K-pop (2014)

Odd 2NE1 choice I have to say.

yeah

:D

I saw you quoting me on reddit, lol yr welcome.

@hurricane weather, yes! never knew about that song before you, and the way you talked about it/them was the perfect bait for me. this would be much awkwarder if it had made the list, huh?

*best* 2NE1 choice, you mean!!! i haven't read what p4k posted so i don't know if they left this in the piece or what, but hopefully it still says something about the climactic whole step modulation in that song (which, considering the song repeats nothing from the prior key in the new one, is perhaps a unique instance of such in a pop song). 2NE1 are known for their bangers, but i will stand by "missing you" being their best (-written and -performed) song 'til they top it.

Are you afraid to read it, soyrev?

I'm not a music major but I tried to outline the structure of What's Going On once, it was something crazy like:

Intro Vocal
Rap Bridge A
Intro Verse w key change to minor
Minor Chorus/Rap Bridge B
Major Chorus 1
Major Chorus 1
Rap Bridge A
Rap Verse
Vocal Bridge A (Middle 8) w key change to minor
Minor Chorus/Rap Bridge B
Chorus 1
Vocal Bridge B (Vocal+Rap+Vocal) w key change one major step up
Chorus 2
Chorus 2
Climax Verse
Rap Bridge A

Or something like that...

Have you heard any other B1A4? I like them because they have the Kpop willingness to use 4-5 different melodies in one song, as if to say there will always be more where those came from, but even more so than most groups. Lonely is the kind of euphoric-depressive thing PF might like, and they have some great album tracks too.

Wrote an exploratory post regarding "Disco Boybands" on my lj; included this tentative list of tracks for an Infinite playlist (not that all of these tracks are disco-y):

The Chaser
Season 2
Lost Romeo
To-Ra-Wa
Victorious Way (Infinite H)
Without U (Infinite H)
Going To You (너에게 간다)
Rosinante (로시난테)
Paradise
In The Summer
Infinitize
Cover Girl
Inconvenient Truth
Breathe (숨 좀 쉬자)
Over The Top
Be Mine
Back
Shower (소나기)
Be Mine (Remix)

Interesting. Sweetune/Infinite are ground zero for this in K-pop I guess, but to me their sound comes from the same strain of disco/dance pop that would eventually lead you back to the Bee Gees via the Pet Shop Boys, rather than the black vocal group lineage you're thinking of.

SHINee, who have always drawn heavily from Michael Jackson, went more overtly disco/funk on their album tracks last year:

Runaway http://youtu.be/10xPF0y4nD8
Like a Fire http://youtu.be/wi7FmfC3ja8
Plus their disco-on-steroids live performances of Dream Girl: http://youtu.be/jw4pUpGNgag?t=2m29s

Meanwhile, Big Bang's presumptive heirs WINNER finally debuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEqlF5N8UMs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQIfXg7UukI

Slightly underwhelming tbh - it seems they've elected to skip the usual manic, flashy boyband debut and went straight to the "grown up", second album man-pain.

Both songs are a pretty good showcase of the group's strengths though: distinctive vocalists, harmonies for days, pop rock melodies, a typically YG-esque penchant for drama. They're going to be massive obviously.

Now that Inifinite have gone full Hollywood and stopped working with Sweetune, I'm pulling for Boyfriend a little harder these days. But anyway I think that's a good list, Frank... personally I also really like Nothing's Over (for the video abt helping a friend with depression as much as anything) and their album track Hysterie. Also I'm surprised you didn't include their most gonzo live track Before the Dawn.

Thanks Rox and forapper!

Actually, I never dl'd BTD for myself, so I don't know it that well. The video's a stunner, of course.* Listening to some of the live BTD's I hear how echoing in the live space with the audience excitement coming back at it gives it an extra kick. (Actually, the melody to BTD does sound a bit freestyle, a genre whose only well-known boyband was TKA, as far as I know {and I don't remember if they fit the too-narrow defn. of boyband I was using in my post.)

*Did we ever talk much about video director Hwang Soo Ah on these threads? Mat taught me about her. She directed Brown Eyed Girl's "Abracadabra," Ga-in's "Irreversible," IU's "The Story Only I Didn't Know," Sunny Hill's "Darling Of All Hearts," as well as Infinite's "Be Mine" and "Before The Dawn." That's just a sampling.

I think we talked about her in the Bigbang thread a little bit.

I loved SHINee's various Misconception LP's last year. A special favorite was "Music Box," though its being an ambitious ballad, I don't know what line of descent to put it in (other than "Ambitious Ballad").

(Sorry for mistyping your name, Roz.)

Just listened to WINNER and wow @ Empty, Team A fans who complained about YG playing favorites must be SO mad (Team B's B.I. wrote the song). For that matter, Team B fans can't be too happy at YG taking a very Team-B-ish songs and giving it to the rival group either.

"Color Ring" is a lot more WINNER-like and showcases their strengths as vocalists better, I hope it stomps all over Empty on the charts.

*at YG taking a very Team-B-ish song away from Team B and giving it to the "rival" group to promote as their single, that is.

Just on principle that is, neither song is my thing. "Color Ring" kind of reminds me of Eric Nam's Heaven's Door from last year.

Actually... Empty is the one that sounds like Heaven's Door. They kind of blurred together in my mind due to the similar MVs.

To bring the conversation back to SHINee... I'm kind of looking forward to Taemin's solo debut o_0

They have him going for max visual impact like (say) HyunA or Hyomin, but Taemin also has technical chops as a singer

Empty is kind of a stronger song than Color Ring tho *grudging*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt_caHc08GM

the three members of orange caramel can be IDed by their hairstyles and the fact that they are NOT wearing the same orange shirts as everyone else

re Winner: only managed to listen to the album once through but not really feeling it, or either of the title tracks tbh. Kind of a savvy move starting out with the slow jams though - Korea already loves ballads but it feels like they've been especially popular this year post-Sewol.

Main point of interest for me with this group is that they have three active songwriters who lean towards different styles (Mino: hiphop, Taehyun: ballads/EDM/pop, Seungyoon: sad rock/acoustic) but it seems like their individual quirks got watered down on the album as they tried to accommodate each other as well as produce songs with broad appeal.

am also looking forward to Taemin and Orange Caramel!

Yeah, Empty is okay (I can I admit it) but WINNER aren't winning with this.

(Except on the digital singles charts where I believe they are #1 and #2 at the moment.)

Shinsadong Tiger wrote Fiestar's One More! Which is a apparently, and I only know this because Loen put it in the video description box, about wanting a threesome. The song is awesome but Fiestar look sluggish and faint with hunger in their live performances, it makes me sad.

i really dig "Empty." you can definitely hear the Team B in it, but Taehyun and Jinwoo's melodies take it somewhere else. i'll agree with y'all it's not the album i wanted from Winner, but it's nice and a very solid album 1 foundation for their discography.

yeah, their potential is 100% in their three in-band songwriters/producers, plus LSH is a good lyricist/prodigy choreographer, and even Jinwoo is said to have creatively contributed to the new album. i understand that YG wanted to keep them under close watch for their crucial debut, but hopefully as they grow and hone their (already ace) instincts, they'll be able to take greater control of their albums. i generally appreciate k-pop's authenticity-agonistic worldview, but i think it'd be really cool to have a group that really does virtually everything themselves (which would be unique for idol pop around the globe, too).

Highlights from KCON 2014:

B1A4 - What's Going On + Solo Day
CN BLUE - Can't Stop
GDragon - Crooked
Girls Generation - MR MR + Mr. Taxi + Gee
Teen Top - Miss Right

There *must* be another idol group who handle their own songwriting and so on... aren't SPEED pretty much a self-managed group these days, from songwriting to stage image to choreo? And there's also AA (Double A) who you know are going it alone because everyone else in their company is an actor, and Block B.

WINNER having so much of a hang in their product is interesting because the "image" they've decided on (or their label decided on) is this male-model thing and models are the last people you think about when you think about agency.

Cute song from Shorry of Mighty Mouth (ft. K Will) http://youtu.be/lp1Yh2Qtr7c

Great performance of my other favorite B1A4 album track http://youtu.be/GtAr_F56g2Q

i think the thing that marks Winner out from the rest is that their music seems to be genuinely collaborative - whereas e.g. with BigBang, even when TOP or someone else is credited for lyrics, you know that the one calling the shots is ultimately G-Dragon. Same with Block B/Zico and SPEED/Taewoon.

Otherwise yeah, I dunno much about AA but SPEED does their own choreo and Block B have a lot of control over their image and presentation (otoh they're a group who haven't done well with rigid concepts, so it's much better for them to just be their goofy and nutty selves all the time lol).

AA's music is 100% Aora & choreo is 100% Woosang and they have - had? - a shared <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JmhB65O2I";>Pride parade</a> aesthetic. I dunno if they're still an active group though, they've been MIA since June last year. But that's the thing, there must be other self-made idols groups out there, especially in Japan where there's more of an indie-idol culture.

I think Big Bang are pretty collaborative, but GD ultimate gets the credit for their group efforts. But hard to prove that, lol.

HTML.... >__> Pride parade video is http://youtu.be/J4JmhB65O2I

Taemin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8m2JIDjKU#t=70

Closer to TVXQ than SHINee. He sounds like Yoo Youngjin here, on the pre-release track he sounded like SHINee's Jonghyun, I wonder what he himself actually sounds like.

Though speaking of WINNER's model image, http://koreabizwire.com/yg-entertainment-stock-hits-15-daily-limit-on-news-of-louis-vuitton-investment/16620

Orange Caramel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqSF_9Zf0n4

A++ MV. Where's Waldo?, spot-the-difference, and mesmerizing choreography = maximum replay value

I kinda like the repeating sax bit but there's too much manic production on this, it's like too heavy or something

Duble Sidekick coming for all the Sweetune groups: here's their new single for Kara, http://youtu.be/6tK0XUQQ3wA

I can't take "Mama Mia" seriously as a hook but this is pretty good!

Busker Busker's Jang Beom June returns: http://youtu.be/hKFtA1g1CAU really unique vocals, this guy

Both OC and Kara SOUND good but I'm not sure if the songs back the production up. Fun stuff from OC as usual though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sos6Dr3SU24

nice!

BTS are describing their new single as "Boy in Love, grown up" and it's true in the worst possible way: http://youtu.be/43r6lXilbcQ

like YIKES

Yo! It's Brave Double Tiger...
The title of this song is STRESS

Whoops, wrong link. The right one is here http://youtu.be/MHc7goRozlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmWf1pFjodY

Sunny Hill being the girlgroup for adults they always were

Their mini is also out and it's pretty unadventurous, basic acoustic guitar stuff + more of the retro stuff other girlgroups are doing. I dunno if they're ever gonna go back to the experimental style they had for Midnight Circus/The Grasshopper Song/Is the White Horse Coming.

I like the single though... Office Ladies of the world unite!

Also new this week:

Stellar - Mask http://youtu.be/UGOO2FO9Ipo good in a low-key way, video still has some questionable scenes like Marionette did but overall I'm feeling sorry for going off on centurionprix about that

Lip Service - Too Fancy http://youtu.be/0K_891MD-kU between the chorus lifted from Macklemore, sax solo lifted from Ariana Grande and title, you get the impression they weren't 100% prepared for the success of Yum Yum Yum

Finally made my way to the GP Basic track forapper linked upthread, which I think may be getting a second push. Strong, punchy track that's still got a lilt and a spark. I actually like the track it's paired with even more, "Black Bounce" - a throat grabber with real beauty amidst the grabbing. Youngest member, Janey, was a guest with D-Unit on the latter's excellent work last year. Four years ago, when she was 13, she was actually barred from performing onstage with GP Basic, the govt deciding that for her to perform on TV amounted to her being exploited. For all the emphasis on the group members' youthfulness, there's nothing in their sound that comes across as kids' stuff, except their voices formerly sounding like young people's.