A truckload of new(ish) singles

I thought of the title before I actually got down to writing the post, and now that it's done I don't think this is that big a truckload. Oh well.

So I guess this means I'm back in full swing, right? Hmm. I'm trying to get myself out of kpop land, so this post has a mix of English and Korean singles. International, much? I'm trying, OK?! You know the drill, click "Read On".


Do I look like a Maroon 5 fan? I don't know, even if they don't really fit majority of the music I like (I think?), they pretty much defined my early pop experience or whatever you call it. I was on a concert tour for the very first time when Songs About Jane became a hit in the Philippines, and then I was a freshman when It Won't Be Soon Before Long came out, so the albums and the singles carry sentimental value. It's like every time I hear a Maroon 5 song, regardless if it was a single or not, I feel sentimental. So now we get Misery - I'm in love with this damn song. I love the irony of it - the song's called Misery but the chords are so cheery and it's got a certain groove only Maroon 5 can pull off. Ugh, here I go again sounding like a press release - it's all that news writing. Anyway. I love everything about the song, and Adam's voice is somehow soothing - it's all the memories it carries.

OK, so JYP has a new girl group out under one of his gazillion sub-labels (that don't really earn him that much money when you put them together, compared to the other 2 major agencies) and they're called Miss A. They've got two token foreigners, Chinese girls now, and two Koreans - yeah, 4-piece. One of them has pink hair, random. When I first saw the video for Bad Girl, Good Girl I didn't like them. At all. But if you read my music show recaps, I said last Friday that they're not half bad when you watch them live. The song is bearable now, and surprisingly they all have actual voices plus the fact that they dance like any other JYP group - tight choreography and slick performances. They make SISTAR look lazy. I mean, what does SISTAR have - two backup dancers, a pseudo-rapper and one girl who sings everything. Lazy. Their material is well-produced but too gimmick-y and still a bit boring for me.

I'm afraid Paul might clobber me if I don't say anything about the new Same Difference single, so I better do it now before he thinks of it. I like it - it reminds me of the S Club era and I get all tingly just thinking about it. After all, that was kinda where I made my mark. Before kpop. The chorus is all inspirational and the gimmick about the photo frame makes me cringe a bit, but all is well. I do like the irony (again with the irony) of the verses and the chorus - the verses are all serious and sound like something straight out of some German/Swedish popstar's gazillionth album but then you get the chorus and you go "right, this fits in an SD album."

I've never been a Taeyang fan, but for the sake of it I tried listening to SOLAR when it came out last Thursday. I did like one song - Superstar. It's your standard "I have arrived so back off" song, and I like it. I'll have to admit, I Need A Girl sounds better recorded than performed live - I realize that now. I actually kinda like the recording, everything's snappy and the good production shows. One common trait I noticed on the rest of the album was that all the songs go on and on and on and on - they don't go anywhere and once you've heard the first verse and the first part of the chorus you've heard it all. There are songs like that that don't drag, but it's like the tracks don't have anything that keeps me interested. Oh well.

Let's go back a few weeks, because I never bothered writing about The Saturdays' Missing You. I don't know, the autotune bothers me a bit. But then again, everyone's doing it, and besides, they haven't had that many autotuned songs since they started so what the heck. Missing You is trying to be big and epic and all that, but I think in trying too hard they lost the effortlessness of an epic song. I mean, everything up 'till the end of the first chorus is OK - nice and fresh and stuff - but after that it just gets boring and the only thing keeping my attention is Vanessa's solo. I appreciate the dance routine at the chorus, but after watching idol groups in Korea, they're no match. Music-wise most of the Koreans are no match though, so it's even.