Best of 2009: May #8 - #5

May marked the beginning of my kpop addiction and dammit, I'm excited just thinking about it.

#8: Ruben Studdard - How You Make Me Feel
(view my first review of the song)

Alongside my kpop addiction, May was the month of little-known Idol album releases, starting with Ruben. This is probably the only good song on the album but dammit, listening to it again after months - it's really good.

#7: Various Artists - So I'm Loving You

The first Korean song on the list - it was the effect of my early Rain phase. Prominent artists on the song are of course Rain and boy bang Big Bang and how I wish all advertisements were like this.

#6: Esmee Denters - Bigger Than the World
(view my review of her debut album)

I like Esmee Denters. I didn't like half of her album, but I liked her debut single and I especially like this song - it's everything she is and should be. Gorgeous melody, nice instrumental with kick, flare, that epic side to the song and good vocals. That's what her focus should be, really. I can't embed the Esmee version so here's the Justin Timberlake version:

#5: Park Ji Yoon - In My Fading Memory
(view my first review of the song)

During the kpop special I named this one of my all-time favorite ballads. That still stands. Even if I've heard a ton of other kpop ballads this year, In My Fading Memory still stands as the strongest, most beautiful one I've heard. Park Ji Yoon's voice is rich and gorgeous in every possible way - it makes the song even more epic. It's haunting but not scary and like I said months ago, it literally makes you want to lie down on a cloud.

Esmee Denters - Outta Here

I kind of predicted what would happen to the album when I heard the clips but I kept my mouth shut just in case the clips sucked as much as the GA ones did. Now what it's out though, my predictions were true and I'm a bit confused.

I have mixed feelings about this album as a whole. Esmee's voice is gorgeous and the melodies are somewhat brilliant but haven't we heard all of this before? I know I love it when people make pop like it used to be but for some strange reason her way of doing it isn't that convincing.

We've heard all of this stuff before - there are songs that sound like they're straight off a Destiny's Child or Amerie album and yes, they're good but it's nothing new. I like a mix of things so old+new always works for me but if you're gonna completely copy music of only a couple of years ago, I don't think that'll work.

Then once you've gotten through those tracks, the next few ones are uninteresting. I expected more from this girl - I wanted nothing short of brilliance but it seems like she can't deliver yet.

However - towards the end of the album, three above-average tracks sprout out.

The first track that stood out made me want to hear this girls' next album - in short, it's probably the most brilliant thing since anything. Just Can't Have It is what I'm looking for on this album, it reminds me of something from 2005 or 2006 but everything about the song stringed together makes it sound like something current. The melody really stood out and it's probably one of the two or three tracks I'd listen to again.

The First Thing is beautiful. It reminds me a bit of JoJo's How To Touch A Girl but you know it's not - the instrumentation and the melody make it that much more current but the execution, the vocals just drive the whole thing home. This is another one of these songs where everything is right - everything falls into place and it seems effortless. These are the songs I wanted, songs that seem like they were thrown together in a day but weren't - songs that separate the artists from the common singers. Oh, and it's got a gorgeous middle 8.

Bigger Than The World is another one of those Moments That Matter-esque songs and I love how this girl did it. This song proves that my comparison of her and Gia Farrell wasn't made in vain - it's totally something Gia could've sang had she not been mercilessly and stupidly dropped by her record company. What makes this song remarkable is the part before the middle 8 and the actual middle 8 or if I had it my way - THE TWO MIDDLE 8s. I mean, how great is that? A great melody and what do you throw in with it? Two middle 8s. Probably the most brilliant thing since that other song. Then once the brilliance finally comes to a close, she does it amazingly. Oh, joy.

See what I mean by mixed feelings?

So, to sum up the album:
Best Track: Bigger Than The World
Better Tracks: Just Can't Have It, The First Thing
Least Favorite Track: There were quite a few, actually.
THE RATING: 3.9/5 but I think Bigger Than The World deserves a 4.6/5 for reasons stated in the above review.

Looking Ahead Part 2...

So it's May - four months of 2009 are done and over with. We got a few album releases and things have been quite slow these past few weeks but hopefully everything will go back into full swing soon enough. Who knows, we might get some albums in the coming weeks!

• From what I'm getting, Mitchel Musso is set to release a debut album 'sometime in the future'. I love Speed Dial, think it sounds like a Teddy Geiger song so I'll be looking forward to this.
• The BSB albummmmmmmm! From the demos we've been getting these past few days it seems really, really, good. Not only do they have Max Martin behind the whole thing(I assume he's working on at least most of the stuff...), the songs coming out just blow off all the competition. NLT, V Factory and Varsity - you're in for a lot of competition.
• Speaking of the new boybands, when will that Varsity Fanclub album ever come out? If they keep on pushing back the release date, we're gonna get bored of them and when we finally hear it we'll be unimpressed 'coz we've heard all their 'unreleased tracks'.
• Esmee Denters has really impressed me so far and she's only got one song out. She's out there somewhere recording so if we don't get an album from her by the first quarter of next year(that's my ultimatum), it's safe to say she's gone the Gia Farrell way. Amazing voice, great song - what more can I ask for? hahah.
• Nick Lachey seems to be planning a 'comeback'. Patience was disgusting but All In My Head redeemed the whole thing for me - at least now I'll try listening to the album when it comes out. I still have mixed feelings about this whole thing, mainly because I just can't stand his crappy Patience cover. Does he really think he can fool everyone by coming out with a cover of a gigantic hit from a British boyband? NO! hahah.
• I kinda got sick of the Ashley Tisdale song - that's bad. It's kinda like Just Dance, you listen to it more than a few times and it'll spill out of your ears like there's no tomorrow. There is already a tracklisting for Guilty Pleasure however.
• The biggest surprise of this year was the new Click Five song - I love it. Now if they don't push through with this style I'm going to track Eric Dill down, threaten him to go back to the Click Five and force the band to make another album like Greetings From Imrie House. Their lame 'we want to be FOB/Panic! At the Disco' thing is not working and it never will, no matter how hard they try.
• Leighton Meester signed a record deal a few weeks back. I so wanna know what she's gonna do - I'm curios. hahah. I do love that song she did the band though(Birthday?) - brilliance.
• Savannah Outen's album is definitely on my 'greatest expectations for 2009' list - the girl is fantastic. Take that Miley Cyrus and everyone else who Disney 'discovered' to replace you!(*ahem* Demi Lovato *ahem* Selena Gomez *ahem*)
• Mandy Moore's new album is shaping up to be somewhat brilliant - I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week(phew! that was a loooooong title.) was great. Wasn't a big fan of the other full songs that leaked though. Still, the album will get a listen from me, that's for sure.
• Pixie Lott! We're getting major progress with her - Mama Do has a music video and I assume the single will be out in due time plus she's supporting The Saturdays so that has to count for something. I do hope the rest of her album is just as brilliant as everything we've heard so far - I don't want to hear a disappointing album in a few months.

So there you have it. As much as I say nothing's happening, this might be an indication that the best is indeed yet to come. If I missed anything note-worthy, tell me! hahah.

New Music!

I can't help myself, there are quite a few things out. I'm almost done studying anyway! hmm.

• THE CRAIG DAVID CONCERT WAS SPECTACULAR. I promise to review the whole thing once all my requirements are done.. You had to be there to feel the brilliance.
• I've become a HUGE The Script fan. When I first heard them I thought they were this crappy Coldplay wannabe but then I turned the volume up and heard my dad's production in it. He didn't produce it, obviously, but all the qualities of something he'd produce were there and it made me tear up for some strange reason.
• Ronan Keating's cover album is out at it's number one in the UK. Not a big fan of the covers(Carrickfergus was better when Charlotte Church did it.), but hey - he's got four number one albums so you gotta hand it to him.
• Two new Mandy Moore songs are out. They're OK, but I Could Break Your Heart.... is still the best new song so far. Will be waiting for the album!
• Esmee Denters has a new song out - AND IT'S BRILLIANT. Just when I thought Gia Farrell would never come back, here's someone who sounds a lot like her! yay! hahah.
• Well, Kian Egan and Louis Walsh's STILL unnamed girl band had an Irish TV appearance the other day, singing a Dixie Chicks cover. They apparently have competition now, the new girl group with a girl who didn't get a place in the other band are rumored to record the new Grey's Anatomy theme song. This is WAR.
• Last year's Swedish Idol winner has an album out. There are some gorgeous songs on it but once again, there's no cohesion. They're nice songs to listen to though. I might review it after exams.
• Savannah Outen has a new song for this charity out and she sounds a lot like Jordan Pruitt at the start and though I will forever love Jordan Pruitt(and her utter brilliance), Savannah can be jaw-dropping at times.
• Pixie Lott got her first play Radio 2 some time back! Congrats!!!!!!
• I got re-addicted to Guy Sebastian some time back. I might do a few reviews as well... yay!
• Taylor Swift's song for the Hannah Montana movie has a video out already and may I say, it's the only good part of the whole soundtrack.
• Hold on, I thought the video for Moments That Matter was out already? Apparently not, here's a new one.
• Girls Aloud's new video is out. The album version was amazing, and I love the fact that Nicola sings first but something in the single mix and the video makes me uneasy about the whole thing. I'd love Revolution in the Head as a single though! haha.
  
  
  I guess that's it! Back to studying. Asian economics, systems of quadratic equations, uniform accelerated motion, Newton's laws of motion, Filipino short stories(which are like 10 pages each..), adverbial clauses of concession, congruence postulates, and everything else! UGH.