Tag: Jang Hyunseung

[Review] I Just Can’t Stop Loving You – Jang Hyunseung

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The 2020 KPOPREVIEWED Awards voting period wraps up in 10 days. Make sure you vote for your favourite KPOP artists of 2020 before it is too late! Do so by clicking here.

A name that we haven’t heard from for a while now is Jang Hyunseung. Fans of KPOP back in the early 2010s should know who this person is. But in the off chance that you don’t remember who he is (or if you are new KPOP fan), then I got you with a brief recap of who Jang Hyunseung is. Jang Hyunseung is a soloist currently signed to Cube Entertainment and was a former member of Beast (now HIGHLIGHT) and (formerly) one half of the Trouble Maker duo. Most recently, he has been one of the many KPOP idols who had to enlist and was released from the military earlier this year. He kicked off his solo career back in 2015 with Ma First (which I personally was never a fan of) but has since not released any new music. That is, until last Thursday when he made his long awaited solo comeback with I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.

I Just Can’t Stop Loving You is a definite and solid improvement from Ma First by a long way. The song tethers between pop via the verses and synthpop for the chorus. It was a nice mix (my favourite part has to be the drums at the start of the song), though not very interesting in practice or in words for this review. However, anymore elements or robustness to the instrumentation would have taken away from the song. Judging based on the title of the song (and confirmed with an English translation), I Just Can’t Stop Loving You‘s driving force is emotions of heartbreak and yearning to be with a former lover. I feel that if the song was a tad more dynamic, the emotions would have overshadowed or missed. For the vocal side of the song, Jang Hyunseung did extremely well. Personally, I never really enjoyed his vocals even during the time he was part of Beast. There was always this hoarseness that placed him behind the other members of his former group. But in this song, his vocals were quite clear and you can feel that level of emotion in his voice. The hoarseness was still there, but it wasn’t distracting me. I also really liked how that hoarseness was used during the ‘rap-sing’ moment of the second verse. It was definitely interesting and added a new colour to the pop/synthpop combination. Overall, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You was a nice comeback for and reintroduction to Jang Hyunseung.

Jang Hyunseung drinks and wanders around for the music video. That is literally 99% of the music video. The other 1% was an image of a female that he was drawing, presumably to be the person he is missing. It all makes sense though. He simply wants to forget about her, but he just cannot do it. The only time where he isn’t wandering or drinking was when he was trying to fall asleep. And I am guess when he closes his mind, he finds himself remember her. So he ends up seeking solace in drinking and wandering the streets. I liked how the video was shot, making it look like we are seeing him from his perspective. Unfocused and rocky, but not excessively (which was nice).

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

[Rewind] April 2016 & May 2016

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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!!!

 

Rewind: February 2016

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Welcome back to another monthly rewind. February is officially gone and it went super fast (despite it having an extra day, as this is a leap year). Before we all know it, March is gone and April passed us like the wind. Let’s get started shall we?

Major News

I think there are two major news that we need to cover. One that talks good about one band, and the other isn’t that good. But bad publicity is good publicity right?

GFriend made their comeback at the end of January 2016, but managed to sweep the charts with their newest mini album and title track, Rough. And when I mean “sweep the charts”, the girls stayed at the top  of the digital for over hundreds of hours, a proportion of those hundreds of hours were actually perfect all kills (which are apparently extremely hard to get, but the girls did it somehow). This led them to win their first music show trophy since debut and they managed to do pretty well. And when I mean pretty well: Triple Crown on Show Champion, MCountDown and Inkigayo, 4 trophies on Music Bank and 2 on SBS The Show. That is a lot. Their hard work has finally paid off, with the help of their fanclub and fans.

In other news, Beast is in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Hyunseung was caught falling asleep during an interview, which disappointed fans and garnered a lot of criticisms. Falling asleep in an interview seems a little too much my opinion, but it just shows how tired they artists are with multiple schedules in one day, concerts, comebacks, practice, interviews, the lot. Junhyung also saw some criticism when he failed to attend a fanmeet due to sickness, but somehow managed to attend his friend’s (Jung Joon Young) birthday party. While it was cleared up with Junhyung, Cube Entertainment and Jung Joon Young each making a statement saying how he came for only a few moments, just to drop off a present. Honestly, some people need to give these guys a break. Sometimes, you need to take a sickie (or sick day) just to go somewhere or to relax and take it slowly. So why are these people so annoyed with that, when they probably do it too, when everything becomes too overwhelming?

Major Comebacks

Number of groups made their comeback this month. 4Minute, Winner, Mamamoo, B.A.P, Taemin (SHINee), NU’EST, Rainbow (even though some are speculating this will be their final release) and many other smaller, rookie bands.

Major Debuts

Astro is the first group that comes to mind with their debut this month. Actually, it is probably the only group that debuted in February that I have reviewed thus far. Their title track is Hide & Seek.

AOA has been around since 2012, but they recently debuted a brand new subunit called AOA Cream. Odd name for a subunit though. Chanmi, Hyejeong and Yuna make up this group. They made their debut with I’m Jelly Baby.

Polls

I am skipping polls this month as I am a little busy. I will be able to write about one of the polls that I have made in next month’s review.

Top 5 Songs of The Month

  1. You’re The Best – Mamamoo (reviewing coming soon)
  2. Feel So Good – B.A.P
  3. Whoo – Rainbow
  4. Hate – 4Minute
  5. Galaxy – Ladies Code

Just a small note: I have started university again, so the rate at which reviews come out will decrease dramatically. And I have to go in everyday, so it is going to be hard to make some time.

[DOUBLE REVIEW] Gotta Go To Work + YeY – Beast

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Finally, what I intended the double reviews for. For when artists come out with a pre-release and then their title track. Honestly, I felt like Beast should have reviewed sooner, but it won’t be fair for other bands to wait it out as well. Beats has comeback with their fifth mini album. Gotta Go To Work was their pre-release single, while YeY is their title track for this promotional run. Their album is titled as “Ordinary” but this album and their songs are nothing “ordinary”. Prepare for lame puns.

Knowing me, I liked YeY more than Gotta Go To Work. While their last few pre-releases were more of the ballad type, Gotta Go To Work can be described as a song that we would not have expected from the band. There is a lot of aegyo feelings in this song compared to any other song that they have released. And it is pretty interesting. No, it is not a crap song. It is actually pretty nice to listen to once in a while. And I am glad they did not choose this as their title track, because it would be a song that I would get tired with quite quickly. I think that while it is good to listen to from time to time, consecutively listening to this song on the loop would drain it of all the effects it should have. I love how Junhyung carries the first half of the chorus though. It changes things up a bit. I like their vocals in the song.

YeY is a much better song in my opinion. Mainly because I have replaying the song since it has come out and really enjoy the dance and party theme it was going for. The song starts off slow, and starts to build up to the first chorus. It basically hypes you up until the beat drops when we get to the chorus. Junhyung is singing quite a bit in these songs. Interesting. I really enjoy the chemistry between their voices in this song. Junhyung’s rap at the beginning was pretty bad ass though. There is one complaint I have in terms of the vocals. Kikwang seems to have a pretty deep voice this time around and I am quite sure I have never heard a song with Kikwang singing like in this sing. Not saying it is bad, but I feel like it really did not fit well with the song. The instrumental and chorus is really addictive as well. “Yey Yey Yey!!!”

The music videos are quite nice. Gotta Go To Work has a very colourful and cutesy video. I honestly like where they were going with the video and how the girl does not want Doojoon to go to work, mainly because she would miss him so much. And he would tempt her anyway he can to just go to work. Wait, doesn’t that mean he wants to leave her? OMG…. Hahaha… I know, don’t worry. But damn girl, she is just too clingy. I enjoyed Doojoon’s acting in the video though, Suited the music video very well. Yey also had a great music video. Though, my number one complaint is regarding the stylist who did Junhyung’s and Hyunseung’s hair. Please. NO. I cringed so hard, I felt like I cringed on behalf of Australia when I saw them dread locks. The rest of the music video (sorry have to gloss over this part) went pretty smoothly. Party animals I have to say. I love the warehouse dance set that they had. It looked pretty cool.

There should not have been a dance for Gotta Go To Work. It just looked weird on stage. YeY had a much better dance to it and that I expected from them. Their dancing matches the song quite well for YeY.

Overall, this was probably a solid comeback. Always expected Beast to make a great comeback and they managed to deliver pretty well despite all the competition.

Gotta Go To Work – 5/10

YeY – 9/10

Ma First – Jang Hyunseung (Beast)

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It has been so long. Apologies guys, I had this massive group project that I had to complete and we only started this week. Hahaha… Life of a university student. Any how, I have a few days that I should be cramming for exams (which I have yet to start) but I think I can make some time for you guys. Catch up time for the reviews. I was thinking of doing a few double reviews (Big Bang is still under my watch) but also a few “Catch Up Reviews” like from last year. Some of which are themed like “Solo artists” or “Boy groups”. Oh wait, this is about Beast. Jang Hyunseung is the third member to have a solo music career, the first being Yoseob and second was Junhyung. Beside that, Dongwoon is set to make his own solo debut in Japan and Doojoon has been a popular actor. Kikwang is a well known variety star. Hyunseung is also one half of the ever so popular duo Trouble Maker. Hyunseung said he wanted to show a new side of him to the fans without the Beast and Trouble Maker name following his.

It is an okay song. I liked the instrumental and it has a pretty cool beat to it. I just have not been impress with Hyunseung’s vocals on a whole for most of my time that I have followed Beast. His voclas are good, but it just lacks feelings and emotions for most of the time, which puts me off his vocals. For some reason, I have the idea of the song having a “dirty” beat to it. I don’t think that is what it is called though, but the chorus left that kind of impression for me. Beside that, I did not like find anything else to say about the song. I feel like he is trying a little too hard with the song. It does suit him, but with the extra high notes and all that jazz, it really makes the song feel quite distant from what I am used to from the singer. Of course I expected a dance song, but not a dance song with powerful vocals and high notes that I would expect from a ballad or a softer song. I know it is very vague and I just have a hard time explaining it. Sorry…

As for the music video, this is my first time watching it. I know, I am very delayed but uni got the better of me. Firstly, I like the set. It does look fake but it did a good job of replicating an underground club and an alley way. Second of all, that girl was all teasing Hyunseung. And yet he tried so hard (though he did get to her in the end). I expected a little more clubbing scene and none of that Hyunseung being a pervert scene. The song had that club feel to it, and that was touched on for a while in the video. I just expected majority of the video in a club set. Beside that, it was an okay video. Very American influenced but it did the job quite well.

As for the dance, all I can give is praises. This comeback seems to be more dance centred for me and I enjoy it for that aspect. Jang Hyunseung lives up to his name as the dancer of Beast after all. Though some bits I was very impressed with, others kind of looking like he was having uncontrollable spasms.

Overall, it was an okay comeback. Not that great overall to be honest, but it managed to do its job, I guess. 5/10

 

Good Luck – Beast

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Yesterday I reviewed No More, by Beast and now I am reviewing their title track on their new album, Good Luck.Proven to be a hit, the song has earned many awards so far and have many people praising the boys for their talent.

I freaking like this song. Many people are like “meh” but I really like the modern feel of this particular song. Though I do have complaints about the song, I feel was produced to a really high standard. However, the start where Yoseob is singing “Why you leave me alone? I’m still loving you” does not fit the song as well as the rest of the song fits the song. KPOP really needs to move away from the 35964546 song mashup. Some bands make it sound good, while some bands make it sound really awful. This song does not do it as well as I would have liked it. A ballad start and then the rest of the song sounds like a club electro filled song don’t blend well. Minus the little intro, the vocals in the song sound quite good. The rapping was a let down. I just did not feel it from Junhyung this time. His rapping is superb, just the lyrics don’t string together as a proper rap for me. The other members did quite fine throughout the song. The chorus was quite catchy. Overall, a song that sounds pretty cool, minus a few bits.

Boy those teasers were so boring. Though they were used to give an insight into the story, I found the teasers to be a drainer to watch. But anyway, the teasers tell us that the girl is up to something behind each member’s back. Junhyung’s teaser itself has the same story line, but the thing that is different is that is it was done to replicate the “Last Supper”, where the betrayal happened. Here, the girl wants to leave him, so as betrayal, she stabs him. The rest of the video was quite meh, I did not like any of the dance sets. I was also quite paranoid with Dongwoon’s scenes, where he and the girl are making love, but he is the one singing into the camera, and it looks so awkward. Beside that, there is nothing that is worthy to comment on in the video, so yeah. An okay video, I guess.

The dance of this song is said to be one of the hardest dances that the boys have attempted. And according to others, Fiction seemed to be the easiest. Can I say that I still cannot dance to Fiction. Hahahaha… Anyway, this dance was pretty awesome. There is nothing to say about that. The boys are known for their dances, and they delivered with a good dance. I love Junhyung’s part where he was “Like an elevator” and the boys actually went down as if they were on an elevator. Hahaha… I get so fascinated by the smallest things.

8/10. They did quite well this time around. Especially with the competition they now have on their hands. So how did you guys like the comeback? Comment below!

 

No More – Beast

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OMG, Beast is back with a new songs. And they are back on “Beastagram” for their new music video. Wow. After nearly a whole year disappearance from Korea as a group, the group has finally returned to the stage to wow everyone with their new songs. Last time I saw the one of the members on stage was JunHyung’s solo Flower. Now they are back with a pre-release song. It is another ballad, which Beast is widely known for and their ballads have also been proven to be quite successful, because with every single album or mini album , the group have one one award for each of their ballads. Such titles include: On Rainy Days, Will You be Alright and now No More. And they have finally made their comeback, with their title track, being reviewed tomorrow.

This song is pretty okay. I am not much of a fan for Beast’s ballads, mainly because I associate the band with dance heavy songs. This to me, was quite boring to listen to. I like my fair share of ballads, just this one has too much rnb and hip hop smashed into it to make it a ballad for me to like. I did like their vocals in the song. It matched the soft instrumental that they had with the song.  I am not big on raps in ballads, but JunHyung did really well in this song. It is not your typical rap from Junhyung, as it much softer and sounds a lot similar to whispering. So yeah, overall, it is a good ballad, just it did not do well for me.

The music video of this is pretty cool. “Beastagram” was used in this video to tell a really good story and really suited the feel of the whole video. Actually, the way the video was shot was quite smoothed and fitted the song quite well. We see Junhyung and his former girlfriend. Each member had their own profile, and their own little video clip for the video is transition into the next solo. That is pretty smart. The whole thing was also used by the video, to help the two mains of the video of their memories, and that is too very smart, as all of our memories are now captured digitally. And it is through these shots, we get a glimpse of how things used to be.  Then they literally go down “memory” lane by walking down the same path when they were dating, and then they bump into each other. However as they know they can no longer continue, they keep on walking, even though it breaks their heart. It turns out that Junhyung is going to meet another girl, while the girl is busy putting away the things that remind her of him. However at the end, we can see that through “Beastagram” both can still manage to be together. Such a sad music video to watch, but also equally as entertaining and unique.

5/10. Even though I am not much of a fan of the song, I liked the uniqueness of the video, which made the whole thing stand out. That, or I would not have reviewed their pre-release.

 

Fiction – Beast

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How on earth did I pick these songs? Today I will be reviewing Beast’s Fiction. This was the title track off their first album and was one of their most successful songs. It was released in 2011, when KPOP was quite smaller, compared to now. It has changed so much that I don’t even know what is going on. It is a review that I have being put off for a very long time. Actually, I think it is a review that I had already written, lost it when my computer had to be wiped clean and reinstalled and all of that occurred early 2012. Yeah, there are a few reviews that I believe are hanging around my computer somewhere or on my external hard drive. Which reminds me, I could not copy and paste CN Blue’s review for I Am A Loner. I remember that one because it was the only one that would not publish. Anyway, on with the review.

Back in 2011, I hated this song. Why? Because it played non stop everywhere. All the sites were raving on about it and I was just like no. Fiction now disappeared from the ranks and I am thankful for that. I have no idea what the hype of this song was for. It was another boring song which I never got into. It was not impressive and I know the boys could have done a whole heap better because of their songs that they released prior to this. The chorus was boring and unappealing and there was not one thing I liked about the song. The vocals were so so and I expected a song much better from that band. Honestly, I have no idea why I am even reviewing this song, because by now, you probably will understand what my score will be at the end.

The music video is not actually that great. It is basically about how a guy is completely heartbroken at how his girlfriend leaves him. Yeah, the music video was played so many times that I got sick of Junhyung’s acting. It was good at first, but it was really boring when you watch it over and over again. It was dark in some places which fit the feel of the song, but then there were parts that were super bright (such as the one where he is at the desert, but it did not look like a proper sun light. Sun light is not white…) and then dark places, such as that scene where they are dancing on the roof. And what is that alien ship structure where the whole scene is orange, looks like they were on Mars. Though I liked the plot of the video, it was played some many time, I grew to dislike it.

The dance is called the “penguin shuffle” dance I believe, and it looks easy to attempt. Yeah, I have to dance the dance. It fits the speed of the song which I great, but really lacked the impact of a good performance. And those leather suits or whatever look kind of weird.

I try to be reasonable and rank it as if I first listened to it and watch the videos. 4/10. Obviously not the best Beast song out there. I will update the playlist tomorrow. Currently watching the Seoul Music Awards. ^^

Now There Is No Tomorrow – Trouble Maker

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Source: http://okpopgirls.rebzombie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Trouble-Maker-Now-MV-12.jpg

Trouble Maker is back with a new song. It has been nearly 2 years since we have last seen these two singers together on stage promoting a new song. Can I just say wow? Like, they are quite successful and I can see why the company decided to put them together again, but I think many people know that their debut song, Trouble Maker, is their best song ever. Not hating or anything, but I have friends that agree with me on this topic. However, this does not indicate that this comeback was crap, because it was not. It was amazing. Also, they were hit with a little bit of controversy with their music video, which I will talk about later. Also, I have a lot to say about the music video. Most of focus will be on the music video itself in this video.

The song is pretty cool. Not as great as Trouble Maker though. There was something in this song that did not yell out “Trouble Maker” to me. This song lacked the power and the energy which Trouble Maker has a lot. Even their dance was a little lighter than usual. The vocals were not as great and sounded very drawn out. Hyuna’s rap fitted the speed of the song and sounded really good. The chorus is pretty catchy and I have to admit, with the dance, the song would’ve been hard to pull off. I actually miss Hyuna singing. I don’t know why, but the song feels empty without her voice. She raps and have her own moments, but they tend to be covered up or layered with Hyunseung’s. Yeah, you can say I was disappointed with the song, but that latin salsa feel to the song and instrumental is quite different and sounds pretty cool. The lyrics are pretty cool and fit the music video quite well.

Three words that describe this video: Porn, porn and more porn. Like seriously 75% of this video is sex. Sex in caravan, sex in car, sex in public. But the video still also has a pretty cool music video. We see a couple, cheating on each other. The guy has sex with two other girls, while the girl is at a party (not sure if she is cheating, but if the guy is having sex with other girls and she is a party, I think it could be safe to say so). But needlessly to say that the girl was pretty  pissed off when she found the guy. Then they have sex, where they makeup, but she is pissed off as well and breaks it off. Then they get together again, and as a couple, they put their life at risk and stand around cars that are doing doughnuts around them. Hmmm… about that. Yes, you see that there are some similarities between this video and Rihanna’s, but we cannot really say that the director copied. It looks the same, but there are always its differences. Did I like the video? I am a guy. A normal freaking teenage guy. And then there was Hyuna. In a bra…. Having sex….. What do you think?

The dance is lacking as well, however it seems that it was choreographed to perfection. Like everything in this dance confuses me, but it looks amazing. Put that with the live performance and seriously, for pulling that off without gasping for air is something that I wonder. Like, I would be like dying when we get to the first chorus.

7.5/10. Disappointing, yes, But still a great comeback. And since this is my first day back in like 10 days, I would like to just say for the SHINee poll that was conducted in the review of Everybody,  Everybody was selected as the best song of the SHINee year!!! Hahaha!!! Congrats Everybody!!! I won’t be making a poll. but what is a much better Trouble Maker song? Trouble Maker or Now? Put your answer in the comments below. ^^