Awards all around!

Edit: If you'd like to vote for Pop Reviews Now (only if you want to!), simply like this photo on Facebook! Aaaaaaaaaaaand, PRN is also a finalist for not only one, or two, but THREE awards! If you have your own blog, here's how to vote for PRN! Voting ends on December 2, 11:59PM Philippine standard time.


Before you all kill me for disappearing again, and before you all hound me with questions about the year-end special (which WILL push through), I'd like to announce something big. Really big. And unexpected.

As you know, in 2009 I was a finalist for the Philippine Blog Awards. I didn't win, but simply becoming one of the top ten entertainment blogs in the country was something huge, and something that pushed me to do even better. In 2010 I didn't get past the initial stage, but of course that didn't stop me from trying again this year. And succeeding.

Although the finalists for the other, non-voting, awards haven't been released yet, the list of finalists for the 2011 Philippine Blog Awards Bloggers’ Choice award have. And Pop Reviews Now is on it. And I freaked out this morning. And I almost died.

The award is special because this is where bloggers vote for bloggers. In short, it's an award given solely by my/your peers. Even if I don't win (because let's face it, not a lot of people are gonna vote for me), it's an honor simply to be a finalist for such an important award.

But none of this would've been possible without you guys constantly badgering me to write more and begging me to do more vocal commentaries (I'll get to them, I promise. and/or hope), and basically driving me to actually bring PRN places.

If I'm a finalist again for any of the other categories, I swear I might just die. ;D

But I'll see you guys on December 1, when I kick-off my countdown of my 50 favorite songs of the year!

Wonder Girls - "Wonder World"

Before this album came out in full, I had mixed feelings about it because the first teaser stunned, the second was underwhelming, and "Be My Baby" was boring. However, my doubts were put to rest when I finally heard the whole album, because really, it's one of the strongest k-pop albums in a long time, and one of the few I can listen to from start to finish and not skip a track. (I can't even do that to majority of DBSK albums!)

No matter what I say about JYP being one-dimensional and forcing his singing style down his idol groups' throats, we all have to remember that JYP was once an idol himself. Although I doubt they called him an idol, he was making pop music for himself before he branched out into mentoring, and because of that he not only understands the concept of a song, but the concept of a performance. Unlike other songwriters who merely adapt to trends, JYP understands that at the end of the day, the songs he makes will be sung by people, with strengths and exceptional talent, yes, but who also have limitations. He understands that because he went through that before, and it shows in the album.

"Wonder World" is a pop album through and through, but the quality of the songs is really something else. And they're actual songs, with actual melodies and actual singing, which can actually be performed live. Each and every song has a purpose on the album, even the ones I didn't like that much, they make sense. I never thought I'd say this, but "Wonder World" is, hands-down, one of the best k-pop albums of the year. I listened to it for the first time a few hours ago, and honestly I found myself giving almost every song 5 stars. I don't do that - like, the most 5-star songs I've given an album is probably two or three. I gave "Wonder World" five perfect scores out of twelve. In terms of the album as a whole, the Wonder Girls, and JYP, did not fail to deliver.

However, the single choice is as much an epic fail as the album is brilliant. Whose BRILLIANT idea was it to choose boring, whiny and generic, "Be My Baby" as the lead single, when there are like five other songs that are easily more amazing and more attention-grabbing than "Be My Baby"? Huh? The single, in theory, is supposed to sell the rest of the album, but when the lead single is out of place with the rest of the album, how's it supposed to sell? The only people who will end up listening to the brilliance that is "Wonder World" are the people who knew WG before "Be My Baby".

"G.N.O." is the song that everyone has been pulling the "why wasn't this the single?" on, and for reasons I do understand. I mean come on, the song is so Max Martin/Maratone Euro(dance) and it's practically a club remix in itself - everybody loves some Eurodance. When I heard the preview I was one of those people who were wondering why the song isn't the lead single, but hearing the entire song, I do understand why this isn't the single -- it's too hard to sing live. It's not that the Wonder Girls are vocally incapable, they aren't, they have Ye Eun and Sun Ye for heaven's sake, it's that the dynamics on this song are too constant and packed. It sounds like a club song for a reason, and the focus of this song isn't the group and their singing, but the song and the style. It's more style that substance, and although it's not overpowering in dangerous levels, a single like this is more fit for US promo, where the focus is on radio and TV airplay, not systematic live performances.

However, "G.N.O." not being single material still doesn't excuse the fact that "Be My Baby" should never have been the lead single in the first place. Just listening to it, "Be My Baby" sounds like those cheap/slightly slutty Christmas songs that warrant performances like how they did "Jingle Bell Rock" in "Mean Girls" -- but I don't know if I mean it in a good or bad way, so I'll leave it to you guys. It's catchy but boring, melodic but whiny, almost like they're yodeling or something, but one thing you can't deny is that it sounds like a Wonder Girls song. And it's a song. Weak and generic, it's still a song, and seeing as a lot of acts these days forget the song part of their music, not bad. HOWEVER, the more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced that whether JYP was conscious of this or not, "Be My Baby" was inspired in some way, shape or form, by Girls' Aloud's brilliant, brilliant, "Biology". It is, for lack of a better term, rather cheeky, and has the slightly dry British snappy-ness to the melody and the instrumental.


"Girls Girls" is the pretty kind of stunning. It's not the epic kind of stunning, it's the "oh my god this is sReeo pretty I'm gonna cry" kind, and that's my favorite kind -- it reminds me of "You I Do", my favorite song from "Dreamgirls", which in itself is one of my favorite movies. It's a simple song with simple verses, but the chorus is gorgeous and they have the vocals to pull it off properly, apart from the fact that it actually matches all their vocals. Actually, it's one of those easy to sing melodies, and that's why it's so gorgeous. Try humming it -- unlike other songs it's not only possible, but it will also sound good for a lot of people. The instrumental is playful yet gorgeous, and all the instruments are so graceful and really fall into place with each other. In an age where majority of the songs out these days are overproduced and loud, songs like this remind me that people still actually make music. It's a gorgeous song, but it doesn't leave out that element of fun, of enjoyment. It's songs like this that remind me of why I like music in the first place, and why I never resisted my family's insistence that I develop a strong musical background -- because music is fun, and it's meant to be enjoyed.

It came to my attention that "Me, In" is in fact a cover of an old-school Korean rock song, and Ree let me hear the original before the Wonder Girls version came out. My GOD is this an amazing cover. JYP really knows how to one, choose songs to cover, and two, make them DAMN good. Apologies for the informal language, but there's really no other word to describe how I feel about this cover. It's got attitude, spunk and kick, but without losing the clean pop sound of the rest of the album. The verses are so, so, SO strong, almost too strong, actually, that the chorus ends up sounding a bit flat. I mean it's an epic cover, but the way they treated the chorus (as in group of people singing, not the chorus chorus) vocals just ruined it for me. Still one of the better songs on the album though, and one of the five-star songs.

If Atomic Kitten were to come back in 2011, "Sweet Dreams" would be their lead single. If S Club 6/7/8 were to come back in 2011, "Sweet Dreams" would be their lead single. If all these European pop groups were to come back in 2011/2012 and this was written by Savan Kotecha or Max Martin or a Swedish production house, they'd ALL be fighting for this song. It's so Euro-pop, from the synths to the bits of "oo whoa whoa" autotune, to the melody, that for a while I was convinced I was listening to Atomic Kitten's "Feels So Good" and that it was 2002 again. But I wasn't, and that's what makes this so brilliant. It's like a more bass-y, fuller-sounding version of something off an Atomic Kitten/Later S Club album, and in case you've forgotten, before I got into kpop I was a British pop fan/critic/slight-expert. Like "Sweet Dreams", if all these European pop groups were to come back this year, they'd all be fighting over "Stop!" as the b-side, or a lesser act will get it for a single, like Play or something. Or No Angels. (are they still alive?) Again, the synths, the structure of the song, and basically everything about it makes it sound SO Euro, not that I'm complaining.

It's like after "Me, In", the songs on this album go in pairs. Another pair of pretty songs, slightly slower -- "Dear. Boy" and "두고두고". They're very mid 2000's R&B, like watered down versions of the songs they give to all these girls with okay voices but who never really manage to hit it big, like Cassie or Paula DeAnda. "Dear Boy" is a bit more on the hip-hop/top 50 and below single side, but "두고두고" is more like the ballads on those small-time, but major label, albums.

The final pair is "SuperB" and "Act Cool" -- the edgy songs. They're less melody, more hook and style, but even then they're still good songs. Well, "SuperB" is. After the two slower songs, it's a good song to get you back into uptempos and kind of leaves you hanging to go listen to the album again. From what I'm hearing, "Act Cool" sounds like just Hye Rim rapping, and remember, I hate Hye Rim's voice. It's an interesting song though, and a good filler track. In a sense I think the album does need these slightly less good tracks to one, keep you listening, but at the same time, while you're listening to these, all you're thinking about is re-listening to the previous songs. Apart from that (rather random) kinda interesting singing part at the end of "Act Cool", that's exactly what these songs are -- fillers.

"Nu Shoes" is entirely in English, so I'm guessing this is going on that English album they're working on? Putting aside that it sounds like Christmas (Why do so many songs on this album sound like Christmas? Is it just me?), I really like it. It's catchy, it's very trendy and edgy, but it actually has a pretty melody, a real bass line, and it doesn't just go in a straight line dynamics-wise, which keeps people interested. It's kind of a compromise to the loudness war -- the choruses are packed like crazy, but the song still has a sense of loud and soft.

I stand by what I said at the beginning -- "Wonder World" is, hands-down, THE best k-pop album of the year. It's an album, the songs make sense together, but the songs were also outstandingly produced, delivered and sung. It has its flaws, no album is 100% perfect and we all have our own preferences, but this is the closest k-pop has gotten to perfection.

The best song: "Girls Girls", hands-down
The better songs: "G.N.O.", "Me, In", "Sweet Dreams", "두고두고"
The worst song: "Act Cool", but that's because there's hardly any singing on it.
The rating: 4.9/5 - the highest rating I've given to an album all year.

[Edited] DBSK/HoMin - "Winter Rose"

I couldn't help myself, I really couldn't. The minute I heard this song it's like I was enlightened. (LOL) I'll try to be back later today for a MuCore recap, but no promises. It's Saturday today, errands day. We'll see.

(continue reading for the edits)

If you were with me through at least one set of Christmas-themed posts, you know that I'm very picky with my Christmas pop songs, and that's partially because Christmas is a very big deal here in the Philippines, plus the fact that I grew up (professionally) singing pieces like Handel's Messiah and classics by Filipino greats. Christmas songs are not just Christmas songs because they mention snow or gifts in the lyrics, and one of my missions in life is to make everyone understand that!


Christmas songs are all about familiarity, about good memories from the past Christmases. They are one of the best examples of the fact that music is half-heard and half-felt -- hearing a Christmas song should make you warm and fuzzy and, well, Christmassy. And how do you do that? With familiarity. Familiar melodies, familiar instruments, chymes and bells, anything that *feels* like Christmas. Why do you think Ray Conniff arrangements/albums still sell big? Because they're familiar, because people already equate them to Christmas.

Christmas songs are as familiar as they are fresh, and so if you try too much to change the arrangements, you lose the feel, and I think I've made it very clear that the feel is everything when it comes to these songs. Pop songs are usually like that - they try too hard to deviate from the formula, but they fail to realize that once you deviate from that formula, you deviate from Christmas. And aren't you making a Christmas song in the first place?

The best Christmas songs are those that can take the formula, take the familiarity, and keep it, while delivering something that much more fresh. Let's just say that "Winter Rose" is exactly that.

The song has this sweeping melody, and it's in waltz-time. WALTZ-TIME. Christmas songs are not just in standard 2-4 or 4-4 time, some of them have really whacked out time signatures, actually. I know. Like I said, I've sung Handel's Messiah a gazillion times. You think he stuck with 4-4 all the way? Hell no!

So the chorus. It's familiar, isn't it? I can't put my finger on exactly what it mirrors, but the time signature mixed with the melody itself are enough to get you all tingly inside. And they're gorgeous. So, so gorgeous. But also, if you were to take this melody alone, without the bells and chymes, it would still actually sound like a Christmas song and not just a random pop song.

The bells, the chymes, THE STRING SECTION, the way they all have a mini-explosion at the chorus when that gorgeous melody takes over, I'm ready to die now. And that middle 8. Holy mother of heaven and earth and maybe even hell that middle 8.

*edit*

I cannot believe I based this morning's review on what I heard from my crappy MacBook Pro speakers. I cannot believe it. I can't believe I missed what is possibly the most important part of this song - the bass line. You know me, I'm very picky with the intensity of my bass, and when songs become bass-fests they're instantly put on my bad list, but if I hate a certain type of bass, I have to like another, right? Right. As a kid, one of the many things I learned from my dad was that you can identify a song by its bass line, and that, in a noisy crowd, all you have to listen to in a song is the bass line. He was dead-right too.

But what does that have to do with anything? Well, I like very unassuming bass lines, just like the one I didn't hear on my laptop speakers this morning. I *like* looking for the bass line, like what my dad and I used to do to pass time in a noisy restaurant. And I also like bass lines that sound like they were played live then just slapped on to the song with minimal processing. I like REAL bass lines, because they actually have emotion.

The bass line on "Winter Rose" gives the song so much dimension, and it makes it real. Why do you feel all warm and fuzzy? Because you feel real. Because the bass line sets your heart racing. Like I said, Christmas songs are more about what they make you feel than they are about the technical aspects of a song. So close your eyes for a bit and just listen - listen to the real bass line, to the familiar melody, to the gorgeous strings. Don't you feel all nice and warm and fuzzy? Mission accomplished, then.

This is, without a shadow of a doubt, THE best original pop Christmas song I have ever heard.

5/5

[November 5, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

YAY! I made it through another recap! I'm pleasantly surprised with the sound and mics on today's show, MuCore is actually ahead of MuBank in terms of sound guy-competency this week! I really have been away for that long.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrotNew210.

Boyfriend - "Don't Touch My Girl"
Well I guess their vocals are that much better than they were yesterday, but their vocals have no punch, and the song is lazy to start with, so it does nothing to hide that fact. I almost fell asleep while watching this, I'm afraid.

B1A4 - "Beautiful Target"
We'll talk when all of you go back to actually singing, B1A4.

Orange Caramel - "Shanghai Romance"
When the Taekwondo back-up dancers rolled onto the stage, I LOL-ed. When they just disappeared after a while, I LOL-ed again. That was probably the best part of the entire performance.

Infinite - "Paradise" + "Be Mine"
I will say this until your ears bleed, but I was on the Infinite bandwagon before everyone else, and I'm so proud of how far they've come, music-wise! Of course there are still members who can't sing, like their maknae, but the members who *do* sing, have gotten miles better, and really, as performers they really deliver. They have the material, some of them have the voice, and they have that unity on stage. The makings of a great band - it's all a matter of time. And more better material.

Secret - "Love is MOVE"
I admit that I was never the biggest fan of this song, nor was I jumping for joy over the video, so I never really bothered watching their live performances. I was dead wrong through, because this song is made for the stage. Secret's vocals have become increasingly better, and very consistent, which makes it even better to watch live. Even if their material has strayed from what I personally like, they pull it off well, they can sing, and they know what works for them.

U-Kiss - "Someday"
I believe that, once again, I predicted a post-album single. However, I do not have the honor of predicting that their live vocals will be a complete and utter disaster. Gorgeous song, but my God, what kind of vocals are those, U-Kiss, seriously. You've been around as long as SHINee, and they can sing something like this without batting an eyelash (and Jonghyun screaming his way though, but we'll save that for another time). I mean that guy in the glasses is fine, and the guy singing at the chorus (who I assume is the guy who has a throat problem so he can't sing that much) is great, so is the guy who does the middle 8, but everyone else, which is like, more than half of the band? Yeah, NO.

Davichi - "Love Oh Love"
Oh Davichi, you two are brilliant as always. Even if you get double-tracked like hell at the chorus you still push through and fight the stupid idea. YAY. Flawless performance, pretty song, why isn't this winning anymore. Oh right, because this is a popularity contest. I'm sorry, I forgot.

SNSD/Girls' Generation - "The Boys"
Apart from the fact that the entire intro was mimed and Jessica's mic didn't work until much later, I CANNOT BELIEVE MY EARS AM I HALLUCINATING OR SOMETHING. Because SOMEONE has finally gotten the levels on an SNSD performance right. This is how they should sound, and believe me, if they sounded like this all the time I wouldn't hate them as much as I do. I understand that their previous blunders had a lot to do with stupid sound guys behind big, shiny equipment they probably don't know how to use, but nothing is an excuse for bad singing, and if you are talented you will find a way. But the past is the past, and now you can actually hear their voices over the excessive bass! Best music show performance of this song so far.

[November 4, 2011] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

Watching today's show made me realize how long it's been since I've watched more than a few cuts from a music show, let alone write a recap. You'll have to excuse me if I'm REALLY rough around the edges and allow me to slowly ease back into this routine, but hey, this is a start! I hope I make it out of this week alive, for the sake of my year-end countdown!

It's really no surprise who won today, but honestly I'm surprised at all the acts I've never heard of before! Oh well. Since it's been months since my last recap, for new readers, my music show recaps focus on idols and idol groups whose singles I've already heard prior to performance.


Video credit goes to UnknownCarrot180.

Boyfriend - "Don't Touch My GIrl"
It may be a quaint song, but my God, these guys really can't sing this song live, can they? It's like they equate singing well to singing loudly. No. They end up sounding like they're whining and/or sing-song-ing, and I'm sorry but that just doesn't really quality as actual singing. I watched one of their earlier performances of this though, and it was even worse, so I suppose this is the best they can do.

The Boss - "Lady"
Stunning song, gorgeous vocals, but inexperienced vocalists. Don't get me wrong, they are lightyears ahead of their peers, but looking at their vocals alone there is much to be improved. Everything up to the part just before the high note parade is perfectly fine - strong vocals, solid, consistent delivery and stunning harmonies - but the guy who does the high note, no matter how much his voice shone on that live video they released the other day, when left to his own devices he's not as sure as Mika or Karam. First of all, he cut the note in half. On one hand I appreciate that he had the foresight to not push the sustain, but after hearing that disaster of a note that came after that pause, I get the feeling that he stopped to "gain momentum" for a train wreck. My throat hurts after hearing it - you're overdoing the husk(y). Not really something praise-worthy. Try again, DGNA.

Orange Caramel - "Shanghai Romance"
We'll talk when you people stop putting out such cheap songs, coupled with horrid choreography and bad vocals, Orange Caramel.

Secret - "Love is MOVE"
I never thought the day would come when Sunhwa would become the second-best singer in the band. I always thought it would be the other girl. But then again, they've all really improved over the years, and Ji Eun can now sing her own songs with that pretty voice of hers! Strong performance this week, very explosive and consistent, except for that girl who now cannot sing. And I really like how the entire thing is perky and fun, but still melodic. It's one of those songs that does best live.

Brown Eyed Girls - "Cleansing Cream"
I finally understand how BEG challenge the k-pop norm, and it's not just in the song, it's in the entire package of the comeback. The song itself isn't anything groundbreaking, it sounds like several other songs, but the way they pull it off, and of course the fact that they're actually mainstream whether they like it or not, makes the entire idea of this release, somewhat off. In a good way of course. And the performance - of course it has to be different from everyone else who prances around stage or stands there - they're sitting down. Thrones, maybe? Again, the outstanding vocals get perfect marks, but the performance as a whole is really something else.

Kim Hyun Joong - "Lucky"
Whoever says that Hyun Joong can sing live clearly has no ears. He's gotten much more stable since going solo, but it's not like he has a voice to start with, so there's only so much he can do before. And why isn't he singing during the chorus? I don't care if the choreography is hard, you are a singer, you SING, you do not dance and randomly chant English. Oh Hyun Joong, when will you ever realize that singing solo is not for you.

SNSD/Girls' Generation - "The Boys"(WINNER)
The only thing on my mind while watching this was how I could accurately describe my rage over the excessive bass on today's performance. Let's just say that no, I haven't found an English word, but I do have a rather stinging rant in my native tongue, which I put on Twitter. As for the vocals, I don't know, there's always something off about EVERYONE's vocals, and I think that has to do with THAT STUPID BASS LINE DROWNING EVERYONE OUT. If everything was evened out on the recording, I'm afraid studio tricks mean nothing in the real world. Seriously, they all sound like they're being strangled, regardless of whether or not any of them are singing well. I'm sorry, but that really puts me off.

JYJ - "IN HEAVEN"

Initially I was against the idea of reviewing "In Heaven", mainly because I thought that if I did it would just turn into a screaming, gushing, freaking out-fest. Let's just say that a lot of things happened between the release and now that writing a review is probably the best thing to do now. That said, it's also a good thing I didn't review "Their Rooms" earlier this year, because if I did you'd be left with half a review and the same opinions for the other half.


Speaking of "Their Rooms" brings me to my first point. It's both a good thing and a bad thing that they included the songs from that EP, and even I'm not so sure myself if it's more good than bad, or the other way around. It's not getting my full praise because it means that they're recycling songs and majority of the cuts on the album were from "Their Rooms". However, it's been less than a year since they put that EP out, and that's hardly enough time to write 9 brand-new songs between everything the three had to do, and this is no longer SM where everything is handed to them on a silver platter. I would rather they put previously-released, stronger, songs on the album than even more half-baked, crammed "songs".

I'll spare you guys of the full "oh my god they're back do you know what this means" speech, but really, what this album has already achieved is jaw-dropping, considering the circumstances. It just shows how people still value good music, and that no matter how SME tries to wipe the three of the face of the earth, at the end of the day it's the music that matters, as it should.

This album is not without it's flaws though, as JYJ are relatively inexperienced songwriters. Argue with me all you want, cite polls or whatever, but you cannot deny that next to the likes of Yoo Young Jin, the Brave Brothers and Teddy, JYJ are little dots on the Korean songwriters' map. Yeah sure Jaejoong and Yoochun "wrote" a few songs on "The Secret Code" and "Mirotic", but you have to remember that during those times the songs that actually got put out went through grueling A&R and re-arrangements before they were even considered for the albums. Now, as JYJ, because the three are taking the lead, they have to do everything that was once done for them.

And I think what they fail to realize is that you cannot just sing a random song in a random key with some random instruments and expect it to sound good, no matter how gorgeous a voice you have. JYJ have the basics of songwriting pretty much clear in their heads - the structures, the melodies, etc. - but what they don't have is the technical proficiency. When they were under SME everything was done for them by engineers, producers, arrangers, A&R executives - everything from choosing the songs, matching them to the band, assigning the solo parts, to post-prod. Now they have to do almost all of that, and that's no easy task. Believe me, being able to do that is not something you can just take up in school and expect to master in a few weeks - it takes years and years of actually writing songs and working with different voices to get it right, and even sometimes you slip.

Choosing songs to sing is like shopping for clothes - different people have different measurements and you can't wear something that's too tight or too loose, it has to be just right. I think they probably know they have to match the songs to their voices, but I don't think they know how to do it. My prime example: Yoochun's part in "Nine". MY GOD is that a complete disaster. If that's the only song you hear off the album, the assumption would be that Yoochun cannot sing. At all. Which we all know is not true, but my point is that every single part of the song has to be meticulously, painstakingly paid attention to, because the minute you forget something, it's downhill from there.

You cannot force a song to fit your voice, the same way you can't force yourself into a size 0 dress when you're a size 3 or something. Of course you'll probably be able to put it on, with lots of effort and squeezing, but it won't look very pleasing, would it? That's my point. It's not that it's not possible to have a song that doesn't fit your voice, it's that it makes for a bad song, and gives off the impression that you don't know what you're doing.

So basically my comment on this entire album is that this is JYJ trying to do everything, for once in their careers. It's not a bad thing, and they did okay, but not good enough. For a bunch of guys who just went from being spoon-fed by Korea's biggest money-making entertainment agency machine to being on their own, writing all their songs, it's actually pretty good, bar a few slips here and there. But just because I like a band, doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that they make mistakes too, or I just overlook their flaws.

Due to the fact that they ARE relatively inexperienced songwriters, all the songs on "IN HEAVEN" work around set formulas. We've heard all of the stuff on this album before, and it's not in the sense of this being a continuation of identity, it's in the sense that we've honestly really heard stuff like this before. I'm pretty sure they're not plagiarized, even for flimsy kpop standards. The album can be divided into three, very VERY distinct groups - the uptempos, the mid-tempos and the ballads. And these divisions are not only applicable to the tempos, I get the impression that JYJ only have one concept of an uptempo, one concept to a midtempo, and one concept of a ballad. They're okay songs, and the focus is really on their vocals, but the album as a whole is not creative enough. "IN HEAVEN" is for people who really like JYJ to start with.

There is only one type of uptempo on this album - and it's the synth-laden, autotune-fest of an uptempo. Second-rate talent agency production, overused synths, that type.

When "Get Out" was first released, let's just say I wasn't freaking out over it as much as I would've liked to, and that was partially because of the bad quality rip I got. Listening to it now, I realize that the song's so-called "main points" are neither the melody nor the vocals. It's the arrangement and dynamics that carry the song, and so obviously with a bad quality rip you don't hear much of the dynamics and build-ups and the little details here and there. The melody and the vocal treatment on this was rather bland, to be honest - it's nothing special if those are the only things you pay attention to, however coupled with strong production and a good arrangement with just enough kick to keep you on your toes, it's actually a good song. It's one of those songs that sounds best with thousands of fangirls screaming their heads off in the background. It just works. There are some technical slips, like how they processed Jaejoong's vocals during the break down, which is just plain annoying and And come to think of it, earlier this year I was saying that JYJ may have all these pretty melodies and nice harmonies, but they hadn't yet mastered this side of songwriting - it's not just about what you think sounds good, it's about what works.


To me, "Mission" sounds a bit like the prototype for "Get Out". The production is a lot stronger, more on the cheesecake side of things (see: my analogies for Japanese and Korean production), but there are a lot of similar elements in the two songs, that sometimes it freaks me out. Repetitive choruses, really heavy synths, all these things going on in the background - see the similarities? "Mission" is either of two things, the way I see it. One, either they're trying to do everything they learned from working with Korean and Japanese songwriters, but they still manage to leave some things out, or two, this song is a parody of all the second-rate talent agency songs, a way for JYJ to go "hey, we can do it too - and sing better". Take your pick.

I cannot stand the synths on "I.D.S.", and no, you're not the only one who heard "I want you in my pants" - it's become a running gag for fans, and I can't stop giggling every time I hear it. Again, the melody is pretty, but there's something off about how they put everything together. They way the processed the vocals, how I have no idea who's singing that "ideal scenario" part, mixed with the synths I can't stand and all these stereotypical brean-downs and build ups. Everything about this song is far too generic, and it goes right through me. I start listening to it and by the end I'm like, "wait, that's it? so where's the song?"

The ballads are also very similar to each other - they all sound like they came straight out of a K-drama sound track.

Stunning. "In Heaven" is the right mix of lead single-material and show-stopping ballad, with the likes of "Love In the Ice", and it confuses me as to whether I should laugh or cry when I hear this. It's not 100% a ballad, but it's as if they took all the things that make ballads gorgeous and put them in a single. The verses are all ballad with the single piano lines and vibratos courtesy of Jaejoong and Yoochun, but the bridges have that ever so slight bit of punch and edginess, courtesy (again) of Junsu and Jaejoong's gorgeous voices. Even the voices they chose for the specific parts are the other way around - when you say ballad, it's usually Junsu or Jaejoong sometimes, and when you say edgy, it's usually Yoochun or Jaejoong sometimes too, but on the song they switched it. That's not to say that the three of them can't do the other and this is a "first time", because they have and they can, but it's not what you'd normally expect. And the middle 8, that jaw-dropping, stunning, gorgeous middle 8 with Jaejoong just soaring while Junsu tries to pull everything back down to earth - I'll go out and say it now but that is really THE most gorgeous middle 8 I've heard all year. Is 2011 the year of the middle 8's or something? Not that I'm complaining!


So "Fallen Leaves" was one of the songs on "Their Rooms", and honestly, the beginning reminds me way too much of "Don't Say Goodbye", from "Mirotic". And because they played this song a lot on "3HREE VOICES", all I can think of now when I listen to this is scenes of Jaejoong waking up. The song itself is a really quaint song. Very short lines, with ever so slightly audible breaths, for the verses, and then when Junsu comes in it's stunning. This is, in theory, Junsu's song - he really takes the lead and gives it attitude. But after a while it does become like every other boring ballad you only really listen when you're sad.

"Boys Letter" sounds a little like Junsu's song for "Scent of A Woman" AND Yoochun's song for "Miss Ripley" AAAAAAAND Jaejoong's song for "Protect The Boss", and obviously this is the one that belongs on a K-drama the most. It's really formulaic k-drama OST, with the piano line at the beginning, the strings slowly leading to a small explosion at the chorus, all the way up to Jaejoong's part at around 2:42 and that stunning chorus, complete with backup vocals, and the high note parade all the way to the end. And that abrupt slow-down that surprisingly leads to Junsu screaming his head off. I can vividly imagine how this song is gonna be cut up and placed at random parts of an episode of a romance drama. Like, really - it's more like this song was made to be spliced up. The melody's gorgeous though, and I like how they thought out of the usual box in terms of the song's structure.

They're singing in the wrong key on "NINE", and that has annoyed me to no end ever since the blasted song came out. This is what I mean when I say they don't know how to produce songs. Junsu and Jaejoong are singing in an okay key, even if Jaejoong sounds more like a girl and he's probably struggling every time he tries to sing it, but Yoochun? What the hell Chun? Just because it works for the other two, doesn't mean you just have to force Yoochun into a song he clearly cannot sing. He has a nice voice, and that has been proven countless times before, but my god his part at the beginning is excruciatingly painful. How did that even get past mixing? Their production staff must've been drugged all the way, because I cannot understand how that's supposed to sound any good. The song in itself is gorgeous, with a sweeping melody that literally soars, gorgeous harmonies that help a lot, and a simple instrumental, but it's just not for Yoochun, and that pretty much ruins the entire experience. Please, JYJ, I beg you, have someone with experience do your A&R for you while you're still learning, please? I appreciate how you want to be as hands-on as possible, but at this point I'd rather you put out songs that work for you.

I don't know where to put "Untitled Song part 1", but to me it's just a jumble of Yoochun rapping stuff about SME, and Jaejoong and Junsu adding random adlibs here and there, set behind a loop and some piano lines here and there. Nothing much.

The mid-tempos!

"You're" SCREAMS SM TOWN for me. If this is not SM Town, I don't know what is. Come on, how can you not imagine Shindong and Eunhyuk rapping and joking around during Chun's part? And the chorus is so cotton candy sweet that SNSD would have no problem hogging the cameras while "singing" it. I should've figured they'd do something like this though, because after all, Junsu had been in SM for a decade (he entered in 1999, left in 2009) before they left, and Jaejoong and Yoochun were pretty close - the SME style is pretty much all they know. It's a pretty song, very catchy, slightly Christmas-y with the way the strings were put in, strong vocals, strong production, but I can't shake off the fact that it sounds so SM Town. I had this on loop for like a week though!

I liked the idea of "Pierrot" initially, but once "Their Rooms" came out, I quickly realized that after you listen to it once there's nothing much to the song, and the verses go from stunning to okay. The chorus becomes boring and lacks some kick, and the entire song just becomes a bore. What you initially hear is all it really is, and most of the time that bores people to death. I mean the melody, minus the chorus, is pretty, and the vocals strong, but that's not enough to draw you in for more listens. However, I'll just say that KBS banning the song is another addition to the crazy interpretations those people come up with. I though they were crazy when they banned Rain's "Love Song" because he ran through a stoplight, but now they're just plain stupid for making something up, just to ban it.

3.9/5, the melodies are there, but the ideas and technicalities are not.

KARA - Step

So I tweeted a while ago that I was/am on the verge of a break down and that I couldn't relax because I had so much to study. Well, I tried studying, but nothing's sticking to my brain so whether or not I study tonight I'm most probably just gonna fail anyway, so I'd rather get something done than just laze around, and since writing is supposed to relax me, I'm gonna give it a shot. Time to try and forget the fact that I have to get up at 5AM tomorrow, that 2/3 of my subjects tomorrow have tests, and that I'm probably gonna fail them. Oh well.

So anyway. Enough about the break down I have to forget, on to business. I was too distracted with the JYJ teaser this morning to bother with the KARA song/album, but now that I've seriously listened to the song, I really, really like it. Out of all these "vintage"-themed singles or whatever - e.g., "Roly Poly", "Figaro", you get the point - I like this the most, probably because it's more than just "vintage".

So the synths and loops throughout the song, as well as the percussion and some parts of the melody, would possibly class this among the "Roly Poly"s of the world, and at first glance it really does fit this girl group trend, but the thing is that KARA have a strong enough back catalogue and musical identity to not just completely surrender themselves to the trend. 

If you notice their previous singles and when they came out, they follow whatever the trend was at that time - "Lupin" had that dark thing going, "Jumping" was out during the time when everyone was going techno, or some derivative, and now "Step Up" is following the "vintage" trend. And just a side note, but I listened to the instrumental and the synths are SO "Take On Me"/"Never Gonna Give You Up".

But if you also noticed, all three singles have something that ties them together. Of course as time passed the synths got noisier, the orchestrations grander and the vocals ever so slightly better, but they all still sound like KARA. There's a specific style, sound and combination of vocals, instrumentation, structure and arrangement that just clicks and links the three songs together. There's no before or after, no "shocking transformation", there's only KARA songs.

It's nice to know that after all the complaining I've been doing these past few years about the fact that all these idol groups have no sense of musical identity and cohesion, everyone in kpop is finally, slowly, finding their ground, and their niche. I've been waiting for more than 2 years for this, it's about time!

So on the song proper. So now that I've made it clear that it's a KARA song, I assume you know what goes in to the now-standard KARA single. It's synth-heavy, it's got those pretty trumpets behind all that chaos, and the melody is infectious. It's fast enough to build choreography around, but it's relaxed enough for an actual melody to surface. Strong production - rich instruments, float-y but firm vocals and a well pulled-off resolution. However if their past singles are anything to go by on, they probably can't pull this off live, which will, again, be a pity.

So what did it get from the current trend? The fun. It's such a fun, happy, light song, but it's not the "I wanna puke" kind of cute either. There's enough seriousness for it to be taken seriously, but with everything going on in the background, the vocals just manage to tie everything up nicely and give it that light sound. The chorus in particular honestly just sounds like one big riot of a party - the vocal treatment, the trumpets, the chords and harmonies - I don't see how you cannot dance, or attempt to, when you hear something like this.

So from now on, whenever someone makes an excuse that they wanted to make a light and fun song but end up making a sickeningly cute track, I will use this as proof that you don't need to make everything cute for it to be the light kind of fun.

The last point I want to raise, and probably my favorite part of the song, is the middle 8. I'll go ahead and say it - although short, this is one of the most brilliant middle 8's I've heard in a very long time. It's a very welcome break from the rest of the noisy, but fun, parts of the song, and it comes at the right time, but in itself it's gorgeous. Although a little throatily delivered, the melody is so pretty and the transitions are perfect. It just zooms in and out and only when it's gone do you realize how gorgeous it is.

Definitely one of the best singles this year, I'm not gonna lie. And my first perfect review in quite a while!

5/5

U-KISS - Neverland

It's been a hectic week for me, that's for sure. I got sick on Tuesday night, but forced myself to go to class on Wednesday and Thursday, weak and all. I've been writing papers and essays for class for the past 3-4 days, and right now my brain is all over the place, but I think writing a review will help sort out my brain, in preparation for the mountainS (yes, multiple mountains) of schoolwork I have to face this weekend. That and I have so much frustration with the way things are going with my writing "career" at the moment, so I really need to vent. ANYWAY.

This U-Kiss album was one of those albums I listened to just for the sake of saying that I heard it, but in all honesty it really exceeded my expectations. It's not amazing or anything, I'll say that flat-out, but it does have quite a few good points, that are enough to win me over.


The recurring theme throughout the entire album is the fact that it really sounds like a U-Kiss album through and through - there's no mistaking the sound. There are many other groups with the same producers, songwriters and whatnot, but they are at the stage where it's either they develop an identity, or fizzle away with all the other ill-fated boybands. In short, it's sink or swim. And they swam. Figuratively speaking, if this was a race they probably wouldn't have come out in first place, but they would most definitely make it to the finish line.

And what I was most surprised with was the presence of quite a number of really gorgeous songs. Not nice songs, not okay songs, the album actually had songs I would gladly listen to even after the initial hype of the album is over.

I tweeted yesterday, when I initially heard the album, that the first half was really good, and I still stand by that. The second half, however, is rather boring and just doesn't have enough impact to leave a lasting impression. Even now, I can hardly remember any of the songs in the second half, apart from that disastrous duet with Paran. I always say, if a song fails to make me stop what I'm doing at that moment, it's not worth listening to when I'm conscious of it, and only the first half really made me stop and listen.

In all honesty, I hardly ever pay attention to intros on kpop albums because most of the time they have nothing to do with the rest of the album and either set the bar too high or put me off listening to the album proper, but by the intro of this album alone, there was no mistaking that this was a U-Kiss album. It has the right attitude but enough melody, and it's familiar, but fresh enough to draw you in. It's an actual cut on the album and not just some random loops thrown together last-minute and put at the beginning of the album.

"Neverland" isn't half bad, I'll give them that. Again, it sounds like a U-Kiss song, everything from the vocal treatment to the structure to the way the chorus was phrased, yet it's fresh and new. My first impression of it was that it was some kind of hybrid of "0330" and "Bingeul Bingeul" because although the autotune was very much in place and there were parts of the song that just went on and on, parts of the song were treated in a way similar to "0330", with a lot less autotune and a lot more melody. You still have the standard syllables repeating, but the melody is more prominent and stronger than your usual "ADD Song", as I like to call it. It's catchy, it's repetitive, it's simple, but a good enough melody exists to carry the song. The video is such a disappointment though, but it's just a video - the song's good enough.

The first of the gorgeous songs I was talking about a while ago is "Baby Don't Cry". It's very k-pop boyband and will have no problem fitting in with the BEAST repertoire, but the vocals shift it right back into the U-Kiss territory. Initially it came off as a very heavy song - if I were to compare it to food it would be something like super creamy and deadly chocolate ice cream. But actually, the melody, the vocals, and the treatment, floats over the really heavy, thick almost, instrumental, so it's a very nice balance, and an absolute pleasure to listen to, if I may say so.

"Some Day" was the first track we heard in full, when it came out a few days before the rest of the album, and I've noticed that all the tracks they release before a formal album comes out, which is this and "Without You" from "Only One", are the really pretty songs on the eventual album. My only problem with "Some Day" is that at times it seems like it's too slow and the vocals end up either chasing the instrumental or sound like they're lagging, which still doesn't take away the fact that it's a pretty song. Still, there's something slightly off about some parts of the song. I like how it ends though, with that strong, slightly high, note and just one chord - it reminds me a lot of choir+piano arrangements of songs.

And we move on to my favorite song on the album - "Take Me Away". Stunning. I never thought I'd say that about a U-Kiss song, but really, it's stunning to the point where you get all warm and fuzzy when you hear the song. I'd class this with the "Angel"'s (Sarah McLaughlan) of the world, with the simple but stunning piano line, the minimal use of other instruments, and the tame vocals. The absence of high note parades and screaming is partially because U-Kiss are not really the best people to do those, but I think also because that's the point of the song - to not hit people over the head. The harmonies, although very obviously tinkered with during post-production which kinda makes them sound like robots, aren't half bad, although I wouldn't call them good. Nice try though, U-Kiss. As a whole though, the song is really the type to literally pull at your heartstrings - the echo they used on the vocals, the dynamics, and even the harmonies, all make for probably the most stunning kpop song I've heard in the past few months.

However, I was really disappointed to find out that after my favorite song, the album goes downhill. It's a gradual fall, but a fall nonetheless.

"ON THE Floor" (strange capitalization) actually has a pretty decent melody and it's very catchy even not during the hook, but it's rather generic - I can readily name several other groups who've done, or could do, something very similar to this. Just taking the song alone though, it's something I'd definitely listen to twice or thrice more, but I'm not too sure if it'll stay in my iPod for longer than a few weeks. Same goes for "친구의 사랑" - it's a really pretty song, and I mean really quaint and pretty, but not gorgeous enough to stand beside the first few tracks. I like the melody, and the arrangement is very apt, but taking the entire album into consideration it's too much 90's boyband ballad and not enough U-Kiss.

"4월 이야기" is really out of place on the album, to be honest. So it's a duet between someone from the band, and a girl from Brave Girls, who has a gorgeous voice (I actually thought she was Haeri for a while, until she started hitting high notes and it sounded different) but really, it's a little too fairy tale with butterflies and princesses to be in a U-Kiss album. It sounds like a slightly better-produced drama OST, actually.

"Obsession" seemed like an interesting song at the beginning, but the vocal treatment at the chorus really, really, annoyed me, and it just goes on and on and on and it doesn't even have a pretty melody. The entire song's all over the place, and it just goes through you when you listen to it. "Top That" is every so slightly more U-Kiss, but something about the song just isn't right - it sounds more like a girls' song than a boyband song. That's not saying they can't sing girls' songs, but the way it was delivered is just off.

"Tell Me Y" is another one of those songs that just goes on and on and on. It does have a melody, but the long, slightly shrill, notes hurt my ears more than soothe them, and all the talking/screaming in the background is no help. Please go back to singing, U-Kiss, I kind of prefer the autotune over this.

So the duet with Paran is preceded by this extremely long part where all the guys do is fool around and cough and whatever, which is completely unnecessary. I know they're friends, but in case you've forgotten, this is a song, you know, with a melody and instrumentation? Yeah. So once the song actually starts after two and a half minutes, you'd think it's this really stunning or mind-blowing package, but it's actually quite boring. If you really listen intently, it's a pretty melody and the simple guitar at the beginning is kinda like the piano in "Take Me Away", but once the chorus hits it becomes a drag. It's average, boring and very predictable. I'm very disappointed, because not only is this the last track on an album I liked at the beginning, but these guys can actually sing.

Basically, the album slowly builds up to "Take Me Away", and then after that it just goes downhill all the way. The first half was really good, and the cuts are definitely going on this weekend's study playlist, but the second half was so disappointing. It's as if they put all their effort in to 5 tracks and then just got lazy for the rest of the album, or forgot the point/concept in the middle of recording and just did whatever.

The Best Track(s): "Take Me Away"
The Okay Tracks: "Baby Don't Cry", "Neverland", "Some Day", "친구의 사랑"
The Worst Track(s): "Obsession"
The Rating: 4.1/5

After School: Blue vs. Red

I've been meaning to write a review on either and/or both of the singles since they came out last week, but I was swamped with schoolwork and all I wanted to do this past weekend was sleep, shop and eat. Then, last Sunday I thought of a decent excuse for not writing a review earlier, so I decided to write this post up anyway. So here I am. My excuse? I was waiting for them to wrap up their comeback stages, and although they haven't gone on Music Bank yet, they've done 2/3 of the shows - that's good enough. This will be a little more than just two single reviews slapped together, because it's an analysis of the sub-groups as a whole - the members, the single, the delivery.

After School Blue

The Concept:

According to Pledis, they're supposed to be the cute ones. Cute, "fresh" (whatever that's supposed to be) - mainly cute. When I first heard of this, I instantly knew this was the AS sub-group that would make cringe. And the sub-group with Raina in it. I was right!

The Line-up:

Raina - Fits this subgroup like a glove, and you need someone in this subgroup who can actually hold a melody, so Raina it is. I would've been more surprised if they put her in Red, where she most definitely does not belong. That and they finally took her away from Jung Ah so Jung Ah can finally get majority of the vocals.
Lizzy - Lizzy's pretty versatile, to be honest. She's young so you would assume she'd fit more in Blue, but actually I'd like to see her in Red. She has the vocals to do it, seeing as they thought UEE was okay for Red. But we'll get to UEE later.
Jooyeon - Thank goodness she's here and not in Red. At least she can hide her non-existent vocals with cuteness, which isn't really happening but you can tell they tried.
E-Young - It's too early to really judge E-Young's voice, seeing as she's only been around for 1 single (plus this) and she gets minimal lines, but at least here in Blue, if she's really good it'll show. We'll see.

Who should have been included:

UEE - Enough said. I'll talk about her more when we get to AS Red, but UEE should've really been in Blue.

The Single:

"Wonder Boy"

Plagiarism issues aside (Have you people not gotten tired of all these stupid plagiarism claims already?), it's not a bad song. To put it in modern terms, it's very SNSD circa-2007-meets-Orange Caramel. For the people who have bothered to learn their kpop history, I do agree when people say it kinda reminds them of "Forever Love" (the Fin.K.L version, not the DBSK one), but I wouldn't go as far as to say that it was plagiarized. There are similarities, yes, but the melody isn't a 100% copy. Humor me. Anyway. It matches the entire idea of this subgroup, and seeing as majority of them really do this type of singing in the first place, the vocals were decent, when taken in context. Cute with a bit of spunk - come to think of it, that kind of matches what the new generation of After School are being marketed as.

The Performances:

Because majority of the members are really made for this kind of material, it doesn't surprise me that they can actually pull it off, again relative to the material. And, there were quite a few revelations - E-Young actually has a voice, Lizzy has a nice timbre but not that much of a voice, and Jooyeon still can't sing. Unlike the Orange Caramel performances which were really exaggerated and annoying, their first set of performances for "Wonder Boy" were pretty strong. Not my personal taste, but they did it well.

After School Red

The Concept:

Basically the opposite of AS Blue. Fierce, sexy - that type. Even before the song came out, I was already placing my bets on AS Red. As if I'd bet on AS Blue. Really now.

The Line-up:

Gahee - Duh. As if they'd even attempt to put Gahee in Blue - not gonna happen, Pledis. Gahee is the epitome of the entire idea of AS Red, she cannot not be in this sub-group.
Jung Ah - They finally let Jung Ah show off her vocals again after ages. Red is definitely the right subgroup for her, even if I was a bit disappointed with what she got on the song. But I'll get to that later.
Nana - Interesting member choice here. I don't know who else to put in Red either, so I guess Nana will have to do. She isn't that bad, in fact she's a lot better than she was when she first joined, it's just that there are better and more consistent singers in the group. And she tends to sound squeaky.
UEE - What. The. Hell. Why is this girl even in this subgroup. Why. She should be in Blue. Come to think of it, all of the members who weren't in the original line-up, bar Jooyeon because she's always been the useless one, should be in Blue, because basically they turned After School into a cute-fest plus Jung Ah and Gahee. UEE is on the useless side, but maybe we can put her on the cute side to save face. And training fees.

Who should have been included:

I'm not too sure of this myself, to be honest. No one for now.

The Single:

"In The Night Sky"

When I first heard the song, I was rather disappointed because this is hardly sexy or fierce or whatever they'd been telling us that AS Red would be. Of course I wasn't expecting them to strip or pole dance or anything, but for "fierce", this is really tame. Really tame. People have compared it to "Shady Girl" because of the loop and the synths and the talking guy in the background (who I assume is the same guy) and to a certain extent it does sound like the SISTAR song (the only one I can stand, to be honest), but again - it's not plagiarism if a significant part is not a 100% copy of another song. So anyway. After the initial "but this isn't fierce!" stage, it's not a bad song either, and I like it a lot better than the AS Blue song. But then again I hate anything that's in a similar realm to the AS Blue song. The chorus is extremely catchy while keeping a pretty melody throughout the entire song, and it's actually very pleasant to listen to - I've had just this on loop all weekend and I'm not sick of it yet. However, like I said a while ago, I was disappointed with the melody because it didn't give Jung Ah a chance to show off those stunning vocals I know she has, but never get shown. Jung Ah needs something like her "Bang!" verse, only longer - that was what I wanted, and what she needed to prove to everyone that she still has the upper hand in AS when it comes to vocals. But alas, they made her squeaky.

The Performances:

I was really disappointed with the live performances for this. Really disappointed. First you have UEE, who can't sing. At all. Then you have Gahee, who does have a voice, but isn't the most stable singer around. You have Jung Ah, who's singing in a pre-meditated cutesy voice most probably demanded by the agency. And you have Nana who really sings cute and isn't the best live singer either. Such a let-down. They carry themselves really well, even without backup dancers, but I'm afraid they, once again, cannot pull this song off live. PLEASE, Pledis, I beg you - give these girls a song they can actually sing live. For their sake. And your money's sake.



So now that I've laid down all the important points - which side are you on, Red or Blue? I think you know which side I'm on. :D

[July 9, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

Guess who's back? And with a recap at that! It's been a while, and I'm starting to get a hang of college life (even if I still have a gazillion assignments to finish this weekend) so I thought I'd do a music show recap this week. And besides, there's a lot to talk about the acts who performed this week - ESPECIALLY CSJH! Even if it's just Dana and Sunday, it's still CSJH!


An explanation first as to why I these music show recaps keep going on and off - for the record, I've never officially said that I'm never going to do them again. This series is something that has done a lot for PRN and has established my writing around kpop circles in general, so it's not something I'm ready to let go of just yet. When I do pause from writing them, it can be due to any or all of the following reasons. One, I'm too busy. I just started college last month and every weekend I'm literally submerged in schoolwork - readings, papers, research - these are things I can't not do. I have priorities, I have to get a degree, I have to do well, I have to do this and that - PRN is one of my priorities, but there are more important ones for me. Two, there aren't enough idol groups with material I have something to say about. When there is a lul in releases from idols, I stop doing recaps because I don't want to do a recap with just 2 or 3 performances. Three, when the line-up gets boring. If, say, there are around 9 acts and all of them have been performing for several weeks now with no one coming back and no one saying "goodbye" - I get bored. And when I get bored, I tend to say the same things over and over again - I'm sure you guys don't want to read a recap that's exactly like the one last week. So I stop.

But now I'm back. I can't guarantee you that I'll go all the way to the end of the year with this "tranche", but remember that I'm not going to completely stop doing these recaps altogether.

Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot270.

N-Train - "One Last Cry"
Weak harmonies at the chorus, the guy who sings first isn't that strong a singer. The guy doing the high notes at the end is OK. The guy who sings second (the bridge?) is amazing though, and so is the guy doing all the gymnastics at the chorus. It's a bland song to start with, with whimpy vocals at the chorus, and if you aren't really concentrating on the performance it's pretty boring until that one guy starts screaming.

Rania - "Masquerade"
These girls can sing, and they've proven that they can sing and dance at the same time and still deliver strong vocals, but honestly, sometimes their performances are far too theatric - like today's. It's perfectly fine to have gimmicks and whatnot because that's what pop is in the first place, but I do wonder now what people are watching Rania for - their material or the choreography. Of course a lot of people watch music in general for the visual aspect, but in Rania's case it's a waste to market them as a "visual" group, so to say, because they have the talent to be more than that. We'll see.

Boyfriend - "Boyfriend"
Before anything, let me just say that their eyes freak me out, especially Blonde guy's. But anyway, their performances so far have been somewhere in between orchestrated to the last step and "let's go prance around stage and have fun" - their vocals are so-so, nothing to rave about, but not especially bad. They did a remix today, and it's a lot edgier than the original, but it's good that their movements and, to a certain extent, their vocals have retained the fun-ish part of the performance. Not bad - just stop freaking me out with your eyes.

Girls' Day - "Hug Me Once"
Too much pink, too much winking - too much pink in general. And it's a waste because the hook isn't half bad when you think about it, it's just that I want to strangle these girls because they're TOO CUTE. It's so annoying, and it's not like any of them have drop-dead vocals hiding under that horrid facade, nor do they have outstanding material. Take me back to "Nothing Lasts Forever", please.

Rainbow - "Sweet Dream"
Wow, their vocals have gotten a lot better since I last watched a live performance. They aren't the best to start with, but their live vocals are a lot more stable now. And add to that the fact that I like the song - Rainbow, I am liking you the more I see you. So now that you have the vocals part pretty much fixed and the material all accounted for, you just need to keep getting better. Which you are. YAY.

f(x) - "Hot Summer"
I expect nothing less than a strong performance from f(x) - and I got it. Surprise of all surprises - Amber sings with a feminine timbre! They tried to hide it in the recording, but live vocals don't lie! Krystal's vocals are getting less and less like her sister's, THANK GOD, and hopefully she develops a nice timbre in the near future. Luna's voice is still as stable and stunning as ever, Sulli's back to getting parts that don't show off her now-existent voice, but Victoria's still getting better and better. A bit more pushing f(x), and you'll be amazing. Hopefully.

Hyun A - "Bubble Pop"
I laugh when people say that Hyun A's a good singer. Like, really laugh. I saw someone comment on a performance of "Bubble Pop" saying something like "OMG she's so good at singing - she's not even a singer!" - seriously? How can you be on a music show and not be a singer? Everyone knows she's not a singer, and it didn't show that much on the recording (for obvious reasons - I'd like to know how much Cube paid to make her sound like she had some semblance of a voice) but my god the presence of a backing track over her non-existent vocals make it even more obvious that she can't hold a melody. At all. Let alone sing. There are lines that she doesn't even sing - period. In all honesty, she's a disgrace to idol group singers. It's so bad, that even if the performance is 90% backing track, 10% Hyun A, you hear the Hyun A over the backing track. Please go back to rapping - you singing makes me actually like "Change".

ZE:A - "Watch Out!"
I actually like this song! The live vocals are a total letdown though, and it's freaky watching them all smile-y with that ridiculous choreography. Will ZE:A please decide what they want to do with their music and image, because I swear, if they release that song on the teaser it's going to be very confusing. And I don't like acts who don't even know who they are.

T-Ara - "Roly Poly"
Still dependent on backing tracks, T-Ara? Not a big fan of the song, the performance, or the vocals, but at least they don't make the throw up with all the cuteness. It's bearable song, and a bearable performance, if you don't think of the heavily backing tracked-vocals.

2NE1 - "I Am The Best"
Not really a big fan of the song, and their hairstyles are ridiculous and distracting, but whatever I do I can't deny the fact that these girls know how to put on a show. What they do, they do well, and that's something to commend. They're not afraid to do all these wild things (with their hair as well), and some people like what they're doing - as long as they have stable, strong vocals and a sense of unity, all of which they have, I'm good. Watching them, regardless of what song they're performing, makes you want to jump around your room like them.

2PM - "Hands Up"
I've never seen 2PM as the "let's just forget everything and jump around stage" band, but it's good that they pull this song off in somewhat an "organized mess", which is a very 2PM-approach to this. The song's insanely catchy, both a blessing and a curse seeing as it goes nowhere if you really listen to it well, but it's perfect for performing. As a whole it's a strong effort.

CSJH (Dana And Sunday) - "One More Chance"
I'm waiting for the official single release with the official audio track before I do a review, but if things work out, I will be doing one - so as much as possible I'll refrain from talking about the song proper too much. But anyway - CSJH ARE BACK. Half of them, at least. On one hand I really wanted Lina and Stephanie to be with them one, because they're my two favorite members and two, because the four of them together are epic in every possible way. That's not to say that Sunday and Dana aren't talented though - their comeback shows all these newer, some of them incompetent, girl groups how things are done around here. Today's performance was much more stable than yesterday's, even with the crappy Music Core sound, which they are immune to (thank goodness), and Dana's vocals, bar the shaky part at the beginning (because that part is virtually un-singable in the first place), are flawless and stunning, and Sunday's much stronger today. The entire performance, even with parts that aren't my taste, has ever step, every note, calculated down to their last breath and pulled off like it's second nature to the girls. Because it IS second nature. A performance in the truest sense of the word.

Guys, "Rising Sun" has been re-recorded, and a longer version was just broadcast last night.

OK so all these non-reviews I'm doing, and am going to do, are more desperate attempts to get back into writing. I don't know if they're going to work, but it's worth a shot. Yes, even now that I literally have a mountain of schoolwork waiting to be done - I'm choosing to ignore them. LOL. Don't worry, they'll get done - just not now.

To many, "Rising Sun" is THE ultimate DBSK song - it is everything they stand for and has all the qualities that have made them the group they are. Intricate choreography, an epic arrangement, raw vocals, Changmin's scream, so many things going on in just one song and spectacular performances - Rising Sun is truly a feast to your senses. It may not have turned fans into rabid fans like "Mirotic", but it has become a trademark DBSK song. "Rising Sun" is theirs and no one else's.


A big factor of the song's so-called "immortality", is the fact that six years later it still sounds relevant - six years later it is still as glorious as it has always been. SME has made so much money from this song - because it is outstanding. Other artists will perform a song for less than a year, then move on - but even when DBSK moved on, "Rising Sun" remained one of the best songs they've ever done, and they made no secret of it.

So it would only make sense for SME to have HoMin re-record a two-member version of the song, now that they obviously can't use the five-member one, but the song still has to be performed. We heard a portion of the new arrangement when they performed it for the first time as a duo on that "legends of Music Bank" thing, but one, it was shorter, and two it was live - it will obviously sound like the Rising Sun we've all come to know because of the lack of fancy vocal treatments.

However, we saw a mimed performance of a longer version yesterday when MBC aired SM Town Paris - mimed. Which means the vocals, the arrangement and everything about the song went through another around of technology. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing.



So many things have changed, for very obvious reasons. What was once done by 5, now has to be done by just two. And they did very, very, very well. Whatever you say about the song lacking three voices and whatnot, you have to remember that Yunho and Changmin were also part of the magic that the five made - they do it just as well as the other three. And on a side note, "Rising Sun" has always been somewhat Changmin's song.

I know I have no authority to say what I'm gonna be saying for the rest of the article because Yoo Young Jin was most probably also responsible for this re-recording, and he wrote the song in the first place so technically he can do what he wants to with it, but I've noticed a lot of changes, and I'm not falling at my feet over them.

One drastic change, that has come with new technologies and trends in recording, is the change in the vocal treatment. I have no problem with smoothening out vocals and making things more current, but in the process of updating the vocals, it seems to me that "Rising Sun" lost that raw sound it had before.

One way to describe "Rising Sun" would be that it's really a savage song. The screaming, the delivery of the rapping, and even the vocals - the song depends on the strength and fervency of the vocals. When HoMin performed it live on Music Bank, the strength was evident, you couldn't miss it. The vocals had passion, conviction - the song just exploded.

Now, imagine the vocals being autotuned.

Changmin's vocals sound good autotuned, admit it, and even his natural voice has that thin, smooth quality - but his raw vocals are a big, BIG factor in the way "Rising Sun" is delivered. That's not to say that the original recording of the song didn't have any vocal processing whatsoever, but it was the very natural kind - strengthen the higher notes, smoothen out the melodies, soften the breaths. It was more of cleaning than processing.

One of the most evident autotuned parts on this new recording is when Changmin first starts singing - the "achime-en" part. Yes, it sounds very smooth and yes, it is esthetically pleasing because it matches Changmin's voice, but the original recording was straightforward. Two notes at the end - delivered without beating around the bush. And now you have this slide or "curl" (in Filipino, notes like that are called "kulot", and it literally means "curls") and it's so clean - too clean, emotionless almost.

And the chorus. The chorus has completely lost that big, epic quality. The most plausible reason I have for this is because of an addition of louder backup vocals - by Yoo Young Jin himself. He's been doing that a lot lately - heavily padding SME songs with his own vocals. He's probably been doing it forever already, but as years went by it got more and more obvious. Yunho's part in "Mirotic" was 25% Yunho, 75% Yoo Young Jin, in case you haven't noticed. Yoo Young Jin can sing, that's not something to contest, it's just that his vocals in higher registers (but not when he's belting), much like the chorus of "Rising Sun", tend to thin down and sound flimsy. And "Rising Sun" is anything but flimsy.

Not everything about this re-recording is bad though - the screaming still is still as raw as ever, and even without that epic Yoochun-Changmin dance break the song as a whole is still a feast to your senses. The delivery may have changed, but the foundations of the song - the melody, the instrumental - have transcended time. That's what I mean when I say that when all those fads have come and gone, a strong, outstanding, melody will last.

Things have changed over the years, this re-recording is not my personal taste, and there are things that I believe should stay how they were, but in the end, looking at just the re-recording and not comparing it to anything - it's an outstanding song. It's something that's perfectly fine when you hear it, but just explodes when you watch it. "Rising Sun" a performance standard - when you perform it you might die of exhaustion, but my god does it look amazing, whichever of the five perform it.

Rainbow - Sweet Dream

When they started out I had a blast poking fun at Rainbow and "Goship Girl", and the hatred lasted for quite a while, but from "A" onwards they started getting significantly better. Which brings us to the present - "Sweet Dream". Not bad, not bad at all.


I'm glad and relieved that DSP decided to steer these girls away from the mid-Kara era sound ("Pretty Girl", "Wanna", etc.) and towards something more suited to their vocals and basically something that's isn't cutesy. I think this is partially because Rainbow were around when the bigger-named girl groups were a little into the shift from cutesy to dark/more mature sounds.

None of them have drop-dead gorgeous voices (at least from what they've shown us so far), some of them still don't know how to sing live, and there are easily dozens others better at performing and singing, but their songs suit them, and like f(x), this has become their sound, this is them. There are many other groups who've come and gone and who sound(ed) like them, but the simple fact that they're able to sustain this sound for more than one or two singles means they're in this for the long haul, and they, or DSP, are really thinking about the future of the group - they are no longer an afterthought, if they ever were one.

Seeing the trend in these groups - how a lot of them slowly going their own ways musically - could very well be a signal that kpop is starting to think of putting a premium on musical identity in idol groups. I know a lot of other groups are very clear in their musical styles, but you know something's happening if a group of Rainbow's stature (which isn't really that high yet) is following too. Or I could just be jumping to conclusions. But then again, who knows what the future will bring?

So the song. The song's different from their previous single "To Me", and yet there are similar elements and sonically they'd generally be placed under the same category. It's a Daishi Dance-produced song, and it does sound very much like the Japanese interpretation of "dance" and "club" music. I was listening to the instrumental just now and I can imagine this playing in some club. Vividly.

It's repetitive, it's got all the elements of a club "anthem" so to say, but it's also very clean. Sometimes too clean. But that's the charm of a Japanese song. Once again, there are elements that really sound like a cheesecake. (if you're a newer reader, I once related Japanese production to a cheesecake and Korean production to a chocolate chip cookie with nuts)

As a whole it's one of those songs that go nowhere on the surface, but the more you listen to it the more it sticks and then you realize that even the repetition has depth. There are times when the melody is gorgeous (that part with the "sunshine" or something), and the chorus nicely balances everything out - it's a bit scream-y, a bit melodic, but very fitting to their vocals. It takes what they can do, and makes it somewhat not painful to the ears. It's not something I'd listen to with a splitting headache, but you get the point.

4.1/5