[August 14, 2010] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

Today's MuCore was outside, but that came at a price - crap sound. Ugh. So annoyed. And quite a few acts who've more or less ended promo for their singles were "invited" back - f(x), After School, SISTAR, 4Minute and 2PM. Comebacks from Secret and Rainbow as well. SHINee, BoA and Se7en "battled" it out today, but since there's no winner on MuCore, yeah. LOL. Didn't include Taeyang today, sorry.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot260.

Miss A - Bad Girl, Good Girl
Strong vocals, tight choreography, and a good performance. Apart from the sound system being a pain, nothing more to say, to be honest.

SISTAR - Push Push (review)
Like always, they have no class, no sophistication, when they perform - the song's cheap to start with, they don't even have the ability to make it sound that much less cheap. Their vocals were normal (for them) today, and the bright yellow outfits kinda hurt my eyes.

Rainbow - A
I said this yesterday, and I'll say it again - the girls who actually get decent solos aren't half bad. They're not fantastic, but they're better than the other useless half of the band. Once again, all style, no substance - the song just goes on and on.. and on. It's not bad, it's boring.

f(x) - NU ABO (review/Virgin.com review)
I still don't like this song, and I still don't like f(x). I mean yeah sure the song has fantastic production, but without that, it'll be your average run-of-the-mill crappy rookie girl group song that doesn't really go anywhere, and doesn't blow your mind. They're decent performers, but not decent enough to make the song sound fantastic when performed live.

MBLAQ - Y
I now realize that no matter how hard they try, they will always be weak singers. They held the melody a bit better than usual today, but it still sounded sub-par. Sorry Rain, MBLAQ is a fail. But then again I've known that for a long time now.

Secret - Madonna
Strong performance today, given the crap sound system. They sang well, carried themselves well, and had the audience at the palm of their hands. Can't really ask for more, given the fact that they just started promo yesterday.

4Minute - HuH
I like this a gazillion times better than I My Me Mine, to be honest - it has a lot more attitude, character, and their vocals are a gazillion times better. Good performance today, very tight and very strong. Yayyyyy.

After School - Bang! (review)
Their vocals were good today - definitely better than they were at the start of promo for this single. Lizzy has a voice, a quite pretty one, she just needs to learn how to use it, and Jung Ah, oh Jung Ah, I think I've found my favorite voice in After School. But even if their vocals were relatively good today, I think to a certain extent their movements were a little lazy and sloppy - there was no energy, no fire, in the way they moved and carried themselves on stage. Which sucks 'coz when they had crap vocals, they really put on brilliant shows, and now that they have strong vocals, they look lazy.

2PM - Without U (review)
I'll admit, they know what they can do, and they do it well - but that's about it. Each member knows his strengths, and the entire group know what their strengths are, together, and they work on that. It may be a good thing, but they never manage to work on their weaknesses.

Son Dambi - Queen
Her performances have been consistent over the past few days/weeks - good sign. The song is nice and lively, but that's all it is - it doesn't wow me, nor does it make me wanna die or anything, but she pulls it off nicely. The song fits her well. If there's something Pledis has learned, it's how to choose songs that match the abilities of their acts.

SHINee - Lucifer (review/The Kpop Panel Review)
And the crappy sound system just had to ruin it for SHINee. They were good today, but not as good as yesterday. They were still really good though. ;D

Se7en - Digital Bounce with TOP + Better Together(The Kpop Panel Review)
Still impressed. Still not bored. Still think Se7en fully deserves to compete with Rain. I mean it! Near-perfect vocals, a tight performance, and he can literally command that gigantic audience just by raising a hand, or even just a finger.

BoA - Hurricane Venus (The Kpop Panel Review)
She has strong vocals, and she has presence on stage, but I think because of the nature of the song - processed like hell and very dependent on a backing track - she doesn't get the chance to make me like the song because of a live performance. But then again, you could argue that a good performer will be able to do that regardless of the song. Oh well.