing. As for the group. The video made them too cheesy to watch. Maybe I am just not into the cutesy concept that much. The video was very colourful and vibrant. It just needed something to make it less boring. Maybe a little more interaction between the group and Naeun. Maybe just have one member and Naeun share a moment together, alone, which each other. Maybe that might not work, but hey, it will get some sort of reaction out of me. And something to talk about.

The dance performance was honestly, boring. I wasn’t captivated by their live stages at all. I don’t know, but what I saw in the video looked impressive, but I was let down when seeing the entire performance in whole. I know they were both the exact same thing. My reaction just did not carry over, I guess.

Rating – 6/10

[Review] Rainy Days – Topp Dogg

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards) will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

It has been a while since Topp Dogg has returned to the stage. This is also the first time I am reviewing Topp Dogg, as time constraints in the past have prevented me from doing so. So who is Topp Dogg, you may ask? Topp Dogg is currently a 9 member boy group under Hunus Entertainment. The current lineup includes P-Goon, Hojoon, Sangdo, Nakta, Hansol, B-Joo, Zero, A-Tom and Yano. They originally were a 13 member boy group, who debuted under Stardom Entertainment back in 2013.

I have not been a fan of their releases thus far, but I am going to let you know. This song is different. Their past releases have been heavily mixed with hip hop influences. This one is more RnB with a hint of hip hop present.  It almost sounds like something that Block B would release and reminded me of Block B’s Toy (which I totally loved). It definietly reminds me of rain days and it sounds amazing. I think the vocals and rapping are nice. However, I am not into the rapping that repeated what was sung (such as during the chorus). It kind of distracted me from the overall sound of the song and on top of that sounded a little forced. The song also ended adruptly. Not as adruptly as Astro’s latest song as you could tell the song was drawing to a close. The song should have eased off at the end like zoning out on the sound of rain on a Rainy Day.

It only makes senses for the video to be shot on a Rainy Day, which they did here. But beside there isn’t anything else to comment on in the video. There were some close-up shots, but majority were choreography scenes or shots of them singing. Though, the video matches the sound of the song quite nicely.

The dance looked pretty good. It, too, matched the sound of the song quite nicely. Not too intense but not too simple that it looks cheesy. I don’t have much else to say, but it is a performance that I reccomend you watch.

Rating – 8/10

[Review] Think About You – Jun.K (2PM)

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards) will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Jun.K (formerly known as Junsu) is the main vocalist from 2PM, under JYP Entertainment. He previously made his solo debut a few years back. He has actively promoted as a solo artist in Japan when he is not promoting with 2PM. Thinking About U marks his solo return to South Korea, in August of this year.

Thinking About You is a song that has the RnB sound, but is mixed with an EDM instrumental.  It is an odd mix but it works really with each other. Vocally, he sounds outstanding. His singing style doesn’t typically match the genres of music that the instrumental has us expecting. But somehow he makes it work. Those ad-libs at the end really do end the song quite nicely, boasting his talents even further. The lyrics of the song talk about the regrets that the guy has, who previously cheated or left his previous lover behind. Overall, I think it is a really good track. It is interesting that it combines genres that don’t usually go well together and still it manages to work.

The video was extremely boring to watch. There wasn’t much going on in it. Though, for someone who never took his shirt off, he has his fair of shirtlessness in this video. There just wasn’t anything captivating in the video. There were many close up shots in different sets and a few choreography scenes. But nothing that worth talking about.

During the live performances, Jun.K doesn’t participate in the dance (he focuses on the singing only, only dancing during the dance break). The dance is okay. His performance overall is a little boring to watch as well. I would have preferred just him singing into a microphone with this song, though.

Rating – 6.5/10

[Review] Alright – INX

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards) will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

INX is a new band in KPOP, who made their debut at the end of July. They are a 5 member boy group, consisting of Sangho, Junyoung, Bonkuk, Jinam and Win. They are currently under NA Entertainment.

For a debut song, it is pretty good. It does show potential in the band (and that is obviously what the company/group wanted to do). The song does throw you back to the early days, when I started to get into it. This fits in with 2009 and 2010 era perfectly. However, the song is very boring and bland. They used quite an overused sound. They attempted to keep it interesting with that rough sounding “alright, alright, alright” (which is what I find the catchiest in the song), but it does fall short at its intention. The vocal work is pretty good and the rapping is okay. I just don’t have any connection with the song. The odd slow and fast parts, along with the soft and then hard sounding parts don’t really go well each other. It is like “oh let’s take a few genres that other people like, throw them together and hope to kill 1 bird with 4 stones (I do no endorse animal cruelty in any way, it is just a figure of speech)”. I’ll keep them on my radar to see what they can do, but they need something to highlight their talents/skills further.

When I watch the video, I think the song sounds a lot better. Not sure why… I can’t shake it off. When I want to go back and change what I said above (after watching the video), I can’t make any changes because that is what I agreed on (and still do). Does that happen to you? Or am I just being weird?  I can watch the video, but I don’t really like the filter they have on it. It conflicts with the flashing lights in the video and makes it confusing to watch (like my feelings about the song now). Hahahaha… I don’t like that glow they have around themselves when they are blindfolded. That is really odd looking or just bad CG effects. While they do use overused sets, their stage presence in them gives off a new feeling to the sets and I think that really gives fans to chat about. Close up shots of the members and the choreograph scenes aren’t that clear and that’s quite disappointing.

Dance wise, it should be better. They have a song that I am quite sure, meant to give off a mature and strong vibe. It kind feels weak and the complete opposite of the song, sadly. Though their dance at the chorus already fits the beat quite well, I feel like if their moves were a lot sharper and more defined, the dance would look 100 times better. Just putting it out there.

Final Rating – 5/10

 

[Review] Home Run – GOT7

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

GOT7 previously made their comeback with Fly, back in March (earlier this year). They returned shortly after to promote Home Run, which was the second title track off their mini album, Flight Log: Departure. Home Run was released later on and there is no music video to accompany it (hence the short review).

Home Run is a solid song. I personally like it. Fly was very heavy in terms of the sound and the song was a lot serious. Home Run has this more cheerful tone and is more casual. From the raps to the vocals in this song, the song managed to give us a chance to listen to each member. The line distribution in the song is much more fair and even across, which is not that common in the industry, as you may think. I would like the raps to be a little better. They aren’t awful or anything, but they could have been enhanced somehow to give it more of a hook or ring. Maybe the song didn’t need to be rap dense (though I know GOT7 wants to focus more on that). What we have already is quite balanced. Just a suggestion floating by. The instrumental kind of mimics the sound of a baseball bat hitting the ball. I find it amazing how lyricists manage to make analogies between the concept of the song and the topic in question (the majority of the time, it is love). Moving back to the instrumental, the instrumental for the song changes up here and there in the song, which works really well. When I say “change up”, it isn’t anything major. The instrumental is consistent and flows nicely. Just there is some slow parts and some faster parts. Overall, I think the song is quite nice and all aspects of the song were great.

There is no music video for Home Run. However, like everyone else is saying, it deserves one.

The dance was pretty cool as well. Toned down and more casual compared to the dance that accompanied Fly. It fits nicely into the baseball concept of the song. The timing with the sounds of the ball hitting in the bats and the dance was quite enjoyable to watch. I did like the “Home Run, Home Run” part after every chorus. Great hook for the song and dance.

Final Rating – 8/10

[Review] Hotel Heartbreak – Tiffany (SNSD) ft. Simon D

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Tiffany made her solo debut with I Just Wanna Dance in May of this year. She later came back in the month of June with a single, which features Simon D. This single was release as a part of SM Station, which I don’t think I will be reviewing all of them (my promise was a little too ambitious).

An amazing song. It has its roots in the rnb genre, while still maintaining a subtle dance beat. Her vocals are brought out and put on display in this song. Any complaints made against her voice seems to be void for this song. The echoes in the song seem to make the song more impressive, and the chorus has defined quite nicely by the echo and backing vocals. The echoes behind the words “Heartbreak Hotel” gives off an eerie feeling, but at the same time leaves a great impression on you. The bridge of the song is quite good as well. It is different from the rest of the song (in regards to the lack of instrumental) but it builds momentum to put you through to the final chorus.  Simon D always puts out impressive raps and they somehow tweaked his voice to fit perfectly in the song. Overall, the song is excellent from what I hear and I like it a lot.

The music video opens up with Tiffany looking quite bored (or is she heartbroken already?). I am a little torn with this part. Not that it is bad. But with regards to it being prior to the events of the video or after the events of the video. It’s not even a big detail to worry about anyway. Moving back to the video, Tiffany enters a bar and wanders around, accidentally causing a glass to break on the ground. My question is how quiet is the music there? It looks like a bumping crowd, but as soon as glass breaks, the whole club is turning around. This incident, however, attracts the attention of the male lead. Instead of cleaning up the mess (as Tiffany was doing) he drags her away and they start sharing drinks and laughs. They start dating and Tiffany falls for the guy pretty hard. But in the end, he leaves her (Tiffany catches him with another girl after going back to the club). I guess that is what you get for staying at the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. The rest of the video seems to be just her finding ways of getting rid of her memories of the guy (packing up, going out back to the club). But I guess the scene at the end where she sees the same guy again at the club, while there being other guys around her, kind of shows that she can’t seem to forget at all. Okay, I have talked about the plot of the video. Loved the way the video was shot and their chemistry on-screen was quite powerful. Also loved her shots of her singing while admist the crowd at the club. Really gives off a nice contrast between finding love at the club and then remembering heartbreak at the club.

Rating – 10/10

[Review] Strange – MASC

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards) will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Another debut that I missed this year. But better late, then never! MASC is a 4 member boy group currently under JJ Holic Media. They made their debut back in August this year. The four members includes Woosoo, 26, A.C.E and Hee Jae. They debuted with the song, Strange, which was part of their first mini album.

Unlike the title, the song is not “strange”. In fact, it is a classy track that has a very smooth instrumental. The song has a very nice electrical guitar sound and also having a nice hip-hop / RnB vibe. The style does remind me of Beast’s songs back in the day. The vocals and rapping of this band are quite nice. I love how the song slows down at the bridge and then it just goes back to being upbeat and smooth with a simple curse word that is bleeped out. In KPOP alone, this is probably one of the few tracks that do contain a bleeped out curse. Would I say they are geniuses or are cool for doing that? Probably not. But because the bleeping out of a word is quite rare in KPOP, it does capture your attention.  The song is quite catchy and it becomes addictive for a while. The song just became overshadowed by other songs released then. Overall, I think the song is quite up my alley.

The video is a little confusing. I pieced together the lyrics and what I saw to get a story. The guys have all fell for this girl, who ends up cheating with someone else. Everyone is pissed or heartbroken when they found out what she was doing. In the video, we see another member fall for her and he gets furiously angry. Besides the plot of the video (which isn’t any more interesting), I found it very boring. They went with a tough guy concept, but their facial expressions look frozen the whole time, especially when it came to the choreography scenes. The acting is a little weird as well. It just was not interesting enough to watch.

Along with their facial expressions, the rest of the choreography look a bit bland as well. I think the song makes it a little hard to show off more of the dancing side to the band. Maybe if they have a song that shows off the dancer side in the group, I think they would look more awesome on stage.

Rating – 7/10

 

[Review] New York – Mamamoo

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Mamamoo returned with a pre-release single, New York back in September. It has definitely taken me a while to get around to reviewing it, but here I am. Mamamoo went on to include this track as part of their latest mini album, Memory, which contains the title track, Décalcomanie.

New York sounds pretty good. Don’t you love it when I start reviews off like that? No, but seriously, the song is quite catchy and the words “New York” do echo in your mind when you finish listening to the song. There was a very nice balance between all the elements in the song. Their vocals didn’t drown out the instrumental, nor did the instrumental overpower the vocals. There is a clash between multiple genres in this song. I can hear disco, funk, Jazz and a little pop… well… to make it pop. No, this doesn’t make the song bad, but rather interesting (but the first time listening to the song, it was confusing) to listen to. The vocals are quite nice (as I mentioned before – well balanced) and the rapping by Moonbyul was solid as well. The song overall, quite nicely. My only concern is that the song didn’t have that strong Mamamoo feel. Harmonising and loud (as some would say). It was something that I mentioned in the Décalcomanie review, but that song was still managed to sound quite strong. It is a track released prior to their main come back, so I can’t really bang on about who it feels distant from the artist’s usual style and you could even say that Mamamoo is trying to shine through a different style. I just miss that harmonising and backup vocals that sound amazing live.

The music video tells a story, but nothing that I would stick around to watch. But I forced myself to watch it in the end. Wheein has a crush on this guy, but the girls seem to persuade her to have some fun without him. So the girls set up this elaborate plan to pretend Wheein is in New York and the girls go out to have fun. In the end, the guy finds out that the girls were still in South Korea, eating at a food stand. The acting is quite off here. I have to admit it. It looks exaggerated and quite cringy at times. I am also glad that Solar’s hair is fake and that is it simply a wig. I had to give myself a moment when I first saw it. What I liked about the video: the connection between their live performance and the music video. It felt unique and different. It also added to the level of fun in the video, which was something that I also enjoyed as well.

The dance was a little weird, but watching it a few times, I felt like it was just perfect for the song. They promoted the song once or twice, which I don’t really understand why. The dance does look like it was slapped together within minutes (yes, I think dances are slapped together hahaha…), but it still ended up okay (I guess).

Rating – 6.5/10

[Review] Fanfare – SF9

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Another male rookie that I missed out this year. SF9 made their debut in October of this year. They are the first dance group to debut under FNC Entertainment, which also houses CN Blue, FT Island, N.Flying and AOA. The group consist of 9 members and the lineup includes: Youngbin, Inseong, Jaeyoon, Dawon, Rowoon, Zuho, Taeyang, Hwiyoung, Chani.

Fanfare is the title track of their debut release. The song is okay. Overall, it doesn’t really stand out from other debuts. It just doesn’t make me go wow or make me feel interested in the band (I say this but I will continue looking out for them for reviews). Closely inspecting the track for this review, I noticed that for the first time in a very long, I think the rapping in the song sounds a lot better than the vocal work.  The vocals just seemed a little flat. That being said, the song does have its moments. The “Lalalala Fare Fare FanFare~” is quite catchy and the instrumental stands out in the crowd. It is a nice mix between dance and hip-hop. To me, it is quite an intense instrumental, which makes the song is quite strong. I personally think it is a song that did show off particular sides to their band. If only the vocals were a little more defined and shown off a little more, I think the song would have been better.

Honestly, the video is a little bland for my taste. But from what I see, the video matches the song quite nicely. The combination of those scenes with not much going on (surprisingly), the choreography scenes and camera work makes the video seem quite intense, matching the same intensity I mentioned above, in the song. I hope there isn’t a plot to the video. Because from what I see, it is just them gathering each up to tag a wall. It also looks like they took the piece of the wall back to a warehouse. Yeah, not going to ask questions over there.

The choreography shares that level of intensity and actually, I think it looks really cool. It is quite impressive as well.

Rating – 6/10

 

[Review] If You – Ailee

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards) will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Ailee released If You as a pre-release single off her latest mini-album, A New Empire. This release occurred on the 23rd of August this year. This ended up being her first release since her comeback in 2015.

This ballad is. by far, one of the best ballads of the year. The song fits the Summer season (when it was initially released) perfectly. When it comes to the words Ballad and Summer are in the same sentence, this song’s instrumental is what you expect. Throw in Ailee’s vocal work and you have a pretty good song. It just lacks impact. All of Ailee’s songs (and even Ailee’s Home, which I deemed lacking as well) are hard-hitting. This just doesn’t reach that peak. But still, it is a pretty nice song to listen to. Actually, the combination of vocals and instrumental sounds like a happy tune from a gospel choir or like one of those beautiful sounding soulful songs. The way she opens each chorus was “If You~” sounds effortlessly amazing and it stays in my head every single time I hear the song. Her ad-libs towards the end were amazing as well.

The video features Nayoung from I.O.I. She plays the female in the video. Not sure who the male is. The video is a little confusing to understand, but you do get it in the end. Essentially, everything she sees is flashbacks of her past relationships. She has to leave them behind (i.e. enter a new door) to get over them. So the video is like her journey. In the end, she reaches her goal of getting past her old relationships (because clearly, she doesn’t want those memories to be repeated with her current boyfriend) and embraces her current boyfriend. The plot ties in nicely with the lyrics. Not really liking the acting in the video. Her face seems a little frozen. If her facial expressions were more expressive, I think I would have liked the video a little bit more. But overall, the video is nice to watch.

Rating – 9/10 

[Review] Gorilla – Pentagon

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

Pentagon is a 10 member boy group who debuted back in October with the track Gorilla. The group is currently under Cube Entertainment. The members were chosen via the show Pentagon Maker. All of the members selected on the program and a few eliminated contestants went on to form Pentagon. In the end, the group comprises of Jinho, Hui, Hongseok, E’Dawn, Shinwon, Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, Kino & Wooseok.  Jinho was originally a part of SM The Ballad and Hongseok participated in the survival program for iKON (but was eliminated).

Can’t say I like the song, but I don’t hate it. It is a song that I am on the fence about. Considering just the title, it makes me laugh. It is a title that is very out there and doesn’t allude to your typical track. It kind acted as the deal breaker for me. The song (removed from the title in my head) actually sounds pretty good. They have a solid beat that formed the basis of their song. And the song progressed quite smoothly. I would have enjoyed the song a little more if the chanting “Gorilla Gorilla” was completely omitted. (Once again, I just can’t take the title properly). Not many Gorilla references in the lyrics, but some of the lines were questionable: “Everyone wants to pick you like a strawberry“. Hmmm.. But besides, I liked the instrumental. It has a nice pop/hip-hop vibe and I mentioned the cool beat before. Their vocals and rapping was pretty good.

As a concept, Gorilla sounds pretty ordinary. This is KPOP we are talking about. A genre where the concepts that artists go for when it comes to videos and performances aren’t that ‘normal’ in Western culture. While some people seem to be able to piece out a story with the various different scenes, to me, it just seems like a bunch of shots made to string together. They look like they have no relevance and don’t flow from each other. Some relevance to gorillas. while some relevance was directed to the group’s name, Pentagon. The group choreography was well shot but not that focused. I assume to match the craziness of the dance and the music, those shots were out of focus and shaky. Overall thoughts on the video: it is a mess. That or I am really confused.

However, the choreography for this debut is smashing. From what I can see, the group has a lot of potential in this department. The dance at the chorus has to be one of the few dances of the year. It matches the Gorilla concept pretty well and the song. Looks funny but after a while you overlook it and see a great dance.

Rating – 5.5/10

 

[Double Review] Still 24K + Bingo – 24K

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[This review was written and scheduled a few months back in preparation for my absence in December. The standard posts for the end of the year (comebacks I have missed in November & December, the end of year charts + KPOPreviewed awards will be written and posted after my return. No weekly charts will be uploaded for the last week of November and all of December.]

This is my first time reviewing 24K , so let me give you a rundown of the band. 24K is a boy band under Choeun Entertainment, who debuted in 2012. The group has had lineup changes since debut and currently, the seven members of the band are: Cory, Kisu, Jeonguk, Hui, Changsun, Jihong and Hongseob. The band debuted with Hurry Up and went on to release songs such as Secret Love, SuperFly & Hey You.

Still 24K is a pretty cool EDM track. The instrumental is hard-hitting, upbeat and given you are listening to the song with surround sounds, it would  sound amazing. I like the vocals of the song. The rapping sounds rough, suiting the song, but sounds very staged and manipulated. The chorus is quite simple: ‘Still 24K, Still 24K”, but the instrumentals here are definitely the peak of the song. Bingo is another EDM track that has a much deeper and serious tone to it. It sounds like a little bit of rock is also infused into the song. The vocals and rap in this song are okay. Like Still 24K, Bingo doesn’t have much of a chorus but this time around the instrumental where the chorus should be isn’t that good. It is quite underwhelming and doesn’t sound smooth as the instrumental chorus in Still 24K. I like the ending of Bingo, because it is quite like an adrenaline rush. But that feeling should have been much earlier to make it even better. Just by reading this part of the review, I think you can tell which track I like better (Still 24K).

The two music videos join together to form one large story arc. 24K is a gang that, in the video, conducts heist to steal money and jewlery. Previously, they had visited one of these places to check it out and they find out that it is the jackpot. They start planning for the heist. It seems like the girl, who is in a relationship with the guy with greyhair, doesn’t agree that he should be doing this and they get into an argument. He kisses her, but she doesn’t seem too pleased. As they leave, she makes eye contact with brown hair guy and he nods towards her. They successfully pull of the heist, however the two guys I mentioned get into a fight. As they are celebrating the success, grey hair guy gets a message that says his girlfriend has been kidnapped and that the mysterious kidnappers demand more money. Hence the guys go back. However, the police gets tipped off and a massive gun battle proceeds. The gang barely makes it out. However, they end up facing the kidnappers. The gang end up trading the stuff they stole in exchange for the girl. However, plot twist. She starts laughing, which confuses the gang. It turns out that the brown hair guy from earlier is also in love with her and they both decide to trick the others to get more money. That shocks the gang (like really eye bulging shock). The two opposing sides get into a gun battle and the gang is severely killed. The girl and the brown hair guy leaves and live on. Overall, it is a pretty good story to watch. Another one that is almost movie quality. My main complaint falls onto the second video, Bingo. I don’t mind the flashbacks, but since the first music video  focused on the almost unsuccessful heist already, most of the scenes in the second music video were not needed. Maybe one scene for a refresher. I felt the music video became a little too repetitive because the events were later revisited. But that’s just my small complaint.

Both dances are really cool. I just felt Still 24K’s dance was a little weak for the song (i.e. it was performed quite strongly, but the dance moves themselves didn’t seem strong). Bingo’s dance was perfect for the song and revisited the whip a few times.

Still 24K – 8.5/10

Bingo – 7.5/10

[Review] One More Day -Sistar & Giorgio Moroder

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Sistar has made an unexpected return with a collaboration with the legendary Giorgio Moroder, who (for those who don’t know) is a DJ and artist, who started Italo disco and electronic dance music. Yeah… I have heard of him in the past, but I didn’t know who he is exactly. What a Google Search can do nowadays… On with the review because there is a lot to talk about.

One More Day is one amazing track. The instrumental is smashing. And goes very well with the vocals of the group. The verses sound deep and low, but still amazing. In contrast, the chorus stands out for being more brighter and catchy. Bora’s rap segment is quite short (which is a disappointment) but extremely fitting with the song. Everything strings together quite well. The most important thing of all, you can hear the influences of Europe and Giorgio Moroder in the song, mainly because the instrumental isn’t like any other song from my memory. But despite that, you can hear those international influences, the song still manages to fit in with KPOP and Korea. Just I do have another comment to make. Sistar’s line distribution does it again. Bora’s segment was too short and I felt like Soyu would have added a nice touch to the chorus. The vocals just feel like a simple copy and paste.

The music video is one of those videos that is on a whole new level. So what happens? (I will refer to the short hair girl as A and long hair girl as B). The girls, I assume, are just friends at the start. But as the video progresses along, the girls start to develop feelings for each other. However, while this is all happening, A  is in a relationship of her own (with her boyfriend). This makes the B extremely jealous, which A becomes aware of. From what I also see, A seems to be abused by her boyfriend, which angers B. Especially when the three are together and A’s boyfriend acts all lovey with A. After a night out with B, the girls run into the boyfriend and they get into a scuffle. The boyfriend gets angry at A and slaps her across the face. B gets angry and tries to protect her lover. B grabs a brick, while A grabs wine bottles and the two end up killing the boyfriend (or rendering him unconscious). Knowing it is for the best, somehow they pack his body into a suitcase and wheel to it an empty field. They blow up a car with the suitcase inside and walk away.

The acting here is amazing. The chemistry is quite strong. Throw in the fact that the video contains tabooed topics in Korea,  you can see what level the music video is on. It takes on the social issues that videos in South Korea don’t really refer to, in fear the video and artists are criticised for it. Maybe killing people is not the way to go, but hopefully, this video draws attention to these issues (homosexuality and domestic abuse) in Korea and the world.

Rating – 9/10