K-pop (2014)

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

I remember joking with friends that it was hard to tell the various members of SNSD apart, way back in 2010... but then after getting into Kpop and following the headlines (not even specially about SNSD) for a while it seemed silly to have thought that since they clearly are different. And then Miss Korea lookalike thing turned out to be at least partially make up.

But gotdamn Red Velvet rly do look like almost exactly the same person - especially with the way they are being styled and presented (color-coded by dip-dye???)

They are older, though (mid-20s!), which I appreciate. But then their song kinda sounds and looks like a Coca-Cola commercial. Also it's hard not to be bitter about the fact that they might be a substitution for f(x), whose post-Sulli future is looking kinda uncertain.

Speaking of the future, BANGTAN look to be continuing their possessive-aggressive-stalker theme from Skool Love Affair: http://youtu.be/_3OLpHsAR54

I hear all their trailers are HQ but this was unexpectedly long and intense for a teaser???

Also, I thought Airplane were a fine if kinda generic pop-rock band, but their latest single has some interesting production choices on top of the pop-rock-rap: http://youtu.be/-Si_g0PeCgc

Have also just learned that Bangtan have a song about being unemployed - classic hip hop theme brought into the idol world were it seems weirder than it really is.

Wait there's one more thing - was going through some things I missed and FIESTAR's single is quite good!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9sEjiBew18

How Many of These Korean Pop Songs Released Between January and June of This Year Do You Recognize? http://youtu.be/FvxY8Y5bN60

http://pitchfork.com/features/starter/9475-20-essential-k-pop-songs/

What're the odds that whoever wrote that is reading this thread? Because they seem high to me.

That list is a lot more idiosyncratic than Elite Gymnastics'

Wait... soyrev did you write this???

lol I do believe that it was indeed soyrev.

speaking of K-pop in the states, SPICA's US debut is erm... not great :/

http://youtu.be/j6Mns7IbRFE

Yeah looking back, the rec for SHINee - One Minute Back kind of gives it away lol. I'm not sure he chose tge most logical songs for an uninitiated audience and there's a little too much repetition of artists going on, but the descriptions are well done.

SPICA... why.

Gotta push for f(x) so they won't be canned post-Sulli though.

The Spica song is good, I really don't think the label is pushing for a US breakthrough, just using this as an alternative way of getting publicity with Korean and international k-pop crowd.

it's giving me Wonder Girls and "Nobody" vibes tbh. Not terrible, just boringly predictable and safe.

someone needs to explain to me wth hell is going on with f(x) and Sulli - even after reading all the posts on omona, I still don't get how it all went pear-shaped so fast. #savefx

No one knows #SMentertainment

Krystal saying this on her reality show with her sister doesn't bode too well though

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuTn5MCCYAEoloo.jpg:large

:(

SNSD only group with skin thick enough to not be split up by SM's ways.

SNSD are rumoured to get gentler treatment because Sunny is Lee Soo Man's niece

f(x) are rumoured to have been on the rocks for a while, especially Sulli who is rumoured to be temperamental. She's a former child actress so she's doing this for a really long time.

If you want to see something really weird and heartbreaking, look up f(x)'s episode of "A Song For You" - only Amber, Victoria and Luna are in it because (the story goes) Krystal was filming and Sulli was resting at home due to illness. But actually Sulli was on site during the recording - in behind the scenes photos she's sitting with the rest of the group staring vacantly into space like a severely depressed person. The other three carried on the filming like everything was normal and Sulli was edited out afterward.

Which seems kind of telling

Listening to all the songs on this Pitchfork listing is reminding me of this one that would fit right in:

https://soundcloud.com/bleachndlp/ill-talk-plainly