Since her first album was released on Friday, I could use all three slots on this week's post for songs from her stellar album. I won't though lol. Mad Hatter is one of the more instant songs on the album. I hope people will enjoy it and check out the rest of her work!
Track #2: Girl's Generation - You Think
Up until this release, all of the songs that SNSD released post-Jessica were pretty terrible. Lion Heart is ok at best, but this song really is great. I came across the demo version by Saara & fell in love with the song. It's got such an attitude to it. It does sound a little dated for a K-pop song, but that doesn't stop the song from being a fun, attitude filled pop track. SNSD's new album, Lion Heart, releases on the 19th.
Track #3: Morning Musume- Oh My Wish
I can't remember if I posted this video before this section turned into New Music Thursdays or not, but it doesn't matter. The song is fantastic! Oh My Wish is a song in MM's EDM style. Super catchy....and Kanon & Haruka are the centers! Their new single comes out August 19th.
I really have no idea who this group is, or if they even still exist. All I know is they were a K-pop girl group and it's likely they are not a group anymore. You can tell that they weren't high budget in the slightest with their single cover. I found the group when I was mindlessly scrolling through the artists categorized as "K-pop" on iTunes (back when you could search like that) and I came across them. I was blown away by this song when I played the preview and immediately bought it. It remains one of my favorite songs of all time today. Not just in K-pop, but across all genres. The song sounds a lot like early 2000s eurodance/eurotrance. If I could choose only one K-pop song to play for a non-fan, this would be it.
Track #2: Taryn Manning - Spotlight
I believe that Taryn is more of an actress recently than a musician. You might know her from Orange Is The New Black or the other things Wikipedia says she's in. I don't watch TV or movies often so none of the things Wiki says she's in are familiar to me. But anyway, back to the music. Taryn was in a group called Boomkat with her brother in the early 2000s and in 2009 decided to go solo and released this song. It's a catchy dance pop tune.
I realize that this track isn't really unknown, but as they recently disbanded, I feel like I really need to post something on their songs. They never did reach any sort of popularity, but I remember when they debuted very well. Everyone seemed to be so excited to get a girl group like Block B. The hype was still there when they released this, their first single. I also remember that people were disappointed in the choice of lead track because the group was portrayed as a hip hop group, yet released a very poppy song in contrast to the other songs on their mini album.
Have I done a post on a K-pop album yet? I don't remember. Well, if I haven't, I think KARA's a good place to start as they're one of the few K-pop groups I still care about listening to.
Revolution is KARA's second album, and their first to features new members Jiyoung and Hara.
Track #1, Mister: When I think of KARA, this is one of the first songs that pop into my mind. I would even go so far as to call it their signature song. It's an extremely catchy pop track reminiscent of early Britney or Spice Girls that had been updated for the music style of 2009. One of the best K-pop songs ever, in my opinion. 5/5.
Track #2, Wanna: This song brings back so many memories for me. It was among the first K-pop songs I discovered. Because of what it means to me, it's probably my favorite KARA track. There's not a whole lot of stylistic difference between this and Mister at all. Both are extremely catchy pop tunes and good examples of 2009 K-pop. 5/5.
Track #3, Magic: It's disappointing that this song comes after two fantastic ones. It's not a bad song, it just can't hold up against the first two tracks. It's a ballad, but unlike most ballads, there's something really soft and sweet about it's sound that makes it good to listen to. The strings are very pretty. 3.5/5.
Track #4, Secretly Secretly: Ah. The quintessential late 2000s K-pop album track. The one that sounds like every other one. This is it. I find this song very lifeless and bland. It's like a slower Into The New World, except not good. 3/5.
Track #5, Let It Go: I think this song is a good indication of where KARA was going to go with their future songs. It sounds a lot like what you'd expect a mix of Lupin and Mister to be, skirting the line between a "cute" pop song and a "dark" pop song. After Mister & Wanna, this is the best song on the album. It could've made a wonderful promo track. 5/5.
Track #6, Take A Bow: I can't really pin down my opinion of this song. It's not bad and it's a good catchy song to listen to, but I always forget about it's existence. I also can't think of any song with this title besides the Rihanna song. That might be what's blocking it in my head lol. The song is in the vein of Wanna and sounds like something off of SNSD's first album. 4/5.
Track #7, Aha: This song has a lot of the same issues that plague Take A Bow. It's catchy, danceable, has that typical late 2000s K-pop sound, yet it's so unmemorable. I think by the end of the album, you just start getting sick of the sugary sweet pop tunes since the album is full of them. Or at least I do. I like pure pop a lot, but it's one of the few pop styles that I have a limit on listening to before wanting something a lot more powerful. It just gets too sweet. 4/5.
Track #8, Same Heart: Again with the sugary sweet pop songs. I now remember why I don't listen to most K-pop album tracks often. These type of tracks really are a dime a dozen in this era of K-pop (much like the sexy songs today). 3.5/5.
Tracks #9 & #10, Instrumental versions of Wanna & Mister: Just instrumentals. Nothing to see here.
For being a K-pop album from a girl group in 2009, the album holds up surprisingly well. Sure, it's filled to the brim with sugary sweet pop tracks, but I can also easily imagine Mister or Let It Go being released today. 4/5.
Kobushi Factory is one of the newer Hello! Project groups. They are comprised of Rio Fujii, Ayaka Hirose, Minami Nomura, Rena Ogawa, Ayano Hamaura, Sakurako Wada, Natsumi Taguchi, and Rei Inoue; all from Hello Pro Kenshuusei. I'm still not certain that I'm sold on Kobushi's music style as I haven't really cared too much for pop rock stuff in a couple years, but I do really like this one. It's incredibly catchy and different than what the rest of H!P has to offer. This is the final A-side of their first single, Dosukoi! Kenkyo ni Daitai/Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta/Nen ni wa Nen, which will be released on September 2nd.
Track #2: One Black Night - Wonder Girls
I suppose it's a little unfair to put another song from their album this week when I featured their lead track last week, but this song is so incredible that it deserves the spot. It's less 80s than their lead track and reminds me a lot of Blank Space & Bad Blood from Taylor Swift's 1989. Their new album, Reboot, released August 3rd.
Track #3: Colette Carr - Three Percent
I adore Colette Carr. I'm not sure how many people have really heard of her, but this song is from her new EP that released July 17th. This song (and the EP as a whole) is a major departure from her first album which was a hip-pop/rap pop kind of thing. It had electro elements, but it seems that she's going for a straightforward electropop/synthpop style this time around. Which is perfectly fine for me.
It is very very rare anymore for me to find a new super unknown kpop group that I like a song for. While K-pop in general has been truly much better this year than the past two, the new unknown groups still aren't standing out like they used to. Which is why I was very surprised when I heard this song in a music countdown from a YouTuber I subscribe to. Unforuntely, I don't really know anything about the group. I honestly don't even know if I have the track name 100% right. Their name makes it nearly impossible to find anything in English, and I don't understand Korean well enough to go digging through Korean webpages. If anyone does know anything about them, please comment! The song is a K-pop EDM track that strongly resembles the style that T-ara had been doing with Sugar Free.
Track #2: S/mileage - Smile Bijin
This song was the B-side to S/mileage's second major label single, Ganbaranakutemo Eenende. I chose to put this song up because of it's striking difference in style compared to their other songs from their early career. Instead of being over the top cutesy with high pitched vocals, it sounds a lot like something early C-ute would have done. It's certainly not a song to look over in their discography.
Track #3: Gangkiz - Tonight
Gangkiz was a K-pop group that debuted in 2012 under the same company as T-ara. Unforuntely, they did not last past their first release and disbanded. I'm uncertain how much attention they actually received when they released their only mini album, but I remember when I came across this song in particular. I hadn't cared for their title track and was floored by this track after I had practically written off the group. It's unfortunate that they never were able to release anything else. The song is a electro-tinged midtempo track.
Welcome everyone to the newly rebranded Song Recommendations post! I decided that like Music Discovery Mondays, I wanted to highlight new releases across genres on a weekly basis as well. The songs featured in New Music Thursdays could be up to one month old (as I can be slow in listening to newer stuff xD), but no older than that to try and keep it fresh. Much like the MDMs, these posts will also feature only three new songs. However, I might make exceptions some weeks depending on how many great new songs are released around the time period. I chose Thursdays for these posts as it's a good distance from the MDMs to allow time for those of us that are lazy (like myself xD) to get through those songs first. So enjoy this week's selection of new songs!
Track #1: Morning Musume - Sukatto My Heart
Sukatto My Heart is the second A-side from Morning Musume's upcoming single. Instead of being an EDM track like the majority of MM's singles, this song is a funky throwback track. The song is very reminiscent of The Matenrou Show. Morning Musume's new single comes out August 19.
Track #2: Wonder Girls - I Feel You
You can't imagine how surprised I was when I heard that the Wonder Girls were making a comeback. I was convinced they were gone for good. Once I heard they were coming back as a band, I was even more surprised, and not very hopeful for what they were going to come up with. I was expecting something more pop/rock when I heard "band", but what we got was different--and so much better. I adore 80s synthpop and this comeback is perfect in every way. Their new album, Reboot, released on August 3.
Track #3: Hello Venus - I'm Ill
After Hello Venus split from Pledis, I wasn't certain how things were going to work out for them. After hearing their first couple of tracks released after the split, I figured I wouldn't care for their music going forward. I was proven wrong with this release. It's not as powerful as 4Minute's Crazy, but it is probably the best song to compare this to in K-pop this year. Their new mini album came out July 22.
On time this week! Barely lol. I recently got Dragon Age: Inquisition and was playing that all day. While wandering around in the game, the fact I hadn't done this yet popped into my head....but I made it before Monday's end! Today's post is going to be more focused on "lesser known" (i.e. album songs/B-sides) songs from more popular groups. A little change of pace from the last two.
Track #1: 4Minute - Say My Name
4Minute of course isn't an unknown group by any means, but as this song was only an album track it fits here nicely. This song was released on 4Minute's Volume Up mini album in 2012 and remains one of their best songs. The song is a lot like their earlier Huh days but has the more mature feel that Volume Up has.
Track #2: Morning Musume - Watashi wa Watashi Nanda
This song is an album track from their 12th album, released last year. I wanted to put this one on one of these MDMs because I personally think it's their best EDM style song. I heard so much fawning over Kirari to Hikaru Hoshi and, while good, it can't hold a candle to this song. Should have been a single.
Track #3: Team Syachihoko - Otome Juken Sensou
Team Syachihoko comes from the same company as Momoiro Clover Z, and you can really tell that with this song. Found on their first album, Himatsubushi, released in 2014, the song really reminds me of MCZ's Mugen no Ai. The above video is a live performance. There was no video of the studio version on YouTube.
