Tag: Nine Muses

[Review] Blue Moon – Kyungri (9MUSES)

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Nine Muses (also 9MUSES), for a very long time, has been known as a highly underrated group in the industry. And over the years, there has only been one member that has stood out. Kyungri is probably the group’s most well-known member, given that she has shot a few CFs in the past. And now the 9MUSES member has finally made her solo debut with Blue Moon. To make this debut extra special, her debut date also lies on her birthday, so Happy Birthday Kyungri!

Blue Moon takes on the well-known charms of Kyungri. That is, the song sounds quite seductive and trendy. And I think the song does a pretty good job of portraying the strengths of the artist. She is known for her vocals within the group and she puts them on full display. The chorus is extremely dynamic. It starts off with some deep thumping, which really gets the seductive nature going and then (maintaining the thumping in the background) goes on to a pop vibe instrumental, which sounds quite nice. While I was kind of irked by the presence of the autotune, it actually made the song feel a little different and kept it from being too repetitive. I like the instrumental break into the song, which I am sure is useful for a really sexy dance break (though I would have loved to hear some more vocals from her). Overall, really nice debut song.

Her next charm (and what I commonly associate with her) is sexiness and this video has loads of it. The entire video focuses on her and her charm, which I would say is a masterpiece. But the video was lacking and prevented me from really appreciating what I saw. I was rather disappointed with the sets. They looked incredibly plain and boring. They could have gone with a more elegant route for this video, which would have paired nicely with the concept and her sexiness. They could have gone for something glittering in the background or a fancy looking bar set.

Kyungri takes the seductive and sexiness nature mentioned and channels it well through the performance. It isn’t the most mind-blowing choreography out there but it definitely works. And the backup dancers (including the men) are all wearing high heels. That is definitely a feat and I liked how all the backup dancers do a wonderful job of meeting the standards set by Kyungri on the stage in terms of sexiness.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 7.5/10
Overall Rating – 7.3/10

[Review] Love City – Nine Muses

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Just after a few weeks of finishing promotions for Remember, Nine Muses is officially back with Love City. Their previous mini-album, Muses Diary Part 2: Identity (released in June) has been re-released to become Muses Diary Part 3: Love City. Nine Muses also recently had their first concert since debut.

With just one listen, Nine Muses has managed to grab my attention with one damn good track. Though that is a relatively easy thing to do, the girls managed to also blow me away within the first few seconds of the track. Love City opens up with Sojin’s raps sequence that is covered by auto-tune (but it is still bearable). It did spark a memory in my mind, but I don’t know where I have heard the similar tune before. But Sojin’s raps paves the way for the rest of the song. Sure, the verses of the song were not that memorable. But once the beat drops and you get the intensity of the chorus, everything falls into place quite nicely. The chorus was catchy, the vocals were amazing. It is a song that hypes you up from the start and it keeps that momentum going, which left such a deep impression in my mind. The “L.O.V.E‘ repetition stuck in my mind, even after I started listening to other songs recently released. But what I love the most is the “Chu Chu Chu, Bwa Bwa Bwa, La La La, Stop It Boy” (2:05 mark, for example), which was a more cutesy contrast that went well with the more feminine and intense beat the rest of the song had going for.

The music video was fairly captivating. For the most part, I stayed around for the song. Sadly, I can’t find any English translations for the song yet, so forgive me if my interpretation is way off. From what I see, the girls have finally had enough and are escaping “Love City”. The guys they dated treated them badly and they have decided to not pick that lifestyle anymore. This is clear from the way they seem to have their anger pent up inside of them and how they treat the Ken doll and the poor teddy bear. Moving away from the plot, there were parts in the video that I thought the lighting was off-putting. It might be me being picky, but I thought the lighting in both the day scenes and the dark scenes were pretty bad. The transitions through the screens looked cool. But apart from that, the video was your standard KPOP video (using standard KPOP backdrops).

The choreography shows off their confidence quite well. But there should have been more to it. As mentioned before, the song does get you quite hyped up. And the choreography seems to fall short of that. At least for me. Though the part at the bridge (i.e. when Sojin starts rapping) was pretty badass!

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

[Review] Remember – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses are officially back with their latest title track, Remember. Their last official comeback as a full group was in 2015 with Sleepless Night. Since then, a number of the girls have “graduated” from the group, leaving only 5 members (Hyemi, Kyungri, Sojin, Keumjo and Sungha). Sungha is currently on hiatus, hence Nine Muses will be promoting as a four-member girl group for this comeback.

Because of my exams, I missed out on all the teasers and the highlight medley for the release. So when I checked out the music video a few hours back, I was listening to it with no idea what to expect. And I am glad that I did. The song blew me away within just the first listen. While I do think I would have also been blown away with the song if I had an idea in regards to which route it would go down, not knowing made it feel so much more impactful. The song starts off eerie and haunting, with an acoustic guitar in the background. Then the song reaches the pre-chorus, which probably was the height of all that haunting-ness. And then the song built up in an instant and launched itself into the electronic, bass-filled and intense chorus. The contrast between the two parts sounded very cool and was quite unexpected. The song returned to the same initial haunting vibe, but this time with a constant thudding sound. While the same formula was used, it was reinventive each time, making it feel fresh and different each time. Their vocal work was amazing and the rapping was low-key amazing. The layers at the end sounded gave the song the feel of complexity without feeling messy and hence made it more interesting. I may have over did my breakdown of the song, but do check out this song! It is not one to miss.

Like how the song starts off, the music video is equally as eerie and haunting. The story isn’t confirmed yet, but this is what I understand from the video. Each member represents a stage in life. Keumjo is the youngest stage and we see her running away from a guy (presumably her father, who abused her), holding a bear. We then see Hyemi, who seems to be a more grown up version of Keumjo and fully understands what is happening. I presume that the girl ended up killing her father. We fast track to Sojin, who is now in the world and working, where she meets the photographer guy. And that leads onto Kyungri. Now, I don’t know if the girl decided to hate every other guy in the world (and goes around killing them) or the photographer guy did something to her (like cheat on her), but we see Kyungri shoot, kill and dispose of the body. We see at the end that the members make up one person and we see them burn the guy in the bathtub. He has photos with him, which I assume were all the girls he used to be with and hence that kind of proves that he cheated on them and since the abuse her father inflicted on her was so traumatic, she thought of only to kill. The bear burns as well because it represents innocence, which was lost at the young age through the abuse. That is just my take on the video. But all in all, the imagery and the feel of the video is fitting for the song and I pretty much liked the entireity of the video.

I am quite sure the accompanying performance would look great on a proper stage with fantastic lighting. But from what I could see from the showcase, the performance looked amazing. They went with a sexy comeback this time and they did not joke around with it. Not groundbreaking, but still looked amazing.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance –  8/10
Overall Rating – 9.5/10

[Review] Lip 2 Lip – Nine Muses A

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Nine Muses have returned but as a subunit consisting of Kyungri, Sojin, Hyemi and Keumjo. It has been a while since we heard from Nine Muses and since we last heard from them, a few other members (namely Minha and Euaerin) left the group once their contract was up.

Lip 2 Lip is another okay song. Sadly, it is not as memorable as I would want it to be. It has a diva-like feel to the song and falls nicely in within the retro realm. The chorus is not as catchy, but that “la-di-da chu~” steals my attention. Them singing that makes somewhat catchy, but I would have liked more of a hook to the rest of the chorus. It just feels empty and bland. Sojin’s rap is pretty nice. It is very mature and sounds very classy. I don’t know why but the song starts to pick up at the bridge and slows down before getting into the last “la-di-da chu~” part. I felt like that faster beat should have been there from the start and the bridge should have been a simple slow down. However, as I said, it is okay. It is bearable and I do listen to it. If it was catchier, I would have liked it more and probably more people would pay attention to the song. I agree with you, that is harsh, but I think that is what is missing in the song.

The music video depicts a group of girls who gather around and I guess chat about a guy one of them is meeting. This chat makes the main character in the music video discuss with the others about her experiences with the guy (which makes the other girls envy her). However, towards the end of the video, it is revealed that the guy is two-timing with another girl from the group and the girls are angry at that. The ending kind of leaves you on edge a little bit. There seems to be something more to the video and hopefully, this is a sign for a future Nine Muses comeback, so the story can be continued. Interesting story line. One that has been done a few times too many recently. Rest of the video (i.e. the dance shots) were okay.

The dance featured a small part of the music video concept. The end of the dance shows the girls standing around a phone and realising the same thing that occurred in the video. Quite smart. The rest of the dance was okay. It isn’t memorable or anything, sadly. Nine Muses usually do well with the dances. Just not this time, sadly.

Final Rating – 4.5/10

End Of Year Chart 2015 + Happy New Year!

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Welcome to the end of the year! Each year, I do this “End Of The Year Chart” where I properly rank songs via a personalised ranking system, which shows which songs I liked the most (and which songs I did not like at all – but I won’t name and shame). How do I rank the songs? Simply taking the score that I gave them in the review published earlier in the year, adding it to new review scores for the music, video and performance. Then I add those to other scores from “Songs of the Month” in my Rewind posts and to ensure that I can properly order them, I turn to my iTunes play count. And when I say “add”, there is a mixture of mathematical operations (and I am going to stop here, before I can bore you). In no way is this chart influenced by my choice of best song in the BOBs. But I do highlight them here :).

1 Ah Yeah EXID
2 Paradise Lost Gain (Brown Eyed Girls)
3 If You Do  GOT7
4 Closer Oh My Girl
5 You G.Soul
6 Love Me Right EXO
7 I Need U BTS
8 Sing For You EXO
9 Shake It Sistar
10 4 Walls F(x)
11 Dumb Dumb Red Velvet
12 I Taeyeon (SNSD) ft. Verbal Jint
13 Like OOH AHH Twice
14 Oh Um Ah Yeah Mamamoo
15 Mansae Seventeen
16 Just Right GOT7
17 Crazy 4Minute
18 Insensible Lee Hong Ki (FT Island)
19 Run BTS
20 Yey Beast
21 Between Night n Music B.I.G
22 Shake That Brass Amber (f(x)) ft. Taeyeon (SNSD)
23 Hot Pink EXID
24 Beautiful Liar VIXX LR (VIXX)
25 Brand New World Brown Eyed Girls
26 Ring My Bell Girls Day
27 Hurt Locker Nine Muses
28 Growing Pains Donghae & Eunhyuk
29 Run Away Royal Pirates
30 Black Swan Rainbow
31 Congratulations DAY6
32 Catch Me If You Can SNSD
33 Me Gustas Tu Gfriend
34 The Answer Kim Sung Gyu (Infinite)
35 Dope BTS
36 Pray FT Island
37 Cinderella CN Blue
38 You’re Pitiful Fiestar
39 Hopeless Love Jimin (15&)
40 Bad Infinite
41 Might Just Die History
42 We Like 2 Party Big Bang
43 Chained Up VIXX
44 Fire Mad Clown ft. Jamsil (Mad Child Soul)
45 Bell Bottoms PSY
46 Ice Cream Cake Red Velvet
47 Break Ya LU:KUS
48 Kontrol Kim Sung Gyu (Infinite)
49 I Feel You Wonder Girls
50 Wow Wow Wow Junjin (Shinhwa) ft. Eric (Shinhwa)

And here are some interesting facts about this year and the chart itself!

  • A total of 180 songs were ranked on this chart, but a total of 195 songs were reviewed this year (which I believe is a personal best).
  • The first song reviewed and included in the chart is BTOB’s The Winter Tale (released at the end of last year). The last song reviewed and included in the chart was EXO’s Sing For You
  • A total of 16 girl groups, 17 boy groups and 9 soloists are featured on the chart.
  • There is a better mix of boys and girl groups this year, compared to last year, where the first boy group did not feature on the charts until after 16th place.
  • BTS had the most songs on the chart (I Need U, Dope & Run). followed by: EXID (Ah Yeah & Hot Pink), GOT7 (If You Do, Just Right), EXO (Love Me Right, Sing For You), Kim Sung Gyu (The Answer, Kontrol) & Red Velvet (Dumb Dumb & Ice Cream Cake).
  • Rookies were actually a strong force this year with Oh My Girl, Seventeen and Twice ranking quite high up in the charts.
  • The following ranked after 50th place: IU, B.I.G, Crayon Pop, VIXX, Seventeen, Changmin, Big Bang, Brown Eyed Girls and CLC.
  • And finally, this year chart was actually reflected on the BOBs this year. I crowned EXID’s Ah Yeah as best song for both segments.

AND THAT IS IT!! 2015 will be ending shortly. 6 Hours To Go (for me at least)!!! Hope 2015 has been a great year for you all. I thank you all once again for another year of KPOPreviewed. Your support has been amazing. Every comment and like (heck even every view) makes me happy!! Nearly 5 years and still going strong!! Thank you 2015 and I wish you all a Happy New Year wherever and whenever it is time. Let’s make 2016 our year!!! (First review: 2nd of Jan).

Sleepless Night – Nine Muses

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The song is quite underwhelming. To me, it suits the feel of Autumn but the song is really monotone. Listening to it from start to end, I really could not decipher which part was the verse and chorus. After a few listens, it started to become clear, but that monotone feel remained. To me, I can imagine a straight line running throughout the song, and the vocals really did not deviate from that straight line. The entire song was sung at a high pitch and honestly listening to the recorded version and the live version shows a very big difference. This song is basically suited for only a recorded version, which sounds really good (minus the monotone complaint).  But the girls struggled a lot with the song when singing live. Only the main vocalists nailed the song, the rest kind of didn’t sound up to par as they did in the recorded version. Now I understand that they are dancing and all, but there have been other songs that suit each members vocal style really well, so it was a disappointment. The rapping was another part that was disappointing. It sounds heavily edited and just so whiny. It did not fit in well with the rest of the song. If it was manipulated in a way to sound more sensual and softened, then it wouldn’t needed to sound forced and “over the top”, if you understand what I mean.

The music video looked interesting. So we have Mina which appeared in the video at the very start. It seems that every other member plays a part of Mina (such as her memories). Now, clearly from the tone of the song and the music video, you can tell that Mina is facing some sort of break up and each member (her memories) seem to cause her this pain. The ending, seems to show another member, and probably symbolises that Mina has moved on from her memories. Yeah that last part isn’t that clear. But damn, this video was beautifully shot. The nice rustic feel of the video gives that Autumn look. Honestly, great video.

The dance to this is very sexy and sensual. However, it is not over the top and is quite classy in my point of view. I really love the end where they are all squatting (This by far is the worst word to describe such a sexy dance move) around the chair. It added that extra class I was just speaking above. Once again, the live vocals aren’t that great. Props to them for singing live, but this might not be the right song for that.

Nice song, but not exactly sure it was the right choice for stage performances. 5.5/10

Hurt Locker – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses is another girl group that has returned for the Summer season. And they have done so with a bang with their latest Summer single: Hurt Locker. And it still confuses me how there are 8 members yet the group is still called Nine Muses. It confuses me. Also, I believe they were going to change the line up to Nine Muses but then decided against it. Why I think this? Well, an article was put out before the comeback saying that the line up isn’t going to change. Yeah… The group did return at the start of the year with Drama.

This is honestly a really good song. It is Summer and what other way to celebrate the hot season with an electro/dubstep style song. This is another song I am totally digging and the response from some fans have been quite positive. Not sure if this will be the best Summer jam, but it is totally up there in the list. I thought the instrumental was very powerful just on its own. It is quite sad to see only one member carry the song, while the rest gets 1 or two lines. That could be exaggerated a bit, but sometimes when I listen to the song without the music video, it does feel that well. I liked the slow and fast bits of the song. It added a little depth to the song. I know I sometimes complain about it, but I felt that it suited the song this time around. The rapping and vocal power of all the members was quite strong. The song flowed quite well as well.

The music video was quite cool. Very colourful. As for the lockers, or shipping containers, they used in the video looked awesome. The only thing I was thinking about though: What if one of the members fell into the crack while on top of all the shipping containers? Like, I felt fear while watching the music video. And that stood out quite a bit. I don’t think we have ever saw a group dance so high up before. Hahahaha… But honestly, I thought it was a great video. The way I explain things make it sound very boring doesn’t? I honestly thought during the rapping part of the song: why are they so happy and roller skating when the song was about being hurt and sad? Yeah, that confused me.

The dance was pretty cool. The chorus featured the “opening the locker” dance. I have no idea what they called it, but some people have been saying it is that. I like how they changed from fast to slow moves for the right parts of the song.

Amazing comeback. This is definitely something award-worthy. Time to get these girls some recognition. 9/10

Ticket – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses returned with Drama just weeks ago. But let’s go back into our time machine and look back some of their past hits. Further than 2013. Maybe back to 2012 when they released Ticket. This was a song that gained the girls some popularity in the industry, but it was not until 2013 when the girls released Dolls, Wild, Gun and Glue, that they became big names and a rising team. Interesting fact, this is the one song that got me to into Nine Muses. And I am probably going to tell you how in the review.

This song is really catchy. Who hasn’t heard the world ticket and started to sing this song either out loud (if you are brave enough) or in your head (to avoid being judge)? “Ticket One Way. Ticket One Way. One Way One Way One Way Ticket“. This song has a really retro sound to it. I can’t pinpoint which era it came from, but it does sound like something that came from the past. Maybe 70s? Despite that, I really enjoyed the instrumental. I love the rapping in this song. It is sad to not see both the rappers now, since they have left the band, but the rappers here (Eunji and Sera) sounded really amazing and powerful. Likewise, the vocals were pretty strong as well. The song itself describes the feelings the girls have about their emotions and likens their love to a one way ticket.

The music video was a little to the boring side. I remember watching it back then when it came out and not look back once at it. We see a man buy a ticket from the ticket booth, where the attendant seems to have some other thought. As he baords the train, we see the girls look up at him and they also seemed to be travelling on the train themselves. Some come late while the others come early. This music video for some reason reminds me of that movie where the lead actor is revisited by the lovers of the past. This music video may have been based off that. We see him cry when he realizes he can’t come back (?) and the girl who comes late walks off disappointed. Yeah, not entirely sure about the plot of the video. I loved the eerie train yard they are in and the darkness gives it that more creepy feel to it. But as I said, there really much happening this video. There is really no interaction between the girls and the guy to prove my plot. That being said, this music video can be interpreted anyway.

The dance was hella catchy. I think we probably all tried this dance at least once. I just love the main dance with the spinning arms (I think they are made to look like train conductors or something along the lines of that), but I also love the dancing at the end. It gives more life to the dance and shows off the girl’s moves.

One of the catchiest Nine Muse’s songs ever released and something that gives me a lot memories to. 8.5/10

Drama – Nine Muses

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After a whole year of not being on stage, fans of Nine Muses are probably asking where the heck the girls are at. However, news broke out that they would be making their comeback in January 2015, a year since their last single as a group. In the past year since we have not seen them, members Lee Sem, Eunji and Sera left the band since their contracts had expired.  It was later announced this year that Sojin and Keumjo would be added to the group to make up the places that the other members have left behind. This brings the group from 9 members to 8 members. Sojin and Kyungri, along with Kevin from Z:Ea. formed the subunit Nasty Nasty, with their song Knock.

Like everyone is saying online. Drama is 100% Dolls 2.0. It sounds similar and it gives off the same feel as Dolls did when it was first released. It had that femme fatale feel to it as well. Not sure about the sudden start where the song just launched into the rapping. Parts of me are like “that’s cool and different” while another part of me is like “it sounds weird now”. The vocals are really good. The chorus seems to lack the right appeal for me. It is okay, just like the start just seemed to be too sudden, which in turn made the rest of the song sound like it was quite sudden as well. So do you understand what I mean? Hahaha… I love the parts after the chorus. The “only you” part is pretty catchy.

The music video is okay. It seems quite generic. It is like we were transported back in time to the 60s with a lot of modern influence. The Marilyn Monroe flying skirt was quite nice. I have to admit, Sojin looks quite cute doing that pose. Beside that, it seems like the girls are waiting for their boyfriends. Or something? I don’t really know much about this video. I am watching it at the moment, just don’t understand a single thing. I did like the dance set with dark silhouettes. The flashing lights (even though I call them a distraction from time to time) fitted in this concept quite well. And can someone tell me where I can get that big tub of popcorn? I need it to watch movies. Popcorn always finishes before I get to the half way point of the movies.

The dance was pretty nice. For the chorus, I don’t know why, but I always picture the Dolls dance. It fits in really well with the song. I like how they become adaptable with the scarf, necklace or suspenders depending on their costume choice.

Overall, it was a nice comeback. Maybe not as great as their previous hits. However it did what it did. It got Nine Muses back on the stage and I guess fans shall be thankful for that. 6.1/10

Catch Up Review #1 – Red Velvet, Nasty Nasty, Strawberry Milk

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I am back, and there are so many songs that I have missed out on. So the next few days (probably weeks), I will be writing mini reviews for a bunch of songs. These are going to short and they probably be quite brief. Also I will be playing around with the site in the next few days trying a new look (for a new me hahahaha…) But let’s go!!!

O.K. – Strawberry Milk 

The new subunit from Crayon Pop has officially made their debut with O.K. The rock instrumental is surely a winner here, cause it is what appealed to me when I listen to the song. Also the girls voices, were not so aegyo and actually is quite enjoyable. None of that really whiny stuff I keep hearing nowadays. The music video was also quite cool and their outfits look absolutely cute. Though, I am kind of weird out with the gigantic fork and knife. The dance is a little lazy, but these girls make it look really cute. Needless to say, I thought this was a really cute song and overall a really cute and pretty fun comeback. I’d give this a 8/10.

Knock – Nasty Nasty 

Ummm… I really don’t like the subunits name. Yeah… This subunit is made up of Kevin from Z:EA, Kyungri from Nine Muses and a trainee, Sojin. The three banded together for a “sexy” concept and the teaser made it seem that it lived up to the standard. Everyone literally thought that this was going to be a really controversial video and whatnot. But I was so freaking disappointed with the music video. It was not even sexy, unless sexy is a video about a guy dating two girls and that he has some split personality, but really, I expected something that made me uncomfortable and draw my attention away from the music. So yeah, the video was a tad dark, so for me, I couldn’t see that much. Maybe I need to adjust my brightness. Sojin should have gotten more lines and this subunit is Kevin centred a little too much. not that it is a bad thing, it just really disappointing. I liked the song and I thought the dance was nice with the “naughty hands”, just if only the music video could have been better… I give this a 5.5/10.

Be Natural – Red Velvet

A much better song than their debut to be honest, though this band is quite lacking. This song was a remake of S.E.S however it was rather mediocre. It was not appealing and it was not as great. To me it was monotone all throughout the song and that is what disappointed me. Their vocals were just so so and maybe the “sexy concept” in this case really should not have been applied. Maybe they should just stick to happy songs that get you excited, not diva type music just yet. As for the music video, I haven’t watched it yet and I am quite sure it is going to be boring after looking at so many images while trying to find good pictures for the top. As for the dance, it was something different with the chairs and it showed off their style. It liked the performance, just the song doesn’t seem quite right at this very moment. 5/10

To see the music videos of the reviews that I have mentioned, please click on the blue sub titles. Next set of reviews are all Epik High reviews. (As you may have noticed, I kind of a little problem putting these ones into categories, but from now on, each set will have a theme.

‘End Of Year Music Festivals’ Favourite Performances

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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?

Happy New Year!!!

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Hi all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wow, 2013 is finally over. Can you believe it. With days to go, I will be unable to update this over my “break”. Beside that I have scheduled a whole heap of reviews. I promised you guys an End Of Year Charts, and with that very day 3-4 days away, I think it is time unleash the beast. Party hard! Welcome the new year in style! I will wish to see you all back on the 2nd of Jan 2013 (subject to change). At the very bottom of this post, there will be two links. One is a playlist for the winners of the BOB’s and the other is the top 20 songs of the year, as selected by this chart. Yay!!!!

Position Title Artist
1 Female President Girl’s Day
2 G.R.8.U (Your Impressive) VIXX
3 Tonight Spica
4 Hush Miss A
5 Damaged Lady Kara
6 24 Hours Sunmi
7 Voodoo Doll VIXX
8 Give It To Me Sistar
9 Expectation Girl’s Day
10 Only One Gummy
11 Be Ambitious Dal Shabet
12 Red Shoes IU
13 Number 9 T-Ara
14 Very Good Block B
15 Everybody SHINee
16 Kill Bill Brown Eyed Girls
17 Destiny Infinite
18 I Don’t Know FIESTAR
19 Only You VIXX
20 U&I Ailee
21 Madly FT Island
22 Love Blossom K.Will
23 Love Options BESTie
24 What’s Going On? B1A4
25 Growl EXO
26 Gone Not Around Any Longer Sistar19
27 Yoo Hoo Secret
28 While You Were Asleep JeA (Brown Eyed Girls)
29 1.4.3 Henry (Super Junior M) Feat. Amber F(x)
30 Dream Girl SHINee
31 Wild Nine Muses
32 Thriller BTOB
33 Goodbye Dasoni (EXID)
34 Insane A-Jax
35 One Shot B.A.P
36 Lonely Christmas Crayon Pop
37 Confused AOA
38 Bar Bar Bar Crayon Pop
39 Glue Nine Muses
40 Twenty Four / Seven 2Yoon
41 Jeon Won Diary T-Ara N4
42 I Like That GLAM
43 Tell Me Tell Me Rainbow
44 Stupid In Love Mad Clown ft. Soyu (Sistar)
45 Rocking Teen Top
46 No No No A-Pink
47 Why So Serious? SHINee
48 Baby I’m Sorry MYNAME
49 Dreamer History
50 The Letter Davichi

PLAYLIST 1: 

PLAYLIST 2: 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM KPOPreviewed!!!

Glue – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses are finally back with a song. It was literally weeks ago since they finished promotions for Guns, that now they are back with another G letter titled song. This means this is the fourth song that the band had promoted this year. The other songs include: Dolls, Wild, Guns and now this. And look at how this band has grown. I think now some groups have realized that to be successful, you have to work your assess off and make a comeback more than twice a year to be able to compete. Numerous bands who only made one comeback this year are have been unsuccessful at maintain constant awards, giving us the fact that KPOP has reached its climax. But regardless, Nine Muses is growing and so is the number of fans they have. 

I freaking love this song. When I saw and heard the teaser, I thought that the song would be another repeat of Guns. Boy was I wrong. I loved it as soon as I heard it. There is nothing wrong with the song. The rapping and vocals are doing really well. It seems like in little time, these girls will be challenging the other group group with 9 members. It has that disco feel to it from the early times (sorry, I forgot the era), which I am not fond of, but the girls seem to have pulled it off fine. The chorus is really catchy and that autotuned voice that says “I don’t know what to do” is really addictive. I also really like those claps throughout the whole song. They give the song more of an addictive style for me.

Okay, the music video could’ve have been much more epic than this. Maybe it was the small time frame they had to prepare for it? But those red skin tight suits have to go. Not a fashionista, but they don’t really make the girls look good. Now, I am not saying the skin tight suits, but actually the colour red. That or the lighting in this music video has to go. It makes those suits into more of a horrible orange colour which does not complement the girls. And those “wonderful” colour effects they had in the video. Lose them. They were such a distraction to watch, and I believe if it was just the girls dancing, the music video would’ve been fine. But it was not, and sadly they annoyed me. It was basically like After School’s First Love all over again.

The dance is really addictive. Another but swaying dance to go onto the list of dances the year. Seems like the butt is going to be famous after this year. But seriously, after watching the dance and listening to the song, all I can think of is the dance. I can imagine the girls dancing to each part just from hearing the guys. Now that is something that all artists should do. Not too complicated. I also liked how they incorporated most of the claps into the dance. Pretty cool.

9/10. Much better than Guns and this song is fast becoming one of the best Nine Muses songs ever in my mind. Now that being said, what was your most favourite Nine Muses song of the year? Dolls? Guns? Wild? Glue? Choose in the poll below!!!

 

Guns – Nine Muses

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Source: http://xiahpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nine-muses-gun-xiahpop1.jpg

Nine Muses recently made their comeback with their first album since debut. There title song, Guns, is apparently an addicting track for females. As a male, I don’t find this video or song that great, but that may be my judgement of the song. But it has been a great experience to see the band grow. I did not like their debut, but ever since they came back with Ticket, the band has been doing really well. A bigger fanbase and better performance on the charts.

Guns is a song about how cowardly a guy is acting towards his crush, to the point where the girls can tell that he likes them. Interesting storyline in the song, but honestly where does “Guns” come into this video? I am a little confused. This song is really not the best song by the girls. Wild was a much better song and I think this is just a letdown. I feel like the instrumental took over the vocals and competed with the vocals too much in this song. The rapper is really strong, I must say and also the chorus is mildly catchy. I am not just sure if the song as a whole is the right choice. I did like the cowboy/girl feel to it, and I guess that is where the “Guns” come into play.

The music video is very deserted. Like seriously, there is nobody on that stretch of desert land! And what petrol station is built right next to a mining place?  There are a few more things that I am totally unsure about. The girls really do seem to be “showing” off their body. Not sure if they are trying to tease the poor guy or if it is just for the music video, but really? Girls posing like that while fixing a car, really is not ideal and really stereotypical. It seems like the guys is shy at frist, but he slowly builds up courage to ask her out. And then she just walks off? Does that mean the girls were playing with with all along? And also it seems like the girls have returned to their modelling days, because it seems like they are modelling a lot of different fashion here in this video. But beside that, I feel quite neutral about the music video. Not as confused as with the song, but the video definitely is much better than the song,

It is really a pity that the station decided to just cut all of their performances during the first week of promotions. They should at least allow all bands to perform a full song during their comeback week right? But returning to the video, the dance is okay. I love the use of chairs. Where some of the girls stand up and sit down at different parts of the video. But, the performance was so short. However for the one I have linked in the playlist below, I feel like the one colour theme does not suit them. They do well with green on all of them, but it does not look right for this performance.

I have to say 4/10. Not that great for a comeback in my opinion, but it still has its good points.

Wild – Nine Muses

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Source: http://cdn.popdust.com//wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Nine-Muses-Wild-Feature.jpg

Nine Muses recently made their comeback last week, with Wild. Much different than their previous hits like Dolls, News and Ticket. Wild, goes for the more “wild” side of the group. This comeback showcases a much more “wild” image of the girls and give them a new look. Now after seeing the music video, I don’t think I will be able to look at these girls in the same light then I have ever seen them in.

I love the piano parts in this song. It matches the electro feel of the instrumental, and the ending is totally amazing. The vocals in this song are pretty good, not too bad or average. The rap was amazing. To me, the whole song went nicely and it flowed. No random instrumental and vocals slowing the song down. The English in this song were quite fine. “It feels like you’re getting wet, it feels like you’re slowly spreading” was one of the translated lyrics in the song. Yeah, I don’t want to go into that much depth, but wow. I’d tap that.

The music video consists of a really dark place, lips, a lot of fondling, some dance scenes and a lot more fondling between girls. Stop it guys. Don’t scroll down to watch the music video now so you can check them out and fap to it. Keep reading this review first. The only complaint with this music video is the white skin. It looks artificial and to me, does not look appealing. The light or effect used on this confused me, along with the smoke, but the skin color of the girls kind of ruined it for me. I don’t mean this in the racist way, but the lighting or effect distracted me a lot I this music video. Again, I don’t mean this in a racist way.

The dance is pretty cool. Did you see the ending. Amazing with the piano keys. The start was really cool as well, and it seems that the girls always have great formations when it comes to their choreography.

9/10.

Dolls – Nine Muses

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Source: http://img.ohkpop.com/2013/01/11/iW36fp14.jpg

Nine Muses are finally back after nearly a whole year. After success with News and Ticket, Nine Muses has shown off their talent with Dolls. Though many people say this comeback was a big flop, I found the song quite addictive and really liked it. After Ticket, Dolls would have to be my 2nd most favourite song, by Nine Muses. Talk about being models, these girls are exactly like Dolls. Move aside Barbie Doll, Nine Muses is here.

The song is really cool. Though it was not like News or Ticket, Dolls stand aside on its own. The saxophone sound added to the song puts it really up there. Without the saxophone, this song would’ve failed for me. I found the parts with those really cool sounds, that sound like diamonds or something fast going by, really cool. Though, I am not fond of the vocals of this song and the rap was out of place, I thought the instrumental  did it really well for me. I just need to find an instrumental version and listen to it all day. I don’t mean to say that their vocals are bad, it is just they don’t sound as good as other artists. Those long notes, really don’t do it for me. They don’t have the punch factor which I want them to have.

The music video is okay. Too pink for me. But hey. I don’t really like the set as much for this song. However, the lighting is pretty good here, since Ticket had really dark lights and I had to squint to see what the music video was about. I really like the whole idea of splitting the group into two subunits, white and black. It is pretty original, particularly that they also promote the same song on the same stage at the same time. The whole conecept is pretty cools. I really like the dresses and suits that they dress up in. If that can be a bonus for them….

The dance is pretty cool. Nine Muse did a Let’s Dance video on the Leon Ent and the dances are pretty hard to follow. As for a person with no talent in dancing or music, but science and maths, the dance is pretty hard, but also quite elegant. I really did enjoy watching the dance.

7.5/10. Pretty good.