K-pop (2014)

Up&Down is growing on me... but they're so nervous live.

Also, JYP are recruiting talent from reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/2eu1jf/jyp_entertainment_is_looking_for_new_songwriters/

If that was AKB's label or something I'd go for it. I have so many jpop idol songs in my head.

Do you produce, abcfsk?

holy crap http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/14100793.html

Seems like there are idols involved in fairly serious car crashes every other day but no one has died... until now. ;__;

And then there's this: http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/14097159.html

On a lighter note, S. Korea's goth queen of darkness (Puer Kim) is back looking (and sounding) a bit like Lana Del Rey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWkzUdndCiU

Check the video description for links to the other songs on the mini, they're solid

Managers are overworked and drive too fast and seatbelt culture in Korea sucks. Hopefully things can change for the better. RIP.

Do you produce, abcfsk?

― hurricane weather (forapper),

Not at all, fool around with melodies on the piano now and then though.

Apparently the back wheel came off, which makes it sound like a maintenance problem too. Really sad. Ladies Code had some moderate chart success before this so hopefully it'll help raise awareness, at least.

Ladies' Code I'm Fine, Thank You at No. 1 in tribute... it probably helps that the song is good.

Man, I was away on holiday for just a few days and came back to this news - so horrifying and sad. RIP, it seems she was well-loved among other idols. :( :( I hope the others will be ok too.

It's tragic from every direction ;_; I keep expecting to see some acknowledgement on the music shows (or something), but so far there's nothing. The show goes on.

Speaking of... A.KOR leaving a strong impression with their debut, like the BAP of female rookie groups:

But Go - http://youtu.be/fcrSwNKEuJA
Payday - http://youtu.be/0e7cSoPPA5I

I take it back, actually there was a memorial message on M!Countdown.

BAP of female rookie groups otm description

New Neon Bunny track! Now on a drama soundtrack - making moves! http://youtu.be/_HKPqm9pivA

Comparison also including my reservations about the group's music...

That Neon Bunny OST song is nice!

Fuck.... RiSe has now passed away as well.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/07/ladies-code-singer-rise-dies-after-car-accident-which-killed-bandmate-eunb-4859473/

It's terrible but I had a feeling that this was going to happen esp after the reports about the extent of her brain injuries. I kept hoping I was wrong though. :(

This whole thing has just been unspeakably sad - I haven't been able to bring myself to read the comments from fans on all the news articles. It feels like it's been a very sad year for K-pop in general.

:(

Sistar have been very sweet in paying tribute to Ladies Code during all their music show wins.

T-ARA!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_eo5j5sib8

Song is great. Here's the lyrics.

Even Jiyeon's not-very-good spoken rap over the (awesome) instrumental bridge 3min in is growing on me.

This version is a bit better actually.

whoops... http://www.soompi.com/2014/09/11/t-aras-latest-single-sugar-free-accused-of-plagiarism/

My first reaction on hearing it was that it was an attempt to incorporate the "Animals"/"Tsunami" sound! It doesn't sound that specifically alike to me though.

In the wake of Hoody's latest I've reassessed KittiB's "Wake Me Up" and concluded it's surely one of the year's very finest http://youtu.be/w2MvLbt4F-s

That KittiB is pretty effective...

New Girls Generation-TTS is very classic RnB and I like it http://youtu.be/Ouf9kGfpb0Y
New 2PM is a'ight but feels five minutes long and doesn't do anything interesting with the bridge: http://youtu.be/uwD51VS0Uko

More like an attempt to shoehorn that sound into the song, since it seems like they already had a dance Kpop track and just replaced certain sections with the Bigroom sound, lol. Now I wonder if someone from T-ara's camp wrote that plagiarism article to generate controversy and press for the album...

tearjerker Ladies Code song got a video http://youtu.be/C7JYOzTl-ec

also there's a crazier version of that 2PM song http://youtu.be/_Jgln2RmY-k

or bet yet, there's the live version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzGbgzQ_ZuM

Truth In Song Titling x10

though the backstory behind this is apparently that they've been spending mornings doing variety in Japan (where this song just hit #1 on Oricon), afternoons doing chart shows in Korea, and evenings with interviews and appearances sometimes running straight through the night until 8am the next day

which is the really crazy thing ofc

BTS - Danger Taekwondo ver.

Also here's T-ara in English. American takeover coming shortly?

It's track 1 on their 14-track remix album and it's not half bad.

(track 8 is the original, the best, in English)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIWMwP__Hpc

actually i don't know why i posted that, carry on

Kidoh (Topp Dogg)'s solo album is out, is a surprisingly solid indie and about 100% less manic any of Topp Dogg's songs:

She Was Too Nervous
Still Alive

While I'm here, here's one of those manic Topp Dogg tracks:
Peekaboo!

Topp Dogg are signed to Block B's former label/Cho PD's label Brand New Stardom but have been acting more like an underground group. Yano had a mixtape out earlier this year that was also not bad.

^surprisingly solid indie release

Awesome rapper lady puts out awesome mix tape http://rokhiphop.com/ab-7118-544 after (really) awesome first single earlier this year http://ahnlee.tumblr.com/post/72772718743/choi-sams-debut-single-answer-buy-it-on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B82LkWZheU

Well SM managed to fuck up SNSD as well. Pure incompetence from their side it seems. Can't negotiate to keep group's alive for shit.

i haven't been keeping up with the news lately so I'm actually surprised by this - for all their fuckery, you'd think SM would take better care of their biggest asset. what a mess.

SM doesn't negotiate, their style is totally "do as you're told or we'll ruin you".

Apparently there's a Jessica & Kystal album sitting around already done, too. They filmed an MV for it and everything, but since Jessica is out of GG and publicly unhappy about it everything's been shelved.

I mean it makes sense that they'd want to promote GG more than once a year but booting Jessica out right after she re-signed a three year contract is some kind of serious fuckery.

Anyway I came here to post IU x Seo Taiji, and comment on abcfsk's awesome rapper lady (she's awesome).

She is!

And IU Seo song is really nice, will be interesting to see if ST manages to deliver a full-length album that makes sense in 2013. IU's found every possible way to all-kill the Korean charts in the past 12 months. Big major single, low key acoustic release, helping out a rookie boyband, covering old songs, working with k-pop's founding father.. and she is the best-selling digital artist of the last 5 years http://www.allkpop.com/forums/discussion/197756/top-10-selling-digital-artists-gaon-history

2014*

Annnnnd there's an MV: http://youtu.be/GHu39FEFIks

Also, have some YOLO: http://youtu.be/hIifkvZGXng