G-Dragon - Heartbreaker

Finally, a review of a recent K-pop song! Let's take a moment to celebrate. *jumps around*

OK, on to business.I will sum up this review before I give my in-depth review - I don't like this song.

Putting aside all prejudice including the fact that it's being speculated to be a direct copy of some American rapper's single, there are a few things that make this song not good in my books. G-Dragon may have written some of my favorite Big Bang songs and the simple fact that he writes songs for the effin' band may have made me deeply respect the guy's creativity but this song has all the wrong elements.

The whole song, backbeat in particular, sounds too much like something Britney or some washed-up popstar turned drug addict would never get enough of. If this was done the right way by someone who knows what he's doing I wouldn't have a problem with the song - it's just that this sounds like a really desperate attempt to imitate American pop.

The verses are repetitive to the point of bang-in-your-head until you start bleeding which can be a good thing if you're Super Junior and you know the difference between a good melody and one or two notes badly repeated over the course of three minutes put on top of an overused loop.

The songs I want from Korea aren't the American copycats because I'd rather listen to the real stuff, I want the songs that I can identify as Korean the minute I hear the music even without lyrics.

The one good thing about this song is that throughout most of the song he's singing. One good point - I commend the guy. hahah.

It all boils down to the fact that if you don't know what the crap you're doing - it will sound cheap, generic and people will find nothing special in it. At least I won't and I'm a moderately tough critic to please - I know if a song was made by someone musical or an amateur.

I'm not saying G-Dragon's an amateur musician because in his defense, my favorite Big Bang songs have mostly been written by the guy - he has talent. I think the case here is that he isn't in his element but seeing the progress he's made with Big Bang, I'd give him a few more months of doing this and he'd have aced the art of repetitive but not annoying songs.

I've heard the so-called 'K-pop sound' and I know what songs from Korea generally sound like - this does not fit into the category. Yes, it may be in Korean but that's not my only basis because I judge on a purely musical level.

However, I do sort of like the song at the end of the video - haven't heard it in full yet but that's what I'm looking for from the guy.

2/5 - He can do better, I know he can and he SHOULD.