Another After School solo debut. Raina made her debut last year with a ballad song. On top of that, Orange Caramel, the famous subunit of the After School girl group had a very busy year in 2014. The next member to go solo is Lizzy. And she is the first member of the band to attempt the trot genre. For those who don’t know, trot is the Korean folk music genre. It’s a genre that I don’t look at that much and this probably is the first trot song ever that I have reviewed. Forgive me if I am wrong. I have done over 500 reviews, so it is very easy to lose track of the songs I have reviewed.
Like I said before, I don’t review much trot songs on here. To be honest, I don’t listen to them at all. That being said, this song did not appeal to me. Not that I hate it or have anything against the folk genres. Just it just feels like any other folk song and lacks the appeal that modern music nowadays have. Her vocals are pretty good to be honest. After School and Pledis promotes Lizzy as a person who cannot sing and relies heavily on autotune. This song points out to everyone that she can sing. Her vocals may not be strong as other singers, however if she can sing a whole song by herself without her voice going funny, then that is pretty good. The rapping really did not fit in with the song. For those who don’t know, Jung Hyung Don featured in the song for like 10 seconds and rapped in it. Really did not fit in with the song.
The music video was intelligently shot. From what I gather from information, the director took a famous Korean historic drama and photoshopped (or videoshopped) Lizzy face over the lead actress. So basically it has everyone thinking that this was all recently shot, but nope. The music video was shot as a drama years ago and using technology today, we get this music video. Using the trusty help of YouTuber commenters, the drama Seong Chunhyang from 1961. That being said, check out the cool video. Though you may not like the plot behind it (Don’t ask me, I get confused when it comes to movies or dramas), you will be guaranteed to think about the way the music video was shot or edited.
There is a dance to this and from what I can see, it fits the trot genre perfectly. Beside that, I can’t really comment on the dance.
Overall, it was a good debut. I honestly think Lizzy can go for something a little more “out of this world”. Like follow the style of Orange Caramel. Because obviously we all want more After School and Orange Caramel in our lives. 5.1/10
Welcome to the end of the 2014 charts. This chart has every single song that was released from the 1st of January 2014 to the 1st of December. I left the nitty gritty stuff out (aka. the numbers I used for the ranking) and made sure that everything was fair. So that means for songs that were released towards the end of the year would have received some extra increment to make sure that they were levelled out with the songs released in January. Other numbers used included whether songs were on the YouTube Playlist of The Month and each song was re-reviewed in categories of “song, music video and dance”. Below are just some interesting facts that you may enjoy in regards to this chart.
The very first song released to be included on the charts are Rain’s 30 Sexy and La Song. The last song released before the cut off date was Infinite F’s Heartbeat.
T-Ara’s Sugar Free (2) was the only song throughout the whole chart to score the maximum of 40 for the song re-review.
VIXX is the first boy group to appear in the charts at 14th place with Eternity.
As touched on above, this year the charts are dominated by the girl groups, with 13 boy groups versus 37 girl groups (repeated groups not excluded).
Heavily promoted songs tend to rank higher than songs that were released as a single and not promoted.
The following artists achieved the next few positions after 50th place: SPEED, Crayon Pop, Z:EA, Zhou Mi (Super Junior), BTOB, Infinite, UKISS, AOA and Gain (Brown Eyed Girls)
1
Something
Girl’s Day
2
Sugar Free
T-Ara
3
Up & Down
EXID
4
Monday Blues
Sunny Hill
5
Piano Man
Mamamoo
6
Darling
Girl’s Day
7
I’m In Love
Secret
8
Mr. Chu
A Pink
9
Yasisi
NS Yoon G
10
Red Light
F(x)
11
One More
Fiestar
12
Good Night Kiss
Hyosung (Secret)
13
Ain’t Nobody
HA:TFELT (Yenny – Wonder Girls)
14
Eternity
VIXX
15
You Don’t Love Me
Spica
16
So Wonderful
Ladies Code
17
This Is Love
Super Junior
18
Luv
APINK
19
Like A Cat
AOA
20
B.B.B (Big Baby Baby)
Dal Shabet
21
Good Luck
Beast
22
Cha Cha
Rainbow BLAXX
23
Full Moon
Sunmi ft. Lena
24
Error
VIXX
25
Catallena
Orange Caramel
26
My Copy Cat
Orange Caramel
27
Don’t Look At Me Like That
Song Ji Eun (Secret)
28
Back
Infinite
29
8Dayz
Megan Lee
30
What About You?
Laboum
31
Dont Touch Me
Ailee
32
I Swear
Sistar
33
Singing Got Better
Ailee
34
1004 (Angel)
B.A.P
35
Danger
BTS
36
12:30
Beast
37
Mr. Ambigious
Mamamoo
38
Lonely
B1A4
39
Beep Beep
BTOB
40
Mamma Mia
Kara
41
I Need You
Bestie
42
Solo Day
B1A4
43
Whatcha Doing Today?
4Minute
44
Pretty Age 25
Song Ji Eun (Secret)
45
1 Minute 1 Second
Jiyeon (T-Ara)
46
Peppermint Chocolate
Mamamoo ft. K.Will & Wheesung
47
FxxK U
Gain (Brown Eyed Girls)
48
Touch My Body
Sistar
49
Evanesce
Super Junior
50
Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms
HIGH4 ft. IU
THAT’S IT!!! 2014 IS OVER AND 2015 IS APPROACHING. WISHING YOU ALL (IN YOUR RESPECTIVE TIME ZONES) A HAPPY NEW YEAR. I only have 6 hours to go and I am excited. Party hard (but not too hard) and I will see you next year!! aka. in the next few days ^^
Code: RED FONT – WINNERS BLUE FONT – HONOURABLE MENTION
BEST ROOKIE GROUP
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
2014, like the past few years, have seen so many new KPOP bands debut. So many new bands, so much that I have a really difficult job to select certain artists and also keep up with the old styles. 2014 saw the big 3 companies debut their own groups, but I have to be honest, the stand outs came mostly from the smaller companies. One group in particular stood out from the rest: Mamamoo. Harmony and totally different style from what we are used to. Honourable mentions go to GOT7.
BEST INSTRUMENTAL
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
The one song that is overlooked by everyone on the album is the instrumental. I freaking love instrumentals, and this year, KPOP decided to tease me with so many new instrumentals. That being said, this year the winner of Best Instrumental is Ain’t Nobody by Ye-Eun (Ha:tFelt). Honourable mentions go to Sugar Free by T-Ara.
BEST VOCALS
WINNER
KPOP = Singing. There for it is only right for this year to have an award for Best Vocals, right? Well, the winner goes to Ha:tfelt – Ye Eun (Wonder Girls). I was so amazed by here singing this year that it blew my mind, particularly her title track Ain’t Nobody. Honourable mentions go to IU (yes, I think most of us agree).
BEST RAPPER
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
Many KPOP songs have many rapping parts. At the same time, rappers need some recognition. Though, I feel my choice this year could be a little odd, only one person (in my opinion) did a really amazing job. Junhyung from Beast did a wonderful job in Good Luck, 12:30 and the many songs he featured in. Zico from Block B takes Honourable Mentions.
BEST SUBUNIT
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
Since 2013, many subunits have been on trend. Even though subunits have been losing trend, many bands this year debuted their own subunits. However, I think we should move away from the new subunits. Cause this year an old subunit wins. Orange Caramel steals Best Subunit with release of three different songs. Honourable mentions goes to Rainbow Blaxx.
BEST COLLABORATION
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
The new trend for 2014. Collaborations between artists have been on the rise. This year though, if you were a KPOP fan for a while, you would know already who the winner is. Soyu & JungGiGo’s Some steals the show, topping the end of year charts conducted in South Korea and winning Best Song as well on the SBS Music Festival. Well of course they would win, considering that they SLAYED the charts. Honourable Mentions go to Sane and Raina’s collaboration, Midsummer Night’s Sweetness.
RISING STAR OF THE YEAR
WINNER
WINNER
This year there has been so many stars that have started to become more popular. The nominees tend to be bands that have debuted in the previous year, and with help of comebacks, started to become well known in the industry. I think for the first time ever, I am going to be honest and put forward two winners to this category. First of all, BTS say a boost in popularity and have become a band that I look forward to listening to. Second of all AOA saw new popularity with release of Miniskirt, Short Air and Like A Cat. Both bands, obviously, rose a lot this year and I found it hard to differentiate them.
BEST JAPANESE SONG
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
If you don’t know (I won’t be surprised) I also review some Japanese song. 2015 will be the year where I start to review more Japanese songs for you all. However, 2014 also had a lot of catchy and cool Japanese songs. The winner for this year is Korean boy band MYNAME’s F.F.Y. Such a catchy song. As for honourable mentions, it goes to AAA’s Showtime.
BEST DANCE
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
KPOP is also known for its dancing. 2014 saw some interesting dances, catchy dances, and some dances that have no words to describe it. And that can be a good thing or a bad thing. This year, T-ara took the position as best dance. It was probably the most addictive dance and it was pretty easy as well. It matched the song and most importantly, I loved it. Honourable mentions to Infinite’s Back.
BEST ALBUM
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
A brand new category for 2014. Every award show or some kind of award giving platform has the “best album” award. And yes, this year, there are so many freaking great albums (like any other year). In my opinion, the best album of the year goes to F(x)’s Red Light. All, if not most, of the songs were amazing to listen to and were so great. Every freaking song was different, and though that maybe risky, F(x) pulled it off as a flowing album. Honourable Mentions goes to AKMU’s Play.
BEST MALE SOLOIST
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
Solos don’t tend to be the trend this year. Some bands saw new members branch into a solo career, however it seems like more and more KPOP idols (whether male or female) are branching out to acting or variety shows. However, the winner to this category is a person who started offically his own solo career with a lot of experience in the music industry. Crush is the winner. Damn, this dude’s songs are so good. You should check them out. Honourable mentions: JungGiGo.
BEST FEMALE SOLOIST
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
It seems like more and more females are branching out onto the stage. We saw many KPOP divas making their solo debuts on the stage with new and fresh songs from bands like T-Ara or Secret. We already have divas who have accomplished a start to their solo career and saw comebacks of very big names. This year, one solo stood out and that is Secret’s Song Ji Eun. Releasing her first solo mini album, she did quite well considering the competition she was going through. Honourable Mentions goes to Sunmi.
BEST FEMALE GROUP
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
Sexy concept by girl groups have been on the rise. If you know me well, then you probably already know my pick. However, so many girls groups made their comeback this year. Some picked up a lot of popularity and saw massive wins for the first time. Girl’s Day hitted big with their amazing single Something. They later went on to release Darling and I Miss You. Being one of the biggest girl groups of the year, they were sure to pick some prize up. APINK steals honourable mentions this year with their massive single Mr Chu and their latest hit Luv, which blew up and swept all the December trophies for 2014.
BEST MALE GROUP
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
There have always been a large influx of boy groups and this year it is no different. I was so impressed I was just going to choose all 10 nominees as winners. However, there can only be one winner (well, technically), so I guess I have to choose one. I am going to put down VIXX. They released Eternity and Error this year and both songs were hits for the band. Not only that, they displayed great dance moves and skills. Beast takes out honourable mentions with Good Luck and 12:30, both being very great songs that also delivered like what VIXX had to show. (Just VIXX nudged a head a little bit).
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION
This year, most of my Best Music Video Nominees saw the depressing side of KPOP. 8 music videos had this sad or dark storyline to tell. 2 music videos were made in a soft hearted and were really cheerful. G.o.D’s music video for The Story Of Our Lives, told the amazing bond between family and that the outside will never be able to define the inside. Megan Lee features in the song and both band and soloist did an amazing job singing and pouring out their emotions. By the way, SM made a video outside of the box. F(x)’s Red Light, takes honourable mention.
BEST SONG
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
25 songs were nominated for Best Song for 2014. All were to an excellent standard. There were clear stands out. Something by Girl’s Day, EXID’s Up and Down and Beast’s Good Luck are this year’s honourable mentions. However, which song took Best Song category for 2014? Check the song and music video down below.
Orange Caramel made their surprise comeback with My Copycat this month. Last time they promoted on stage was with Catallena. This time they went with an interesting yet pretty playful concept, which has got many people playing and talking about. Going with their usual cute yet quirky theme, they have managed to conquer Where’s Wally, which makes this whole comeback pretty unique. Who does not love Where’s Wally? For those who don’t know, it is a book that contains pictures of a large group of people. And basically, you have to sit down and scan every single person until you find Wally himself, with his distinct clothing, it really is not that hard. Unless they are all wearing the same thing. But anyway, let’s continue.
This song is not memorable is kind of average, even for this band. However, this song still maintains the girl’s quirky sound, because as soon as you hear the instrumental, you automatically know it is going to be a weird one with those really cool, yet annoying saxophones. The chorus changes up the song, but I feel it has a dis-attached feel to the rest of the song. The song sounds quirky, just the chorus sounds really tone down and I dare say, quite normal. The bridge could have been better, it made the song feel more awkward overall as well. Though, overall, the song was pretty cool. Those part right after the chorus are probably my favourite. They just ooze with the quirkiness that we know of from the band. Overall, this has to be an average song, with some okay parts and some really cool parts as well.
The music video is the part where I want to focus on. This music video has been done beautifully. It is interactive and it just probably amazes everyone when they watch it. I have to be honest though. Staring at the screen with this colourful music video is just going to kill your eyes. But nonetheless, this is probably one of the best music videos of the year. The “Spot the Difference” and “Where’s Wally (renamed appropriately as Where’s Rania, Nana and Lizzy?) theme is really unique and pretty cool. Some parts, particularity the spot the difference, weirded me out a lot. Those eyes and eye lids were pretty freaky. To be honest, I tried looking for them the first time, but (put racist Asian joke here). Let’s just leave it at that. It is really colourful, just ease off on the colour next time.
As for the dance, it looked cool. They pretended to blow their saxophones and do other things that fitted the feel of the song. Overall, a pretty good dance.
As for the score, 8/10. It was a nice surprise. And it paid off pretty well.
I am back and so is Orange Caramel. It has been quite a while since we have seen the trio on stage, with their last promotions occurring in October in 2012. And it seems like the girls become much more popular everytime they make a comeback. They are the resident cute girl group, who always go for an extreme. Like I have never seen the girls do anything that we would deem as not weird. And it seems this time is no different as they make a comeback on stage with a fish costume. Wow, that is pretty cool. But on with the review.
This song is freaking amazing. Those who condemn this song as a horrible song I think have no clue that “sexy” does not need to be included in the song. It is so nice to see a cute girl group make their comeback for something that they are known for, not for following the trend and jumping on the bandwagon. This song is utterly amazing. Everything in the song from the vocals and the instrumental makes the song so fun to listen to. To are insternately smiling when you see or hear this song because it carries that feeling with it. It may be a little hard to understand the lyrics, but from reading the English translation and getting a few tips from people, it (and this is sonly a suggestion) but the song talks about being someone who you think is cool, and at the same time losing your uniqueness and individuality. Interesting.
To link the above meaning of the song to the music video, I think that the girls see the “Catallena” as the octopus. This “octopus” is seen as cool and amazing, but in matter fact, the octopus seems to be shallow. The fishes (or Orange Caramel) try their best to be like the octopus, by putting themselves up on the market and then being made into sushi. I actually like the music video. It was cute. They made objects that would be really small into life size objects like the soy sauce dish which was really cool. Also the big glad wrap scene (which was banned by KBS because they thought it was a way to depict the music industry) was really amazing as well. Also, loving the costumes. Not sure about the end of the video though, where they eat the sushi. They seem to dislike it so maybe they instead tried to be someone else which they thought was cool, but in the end, they did not like it as well. Really cool music video which was colourful and amazing.
The dance is really cute. My favourite part of the whole song and the dance would have to be Lizzy’s part. The dance is super catchy.
Super catchy dance. Check. Really meaningful video. Check. Amazing song that is widely popular. Check. Guess what, 10/10.
After School recently made their well demanded comeback since Flashback last year. Released on the 13th of June (just a 2 weeks ago), the girls have made a huge impact upon the KPOP scene since coming back, giving Sistar, MBLAQ, Rainbow, EXO and other widely known bands a run for their money. However that I what the fans think of the whole comeback. I myself, have a completely different view on the song. The comeback itself is unique, but really lacking overall. Though they know how to get a guy excited, for me, it did not do as well. Well, that kind of came out wrong. Don’t think dirty guys. The whole comeback for me is “not as good” as the other comebacks to date. (I like cute girls more).
The song was too freaking slow. Am I only the one that felt that the song was dragged out over the 3 minutes and 40 seconds length? I do see how the song has the bit if addictiveness to it, however the song overall, to me was a complete failure. I do like my RnB music and I do like my ballad music, but these two sound awkward together. The vocals were quite fine, actually. Which I liked about the song and was completely surprised that this song contained no rap but just pure vocals. For groups, I don’t see that much in KPOP. Vocal’s only songs are mainly for soloists. Also, that gospel high note at the end seems out of place but at the same time fits in the song. Crazy, right?However, my ears say “KILL THE GUY!!!”. Which guy? The guy who throughout the song goes “Get Funky, Get Down”. What is a DJ going to do to the song? Appeal to the female demographic? What in the world? And that disk scratching sound. Seriously, this song is meant to sad, so why even? If I wanted to hear a disk scratching, I would go to a club or hear a remix!
The music video is quite okay. It seemed rushed. Any set that had the pole dancing in it seemed quite rushed. Floral wallpaper on the walls and the roof? The used of flowers on the grid like walls? It does not contribute to the feel of the song. However, I totally loved the feel of the closeups of the members. The coloured background added that extra impact and the water dripping down the side of the camera seemed like tears falling down. The members too also look quite sad. But beside that, there is nothing else to say.
The dance does seem sexy. The whole idea of pole dancing seemed quite interesting but also extreme, but the girls seemed to pull it off quite well. After all, pole dancing is a very demanding activity and the girls had 6 month to prepare for the comeback. However, the song did overall ruin the dance. The start of the performance and dance was amazing. How on earth are you meant to be twirling around there, not feeling blisters or being burnt by the metal pole.
3.5/10. Sorry girls. Better luck next time. I actually personally liked their past songs more than this one. Hope they win at least one award, since they are so low on the numbers and jope both Lizzy and Nana get well soon.
Cute attack. After big hits like Magic Girl, Bangkok City and Shanghai Romance they are back after with Lipstick, which really is another attack of cuteness. Uncle fans watch out, because you will die. Wait, that does not sound cute at all! That sounds evil…
Anyway, the song is really high-pitched. But at the same time it is really kind of weird. It takes a very long time for cutey-type of songs to grow on me, and this song is no exception. I found this song really uncomfortable to listen to. It kind sounds like their previous songs, all which I did not like at all. I must say though, the eomma, eomma part was the catchiest part for me, because I had that part on repeat. Unlike other songs, I really did not like the start of the chorus, it kind of sounded weird and fuzzy in my point of view. With the instrumental, I kind of felt like this, :|. Yeah, I felt like that. I really can describe my feelings with the song. It felt funny and really awkward. I guess I still have the Flashback images in my mind, which is preventing me to feel the full strength of the song.
The music video is also kind of weird. Lipstick titled music video really did not contain much lipstick. It only had a bunch of girls that fanboyed over a guy, who was taken away by a rather crazy princess. It all came down to a ping-pong battle, so that was all good. Yeah, not really. Again, not sure about my feelings for the music video as well, just wished to say that it was quite orange. 🙂
The live performance is pretty good. I’m not sure about the costumes, but I liked the dance, because it was cutey. That is also kind of weird because I did not like the song for its cuteness, but I love the dance for it. Oh well.
Okay, really unsure about this song. 6/10. I guess it could be better, but also, I think I got the Flashback images still in my mind. That was a good song.
Okay, to start things off, I am not a fan of Orange Caramel. Its not that I dislike them or anything (amazingly, I am also not a fan of After School) but their songs do not inspire me or motivate me to dance or at least sing a long. However I do like their theme of going to countries and writing various song about the country. Bangkok City was somewhat catchy in my point of view and so was Shanghai Romance. The song had this oriental sound to it, as if it was a traditional song that originated from Shanghai however as soon as the electronic beats started, I just said no. Yes, I know it is meant to be a KPOP video but the beat just ruined the whole video/song.
Music Video
The music video for this song was good. I love the use of props with the lanterns hanging from the top of the roof. I love how the music video itself made me laugh. You find a girl who has a crush on this guy. She tries very hard to please him. In the end she gets hit by a lantern, rejected by the guy and the guy showing a shock face after the girl showed her thigh. However the girl hates him after she finds out that he eats like a pig (or maybe she got rejected too many times???). Yeah this plot does not make much sense but was great for a laugh. I also love the costumes of the music video. They wore a modern style Cheongsam, which I found suited the theme. The airplane pilot jacket did not much.
Live Performance
Ummm. not sure about their costume choice though for their live performances. They wore some kind of Kill Bill inspired tracksuit and other weird clothing. The dance is pretty creative as it went with the beat. Besides that, the live performance was okay.
And The Rating
Not the best performance I ever watched but not that horrible or something I would say “utterly the worst performance on Earth” . So I have decided to give it a 6.5/10.
KPOPREVIEWED 