K-pop (2014)

Petition for f(x) to always perform in fatigues http://youtu.be/nir_6Biz4iA

While I'm on Inkigayo performances, Mamamoo were also a lot of fun this week http://youtu.be/u4ZuiTg38LY

Re T&O: "Taxi" really stood out to me because it was so blatant - I mean, LMW has one backup dancer with blue hair and another with orange hair dancing on opposite sides of the screen! It's actually quite an inventive use of teal and orange - less digital manipulation and more an active choice of colour scheme. plus, you know, Shinhwa orange.

btw, the makers of that video, Digital Pedicure, did most of my favourite MVs of the year: "Catallena", Wings' "Hair Short", B1A4's "What's Happening?", and Kim Yeon Woo's "Move".

And many of last year's too: "Dream Girl", "Babay", "Hate You", "Goodbye 20" (Plus History's hilarious debut teasers XD)

I remember being anti those debut teasers at the time... for the same reason I can't watch BTOB's 'Cool Guys' and feel nervous about the upcoming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qL9XisVv2s";>Block B</a> I think, XD.

Lee Michelle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD64ri3DL9E

:(

Upcoming block b: http://youtu.be/2qL9XisVv2s

those History teasers are poking fun at rather than endorsing the whole PUA/NiceGuy thing - they're pretty great imo.

Block B though, jesus.

I know, I hope the actual MV will be better :(

Like maybe they're really after the ice cream or something

Infinite 'Back' is good but somehow not Infinite-like

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

Maybe it's all the time L, Sunggong, Hoya and Dongwoo(!) spend singing on it that makes it not sound like Infinite

Song starts at 1:38

And speaking of Infinite... http://youtu.be/Ndlz2S47jAk

I dunno, that sounds pretty Infinite-like to me. Certainly looks Infinite, too.

I like how it drops into a dance break -before- the chorus.

Infinite = Sunggyu to me, I guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33SoblaZbU

No comments on the jam of the summer???

I like it more than Girls Day "Darling", which I have seen compared to a Christmas jingle in various places around the web. I dunno how I feel about the theme, tho, knowing that Hyorin and company have said in interviews that they don't like doing 'the sexy concept' (but maybe they had to say that (and on the third hand they sell it like they're having fun for real)).

But - maybe misplaced - scruples aside, over I think this song is rly rly fun, like if Loving U had some of the pop of Bubble Pop

Sistar mini is good too! http://youtu.be/kQPCAJdhnIE?list=PL5X8SgiTKfg_XVs9OB4DY-M2b-CIPFHqU

REALLY good, even - at this moment it's my favorite thing they've ever put out, and that's including last year's great Sistar19 mini and Hyolyn's solo CD too

like look at this awesome "But I Hate You" take on Loving U http://youtu.be/npge-CWwW2M

Delight LIVE!

http://youtu.be/qCfdLXW7FFw

Four member changes since Mega Yak, apparently :( But it's nice to see they're still around.

Teasers v. misleading, no HER appears in Block B at all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHRw7g7KuM

I really like this, it's as hyperactive as all their releases but it hangs together a lot better

Here's a live one with no gap in the middle (terrible sound but great performance):

http://youtu.be/KDXEqFzFlsk

the lovechild of Lipstick and Mamamoo: http://youtu.be/WK8zxO2vzaA

that sistar song is great despite being atmospherically dissociated from my entire idea of them

you think? they've always done uncomfortable-looking supposedly sexy stuff, and summer jams though

Not to mention, always been poaching stuff from 2NE1... in this case, their swimsuits from Falling in Love and the party scene w/ Haha from DYLM.

(Or less frivolously, there's OK GO which kinda sounds like Please Don't Go.)

yeah sistar videos will never not give me secondhand embarrassment. They're the reverse of most K-pop groups I love - I always end up liking their songs more when I *don't* watch their MVs.

xpost never noticed the 2ne1 poaching though! really?

they've always done uncomfortable-looking supposedly sexy stuff, and summer jams though

true, just revealing my own shallow engagement with them. the awkwardness is definitely always there yeah

I think it's a legacy opinion, cause when they first came out they were a 4-member group (like 2NE1) produced by Brave Brothers (who is associated with YG like 2NE1) with a strong-female image (like 2NE1). 4minute/HyunA are better known for stealing styling though - Sistar definitely have an image of their own.

Brad, you gotta listen to their mini! Without watching their unintentionally(?) tacky videos, like Roz said.

Are Sistar videos particularly tacky?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WZQ6ooOiWg

Her first music show performance in two years, and two years later this song is still one of my k-pop GOATs.

Sistar have this feeling of a group who are trying to be classy but completely missing the mark. And whoever is in charge of their choreography really REALLY likes look-at-my-butt dances:

http://youtu.be/DQ1hvB_L30o @ 0:25 and a warning of what's to come
http://youtu.be/Pj3q0ZChgFE @ 1:01
http://youtu.be/E0ZHXVp_wUE @ 1:15
http://youtu.be/JtVhwsACgTw @ 0:25 and the first time the choreo might have actually ruined the video

The sexy choreography in Ma Boy, Loving U and Give it to Me is less awkward but is still a bit awkward, imo.

The uploader has not made the BoA video available in my country :(

Two things:

Boys Republic - Dress Up http://youtu.be/40WRiOb80cg
They're a group put together by Universal Music. All of their releases to date have been solid, but/and also had lyrics that made BR (who lack 'star power' anyway) seem like enemies to all women. This one's no exception.

Jolly V - Yes! Yes! Yo! http://youtu.be/-kPaWhuo8EA
Really fun and summery and great :)

Re: Sistar - I mean I guess the butt thing is endemic to Kpop but they throw it into even otherwise 'classy' songs like Alone and Gone Not Around Any Longer, so of course they're gonna throw it into a song called Touch My Body.

The Sistar contradiction is that this is usually a tactic of lesser-known and less well-funded groups, not something an established group with "talent" does. My friend thinks it's because Hyolyn is darker-skinned, therefore automatically considered 'sexy' not 'classy'.

Also... I know I post here too much, but here's Boyfriend B-side described by the group in question as having a "weird mood": http://youtu.be/FMhghKcfE2Q

Also "Alarm" off the same mini: http://youtu.be/bXc5eBw7BiA

HyunA's latest branding exercise is pretty fun, y'all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTXCgR93zC8

Song and video are based around a Korean nursery that goes Monkeys butts are red/red is apple/apple is delicious/delicious is banana/banana is long, except with "apple" replaced with "HyunA" and the song only going up to "HyunA is..." leaving listeners to fill in the rest

Considering HyunA has always had two images - sex symbol on stage and five y/o in interviews - I think this is a pretty smart way to glue them together. There's also a bit of "There's a Place in France" in RED, marked in the video by a scene werein HyunA is dressed as Cleopatra so you won't miss it. That song (and the dress up) is <i>also</i> super childish and tacky, so of course it fits.

A friend is telling me that this is the same nursery rhyme Teddy quoted in The Leaders (fast are planes/planes fly/fly is Teddy), and also that this is ruining her childhood.

Unfortunately those dumb lyrics make the chorus hard for me to swallow. The song is in some ways similar to f(x) Red Light except the (sing-y parts of the) chorus provide harmony and relief.

I like the full version of her and LE's Blacklist on the mini. They go a bit sweary, in Korean and English http://youtu.be/B0Y_TVmVkgA

I like the lyrics, but it's a good thing HyunA is good at branding because she's sounding more like Fran Drescher every day

BTW new Kpop groups are reaching into the past and going all the way back to the origins of K-idol music (apparently a group Fire Engine - this is a remake of their hit song from the 80s): http://youtu.be/-UtpWl-3o9I

The new Yenny/HA:TFELT (pronounced like a mix between hot and heartfelt) mini is really refreshing. Can't even say I'm a huge fan of it but it feels so nice hearing a relatively diverse album from a major company. I'm assuming JYP waited to release this against Hyuna so I really, really hope that this encourages people to branch out in sound. Ditto for the mv. The album cover is laughably 90s, which I suppose is appropriate considering Iron Girl sounds like it could've been a release from a late 90s alt pop singer-songwriter. I think my favorite track is actually Nothing Lasts Forever, the ballad that closes the mini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K24ScQn6lF4 // sounds like something that could've been released on Pastel

And here's Yenny + 15& covering That XX (+ a single line from My Boo/Body Party):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzyo6j3qLhI

Yenny's EP is really good in that it sort of defies definition, she doesn't go down any obvious routes, sources of inspiration aren't obvious on first listen, I'm not sure how to label her as an artist. Hope this thing works out for her as she could be one of the more interesting singer songwriter types in kpop.

SM's new girl group reveals debut MV in face of lots of angry fans of other SM groups http://youtu.be/z4I2Ai-nNOw

I dig it. Some say it's f(x) lite but it's not quite that style of manic vocal delivery f(x) does on their singles. More importantly it lives outside of other current kpop girl group trends.

Well looks like Red Velvet won't be debuting in Japan anytime soon.

In other news, apparently SPICA is debuting in the US on August 8th and that's surely going to fail