[Rewind] April 2016 & May 2016

Yeah… I know May hasn’t ended yet, but to avoid posting another late ‘Rewind” post 3 weeks after the month finished, I have decided to April and May together. This one is going to be a little informal in terms of format for a few reasons that will appear apparent. And before we move on, just a little reminder that I will try to write and release reviews every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Okay, moving along:

Leaving the Group?

We became shocked with the disbandment (or what we dubbed at the disbandment) of Kara at the start of the year. However, it seems like certain groups are facing member line up changes after one of their members had decided to not resign with their company and have since departed ways with their respective groups. Former member of 2NE1, Minzy, and former member of Miss A, Jia, have both decided to leave their successful group and go onto their own paths.  Minzy will (hopefully) make her solo debut in the near future after confirmation came from her new company in which she signed. Jia was announced today that she would be leaving the band after her contract finished. Miss A and 2NE1 faced disbandment rumours from these two events, but both their companies have stated that is not the case. Not only girl groups are facing these changes, but A-Jax (if we all remember who they were) recently lost 3 members (Sungmin, Jaehyung and Jihu). But the list does not end there. Hyunseung departed from Beast, leaving the group with 5 members. It was kind of expected after the numerous articles and petitions asking for his removal. Hyunseung is expected to return as a solo artist in the near future and is still signed with Cube Entertainment. It is always disappointing to hear these news and it has obviously shocked the industry a lot. These members have been with their band since the beginning, so it is always hard for fans. Hopefully, there won’t be any more of this and I wish the former members luck in their future endeavours (because that is something we all should do and not call them selfish).

Descendant of the Sun

Now this is something we all have heard about. The drama has taken Asia by storm and has been proven to be highly successsful. It stars Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Ko, as the main characters. Before you all die from shock, I have yet to watch this drama. So, no spoilers. But I don’t actually have any plans to watch the drama. Because I am not one to enjoy romance and all this lovey dovey sh*t. I just don’t watch the genre (or any mainstream and popular dramas). I prefer the cringeworthy daily dramas. Now, why am I talking about this drama? Well, the OSTs for this drama has literally taken over the charts each time they were released. Not complaining here, but the songs were really good. Like, I really enjoy listening to them and this is probably the first time I have been impressed with the OST for a drama. Anyway, the OST contains songs from Davichi, Gummy, K.Will, Yoon Mi Rae, Chen, Punch, Mad Clown, Kim Na Young, Xiah, MC The Max, Lyn and SG Wannabe. In OST terms, this is pretty much the star studded red carpet. Each song released topped the charts instantaneously and I can see these artists winning the Best OST awards at the award ceremonies already. That is all I am reporting on… Hahaha…

Comebacks and Debuts

For the past two months, many artists have made their comeback and they include ): Block B, Seventeen, History, April, Twice, AOA, Akdong Musician, VIXX, Lovelyz, Up10Tion and so many more.

For debuts, NCT is the big debut for April.  I.O.I is probably the major debut for May. However, we have seen new soloists emerge in KPOP in the past two months. Notably, Jung Eunji from APINK, Woohyun from Infinite and Tiffany from SNSD had their respective solo debuts in the last two months.

Top 5 songs of April

As per normal, these are my top 5 songs of April:

  1. Pretty U – Seventeen
  2. Journey to Atlantis – Laboum
  3. Dynamite – VIXX
  4. Queen – History
  5. Toy – Block B

Top 5 songs of May

May hasn’t ended yet, but it is about to. I will add other May songs to the June list (when I get around to it).

0. Pretty U – Seventeen (I have to. I have been trialling charts and Seventeen has been popping up every single week as the top song for the week).
1. Good Luck – AOA
2. Save Me – BTS
3. Nodding Nodding – Woohyun (Infinite)
4. I Just Wanna Dance – Tiffany (SNSD)
5. Fire – BTS

This one was a long one and I tried to keep it short. I am really behind in reviews and will get them out slowly. It will take me some time to catch up. Bad news is that I have exams coming up and I am going to be slower. I will review every major release eventually, so give me some time. Enjoy the rest of May and see you tomorrow!!!

 

Recap of MAMA 2015 and Thoughts

Did you forget about the MAMA awards held by MNET in 2015? Or are we all trying to forget it for its bias and unfair system? Well, don’t fret, I am here to remind you of the disappointment or joy that you felt.

The MNET Asian Music Awards (or MAMA) was held on the 2nd of December in… Hong Kong. Again. Voting for the awards began in October of the same year and I thought there was a fair range of nominees and the committee selected a variety if talents for each award.

The following artists attended and performed at the awards ceremony: Taeyeon (SNSD), GOT7, BTS, Hyuna (4 minute), Park Ji Young, Seventeen, Monsta X, F(x), SHINEE, EXO, Big Bang, iKON, Zion.T, Crush, Sane. 2NE1 & Psy. Pet Shop Boys were invited as special guest performers on the night. Red Velvet, Twice, Tiffany and Seohyun from SNSD also attended by did not perform.

I have recapped the winners below. I shall give some comments afterwards regarding the winners.
Best New Male Artist – iKON.
Best New Female Artist – Twice.
Best Male Vocal Performance – Zion.T (Eat)
Best Female Vocal Performance – Ailee (Mind Your Business)
Best Male Dance Performance – SHINee (View).
Best Female Dance Performance – Red Velvet (Ice Cream Cake)
Best Solo Dance Performance – Hyuna (Roll Deep).
Best Collaboration / Subunit – Zion.T & Crush (Just)
Best Rap Performance – Sane (Me You)
Best Band Performance – CN BLUE (Cinderella)
Best Male Group – EXO
Best Female Group – SNSD
Best Male Artist – Park Jin Young
Best Female Artist – Taeyeon
Best Music Video – Bang Bang Bang
Best Album (Album of the Year) – EXODUS
Best Song (Song Of The Year) – Bang Bang Bang
Best Artist (Artist Of The Year) – Big Bang

Best New Male Artist is probably the category that has me shaking my head the most. iKON is slowly showing their capability, but I feel like Seventeen is already two steps ahead of them and deserve the award more. Best Female Vocal Performance should have gone to Taeyeon and Taeyeon should have received 2 awards that night. Not dissing Ailee, but it wasn’t her best song or vocal performance. Best Music Video should have also gone to F(x). Best Male Dance Performance is an iffy category for me. SHINee did have a great dance, but sadly, I felt that BTS was missing out due to the lack of nomination in that category. Big Bang took out most of the awards, but I don’t think it matters. Big Bang dominated summer in South Korea last year with their continuous releases and had one of the most popular songs of the year (according to download and streaming charts). JYP’s award caught me a little off guard but I guess out of all the nominees, he had a good song. Besides the categories I mentioned, I think the awards were “fair”. Okay maybe not, but who MAMA awarded that night, I mostly agree with (given the nominees).

But wait, there were a few more awards that were given out that night:
Worldwide Favourite Artist – Big Bang
Global Fan’s Choice Male Artist – EXO
Global Fan’s Choice Female Artist – F(x)
Best World Performers – BTS
Next Generation Asian Artist – Monsta X
Best Asian Style – EXO
Worldwide Inspiration Award – Pet Shop Boys
There were also other awards which were awarded to artists from other countries as Best Asian Artist. Best Engineer, Best Live Entertainment and Best Producer awards were also given to 3 people for each award from different countries.

Out of these awards, I am a little confused with the Best Asian Style award. Out of all that walked the red carpet, I was shocked when EXO came along. Also, Pet Shop Boys. I am with majority of people who have never heard of the band before.

Per usual, there were many different performances on the night. The show opened up with Taeyeon’s I, which I thought was a really beautiful stage. She sounded flawlessly on the stage. BTS made their comeback on the night and collaborated with GOT7, who also performed If You Do. JYP had a special stage which probably scarred both GOT7 and Twice and he went a little wild towards the end of his performance. iKON performed a medley of their songs. Monsta X and Seventeen collaborated, while F(x) and Pet Shop Boys joined hands together. We also saw Sane perform with Hyuna and Jessi. Also a stage with both Show Me The Money contestants and Unpretty Rapstar. EXO, SHINee, Big Bang each had their stages with multiple songs and got the audience really hyped up. Psy also made his comeback and performed alongside with his new songs, Gangnam Style. Probably the most talk that night was 2NE1’s performance which caught everyone off guard. It was nice to see them, but whether it was appropriate is just another topic all together.

Out of all the stages, I thought Taeyeon had the most beautiful stage. For the dance aspect, Seventeen and Monsta X’s performance was really well polished and amazing.

Overall, I thought the night was worth it. It may seem like YG has a lot of influence over the MAMA awards and that is probably true. But whether it is right or not, is another discussion in its self. Just regarding the invitations to the awards, it did seem like someone did forget to invite people. Some stages seem like they could have used a little more attention to give it that grand feel that the MAMA awards is meant to uphold, like in previous years. But overall, I thought the night was pretty good. Wait… Did I just repeat the first sentence of this paragraph? Guess I am going to call it a day now. Hope you enjoyed my recap!

Daddy – Psy ft. CL (2NE1)

This is the second part of Psy’s comeback, with Daddy. This song, I think, is meant to embrace the international audience that fell in love with Gangnam Style and Gentlemen. Why I think that, well the song is a better mixture of English and Korean, compared to Napal Baji. CL also features in this track, and while her part is very limited, I actually liked her vocals in this song. More than Psy’s vocals in this song. Yeah, Daddy really did not appeal to me. It had that American feel, but overall the song fell quite short in comparison to Napal Baji. Call me hypocritical, but I feel like this song has a little too much electronic components and Psy’s vocals (in some parts) had excessive autotune. The very simple chorus, is once again the hook of the song, and it really did reel me in. Maybe because the sound of the song has been Americanized quite a bit, I am not feeling the song overall. However it is still a nice song to listen to.  Quite catchy as well.

The music video was interesting and I personally think I enjoyed it to a certain level. It is not that I am disappointed in it, but it felt too complex for Psy. If that makes sense. Yeah, it had that wild element and also the crazies, but it just felt that too much detail was placed into the video. Maybe I am going crazy with these reviews. Hahaha.. But seriously, baby Psy is ummm… creepy. I don’t want a baby winking at me. I absolutely love the school scenes where he is like the ultimate flower boy or hot school jock that everyone is blown away by. The girls acting in this make me laugh so hard. I also love the scenes where he attempts to woo the teacher. I don’t know why by Spanish dance teacher Psy suits his image a lot. The other scene I totally love was the tornado scene. Beside, the grandfather version of Psy was not that great, kind of looked creepy. The one thing I feel like this music video can do without though is CL’s appearance. I personally don’t understand the point of putting someone in the video or on the stage for around 5 seconds, and have them walk off right after.

I feel like the dance for this song suits it 100% and suits Psy 100%. It is simple and easy to follow and it matches the beat of the song. Per usual, Psy looks ridiculous dancing, but he genuinely looks happy about it. If I were to review the dance only, I personally give it a 10/10.

Daddy falls short a tiny bit. Napal Baji was my favourite this time around. 8/10

Which Psy song did you like this time around? Pick below!!!

Happy – 2NE1

Source: http://dontevertellaseoul.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/2ne1-happy.jpg?w=855

2NE1 recently made their comeback and along with their title track. released another music video for one of their other songs other than their title track, Come Back Home, for Happy. And if they did not release the video, I probably never knew that the song ever existed. On top of that, I am rather confused. Why did they create a music video for a song that they are not going to promote, while the second song they are going to promote, has no music video??? Confusing hey? Now onto something more serious. I am back. This review was meant to be released prior to my little break, but school got a little out of hand (and when I say that, I mean I got a lot of major tests 1 one week). But now it is over and i am starting my Easter holidays as soon as tomorrow night, so I am back and ready to churn out reviews of songs that I have missed out.

This song sucks. Okay, it has this happy feel with it, which is great, but this song has this “Falling In Love” feel to it, which I actually grew to hate. Come Back Home seemed more of a serious track and all their other songs on the album had the seriousness feel to it. Whereas for this track, it just gleams off happiness. There was nothing there is appeal to me and the song just did not give off that 2NE1 feeling we all want. Though, I admit the song makes me smile, I just don’t feel it like the rest of their other songs. Maybe because I am the type of person who is happy when everyone else is sad. Yeah, I live off people’s sadness! That was mighty rude of me. I guess this is 2NE1’s attempt of being cute, without being criticised for being a exaggerated puppy who is rolling around in toilet paper. The song, for me could have been much better if there was that more impact which gives more of a 2NE1 style to the song. So yeah, that is my take on the song.

The music video was a little too colourful. You can see the budget in Come Back Home and this video. The extra images that make the song more into a cutesy video kind of ruined the video for me. After watching it, I feel like they were trying a little too hard to fit the image of the song. I guess the sunny background does not really fit in with what I love 2NE1 for. Thier colthing and stuff looks awesome. Beside Dara’s hair. We need to fix that. Taeyang called and he wants his sushi rolls back. And didn’t Minzy have her hair dyed and short like that a pretty long time ago? I am talking about the blue or purple short hair. Which reminds me I need a haircut, but anyway. Once again the video was not that entirely great.

I think overall it is safe to say that I did not sit well if the song. Just didn’t feel the 2NE1 feel that I love and like. Such a pity. Come Back Home was pretty good. I was also meant to say this age ago, but the comeback that you guys liked the most out of 2NE1 or SNSD goes to 2NE1. Overwhelming support for this quartet. But still SNSD, you guys had a good comeback as well! 1/10

Come Back Home – 2NE1

Source: http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_large/hash/b1/49/b1493acb42940757393b0c157c84e166.jpg?itok=IDM0SQH0

2NE1 is back with a brand new song that has everyone talking. The group is finally back and it seems to be rivalling the rival group’s song. Bam, the KPOP industry has just been transformed into a KPOP Hunger Games Arena, where group after group is being slaughtered for the top position. After what seemed to an unsuccessful year for the band, mainly Falling In Love and Do You Love Me doing poorly on the charts, the 4 member hip hop girl group is back to re-shine as the top girl group of South Korea. I checked the Gaon charts last night and every single 2NE1 song is up there, whereas SNSD only has like 2 songs. So I see that the girls have finally reminded Korea of the badass group we all have been waiting for.

This song is pretty good. Much better than Falling In Love and Do You Love Me, which all have been viewed as a flop. This song however, brings the bands back to their I Am The Best and Lonely days. Well, maybe the song is not too the same standard but the feel of the song matches that era really well. I like the song and think it is totally amazing. There is one part of the song that did and always will make me cringe. The song was great. The chorus was awesome and then that one bit that made me want to turn my speakers off and cry in a corner. The ‘Come baby, baby, come”, part which was so terrible. Literally the worst part fo the song. If that part was taken out, then the song would have been the best song ever, but no, the group added something extra which may have made or break the song. The really cool instrumental which made it a softer song, however O feel the build-up and the vocals made the song into a really powerful song. The rapping in the song from CL was really cool. But overall, a pretty cool song.

The music video. Hahahahaha… It was reported that YG Entertainment blew their budget with the editing for this video, but seriously, I really like the video. The sets were awesome and it was totally something different from what we see normally in KPOP. The music video has some kind of a plot involving a real world and a virtual world, where in the real world, the girls were happy and all, but when their lover becomes lost in the other world, they seek to find him through rebelling to be able to achieve what their goal was. I just wish to direct you all to one scene in the whole video. Did 2NE1 gate crashed and literally slaughter everyone? Cause it looked a lot like that. 2NE1 is finally back. The visual effects are pretty full on in this video but I am not really happy with Dara’s solo prescene, particularity the “come back home” part of the song (The one that made me cringe). Honestly that looks like they are trying too hard and it does not fit the group’s traditional feel.

The dance is okay. Nothing that major which would make it song cool, but it looked awesome overall.

8/10. The girls are back and they are ready to live up to their name they established for themselves in 2011 with I Am The Best and Lonely. Hope they get to redeem themselves and win an award!!! My question which would probably cost my life would be:

‘End Of Year Music Festivals’ Favourite Performances

Woah, 2013 is over (Soz, a tad late) and each year KPOP fans always end up looking forward to the end of year music festivals. These “festivals” are held on the final days of the year by the 3 major boradcasting companies of South Korea (ie. KBS, SBS, MBC). It is a stage where the artists who are active during the year can come together and celebrate by putting on some music and performing different stages from the ones that they had promoted during the year. So this means there are many different collaborations between artists or remix stages which would have fans screaming for. Because there happens to be little songs to review at this time of the year (end of Jan, don’t ask why), I thought I do this and release it in time for the Vietnamese (Or Chinese) New Year!!!!!

KBS Gayo Daechukje

  • Honestly, I was not satisfied with any of the collabs. They seem to be a last minute thing which made the show rather messy. They had good songs, but Iw as not satisfied with the way they were presented.
  • Crayon Pop’s Bar Bar Bar was a good stage. The start got everyone hyped up and when the song actually started, boy was the screams loud! It was rather fresh and different stage that everyone must’ve had enjoyed.
  • EXO’s Intro + Growl sounded amazing. Now if only they were not replayed 563495630295634092560 times this year and everyone talking about them, I would not think poorly of them. However the intro and the performance was really good.
  • APINK was one of the few bands to throw in a new instrumental for their “sexy version” of No No No. I enjoyed the dance and I liked the new mix.
  • Beast had a pretty cool stage as well. They kept their normal instrumental but made something interested out of it.
  • Sistar’s “femme fatale” Give It To Me looked really good. Minus the not so good looks of the dancers, I really liked their dance break and Dasom has my heart beating even faster.
  • Miss A’s remixes were amazing this year. I like them much better than the actual song. Amazing right?Well, honestly it is just a new instrumental over some parts and then the actual song itself. And Min, walking away like a boss and carrying on singing after getting hit in the face.

SBS Gayo Daejeon

  • First stage which I enjoyed was VIXX’s On & On and VooDoo Doll. I honestly thought that Hyde and On & On would have been a better match, but they still seemed to pull it off pretty well. I think I am turning into a fan. Damn.
  • Z:EA and Nine Muses collaboration stage with Ghost Of The Wind, Glue and finally hit song Bounce was another stage that literally got me into it. It is such a good stage with the two bands together, where it was Nine Muses first time and Z:EA’s second time since debut.
  • Another collaboration stage goes to Girl’s Day and APINK’s Expectation and No No No. Honestly, it seemed APINK had less airtime than Girl’s Day. Not sure about the detail, but it kind seems unfair. But both suited the stage every well singing each other’s song.
  • Crayon Pop’s Bar Bar Bar was pretty good. But the camera work destroyed the good stage.
  • T-Ara had a lot of hate, but I seemed to enjoy this stage. Number 9 but vampire version. Not much change to the song, except for really creepy dance breaks. And BOOOOBSSS!!!!!
  • 2NE1 had an alight stage. Though they just sang Missing You and Do You Love Me?, this still had remarkable stage preference.
  • Taeyang and G-Dragon seemed to had some fun on stage. I liked the lineup of songs they had coming. They sung 1AM, Crooked, Ringa Linga and Bad Boy. Considering that the whole group as not there, they did a good job filling up 3 other parts as well.

MBC Gayo Daejejeon

  • Miss A’s classy club mix for Hush sounded the best and probably has to be my most favourite stage out of all the stages listed here. It sounded to sexy and cool all at the same time.
  • T-Ara’s Number 9 and What Should I Do was a great stage. They combined the two songs into a club beat kind of song which flowed pretty well, considering the two extreme opposites for each song.
  • Ailee’s rapping before her performance , U&I, was da bomb.
  • F(x)’s Rum Pum Pum Pum was pretty good as well. Was not as impressed with the original version though.But the instrumental and ending of this stage was awesome!!! And finally F(x) gets a stage remix for an end of year festival.
  • B1A4’s rock remix for What’s Happening? was also a pretty cool performance. Literally got me going with the beat.
  • Infinite brought a new thing to the stage with Destiny remixed with the instrumental of Deception. Something that was quite unexpected but sounded pretty good despite the two songs sounding completely different.
  • Give It To Me by Sistar was pretty cool as well if the little bit of dubstep (I think) mixed in the song as well. Hyorin’s intro with Sweet Dream was pretty cool.
  • Kara’s medley of songs was pretty good. And considering the departure of two members, it fitted the occasion. They performed Lupin, Step, Damaged Lady, Mister and Honey (not sure about the last one though.

If you watched the performances, which one did you like? Honestly, when I was watching the performances on YouTube, all I thought was that it seemed too much like a normal music show rather than something to be called a “End Of Year Festival”. I think these stages are losing their purpose. But anyway, still a fantastic line-up and amazing stages!!! What were your favourite stages of the three nights?

Missing You – 2NE1

2NE1 is back with their long awaited comeback single. It seems like 2013 is not 2NE1’s year. In fact, YG’s year at all. After what many deemed as mega flops, the band is finally comeback with yet another song going in a totally different direction. They made their comeback through the MAMA earlier this month and since made their comeback onto the stage on the weekly music shows, also winning awards for this song, much mroe than what they have won altogether in the year.

I love this song. 2NE1 always have these cool, hardcore pop songs that want to get you up and dance. Never do we get a song that shows off the vocal ability of each member. This song however does just that. This ballad sounds so amazing and the emotion (in the voices, not in the presentation of the members). I particularly love the chorus and the “Geuriwohaeyo” part is really catchy. This song by far is the best song released by 2NE1 this year. The only complaint with this song is it is quite sad. Too sad in fact for me. And I was not really sure with the sudden change in the instrumental after the first chorus. They made the ballad into a poppy song which did ruin the sadness of the song. But I felt that the song needed more of something to make it less sad. I don’t know why i am complaining anyway. Both would cancel each other out anyway.

The music video is quite interesting. I like it. Not the best music video out there, but it really carries the emotion that the song has. The lighting of the music video fits really well. Also feel that when the members just are sitting around doing nothing fits the video and feel of the song quite well. Not sure about CL lying on that big XXI. I also did enjoy the dancer. he made a pretty good contribution to the video, giving it that more interesting zest to it. CL’s body is amazing. Not perving on her or anything…. Major complaint here, but Park Bom’s face. Nothing wrong with the face, but it looks droopy. All I see is her mouth moving. Beside that, the face just looks like blank. While the other members are sad and miserable, Bom is just … No wonder she is not an actor.

The performance is just them standing around singing and no dancing. Fits the song perfectly. At least they did not put in a dance that would’ve ruined the whole song.

8.5/10. Pretty good comeback. Better than Do You Love Me?, Baddest Female and Falling In Love by miles.

Do You Love Me? – 2NE1

Source: http://cdn.popdust.com//wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2NE1-Falling-In-Love-Feature1.jpg

2NE1 has made their comeback with a new song after their release of Falling In Love and they have been keeping to their schedule of releasing a song every month. Last month we saw a more feminine side of the band with their reggae themed song, Falling In Love. This time around we got a dance heavy track, which is bound to make you guys all jump (not as much as Crayon Pop’s Bar Bar Bar). Hands up if you got that!!!! Hahahahaha…. That is me being weird. Honestly the song has not been performing as well on the charts as many has been expecting, rising and then dropping quite quickly. Do You Love Me only won one award so far, but still is not dropping as quickly as many antis expected.

The song is much more poppish and dancey compared to Falling In Love. It is a song that you would find at a club and many people dancing to it. I love the very start of the song. with that swaying like instrumental. I have to admit though, the bass was a little too much in the song. When CL starts singing, I basically fell in love with the song. The chorus is quite the let down in the song, which sounded awkward. Do You Love Me was repeated like a million times in the song to the point where it got a little annoying. Bom’s part were quite lacking, living up to her standards as the artist who has the worst control with her voice. Dara, finally has a song where she is not autotuned. I also love the ending of the song where everything goes all quiet for a second and bang, they launch back right into the song. Not like I Am The Best, that the company had compared it too, but still a pretty cool song.

The music video was quite horrible. I understand the the whole point that the band had a tight schedule and did not have enough time to shoot a full scale music video to impress their fan, but this music video was quite horribly done. I would’ve honestly just delayed the comeback. Like, a “home made video” for something that is meant to captivate fans? I applaud YG for doing something different, but he should’ve known that there were going to be more cons for this than pros. I also hate that filter to give that more antique look. That or the company needs to invest in a more in a much better camera. You are meant to be a dance song, not something I would find in the 1930’s.

The dance is still pretty feminine. Still good however. I love the start. But it does not carry that 2NE1 feel that we all want from the band. Quite disappointed, but still pretty cool.

6/10. Yeah, song was great. Music video and dance not that great. My question to you is: which 2NE1 song did you like more? Falling In Love or Do You Love Me? Answer in the poll below.

Falling In Love – 2NE1

Source: http://www.soompi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2ne1-falling.png

2NE1 has finally made their long 1 year return with a brand new style and song, Falling In Love. Shedding their dominant and 2NE1 style we all know the band for, they have changed to a more feminine and more loving style. However, I beg to differ. I find the song still has that 2NE1 feel to it, despite it being “different”. I was, too shocked, with their change though. It was quite sudden. I swear, they will lose a fan, if they do the cute style. Just a warning. They also just today, “Very 2NE1” for their August single. Now that plans have been confirmed, you will be expecting a review.

As for the song, let’s begin at the begin. That “Yap Yap Yap” note at the start was not needed at all. Basically, I was appalled with the start of the song. After that, I basically enjoyed the song. I was not disappointed, like how everyone else is. “Touch Me Over Here, Touch me Over There” did seem a bit dirty at the start, which really did seem weird. The start was amazing and the instrumental was pretty cool. Reggae and different. CL’s rap was much better than her solo debut, Baddest Girls, which I was really happy about. Park Bom and Minzy’s vocals were pretty cool as well. As for Dara, too much autotune. Really disappointed. The song itself, was really catchy. Well, it took me a few listens to get into the feel of the song, but I got there. Basically, the girls made me “Fall In  Love” with the song. As for touching them over here and touching them over thereOverall, actually satisfied with the outcome of the new style and song.

The music video was really lame. Like, it lacked everything that a 2NE1 video contains. Where are the really extreme horns and hairstyles? Where are the bats that break glass? Where is the angry faces and big sets that we all love the band for? You see, after a group creates a style, they should stay with it. If they are confident with changing styles, they have to be 150% sure that they will be okay, because if they don’t it could mean the downfall for the band. The music video was very summery, however the beach set looked fake as a photographer’s studio. The amount of gold (or items painted as gold) was over the top in the video. The video, too had, this mythological feel to it. It seem ancient Greek with the costumes the people were wearing. which looked really “unnatural”. 2NE1’s acting in the video really does suck. It seems forceful and really unnatural as well. However, I was really satisfied with the summer feel the video has and the solo shots throughout the video. They really seem to fit the band’s style. Overall, I was quite disappointed in the video, but felt it did fit the song. 

The dance is really summery and really feminine. It really does not look that good on its own, but does suit the song and the music video. There are none of the “slutty” dances that many of us see nowadays in this comeback, which really makes the dance that extra memorable. 

6/10. Song, music video and dance was okay, but the whole comeback was quite disappointing. It could’ve been much better. Let’s hope “Very 2NE1” is “Very 2NE1”. 

The Baddest Female – CL (2NE1)

Source: http://cdn.idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/28/cl-baddest-female-video-600×337.jpg

CL, the known leader of the very popular band, 2NE1, recently made her solo debut, releasing her mini album on the 28th of May 2013. Though there have been positive feedback, there is always negative feedback. People blamed her for copying Lee Hyori title track, as both songs were titled as “Bad Girls”. CL then was forced to change her title to “The Baddest Female”. Also, not many Blackjacks like the song as I have thought. I too, don’t really like this song. Before this review, I have only listened to it once and I have not touched the link on YouTube for it ever again. Now, that I have to force myself here to listen to it once again just for a review. Hahahaha. Only joking.

The song is awful. To me, that is. There is really no bit in this song that I like. It is the hip hop genre, but how she sang the song, how rapped here, was not the best. Hell, it was not good at all. I don’t like the beat, I don’t like her raps. I don’t like her vocals. I don’t like anything in this song. This si basically a mashed up version of GD’s songs and transformed the mashed up version for a female to sing. The lyrics itself is quite annoying. The “Eonniya~ (woh!) eonni eonni eonni hey~” was the part where I cringed the most in the whole song. The dubstep addition did not make the song nay better. The ending did not fit the start of the song, where it seems the producer got real lazy and made CL record two different versions of the song. Then he (or she) just copied the start of one song and copied the second half of the other and add some horrible effects to make the song sound “good”. To make sure you guys know how bad this song is (to me), I feel quite uncomfortable typing this out here right now, with the song itself. I like YG Entertainment, but this is by far the worst YG song I have ever heard.

The music video looks a lot like GD’s music video. It weird and quirky. Mostly, it is different. But don’t they get a bit tired of making the same thing over and over again. I am quite tired of this randomness that YG enjoy getting into. It is a thing that YG has built and created for someone like G Dragon. CL’s take on this is uncomfortable and weird. It not normal. YG just has to find his singer’s thing when it comes to style. He did it well with Big Bang, Psy, Gummy, 2NE1 even solo artists a part of the bands: G Dragon, Taeyang, Park Bom etc. But beside that I am disappointed with the music video. The amount of gangsters in this video is astounding. I last time I saw this many gangsters is …. actually … never. Awkward. But beside that, more disappointment.

The dance is not good either. Sorry, CL, you flopped in my point of view. Congrats on your award though?

0/10. Did not like anything associated with this solo debut. Hopefully, 2NE1’s comeback right after will be better.

I Love You – 2NE1

Song

This song rocks. I was really expecting something upbeat like what was at the end of the song, or something like I Am The Best, as their teasers showed, but it turns out to be a ballad with a bit of electronic style mixed up, so I was quite disappointed. But the song is still awesome. I really like the vocals of the group. I actually like all parts of the song from Minzy’s introduction to CL’s Long Note to Park Bom’s chorus and Dara’s natural but auto-tuned parts. But it is all good. I liked the rap at the end o f the song, as it was kind of unexpected. It was like the twist in a story that no one sees coming. ‘

Music Video

This is something that I find kind of different. I am not sure if this different is a good or bad thing. But I still like the music video. It is much different than their past videos, but quite similar to Sistar’s Alone. (Mainly the car scenes). I am quite confused with the doors in the middle and at the end. What happened behind the closed doors? No one knows. I also don’t understand the light house. I think this puzzled everybody. Like seriously, this is a love song, the only reason why I would think a lighthouse would be present in the video is that their lover is at sea. So confusing. There is no evidence of this anyway.

I would like to address Dara’s hair here. IT LOOKS AWESOME. DON’T CRY DARA, YOU LOOK AS GOOD, EVEN WITH HALF OF YOUR HEAD SHAVED. YOU STILL LOOK PRETTY. Now, to continue this review in a professional manner, everybody. (LOVE YOU 2NE1) (LOL).

Live Performance

Wow, though this dance is completely different from their other dances, this one i really good. The emotion is shown in the moves and looks really good. The start of the song was quite good, in terms of the dance. I also noticed a trend. You know how GD coloured his “seaweed hairstyle” with different colours, the same thing is happening to Dara. And also all the members look good.

And The Rating?

I’ll admit, I was a bit bias with some of my comments (Check the brackets in the Music Video part). But I wish only to give this song a 9/10. The reason why I took off the one mark is that I was disappointed since I was expecting something really good and bad ass. Sorry. Otherwise, I would’ve given them a 10/10.

Have Fun Watching. Troy 😀

Live Performance:

Music Video:

Don’t Cry – Park Bom (2NE1)

Song

This song is very catchy. I have to say that and Park Bom’s voice is really fitting for this song. Yeah, that is really what all I can say about this song. Its nice and matches in very well with the music video. The lyrics tell us of a heartbroken lady with a dream to be with her love one. So yeah.

Music Video

Okay this music video is quite a good a one. It tells us a story of a young girl who was left heartbroken by her boyfriend who had died. This girl is having images of her boyfriend and runs after her boyfriend’s image and in the end is reunited with her boyfriend (which is still her image) and somehow a ring is left in her hand. Then the whole thing ends with her back in the car where she started stroking the ring. Okay, everything is fine except for the ring part? I can not see anything that implies the whole thing was a dream or actual took place. So I am going to take a stab in the dark and say it was a dream. Her hairstyle and clothing changes each time she enters a new scene. The scenes are somewhat realistic to a normal person. Now I am not saying Park Bom is not normal but I am saying that as an example.

Live Performance

There is only one live performance of this song. (NOTE: I do not like watching fan cams. They are too shaky and the environment is too loud). So yeah, nothing to comment on the live performance.

And The Rating?

I love this song. Beside that, I have to give this song a 9/10. Good song.

Have Fun Watching 😀 Troy.

Lonely – 2NE1

Awkward picture hey?  Where is she staring at?

That’s right. 2NE1 is the first girl group to be reviewed. Now this is going to be different to the boy groups because, you see I am a boy, and I don’t care much about girl’s fashion. So I won’t be criticizing their fashion, unless its wacky. I will be pointing out features however I won’t go into detail about how awful it is.

Anyway, this is a great video. But also I really don’t get this video. They are portrayed in a sense that they (Bom, Dara, CL & Minzy) as if they were the same person. Walking in the same party, street. Okay maybe that is not weird. What is weird is that they are at a party that has many people. Why can’t someone be civilized to allow them to join in their conversation. I mean they are celebrities and would be great fun to talk to. And also everywhere they go there is wind. Nice effect but they overused it a bit too much. Especially if it was inside. the place looks cold and pretty damp. Add a fan to make it better. More like make the MV more LONELY. About the word lonely –> I would be very lonely if my apartment was near that gigantic billboard. Isn’t that a bit creepy? Hmmm.. But they again, I’m lonely and to describe in in a picture would be this sexy beast:

Anyway, There is no need to criticize the English because it YG, they have perfect English. And also an American producer. Oh, about the fashion, it looks stunning. Personally Bom’s hair here is a bit wild and Dara’s looks plain. My mum has a style nearly like that and I have to see it everyday. (My Experiences)

To be honest, nothing really bothered me about this music video, so I guess I would be wrapping up my review right here. Its a great music video So I have no choice what-so ever but to give them 10/10. 2NE1 is always good whatever they do, even if their songs are in gibberish.