I figure while I'm already on here, what the heck lol. I also mainly want to feature one song in particular which is why I end up posting these in the first place.
I looooooove this. Love it so much I actually listened to the entire album. I never do that. Usually albums just go onto my "I'll get to this eventually" list and it takes me a year or so to get to it. The album is equally as good as the song.
CLC - Meow Meow & Liar (2017) (K-Pop)
Their comeback was a cheap rip off of 4Minute. There. I said it. Hobgoblin is a fun song yes, but Hyuna ruined CLC by trying to make them EXACTLY into 4Minute. And does she love the sound of her voice so much to make the one rapper girl sound exactly like her? Gosh that was the most offputting thing I've ever experienced in K-pop. Hyuna needs to stay away from CLC unless she has some fresh ideas for them. These two album tracks on the other hand are great. They're tropical house/K-pop sounding would have worked much better for a retooled CLC. Make them more of a cool "bad girl" group, but with something fresher and less sounding of desperation.
Seohyun - Don't Say No (2017) (K-Pop)
I love this new K-pop trend. Bright colors and house fusions. It's so hilarious to me how obvious the trends show up in K-pop. No. K-pop is nothing like Western music at all *rolls eyes*.
Predianna - Cry Like This (2017) (J-Pop)
Tsubaki Factory - Hatsukoi Sunrise (2017) (J-Pop)
My babies! Mark my words. They are H!P's next big thing.
Warning! Lots of embedded videos in this post so sorry for slow loading computers out there!
Combining these two from last year so I can catch up to the correct day lol. Essentially these are new groups that either released their first single this year, or were formed this year. They could also be more unknown groups that just came on my radar this year. Since I combined the two posts, I chose four groups from each of the two genres for a total of eight new groups to watch. They're in no particular order, just alternating between K & J.
Group #1: Dear Kiss (J-Pop)
Full disclosure: I'm not super impressed with the music they've put out so far. I only care about them cause Nonoko. Really hoping their first release with her will be super awesome to entice me to buy it! Dear Kiss is a new group that formed early this year around former Galette member Saki Shishima. They currently have 6 members and have released one single and one mini-album. Nonoko recently joined not long after the end of Galette. I wonder if the other three former Galette girls will migrate to this group. I'd really love to see Yui Komori join as I liked her as much as Nonoko. I feel like this is nothing about Dear Kiss and everything about Galette. Cause it is. I miss them D:
Group #2: Blackpink (K-Pop)
The new YG girl group that everyone had been begging for for year finally arrived and they were much better than expected. I was nervous that YG would attempt to make them the new 2NE1. I'd say that their styling is very much that way, but their music is very different. Boombayah was a bit of an attempt to stay 2NE1, but Whistle & Playing With Fire really stick out as good framework to build the group's sound around in a way that they won't get labeled "2NE1-lite". I realized a little after PWF was released that I had been screwing up Jisoo & Rose lol. I thought it was Rose I liked, but it was actually Jisoo. Jennie is my overall favorite though. She is such a standout of the group.
Group #3: FuwaFuwa (J-Pop)
Ok so I still hardly know anything about this group except that they're a subunit of Harajuku Ekimae Parties. Do you know how hard it is to Google the term "Fuwafuwa"? Yeah. Not easy. All you get is a bunch of other result that have nothing to do with the group. Then searching HEP gets you nowhere either. Guessing there's not a lot of info in English out there? So I had to resort to the Japanese J-idol wiki database thing I found a year or so back and my poor Japanese skills to find out some basics about them....and then I STILL couldn't find them in the lists. I'm guessing I'm blind cause they must be there lol. So here's my poor description of them: They have lots of members and sing cutesy idol songs that actually are pretty catchy and sung rather well for cutesy idol songs. Check 'em out lol.
Group #4: Cosmic Girls (WJSN) (K-Pop)
They are currently an 11 member new group from Sistar's company. I didn't care for them one bit when they debuted. Both of their debut singles were awful honestly. Mo Mo Mo is the better of the two. I don't know what the heck they were trying to do with Catch Me because that song is absolutely tragic. Then Secret came out. The music video is the most stunning ones I think I've ever seen. The song was such a 180 from their first release. Really excited to see their comeback in January to see what they can do.
Group #5: Questy (J-Pop)
I debated adding them as I am not a huge fan of their first release as everyone else seems to be. However, they remind me of a new Fairies-type group more than a new Flower or E-Girls so I'm interested in what they will release in the future. They are a seven member group trained by LDH and debuted under Avex. Like with Fairies & other LDH groups, three of the girls are vocalists and the rest are performers (pretty much just back dancers to put it bluntly.)
Group #6: Sol-T (K-Pop)
These girls are from a super unknown company and they're also super unknown but their Bad Girls song is awesome. They have four members and have released two singles. They sound pretty great considering how unknown they are. I'm really hoping that they keep going down the Bad Girls path because that style suits them so well.
Group #7: Cherrsee (J-Pop)
I want to like these girls because their premise is interesting. A J-Pop group produced by a major K-Pop producer isn't probably a good idea for business, but it is super interesting for music in my opinion. I didn't care too much for their two A-sides this year, but their one B-side Surisuri Masuri sounds very promising. I hope they release something amazing in the new year.
Group #8: Matilda (K-Pop)
Surprisingly, this super unknown group has released THREE singles this year. For an "indie" K-pop group, they've actually done quite a lot. They've also gotten better with each single release. Their current one is their best in my opinion, although I don't think it quite fits their vocals (and the chorus is produced kinda badly. It's way too loud for the rest of the song.)
Oh my gosh this is so difficult. Last year K-pop was just starting to become interesting again so it was easier, but this year, K-pop was actually really great and I had a hard time coming up with this list. I'm glad that groups moved away from that awful "I'm sexy!" concept that kept going on. Very few K-pop groups can actually pull off the ultra sexy concept without seeming try-hard. This new synthpop/electro route this year was absolutely awesome. Especially the stuff coming from SM. SM used to be the super generic company with box MVs what the heck happened? I'm looking forward to next year's music scene, although I'm a little worried at the same time. I have a feeling that with Twice's success that other groups will try to emulate them like with the sexy concept overflow after Sistar's success. I adore Twice. I love them to bits, but their concept is another of those concepts like Sistar's that is difficult to replicate without looking try-hard or over the top. Even TT (which I loved) seemed over the top for Twice. I can't even imagine how awful it would've looked for a different group. Because it was so difficult, I did my top 10, but also included some "runners up" that were so close to making it.
So. I really don't like last year's day 16 category and I couldn't think of anything else to put. Sure I could've just bumped everything up a day but meh. So I'm gonna put so music recommendations instead! For those wondering, last year's category was H!P/48G songs that weren't from the main groups/from disbanded groups. I didn't like the idea of doing that category again because neither company has really released any new side music in a long time. Because of that, nothing in the countdown would have changed & there would've been nothing to talk about. That's boring. So, random music recommendations instead.
G.E.M. - 死了都要 ‧ 愛
Anyone know what the English title of this is?? I have no clue & I don't like using the actual script for non-Latin charactered songs. Obviously the last character means "Love" but I don't know the rest of it. Whatever. It's a GREAT song. I adore G.E.M. She's one of the very few Chinese acts I really like. Her music is extremely well produced.
Sixth Sense - Don't Go
I REALLY like them. It's been years since I liked a non-major label new K-pop group. Two songs in a row that have been really good.
Sol-T - Bad Girls
Surprisingly another new unknown K-girl group with a great song. A different tone than Sixth Sense's song. They remind me of an updated To Anyone era 2NE1.
That's really all I've got for this. Not a whole lot of stand out stuff since the last time I did this type of post. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal on the countdown.
Am I allowed to do two posts in a day? I don't think I've ever done that lol. Well, I'm actually avoiding working on some things and was thinking how I haven't done anything like this recently, so why not! Since I haven't done it in so long, I'll just explain the purpose of this kind of post. Essentially, I love music and I can't stand how there's hardly any type of blogs out there that have just a list of songs to listen to. I'm lazy, just give me lists! So I figured why not do that sometimes on my blog? Unfortunately I haven't really been keeping up with that, but I still want to do it every once in a while. What I do is just list some songs, link their videos, and maybe give a little blurb about what the song is like. So...onward to music!
Park Ki Ryang - Hustle (ft. Mechilling) (2016)
This is such a bad song to start out with because no one's going to want to look at the rest because of my terrible music taste lol. Okay, this song is kinda bad, but it's a guilty pleasure type of song. Catchy, mindless, dancey. Great as a distraction in my opinion.
Lindsey Stirling - Hold My Heart (ft. ZZ Ward) (2016; from the album Brave Enough)
Violins & dance music? Yes please! Best song on her new album from the singles I've heard so far. I love when she teams up with vocalists.
Playback - Playback (Areia Remix) (2016)
Is a remix cheating? I actually disliked the original, but I heard this two days ago and I'm just obsessed with that instrumental. Props to the remixer because wow it's one of the best pieces of pop music ever.
JoJo - FAB. (ft. Remy Ma) (2016; from the album Mad Love)
If you're not big into songs with a lot of swearing, don't listen to this one. This type of song isn't usually my thing, but it's just so catchy and attitude filled. Love it! The rap is slowing growing on me too (not a rap fan at all).
Predia - Kindan no Masquerade (2017)
Predia's newest single! I'd say that if you're mainly a K-pop/Western pop person, this is probably a good group to get started on if you want to look into J-pop. They have amazing vocals and their music is modern dance pop.
Peter Possession - Have You Here (ft. Matt Pardus) (2016)
It's probably pretty clear what type of music I prefer huh? The instrumental is so awesome.
Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young (2016)
Discovered this from YouTube a couple of days ago. Pure pop perfection. Love it.
Dear Kiss - Shiny Shy Girl (2016)
Okay final one. I semi-like this. It's an okay J-Pop song. BUT I just found out that Nonoko from Galette recently joined this group!!! AHHH *Excited dancing* I love her & I'm looking forward to following Dear Kiss. Saki Shishima who left Galette early this year is also in this group. Hoping Yui Komori will come along too because she & Nonoko were my favorite Galette girls and I'd love to see them stick together.
It actually freaks me out how long ago this was released. It's been five years already since this album. I remember being so excited that SNSD was releasing an English version of the song and releasing the album in the States. Thinking about it now, I actually cringe a bit at the over excitement over K-pop stuff. I'm thinking that every teen fan of K-pop goes through that phase. Personally, I'm just glad that I was older in high school before K-pop began to become a thing so I avoided most of the middle school-esque insane fangirling. Beyond that, this was the first SNSD album I owned. It was also the first SNSD comeback I had seen in K-pop. I had listened to some of SNSD's songs before, like Run Devil Run and Hoot, but I hadn't been a fan during an actual comeback period before. It was crazy seeing all the hype of the release. As for the album itself, I remember thinking it was awesome and how much I wanted it. Nowadays, I don't think it's aged super well. Most K-pop albums never do.
Track #1, The Boys
The big title track. I remember it being absolutely huge. I was obsessed with the song. It seemed like the biggest thing ever to come out of K-pop at the time. Now, I think this is their worst aged title track. I don't know if it's because I listened to it so much back then, or if it just truly has fallen apart with age, but I'd rather not listen to it again. The only lead singles I think are worse are their newest stuff. It just kinda has that sound where you can tell it was released a certain year in K-pop, much like 2NE1's older material feels. I guess that happens with genre defining groups and singles, they become representative of the time they were released and sound odd outside of that scope. 3.5/5.
Track #2, Telepathy
I think this is one of songs on the album that has held up the best. The music is lighthearted and not that kind of heavy, noisy K-pop sound from 2009-2011. It fact, I could see a group like DIA or Oh My Girl releasing this now. 4/5.
Track #3, Say Yes
This song pretty much typifies the K-pop album of this era. In my opinion, most K-pop albums from my earlier years knowing K-pop outside of 2-3 songs are pretty bad or boring. Like all of the effort was put on the title track and they just randomly chose some songs from a vault to stick on the rest of the CD. It's probably just me though. I've never been a fan of the overly flowery cutesy track sound like here. 3/5.
Track #4, Trick
This song really sounds like a remix of Hoot in the chorus. It has that sound that I was talking about with The Boys, but not as noisy. The verses are the main culprit of the noisiness but the chorus is still really nice today. 4/5.
Track #5, How Great Is Your Love
Yawn. Oh, sorry. I mean, this song is one of those slow, boring, K-pop ballads that are a dime a dozen. Listen to pretty much every K-pop album ever released and you'll find one. I guess it's well sung. I can say that. 2.5/5.
Track #6, My J
I'm resisting the urge to talk about Tomomi Itano's Dear J in this lol. This song is like How Great Is Your Love except in a different way. Just like the boring ballad, there's also almost always one of those "quirky" tracks that are weirdly sung that don't sound like they were supposed to be done that way but the were. That's this song. 2.5/5.
Track #7, Oscar
My absolutely favorite song on the album when I was in high school. I just thought it was so catchy and awesome. It hasn't held up as well as I wish it did, but I get really nostalgic listening to it. To me, it feels like a sister song of Super Junior's Opera. They have that same sound to them. 4/5.
Track #8, Top Secret
To be honest, I'm uncertain if I liked this one a lot after Oscar or if that was Telepathy. It's been a while since I've listened to this album. It's another Hoot sounding song, with the whole James Bond thing going on. Whether or not I liked this a lot years ago, it's certainly held up better than Oscar. 4/5.
Track #9, Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)
I hated this song then, still hate it now. It's another My J situation with the way it's sung but worse. The way the very beginning of the song annoys me so much. It sounds like the voice you make when you're mocking someone. The rest of the song is so sugary sweet it's terrible. 2.5/5.
Track #10, Sunflower
Here's where the album has really started to fall off. Before the song started, I couldn't even remember anything about it either good or bad. When it started, I still couldn't remember it. It's just a extremely generic K-Pop ballad. Bland and boring. 3/5.
Track #11, Vitamin
This is another track that was also just sort of there when I was younger. Now, it's kind of catchy to me. It's not like "how did I miss this?!" but more like "hey this is better than I remember" is a cutesy song but not an annoying one. Kind of catchy. 3.5/5.
Track #12, Mr. Taxi (Korean Ver.)
So that's my thoughts on one of the albums that defined my last year of high school. If it seems I was hard on it, it's because I was. I tend to review things I find very nostalgic with a sharper edge than things that don't have that nostalgia factor for me. I believe I do it that way because I want to remember it the way it was five years ago, but it's not and never will be the same again. Wishful thinking I guess is a big part of it. 3.5/5.
So this is slightly different than the other posts I've done. I want to highlight three groups that debuted this past year that I'm looking forward to seeing more of in 2016. I should also say that I likely won't get tomorrow's post up for tomorrow. I'll be running around everywhere because of the busy-ness of Christmas Eve, but I hope I can get it up.
Group #1: Oh My Girl
Oh My Girl is an eight member group that debuted in April of 2015 with their first mini album, Oh My Girl. The lead single from the mini album was Cupid, a cute track somewhere between an early SNSD and KARA's recent material sound wise.
In October, Oh My Girl came back with their second mini album, Closer, with the lead song being the title track. Closer is a mid-tempo track with an ethereal sounding EDM beat, reminiscent of what you would hear on Ellie Goulding's Halcyon. With this track, it seems as if Oh My Girl has lit a fire in the international K-pop community, gaining the song a lot of praise for an offering from a new girl group.
Oh My Girl hadn't managed to capture my attention with their debut track, but blew me away with their comeback. There will be a lot of hype for the follow up to Closer, and this makes Oh My Girl a group to watch out for in the coming year.
Group #2: Twice
Twice is a nine member group that debuted in October of 2015 with their first mini album, The Story Begins. The lead single from the mini album was Like Ooh-Ahh, an upbeat pop track which is almost like a combo of early 4Minute and early SNSD.
Twice's debut had been highly anticipated as they began on the JYP Entertainment survival show Sixteen. As they have a lot of momentum behind them and they are yet to release a follow up, they are another group to look out for in 2016.
Group #3: CLC
CLC is a five member group that debuted in March of 2015 with their first mini album, First Love. The lead single from the mini album was Pepe, an upbeat and colorful track that showed off the girls' charms.
After the release of their debut CD, the girls made their comeback with the digital single Eighteen in April. The song is a synth filled pop track catchy pop track that follows Pepe nicely. While not a true comeback, the release served to generate hype for the next mini album which was released in May, with the title track Like. This song is a peppy cute track in contrast to their first release.
Although CLC failed to impress me with their comeback, I still am looking forward to what they can come out with next. I have hopes that they'll rise to the level of 4Minute's music. As they have gone the longest of the three groups with no comeback, their return hopefully with happen in early 2016.
So unlike my earlier lists which were all time lists, now we're on to the year specific lists. The first of these is K-pop 2015. For the past couple of years, I felt like K-pop was on a decline. In 2014, I felt like K-pop had taken a nosedive into that decline like it had never before. There's really only a handful of songs I can name from 2012-2014 that I would still call today "pretty good", unlike 2009-2011 where K-pop was at it's peak. This year, however, the releases have actually been pretty good. I'd say that 2015 is a great turnaround for K-pop and I'm hoping that it continues into 2016. As I don't listen to boy groups much anymore, this list is all from the ladies lol.
Hey everyone! I'm in the middle of papers & tests galore but came up with a fun idea that I'd like to do. So for every day up until Christmas (I will try my best to be on time lol), I will post a new "Top" list. They're going to be a variety of different topics in music so I hope people find them interesting and maybe find a new song to love! I won't do any kind of "review" or commentary on any of them (because I'll never get through them xD). Today's topic is my top 10 K-pop song of all time. Enjoy!
#10: Oh My Girl - Closer (2015)
#9: f(x) - Beautiful Stranger (2012)
#8: Wonder Girls - I Feel You (2015)
#7: Nine Muses - News (2012)
#6: After School - Dressing Room (2013)
#5: Shinee - Sherlock (2013)
#4: Girls' Generation - Into The New World (2007)
#3: Chocolat - I Like It (2011)
#2: Swan.B - Be All Right (2011)
#1: Orange Caramel - Bangkok City (2011)
So that's my list! What's your favorite K-pop songs of all time?
This is the first real review I've posted in awhile lol. I want to start getting back to doing these, but I really don't have the time to do many. This one took me almost a week to sit through all the tracks and write my thoughts. I really wish that YG would have had the group come back this year instead of just CL. CL needs to stay over in the US and work on gaining connections and collaborating with other artists until her label thinks she can release a song and gain some attention. Releasing in both Korea & the USA is just going to be a recipe for disaster if they're expecting it to be a hit in the States.
To Anyone is the girls' first album, released all the way back in 2010! The fact that it's been over 5 years is just mindblowing to me because this album is the first thing of K-pop I landed upon that drew me in. Now, I am pretty sick of this album as a whole, so I might end up being harsher on the songs because of it, so please, bear with me.
Track #1, Can't Nobody: Ahhh memories. This is the video that did it. I had heard of K-pop before this, and had listened to the Wonder Girls' Nobody before (actually saw them in concert like 2 years prior to this album), but I never dug any deeper. Then I came across this. I really liked Lady Gaga at that time, and this sounded very much like her music but with more attitude. The song really caught my attention because of it's electropop sound and infectious beat. Nowadays, I could probably do without listening to this again, but I won't deny that this is probably the best song they've ever done. Most people call I Am The Best that (which is also great), but Can't Nobody is in a whole other level. That final chorus is one of the best things to come out of music anyway and still sounds fresh today. It's too bad that it's so autotuned. I didn't care about that five years ago, but today it makes a lot of the song sound pretty dated, even for K-pop. 5/5
Track #2, Go Away: This song is probably the one that has aged the best on the album. It's not overly autotuned (when compared to other songs on the album) and it's a more poppy dance song. It's songs like this that really made 2NE1 stand out among the crowd. An anthemic breakup song with a catchy hook as opposed to a love song for the bazillionth time. 5/5
Track #3, Clap Your Hands: You know, I really thought that it would be difficult listening to this album again because of me being sick of it, but I find myself jamming to everything so far lol. I thought this of all songs I would have wanted to change, but nope. I guess that's the hallmark of a fantastic album. Even when you don't care to listen to it anymore on a regular basis, you still love the songs when hearing them. This song and Can't Nobody are the same style of song. In fact, I think if you smashed Can't Nobody & Fire together, this song is exactly what you'd get. The rap in the bridge is kind of annoying though. It just sounds very shouty and out of place with the rest of the song. 4.5/5.
Track #4, I'm Busy: This song deserved to be one of the ones that received a video. I think it's better than Clap Your Hands and it still has that unmistakable 2NE1 sound that the rest of the album has. I guess it's possible they didn't do a video for this one because it has swear words in the lyrics. Not sure if the Korean broadcast standards care about English swear words though. Although I love this song and album, I'm only on track 4 and I do feel a little tired of it. Their upbeat songs do all sound very similar on this album, and although they are very good, I can understand how this album could be difficult to get into for someone not sold on 2NE1 because they are very similar. 4.5/5.
Track #5, It Hurts (Slow): I believe that 2NE1 truly shines during slower songs like this. Sure their upbeat songs are my favorites and they're a lot of fun, but you can't get a grasp on just how talented the girls are from an overly autotuned track. Even group weak links like Bom (she might be the main vocalist, but she seems to struggle a lot with singing) and Dara (who is actually quite good, she just has a different type of voice than the other three), sound incredible in this song. This song is such a lovely piano led ballad that even a ballad hater like me enjoys listening to it. 5/5.
Track #6, Love Is Ouch: With how solid I find this album, it's difficult to pick out a 100% favorite song. Out of all the tracks, I think this is the best one. It's a midtempo/ballad like Go Away, yet it sounds different than the majority of the album. It's too bad that this song was relegated to album track status. The piano line & the underlying electro music is a winning combination. 5/5.
Track #7, You & I: This is Bom's solo song on the album. Personally, I really dislike Bom's vocals. She's got a really distinct tone and I don't think she's as bad as people say (although she seems to struggle live), but her voice just isn't pleasing to me. However, I do love this song. It's such a pretty song and flows very well after Love Is Ayaya. It's a good song for her voice. Not too much room for oversinging on her part. It really sounds like a good mix between Go Away & It Hurts. 4/5.
Track #8, Please Don't Go: This is CL & Minzy's duet song on the album. Even though CL & Minzy are the "hiphop" girls in 2NE1, this isn't a rap or hiphop song at all. Actually it sounds like a popper version of the rest of the album while still keeping the pulsing beats. I have a love/hate relationship with this song. I'm not a huge fan of the rapped verses anymore, but the chorus is one of the best on the album. I just wish CL wouldn't go the rap route since her singing voice is so much better. 4/5.
Track #9, Kiss: This is Dara's solo song on the album. It's interesting how this is my favorite of the unit/solos on the album. I like how it's more poppy like the chorus of Please Don't Go & sticks with that instead of trying to be all "bad girl" like the rest of the CD. Even CL's rap works super well with the song. 4.5/5.
Track #10, Try To Follow Me: When they say 2010 in the very beginning it's still mindblowing to me. Of all of the promoted tracks on this album, I think this song aged the worst. It's still fun to listen to, but kind of grating by the end because of how repetitive it is. 3.5/5.
Track #10, I Don't Care (Reggae Mix): Remix of a song from their first mini album.
Track #11, Can't Nobody (English Version): Just like it says, English version of the first track.
I tried to be harsh but just couldn't lol. With this album, yes, some of it has aged kind of badly, but it's still a wonderful album. I'll say it's not as awesome as I'm making it out to be (memory bias all over this review but I tried lol), but it's still a solid pop album from what's (imo) the peak years of K-pop. 4.5/5.
Sorry for not posting regularly! It's probably going to be like this until mid December. I thought I would have more time but I just don;t :(
Track #1: Ai Otsuka - Laugh
This song is proof that I really need to look into more mainstream J-pop acts instead of sticking mainly with idol pop. I just wish it wasn't as hard to find music videos and such of their songs to watch.
Track #2: Red Velvet - Oh Boy
Red Velvet's been really impressing me this year. They put out some really great music. I love how this song is so poppy. It reminds me a lot of 2010-2012 KARA or SNSD.
Track #3: Juice=Juice - Ijiwaru Shinaide Dakishimete yo
I've been going through my CDs recently, and ever since I came across this single again it's been stuck in my head. Juice=Juice has put out some great songs recently, but I agree with many others that say their indies/first year holds their best tracks (sans Senobi...which is the best thing they've ever released). The whole "jazzy yet pop" feel worked so much for them. Sorry for those of us in the USA who can't watch it on YT...below you'll find a handy proxy link to let you view it!
Sorry this is a day late! I can't even blame being busy on the lateness....I just simply forgot. Gotta get back into the routine of doing it after missing two weeks' worth lol.
Track #1: Twice - Like Ooh Aah
I didn't like this when I first heard it, but now I love it. It's such a grower of a track. Reminds me a lot of earlier K-pop tracks from SNSD or KARA. On a side note, I ADORE Tzuyu's outfit with the black crop top. Twice's first mini album, The Story Begins, released on October 20th.
Track #2: f(x) - Papi
I was so incredibly disappointed with 4 Walls (the song, not the album). I guess I just had such incredibly high expectations because it was an f(x) comeback and they fell short. I immediately listened to the album clips to see if anything was better, and this stood out above the rest. I haven't heard the rest of the album in full yet, but this is certainly the most instant (and more "mainstream" K-pop, I guess you could say) song on the album. It's crazy catchy and would have made a great title track. f(x)'s new album, 4 Walls, released on October 27th.
Track #3: G.E.M. - Blindspot
I'm actually glad I didn't post this yesterday because this wouldn't have been on it. I've followed GEM on and off over the years and I was just absolutely blown away by this track. It's so gorgeous (THAT BRIDGE. WOW.) and the music video is equally as gorgeous. GEM's new album, Heartbeat, releases on November 9th (which, now that I look up the date, is coincidentally my birthday xD)
M.O is a three member British girl group. This was their very first single release and personally my favorite song from the group. The song has a lot of attitude, much like Little Mix's Salute.
Track #2: After School - Dressing Room
I was convinced that I had already featured this and was shocked to see I hadn't. It's After School's best song and should have been a lead track.
No track three this week....it was going to be Koharu Kusumi's Balalaika but because of YouTube Red there's nothing viewable in the States. Screw you very much YouTube.
I like to call this edition, "I'm running out of good unknown songs to posts so time for a mishmash of older songs!" I think that's really how MDMs are going to run from now on because I've run out of songs I would consider "unknown" that I know of to share. However, I still think this new approach stays true to what my original intention of this corner was: to showcase songs that I personally enjoy so people can perhaps find something new to love or be reminded of a song they may have forgotten about.
Track #1: Paula Abdul - Straight Up
So this song has been stuck in my head all week. There's a trolley system at my university and the drivers always choose their own radio stations to listen to. Unlike the other drivers who play country stations, there's one that plays the local 80s to now station and this song was playing on my way to work last week and has been stuck with me ever since lol. It was a megahit and for good reason.
Track #2: Marina & The Diamonds - Froot
I really wish Marina was more popular than she is. I get that her music is more niche than someone like Katy Perry, but she has such a lovely voice and a great catalog of catchy tracks. This song was her lead single from her latest album, Froot. Unlike the lead single from her last album, this song is more laid back but it's still such an earworm.
Track #3: Rainbow - Mach
I can't believe this never had a video! I thought it did but I guess I was thinking of the Japanese version. Rainbow was so great at their debut. It's too bad that they were mismanaged so much because they could have been big like their labelmates KARA. This song in particular seems like it could've been a megasmash. It's got the same sound as other popular 2010 K-pop songs.
Oh My Girl is an 8 member Korean girl group that just debuted this year. This is only their second title track. I honestly have no words to describe this song. It's so catchy and beautiful and awesome and original for K-pop. I would have never expected something like this to come from a K-pop girl group. It sounds like something off of Ellie Goulding's Halcyon except better. It's probably too early to name this one of K-pop's best ever isn't it? Their second mini album, Closer, released on October 8th.
Track #2: Veridia - Crazy In A Good Way
There's nothing better then when I find a good Christian rock song. With so many of the groups I used to love on hiatus or disbanding or only touring, it's rare for me to come across something great. Veridia is a Christian rock group that is fronted by a female vocalist. Their style is mainly rock but also mixes in some electronic elements as well. I also really appreciate that instead of just side stepping everything Christian while calling themselves a Christian group (like too many groups that call themselves "Christian" groups), their lyrics seem more like Skillet's, where they have Christian lyrics and songs in a way that is accessible for non-Christian listeners. I'm very much looking forward to their future as I'm always looking out for Christian groups that don't compromise themselves just to fit in. Veridia's second EP, Pretty Lies, released September 25th.
Track #3: Taeyeon - I (ft. Verbal Jint)
It's too bad this song has a token rapper on it because it'd be really good if it didn't. Ignoring the unneeded rapper, this song is really not the direction I was expecting Taeyeon to take. I was expecting a full on ballad but this is something unique. It actually reminds me of a mellower version of something Swedish pop group Timoteij would do, but since I'm certain that there won't be many people who know who they are, I guess I would call it a mellow pop track with great vocals and just a hint of American country music influence. Just as a side note, it is very amusing to me that SM Entertainment is now releasing unique songs where a few years ago they were as generic as possible. Taeyeon's first mini album, I, released on October 7th.
To everyone in the States: Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! Enjoy the day off if you have it :)
Track #1: Clique Girlz - Never Gonna Fly
So this is something completely different than what I've put up before. The Clique Girlz were a three member preteen girl group that released only one album (and only in Japan) before disbanding. Some people may have heard of Destinee & Paris, a spinoff group from this featuring the sisters. I was obsessed with this group when I was younger and even today a lot of their songs have held up really well despite being very "teenybopper" Disney stuff. This song in particular is my absolute favorite of theirs. Imagine something Hannah Montana would have sung and that's really what you can expect from the song, but don't let that turn you off. Hannah Montana had some great songs lol.
Track #2: Dalmatian - Lost In Love
Dalmatian is currently DTMN (if they still exist because idk lol). They were known as Dalmatian before switching companies. Of all of their songs, I consider this their best track. It's also one of the best K-pop songs ever released by a male group. It's such a tragedy that it was doomed to be an album track on something that would go out of print. It's a sweet midtempo track with great vocals and catchy beats.
Track #3: David Cook - Bar-Ba-Sol
Much like the Clique Girlz song, this is a bit different than what I usually post here. Some might know David Cook as one of the winners of American Idol. I've said many times before that I don't care for rock music much so it might be surprising that this is a rock song. Or, well, the most rock song there is on a pop rock album by an American Idol alum.
We're in October already?! What happened to this year we can't be in October. I also believe my happiness from last week about new releases happening often again was too soon. This week was pretty slow. Also, sorry this week's descriptions aren't the best. It hasn't been a good week for me but when I get the time to do up better descriptions I'll be sure to do that!
Track #1: Predianna - Destroy
Predianna is the little sister group of Dianna Sweet. They've previously released some digital only singles but this is their first CD release. Their style is much like Dianna Sweet's style, but I think they're distinct enough to shine alongside of the main group. Predianna's first single, Destroy, releases October 28th.
Track #2: Ailee - Mind Your Own Business
I adore Ailee's voice. She's one of the few K-pop artists that I still check up on immediately when they release something. This song doesn't deviate from the brassy pop sound that she's done in the past, but it's still a catchy attitude laced track. Ailee's first album, Vivid, released on September 30th.
I apologize that this is a day late....I've been a little busy.
Track #1: Wonder Girls - Loved
I've been wanting to put up another song from Reboot, but I didn't want it to be one that I've seen people constantly fawning over. I think this is a good example of a fantastic song that's overshadowed by other fantastic songs on an album. Just like the other songs on Reboot, this is an 80s-styled track. It's more of a midtempo than an uptempo though, similar to I Feel You.
Track #2: Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku - Kindan no Karma
For those who may not have heard of them before, Shiritsu is a Stardust group, a sister group of Momoiro Clover Z and Team Syachihoko. This is the group of the three that I am least familiar with through no fault but my own. I haven't taken the time to look up their music and actually only own this because of CDJapan having it really cheap during a sale. I love that "dark" feel of the song. I'd like to see more Stardust groups do songs like this.
Track #3: Sanae Yokota - Fantasy Night
I just want to throw this out there: I beg of you. Anyone who might come across this. If you know of anywhere I can get a copy of her Summer Breeze CD PLEASE let me know! I've been trying to delve into 80s Jpop recently (thanks to the 80s stylings of the Wonder Girls' album) and I came across this song and I absolutely adore it. I'm so upset that I can't really find any good information on her/her album. I wonder if the other songs are as good as this. Oh, another thing to throw out there: if anyone knows any great 70s-80s J-pop that they want to share please do! I want to discover more!
Came across this gem the other day. I know it's not really "unknown", but it only has 7 million views and for a Western artist's video that's pretty low. I absolutely adore this track. It describes the introvert's life at parties perfectly lol. Not to mention her voice is stellar.
This song kept coming up on shuffle while listening to music and it just clicked that it would be the perfect song to feature here. I really have no idea what's going on with this group. They were gone for the longest time, then came back early last year and then fell off the map again. Generasia says they're promoting in China and are down two members but I haven't heard that anywhere else so I don't know if that's true or not. If you've been a K-pop fan for a few years, it's likely you may have heard of this video. It was viewed as a pretty terrible video and it got attention on forums for that, but not for the song itself. The song is one of the greatest K-pop songs released to date and it's disappointing that it didn't receive much attention beyond a silly video mentioned in a couple forums. The song is a super catchy EDM track. If you enjoyed the Swan.B song from a couple of weeks ago, this is in that vein.
If any song from Britney's latest album should have been a single, it's this one. It's always been a little sad to me that Britney Jean flopped like it did. In my opinion it's one of her better albums. The dance breaks in the choruses alone make this song one of my all time favorite Britney tracks.
Is it just me or have the last two weeks been bland for new releases? There's either been nothing or very average songs. I guess this is just the downtime in between periods of massive releases.
Track #1: 2Eyes - Pippi
I feel bad that their company might be facing a lawsuit over this song. Although it was kind of stupid on the company's part that they did make sure that there would be repercussions for using the Pippi name. If they had just done the look there likely wouldn't have been an issue, but I can understand why using the name might cause issues. The song itself is pretty catchy. I didn't like what they had come out with before, and while this doesn't compare to the other girl group songs of this year, it's leaps and bounds ahead of their other material. Pippi was released on August 15th.
SM Entertainment's newest girl group. They seem like a young f(x) with their new comeback, which is totally fine with me because f(x) is the best of the SM groups. This song is a bit scatter-brained but insanely catchy. I've had the "dumbdumbdumbdumb" beat stuck in my head all day. Their first full album, The Red, released September 9th.
