[April 20, 2012] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

Significantly less major comebacks this week, and actually the only idol comebacks were from 5tion, who I'm not going to cover on today's recap, and Girls' Day, who are all lower-profile idol groups. But, it was still a pretty good show, what with 4Minute and SISTAR getting used to stage again, Shinhwa being around, and SHINee and CN Blue leaving with a bang, CN Blue in particular.

Credit for the videos goes to shu35151224@YouTube. (Other videos to follow)

EXO-K - "MAMA"
The good thing is, at least their vocals are that much more bearable this week -- I'm glad they're showing signs of improving, at least in terms of vocals. However, as I was watching the performance today, they're not only stiff and ungraceful, they're also still very all over the place. You can argue that the choreography itself is very edgy, but the way they present themselves and move on stage has no grace whatsoever. They're not yet at the point where they look like they're enjoying the stage.

NU'EST - "FACE"
I like NU'EST, I'm confident enough to admit it. They have emotion, they have grace, and again, they can pull off their material. Heavily choreographed, yes, but this early on, they know how to show that they genuinely enjoy being on stage. Another consistently strong performance today, and an absolute pleasure to watch, for rookie standards.

Spica - "Painkiller"
Strong vocals, good stage presence and delivery, but really, these girls need a much, much more interesting and powerful single to match what they already have in the bag.

Girls' Day - "Oh My God"
It's been a year since they last had something new out, and I still feel like strangling all of them, AND their song. Looks like my "well talk when you get decent" line will never get done, because I doubt they're gonna get decent within the next few years. They don't even sound like they're singing, it's more like they're talking.

SISTAR - "Alone"
And I see we're back to tacky gold dresses to match the cheap choreography this week. Really, the dresses are so distracting because not only is there a huge slit in front, it's also a really awkward length and bad, stiff material, so when the girls dance it makes them look fatter than the sticks they most probably are. That said, considering that Hyomin has been sick for ages now, the vocals were pretty okay, and at least the other girls are singing too.

4Minute - "Volume Up"
Is it just me or was today's performance flat? I mean in terms of vocals everyone, Hyun A maybe a bit, was consistent, and Jiyoon's high notes were pretty much spot-on, but as a whole they lacked intensity, and the leader's middle 8 was of no help to break the lack of intensity. They carried themselves well, but it just lacked that spark.

SHINee - "Sherlock"
Honestly? Today's performance wasn't their best, but it's a lot better than when I first saw them perform this. All-around strong vocals, and the stage presence is just overflowing. It was an enjoyable performance.

Shinhwa - "Venus"
The purple outfits are... interesting, to say the least, but distracting, especially the unlucky members who got purple pants to match. Not as distracting as SISTAR's outfits though. The way they carry themselves on stage is really something else, the song is as choreographed as everyone else, and even without prancing around stage, they hold the audience in the palm of their hands -- the fan chants are so, so loud, and everyone revels in the performance. It's such a joy to watch a Shinhwa performance, it really is.

CN Blue - "In My Head" + "Hey You"(WINNER)
No big breakthroughs in today's performance, just the same old complaints. First off, I know they're not really playing, and that itself is a problem, but really, couldn't you give off some semblance of them being a band like say I don't know, putting them near each other so they can mock-hear each other? In other news, Jonghyun sounds more and more amazing each time I hear him.

[April 13, 2012] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

Why hello there! (^_^) Music show recaps are now in full-swing after re-starting with Inkigayo last Sunday, and today's show was full of comebacks! If you haven't already, acquaint yourself with new offerings from EXO-K, 4Minute and SISTAR before we go on to the show itself.

Today's show was actually pretty good, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear very few extremely painful moments. However, we weren't completely free of them.

Video credit goes to shu35151224@YouTube.

EXO-K - "History" + "MAMA"
YES! They finally sing live! However, like everything else SME does, it's once again a huge disappointment. I thought you guys could sing? You're even worse than DBSK when everyone but Yoochun sounded painful. When they hit the chorus of History, I literally started laughing. What is this? A screaming contest? What are you, a bunch of starving 3 year-olds during lunch time? I admire you all for singing at the choruses, but that was just painful. That high note at the beginning of the second chorus is MAMA was painful beyond words. Whoever did that should be sent back to SME bootcamp. It was even more painful than Changmin's wail during their performance of Mideoyo back in 2004, because at least that had some semblance of a note. The problem is that by themselves they're not exactly brilliant live performers, so when you put them together, it's not enough that you put six new vocals together, they also have little group dynamic, and they don't have a concept of just standing back and letting someone else bask in the spotlight. They have to learn that they're now in a group with five other guys -- they can't go prancing around like the "star trainees" they used to be, because the most important thing now is not standing alone, but helping other guys stand. It's like a human pyramid, if the guys below are shaky, everything else becomes a total disaster.

NU'EST - "FACE"
If there's something Pledis has done right, it's giving NU'EST this song. From the performances you can tell that they're not the world's best singers, and if they sang something from more vocally capable bands they'd probably sound like dying chickens too (I'm looking at you BTOB), but they got the right song for their vocals, so they actually sound pretty good. A few slips here and there, but over-all they've gotten to a point where they can all pull this song off well. I'm keeping my eyes on you, NU'EST.

Spica - "Painkiller"
I should really get to listening to their album. After the show, I will. That said, it's another strong performance today, but I think I know why that's all I ever say about them. The song itself is not really made for performance, even if it's an okay song when you think about it. Therefore, although they do a really confident and consistent job at pulling it off, and they themselves have wow factors of their own, the song is pretty flat when performed in front of a live audience, and goes right through us.

B1A4 - "BABY I'M SORRY"
B1A4, you're slowly inching back into my good books. Today's performance was strong, and even if I was in the middle of writing my EXO comment when they came on, I stopped to watch and I definitely wasn't disappointed. The vocals were consistently strong, and they're beginning to show that attitude of holding the audience in their hands. Good job, B1A4, good job.

Nine Muses - "Ticket"
Everyone sounds pretty okay today, surprise surprise, and it's a solid performance over-all, they have presence and all that, but that's all this will every be -- just okay at best. And that's what bores me, because it's the same thing every week and they're not good enough to draw us in every single time.

Seo In Guk - "Tease Me"
I usually only recap idols, but I was really drawn in with Seo In Guk's performance today. I was aware that he does have a voice, but this song reminds me so much of the Hwanhee songs I adore. It has groove, and despite not hearing the recording before today's show, it drew me in amidst writing comments for Spica -- I had to stop and watch. Well-sung, well-performed, amazing song.

SISTAR - "Lead Me" + "Alone"
I, once, again, predicted the accompanying song. What can I say, it's a talent. Will this get me hired as an A&R person now? (;D) Lead Me was done pretty well, and I liked the cute set design, plus, it's a good thing they didn't make tutu girl (who I see is still wearing frilly skirts) sing live, because that would ruin everything. Let her hide behind her backing track, that would be less painful, thank you. Now, Alone. I love the set, but hate the outfits and the choreography. And, why, may I ask, are you girls lip-synching? You can try hiding it, but you're forgetting that I have ears. Someone turn on their mics or face death! NOW!

CN Blue - "Hey You"
Aaaaand they pushed the drummer back again. Just when we were beginning to get along about this matter, Korea! I'm disappointed. And also, while you're at it, please plug in their instruments. Thanks!

4Minute - "Dream Racer" + "Volume Up"
Guess who predicted their second song? Me! It's a performance song, and even if the verses are kind of meh, I genuinely like the melody of the chorus. Volume Up was how I expected it to be, and while Hyun A sounded whiny and the leader's voice was non-existent, the magnae did a pretty decent job, Gayoon was consistent as always, and Jiyoon hit those notes pretty well considering that they're pretty high to be doing more than one or two times. Not bad at all, 4Minute.

Shinhwa - "Venus"
Now I'm sure we've pretty much acknowledged that Shinhwa are not exactly the most amazing live vocalists, but what they do in spite of that fact is what makes them such amazing performers. No one's perfect, and there were slips with the vocals today, but as a whole it was really a show. And note, they're using the standard-issue KBS handsfree mics that everyone but DBSK seems to sound horrible with. The stage presence they have, the fact that when they all sing together they sound like a whole (take notes, EXO), and how they confidently carry their not really amazing live vocals -- that's what makes the performance a pleasure to watch.

SHINee - "Sherlock"(WINNER)
It's good to know that after last Sunday's meh performance, SHINee haven't entirely lost it. Everyone was much better today, and the intensity of their presence is back with a vengeance. Always a good thing, SHINee, always a good thing.

[April 8, 2012] SBS Inkigayo Highlights+Commentary

Guess who's back?! ME! It's officially summer over here, so I've been stuck at home doing nothing, which means I have all the time in the world to work on a truckload of posts, and the return of my music show recaps!

I meant to start recaps last Friday, but I decided to wait until the shows became just that much more interesting, courtesy of EXO-K and upcoming comebacks from 4Minute and SISTAR.

EXO-K - "MAMA"
Where to start, where to start. Oho, this is gonna be fun. :D I've expressed my dislike for EXO, and while I'm not going to defend myself for it, this "performance" just solidifies the fact that I don't like them. First of all, the purpose of a live performance as a measure of talent and skill is based around the concept that live performances are live. That you only have one chance to perform a song from start to finish, and regardless of whatever mistakes you make, what's done is done. Making mistakes doesn't make you untalented, it makes you human. But trying to hide those mistakes makes people suspicious. If I wanted to watch a perfect performance with studio vocals and no mistakes, I'd watch the music video. Better cinematography, better quality, no screaming fans so I can listen to the song in peace. This performance was pre-recorded, repeated more than five times, and lip-synched. Let's end it at that. Second, if they keep this up, this bad habit of lip-synching, it's yet another strike on their stage deportment. The SBS Gayo Daejun was a big, fat, strike one -- being disrespectful to their seniors, and the audience -- and this is another one. Okay, fine, DBSK, Super Junior, SNSD, SHINee and f(x) have all done it at certain points of their careers, and some of them continue to, but EXO have a lot to prove. Just for the record, DBSK did not lip-synch their debut performance, and anyone who thinks that way should go learn their history. They're also debuting in a time where technology is incredibly sophisticated and broadcast stations readily have the needed equipment to handle live performances. Although SBS isn't the best out of the three, the other acts on today show that they're perfectly capable of handling live performances. EXO have so much hype to live up to, and continuing to lip-synch and pre-record their way out of things will turn a lot of people off. Me included.

BTOB - "Insane"
I've heard a lot about BTOB, but like a few of the other acts on today, I've never seen them perform. Bad "Love In the Ice" cover aside (whichever of the members were singing it), BTOB are okay. They're not amazing or anything, but the song makes them sound like decent live singers, and it's catchy in certain parts. I'm not impressed, but I'm not turned off either.

NU'EST - "FACE"
I watched one of NU'EST's earlier performances a few weeks ago, and to say it was painful would be an understatement, so I stopped following them altogether. But I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised to see that they've greatly improved! I thought they were forever doomed as the male AS in every sense of the word, including live performances, but I see I was wrong. The vocals are still rough around the edges, but they sound, and look, much more comfortable on stage. I'll be keeping my eye on these guys.

Spica - "Painkiller"
I have actually never heard any Spica material, nor have I seen any performances, but this was pretty good! Strong vocals over-all, okay material, and actual stage presence! This is what I've been saying about being comfortable on stage -- it shows when you not only know what you're doing, but when you're sincere about it as well. That and pink hair and black pants girls can really sing!

B1A4 - "BABY I'M SORRY"
I wasn't really impressed with the recording of this, but I actually enjoyed today's performance! It's good to know that B1A4 have abandoned that horrid excuse for a song they were promoting last year, and have moved on to much better things. It's not the best song, or the best performance, but it's catchy, it works, and it's ever so slightly effortless. We're making progress, B1A4! Progress!

Nine Muses - "Ticket"
So I see we're still not very decent live singers, Nine Muses. The performance itself was okay, the song is on the bland side of being okay, and there's nothing really outstanding or interesting about anything.

CN Blue - "Hey You"
It was an okay performance, and the song is very CN Blue, but above all, it's good to know that someone finally put the drummer close to the rest of the band. Took you guys long enough!

Big Bang - "Bad Boy" + "Fantastic Baby"
Everyone had better be taking notes during Big Bang's performance, or else! They sounded a bit strained today, and as usual, someone turned their backing track way too high, but even if you're just watching the YouTube video you can really see and feel the performance. It's effortless but precise, it's fun when it's supposed to be, but it's not out of control.

SHINee - "Sherlock"(WINNER)
I don't know if it's just me, but something about this performance is off. Sure, everything was done almost perfectly, and there's no doubt that SHINee have become amazing performers, but it's as if the intensity of the vocals didn't match the intensity of the rest of the performance. It's not the technicals, because the notes were pretty much all there, it's not the emotion either because everyone sang with conviction, and it's obviously not in the volume because if that was the case I could've just turned it up. The levels didn't match this time around, I'm afraid.

[2011 Gayo Daejun Special] SBS - The Good, The Bad, and The Promising

It's January first pretty much everywhere now, I guess, so happy new year to all you guys! Thank you for making 2011 such an amazing year for me, without you guys and your constant pestering and all your tear-jerking comments, as well as all the trolling I got this year, I would've never been able to get through the year in one piece, and win my very first Philippine Blog Award! Thank you so much for taking time out of your lives to read my work, and even more time out to comment on my posts. I may not answer your comments, but I read every single one of them. You've made Pop Reviews Now one of the leading critical K-Pop review blogs, and although I still have a long way to go, I promise to make an effort to repay you guys this year for all your support. Also, thank you for reading this, because it means you're sticking with me this 2012!

Allow me to explain this post first though. I really meant to do a recap of the 2011 Gayo Daejuns, but the original plan was throwing everything in to one huge post with all three networks' shows divided into several categories. However, due to the fact that I want to get the Gayo Daejun post out as fast as possible before it becomes stale news, and also the fact that I'm still in the process of getting a copy of the MBC show (which I've heard is the best out of the three), I've decided to split the posts by network. Today's recap is of the SBS show, which was broadcast on December 29th. Tomorrow I will be recapping the KBS show, and on Tuesday the MBC show (hopefully I have a copy of it by then), if everything goes as planned.

The first of the three Gayo Daejuns this year, SBS delivered a solid show with 170 singers packed in to three and a half hours of running around stage. The show was divided into several themed stages, including a special suite for SM Entertainment artists (and the debut of several EXO members), one which featured CN Blue and FT Island collaborating with f(x) and the Wonder Girls, and a hip-hop stage. The SBS show was a balance of familiar, hit singles from 2011, and special stages.

But that doesn't mean it was immune to disasters, because there were quite a few. And there were those performances that could've been really amazing, but didn't really come out right. I won't be recapping the entire show, instead, we'll talk about the best, worst, and the most promising performances.

THE BAD

B1A4 - Beautiful Target
And the award for the worst performance of the night? Well, that goes to none other than B1A4. For several reasons. First, obviously the song itself is a complete and utter disaster. It's all over the place in the most spread-out way possible. You look away for a while and the song sounds completely different, plus, about 99% of the song has to utilize a backing track, because the vocal treatment changes every five seconds, so basically all these guys are doing is screaming "yeah!" and running around stage. I'd hardly call that a performance. Second, what is with that choreography? My eyes. And third, when you put the song, together with the horrid choreography, and the fact that they're actually trying desperately, it's hilarious.

Gain (Brown Eyed Girls), Jiyeon (T-Ara), Hyun A (4Minute), Sunhwa (Secret), Fei (Miss A), G.NA - "Run the World"
Oh wow. Where do I start. Well, I appreciate the effort, and I appreciate the fact that they included Ga-In (even if she forgot some of the choreography), but this performance was another mess. Too many girls, and I guess they didn't have enough time to learn the whole song, because for the majority of the song they danced in shifts, and yeah, choreography was forgotten. The dancing in shifts really irritated me though, because it really shows how unprepared they were, and it's like the performance was half gyrating all over the place, and half dead air. At the same time. It's inconsistent, three or four of them are dancing, then there are two or three just standing there on the side. What are they, mannequins? If they didn't have enough time, then they should've just done one verse and a chorus or something. I'd rather they did that then haphazardly do a full, 3-minute performance. And really, people can only take so much of that kind of dancing.

G.NA - "Top Girl"+"Black&White"
It really breaks my heart to see G.NA like this. With that horrid choreography at the beginning, those pretty weak vocals throughout, and the cheap repertoire. She's talented, she shouldn't be singing songs like this, because they do her absolutely no justice.

KARA and 2PM - "Every Little Step"
Everyone was so dead during this performance. I mean I understand that KARA and 2PM aren't the best singers around, but what makes this so bad is that it was already lip-synced for heaven's sake, and yet the singing was wimpy and lifeless. I would've written it off anyway if the vocals were fixed up, but not as much as I am now. If you're going to lip-sync a performance anyway, at least use all those studio tricks to make the track sound damn good. Such lazy, lazy people.

THE PROMISING

Miss A - "Goodbye Baby"
I adore this arrangement, I really do. It's so fierce, and it matches the melody so well. It's obvious that this was thought about. However, their vocals on this were so disappointing, bad almost. Like, really, they were weak and everyone sounded like they were being strangled all the way through. I've dealt with the regular Miss A breathlessness since they debuted, and they got better this year, but this performance was so painful to listen to. It's such a waste though, because the arrangement was really good.

After School - "Diva"
This was a really interesting song choice, but also a very logical one, because "Shampoo" would bore people to death. Just the idea of hearing them perform "Diva" after so long is enough to get people interested, but in true After School fashion, they failed to deliver. Add the fact that line-stealer Raina struck again, STEALING LINES FROM JUNG AH (HOW DARE SHE), and that they didn't do the entire song and it just disappeared into them and Pledis boys dancing to dubstep (snore..), the originally good idea turned into bad execution.

KARA - "Step"
This is another arrangement I really like. "Step" in itself is already a big performance-ready song, and there's little you can do, but I like how they made the percussion sound a lot more real as if they had a live band behind them. They didn't lose that high-energy, yet girly, sound, but they made it a lot more apt for a live performance, and the transition to and from the dance break was very smoothly done. The let down? Again, the vocals. I'm not surprised, in fact I was expecting worst, but just because this is the best they can do, doesn't mean I'll forgive them for being inferior. They can't sing live, and it's such a shame because their material is really, really good, fun, pop.

T-Ara - "Cry Cry"
If this was done completely live and pulled off just as well as it was lip-synced, this would've been one of the best performances. But no, the backing track wins and you hear next to no live vocals. The arrangement is brilliant, the dance break is different but not disjointed and they kept the distinct piano line, even a bit of the original feel of the song, but made it fresher, and interesting. And believe me, after looping this for over 200 times this year, thus making the original arrangement pretty stale for me, this is really a strong, new, but faithful take on the song. It's an amazing arrangement ruined by bad production decisions and possibly the lack of solid live vocals.

CN Blue and The Wonder Girls - "Tainted Love"
First of all, Yoobin shouldn't have been the first to sing, because I was turned off right away. Yoobin isn't a bad singer, but you have to have a certain level of proficiency to sing songs like this, and she doesn't have that. She sounded like she was drunk and singing this on karaoke or something, not on stage. But Sohee and Lim don't have that proficiency either. Lim needs more power and this is a song she can't get away with because she has an American accent. And really now Sohee, why do you even try. Her line was all air and no singing, she was useless. It should have been just Ye Eun and Sun Ye doing this, because if it was it would've been an amazing performance.

Wonder Girls - "Be My Baby"
It was a classy performance, with decent vocals and a very polished arrangement, but even if the arrangement was fresh, it was boring. Pretty piano line, yes, and if you think really hard it's actually not a bad performance or anything, it surprisingly matches the lesser members' vocals even if it's now more dependent on the melody, but this is a performance, it's supposed to really catch your attention from the very beginning. In a sense, this arrangement was so predictable, but on the other hand, had they done a rock remix it would've been boring too considering all the other rock-ish arrangements that came before them. But actually, I liked the track that was playing during the intro, if they turned that into the remix things would've been interesting. Basically, what this performance lacks is shock. I know I have very high expectations of them, but after "Wonder World", why wouldn't I?

SMTOWN - "The Sound of Hallyu"
I loved the idea of this, and I loved how, even if majority of them weren't playing live, it was made very obvious that the people who played instruments actually know how to play them in real life. And I like how the people who sang were actually the people who can sing, and they didn't force people who are dancers, not singers, to sing. Like Taeyeon and Changmin's duet. Even if Changmin out-screamed Taeyeon, she was definitely the right choice for the song. If it had been Jessica I would have raised hell. The Shinhwa and H.O.T. covers were tame, and that's one of the two reasons why this is a "promising", but not one of the best performances. The songs they chose need savage vocals. Raw, powerful, with minimal processing, but seeing as the people they got to sing those parts, although good singers, simply don't have the vocals to do those songs justice. Of course the Exo members were a big part of the thrill of this suite, but they, or actually just one of them, are the second reason I didn't put this down as one of the best performances. Towards the end, the second guy to the left of Changmin, I think he was the one who danced after Victoria, was TALKING to the other Exo guy beside him. That's such horrid stage deportment. It may not be a lot to you guys, because the standard reaction is "So what's wrong with that? They're just talking.", but this is one of the most basic forms of courtesy towards not only the audience, because they have a responsibility to give their full attention to the audience and their performance, but also towards the other artists on stage. How would you like it if the guy beside you was talking to someone during your big solo? If, this early, that kind of behavior is just let go, forgiven and forgotten, it will get worse. Trust me, I've seen it happen, and it definitely doesn't end pretty. And considering how Exo are being hyped to be extremely talented, if they don't have basic stage manners it will be a huge waste of their talent.

THE GOOD

Yoon Mirae with Gary, Dynamic Duo, Jun Hyung (BEAST), Hoya (Infinite), Mir (MBLAQ), Taecyeon (2PM) - "Get It In"+"Monster"
And the award for the best singing of the night goes to Yoon Mirae. All these idols should be ashamed to call themselves singers after Yoon Mirae, who I believe raps majority of the time (the new times I've heard her material), out-sings them all without lifting a finger, by just by singing a few lines. Backing track, yes, but you know she's rapping and SINGING live, it's so obvious, but she does it so well that to untrained ears it may be a bit confusing. But apart from the strong vocals, she has the stage presence to not have to jump around too much. She still does towards the end, but she has a certain air to her that you know she's having so much fun and you want some of it too, but she still commands the stage, and all the guys sharing it with her. This, my friends, is a true performance.

2NE1 - "I Am The Best"+"Ugly"
I didn't like "I Am The Best", but like I always say, you have to watch 2NE1 for their material to make sense. It's not that their recordings are bad, because the production on them is outstanding, it's not that they can't sing, because my God can Minzy and CL sing, it's that their material is made to show off their strengths, and 2NE1's strengths lie in performance. They don't exactly run around stage because the majority of their performances are choreographed, but they have a command of it that's like no other. It's not just stage manners, or presence, it's really a command and it shows in everything -- the way they move, the way they sing. Pair that with a very creative and accommodating talent agency, and you have familiar, but stellar performance.

Brown Eyed Girls - "Sixth Sense"
I noticed that hardly any of my favorite performances were full remixes. But I guess that it's harder to perform a familiar arrangement and still make it sound interesting. But that's exactly what the Brown Eyed Girls did. Apart from adding a few bits and pieces (literally pits and pieces) all over the place, and adding a dance break, the base is still the same. This is one of the best girl group performances, and, like the entirety of their "Sixth Sense" promotions, performances, songs, singles, this is girl group master class. To all the girl groups trying to be sexy with skimpy, but cheap, outfits, to all the girl groups trying to be fierce but failing, to all the girl groups trying to sing while dancing, this, girls, is how it's done. Watch and learn.

BEAST - "Fiction"
They didn't really do much to the arrangement of "Fiction", just softened a few parts, added bits and pieces here and there, and switched some things around, but the basic mould of the song is still the same. And that's the selling point of the performance -- it's familiar. However, despite it being pretty simple, the modifications were enough to keep things fresh and not bore people to death. It's also a very straightforward performance, but in being simple it's also very well-sung. And considering how good a song "Fiction" is to start with, it's a good thing that they didn't experiment too much, but still had the foresight to prepare for it. Like I said a while ago, I prefer a simple, but prepared performance over an elaborate but haphazard one.

DBSK/HoMin - "Keep Your Head Down"+"MAXIMUM"
Call it unoriginal, because the dance part most probably is, call it boring, because there were no significant changes to the arrangements, but what you can't deny is that Yunho and Changmin know how to perform, and they showed it. They hold the audience in the palm of their hands and they know exactly what to do to make them go wild, but they never, ever, forget the musical aspect of it all. Screaming, yes, chanting and interacting, yes, but stopping to sing just for the sake of it? Never. That's the kind of stage deportment that newer acts, even Super Junior and SNSD, lack -- they lack concentration and choose dancing, waving and being cute over singing. Image is important, yes, and they take care of that too, but they are singers before anything else, and singing should always be first priority. Yunho and Changmin are what idols should be, and THIS is how it should be done.

[April 30, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights+Commentary

Sorry for being MIA yesterday, I had still to take care of and I wasn't feeling very well. Even now I have this horrid horrid migraine that even extra strength, "fast-acting" Advil can't remedy and any second now I'm gonna cry out in pain LOL. But enough about me. Today's MuCore was pretty bare, but that's mainly because a lot of the acts have already said goodbye, and some are just missing LOL.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot270@YT.

X-5 - "The Show Is Over"
You know, for rookies like them they're outstanding. Not just kinda good, outstanding - one of the best new bands I've seen in a while. What made me say that? Their consistently strong vocals on all three music shows - this is MuCore, which dooesn't have the best sound in the world, and they're using handsfree mics. To sing live. While running around stage and dancing their asses off. I mean they slip up sometimes, but a lot less than your regular rookie. The song is strong for a group of their stature as well. I mean they can definitely do better, but for their debut this is really good. Good to know the truckloads of money spent on them went to a good cause.

A Pink - "Don't Know"
K so I'm writing this now with one of the worse migraines I've had in months and the stage is hurting my eyes - I had to invert the colors of my screen just to watch it without crying out in pain. Today's performance was mimed, thankfully for my ears, but not for them. They need the practice, and they need to be able to prove themselves in the near future - miming is like the worse thing to do at this point. A big no, A Pink.

Infinite - "Nothing's Over"
Awww, I can't believe they're already doing their last round of live performances this weekend - I actually liked this song! And thankfully, everyone's singing it pretty consistently now - the vocals are pretty much as strong as they can get for a song as melodic as this. And you have to hand it to them - the chorus is pretty tricky. It sounds easy, but it's not that easy to sing. The way they cut the song into like 2+ minutes was kinda sloppy and awkward too.

Rainbow - "To Me"
Their vocals are kinda soft today, I blame it on the handsfree mics, but they're actually pretty consistent and not half bad. They're getting used to the song (it's about time) and they're getting used to performing it - all of them.

CN Blue -"Love Girl"
The stage today was.. interesting. The cinematography was.. more like for a commercial. The vocals were.. Yonghwa. And once again, the guitars weren't plugged in. You know MuCore, it's bad to zoom in on the drummer, and his sticks, when someone like me is watching. I'll leave it at that LOL.

f(x) - "Danger"
After winning MuBank yesterday (Yay! Happy for them. :D), it's like everyone's vocals suddenly went up really close to the 6-member (and less) SM band standard, which is incredibly high. And considering that this is a song you can't really sing, that's really good. Luna's high note got hella strong, and Sulli's voice is starting to shine. Ooooh I can't wait for the day they get a song that'll turn non-fans into fans and fans into rabid fans - they're pretty close!

4Minute - "Mirror Mirror"
Outdoor performance, eh? Hyun A's improved A LOT, Jiyoon is still brilliant, I still hate the maknae, and Gayoon sounds the same. They're a lot more comfortable singing the song now, but that's about the only change. The attitude is there, the presence, the grace (one way or another).

After School - "Let's Step Up" + "Shampoo"
Yay! They're back! The intro was cool, even if I liked their outfits better yesterday. It was oozing with After School presence, and everything about it makes you wanna stop what you're doing and just watch. The vocals on 'Shampoo' today were definitely a lot better than yesterday - UEE sounds like less of a mess (but still is one), there is in fact a voice hidden under new girl's still-weak live vocals, Nana has actually held a melody, Bekah has gotten a grip on herself and delivered, Raina sounds a lot stronger and you can actually hear Jooyeon now! Looks like I'll have to do a lot less begging to Pledis now that their vocals aren't a complete mess anymore. Yayyy.

Big Bang -"Stupid Liar"
Well, it looks like this chapter of k-pop is coming to a close - HoMin are gone, and Big Bang/Infinite are at their goodbye stages already. It was a good phase, if I may say so. Like I always say when they do this song, it's literally like Big Bang just dropped everything, ran to the stage, and had a blast. You just wanna have fun after watching this. The vocal parts, minus GD's pseudo-vocals, were strong again, as they should be.

[April 24, 2011] SBS Inkigayo Highlights + Commentary

Inki was in Jeju today! Yay! However, when I found out that little bit of information yesterday, I was less than pleased - more like fearful for my ears. Why? Because one, you have a gazillion rookie groups on today Two, this is Inkigayo - the sound ALWAYS sucks. And three, this is Inkigayo somewhere other than the SBS studio - the sound people aren't used to the venue. Add the fact that they can't even get good results at the SBS studio week in and week out and you have a sonic disaster.


Well it looks like my predictions were right. Someone please fire the Inki sound guy before I go there myself and make sure he dies a slow, and painful death. I don't care if it's easter, he needs to go. NOW.

Video credits go to CrazyCarrot370. The best thing that ever happened to kpop hahah.

A Pink - "Don't Know"
You know what they remind me of? That group of girls in elementary school with budding stage parents who force them to perform during school events. Maybe some of them can sing, but the main goal of the entire performance, as dictated by their parents, is to be "discovered" and become the next Mariah or Whitney. Which you can only do by attracting attention to yourself more than the others. The vocals today were painful and the over-all performance like some kind of cute-off. Meh.

Rania -"Dr. Feel Good"
That part where the girl's miming the part another girl sings reminds me of Chun and Yunho on "The Way You Are". Anyway. Oh wow. Apart from that stupidity at the first line of the song and the 2 or 3 solo lines mimed, for rookies Rania overcame crap Inki sound pretty well. And in k-pop, doing well in Inki means you're pretty damn good. They have presence, they have vocals, they have a pretty decent song - I'm impressed, and I want more.

Dal Shabet -"Pink Rocket"
I don't even want to talk about them. Just watch the video.

Infinite - "Nothing's Over"
As much as I'd like to say Infinite did good today, like on MuBank, and as much as they've really improved, for SOME STUPID REASON like I don't know, crap sound, they sounded off today. And the verses hurt my ears. That last set of high notes wasn't half bad though, even if the guy doing it was cracking all over the place. Very tight performance, except of course for the blegh vocals.

Orange Caramel -"Bangkok City"
I don't want to talk about the song, but I will say something. I AM SO GLAD AFTER SCHOOL IS COMING BACK THIS WEEK SO I CAN BE SPARED OF THIS BLASPHEMY. Preferably by a JungAh/Gahee tag-team.

Rainbow - "To Me"
It's now a contest between the long-haired blonde girl and the girl I liked yesterday for my favorite voice in Rainbow. The fact that there's a contest means we're making progress, Rainbow! But the inki handsfree mics are doing nothing for their vocals, and you really have to listen to hear them actually singing - most of the time it's just a bunch of random sounds and the backing track laced with breaths. We're not making that much progress, Rainbow - work harder. LOL.

ZE:A - "Here I Am"
I understand that the song is floaty and whatnot, but their live vocals do not sound floaty - they sound strained, like in reality that can't sing the song. Their energy on stage is really strong, and they finally worked on that whole "being a group" thing, but their vocals are the exact opposite - some of them are lifeless, majority are strained. And as a whole just sad, I'm sorry to say. My ears hurt. It's a shame though, I kinda like the recorded version.

CN Blue -"Intuition"
JONGHYUN. SHADES. YES. Yonghwa slurring his words because he doesn't have shades but still wants to be all "gangster". NO. Just no. Yonghwa you're a very competent, consistent live singer - slurring your words only makes you sound like you don't know what you're doing. ANd if we can move the drummer a biiiiiiiit closer that would be great, SBS, thank you. We can work on plugging in their guitars later.

f(x) - "Danger"
What did I say about NOT TURNING THE BACKING TRACK UP TOO LOUD, inki sound guy? I thought we worked this out last year - you have to make their voices AUDIBLE, not drown them in pre-recorded crap. You can hardly hear ANY of them, and Krystal's vocals were like, non-existent. We're talking about Krystal here, the popular one. And you can't hear her? Are you nuts? Now because the stupid sound guy was being stupid, the performance lacked punch - obviously, I COULDN'T EVEN HEAR THEM SING. The attitude was there though, which is always good.

4Minute - "Mirror Mirror"
They're all getting used to singing the song, that's for sure - OK maybe everyone except Hyun A. Can she just stick with rapping and mock-singing please? However Jiyoon sounds epic as always. And Gayoon is consistent, but the problem is just I really just don't like her voice. The performance was fine, with the standard 4Minute attitude, and the vocals were ever so slightly better than the last time. I still prefer HuH over this though.

U-Kiss - "0330"
Oh wow. Their vocals sound a lot less strained today, and a lot richer. Of course the hand mics are a big help, but it's like they all got rest because there's no panting. And the high note was done pretty well, even if the line right after was sloppy. Strong performance - I've been waiting to say that for a U-kiss song!

SNSD - "Hoot"
Before I personally thought SNSD's live vocals were way below the standard for a band of their stature and pedigree. I mean outside of their singles a good half of them can really sing, but they could never quite pull off their singles the way a band like them should be able to. The only reason why I didn't like SNSD was because I wasn't sold on the live performances of their singles, and it annoyed me that they could sing other people's songs better than their own, but as they get older they're forced to grow - more so now that they're in Japan. Surprise of all surprises, guess what the solution to that problem was - Japan. Of course. It turned DBSK from extraordinary talents into legends - it's slowly turning SNSD from a girl group that hit the big time to a girl group with pedigree to their name, and this performance is proof of that. The good singers are getting competent, consistent, and the slightly better ones are getting stronger.

Big Bang -"Love Song"
If you want TOP to sing, and want to make it look like he isn't TOP trying desperately sing, please don't put his line before Daesung, who is undeniably the best singer in Big Bang. (if you want to argue with me I don't care - Taeyang's voice annoys me) Then if you want to make GD sound good, don't put him between Daesung and Taeyang, who have obviously been singing more lines than GD these past few years. What's more, GD couldn't even pull off singing a few "I hate this love song"'s without panting. And Seungri's first solo was weak. I know he's sick, but if he can stand on stage and dance, the vocals should be slightly stronger. Daesung sounds tired too, and his lower range sounds weak. Did someone forget to make these guys warm up or something? Do they even need to be told to warm up at this point? The only one who sounds like usual is Taeyang. I'm being tough on them because they're Big Bang, undeniably 5 of the best performers of their generation - for heaven's sake they just gave an epic performance yesterday, what the crap happened? Apart from Seungri being sick, of course.

DBSK/HoMin - "Before You Go" & "Keep Your Head Down"
Before we start, Inki, is it really necessary for the flame to be heard through HoMin's mics? It's annoying. But anyway. If you want strong Inki handsfree mic vocals - you get them with HoMin. Of course they're not as good as they are on MuBank, but of all the performers who used handsfree mics today, obviously HoMin's vocals were the strongest. And Inki sound guy only slightly messed up! Yay! The performance today was spot-on for Inki standards - if you're a good performer, you're a good performer wherever you go, and technicalities cannot, and will not change that. HoMin are seasoned, trained and outstanding performers - you see how their vocals are brilliant whether it's on major music shows like this or small TV shows with almost no equipment to accommodate vocals. Now, this is the official end of all HoMin activities for "Keep Your Head Down". I'm sad. Really sad. But like the crazy OT5 cassie I am, there's that little sliver of hope that the next time they come back, it's at 5. I know it's ridiculous, but it keeps me, and a lot of other fans, sane. The demands of the industry say otherwise, heck even my brain says otherwise, but there's a part of me that HAS to see that magic again - and hoping keeps me from going nuts, so yeah - have mercy on me just this once?

>

[April 23, 2011] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

Yes, I will be returning with the regular three music shows a week - this is serious, until I once again get too busy to keep up. Today's MuCore had a pretty good line up, and surprisingly, MuCore sound has greatly improved! A lot of debuts today, as well as f(x)'s comeback and HoMin's farewell stage.

Let's get right into it! Read on for the recap.


Video credit goes to CrazyCarrot270@YT. Brilliance, I tell you, brilliance!

B1A4 -"OK"
You know what this song reminds me of? The theme song for a Disney-type teenage sitcom by someone like McFly, or the JoBros in their early days. Or the theme song for something like "God of Study". It's not bad, in fact since it's the kind of music I was surrounded by growing up, I'm kinda feeling it. But to be honest with you their vocals, their presence and their over-all performance is over this type of songs that I honestly just want them to get over this phase and give me brilliance. Did I hear fanchants? And loud cheers? For a debuting group? And did you see how they just prance around stage like it's nothing to them - but end up putting out pretty strong vocals? Right now, it's between them and X-5 for new boyband supremacy, and the competition is pretty damn fierce, if you ask me.

A Pink - "Don't Know"
Ugh. Them. Once again, everyone is trying to out sing, out dance and out cute each other. It's like this is a competition between members for them and the one who has the cutest expression or the sharpest hand movements wins - it's not. And because everyone is still trying to outdo everyone else, I cannot pinpoint an effortlessly amazing voice yet. Today's performance was very robotic - no feeling, no spark. Boring.

Block B - "Freeze"
I know a lot of people have been gushing about Block B, but to be honest with you I don't see the hype. The song is generic and they're not the best singers I've seen either. The guy with the hand mic, who I assume is their lead vocalist, can belt notes alright but there's something off about the way he sings. It's like he's trying to be Taeyang, Seulong, and Jay Park all rolled in one - he's not any of them. And is it just me is one of the rappers trying to look, and rap, like TOP? Give me a better song and work on singing before I take notice of you, please?

Rania -"Dr. Feel Good"
To be honest with you, I don't really get why they're being criticized. I mean OK the choreography is rather suggestive, but for heaven's sake it's not like we haven't seen something like this before. And my god are these girls talented - they can sing like THAT while dancing themselves into oblivion? I'm impressed. Yeah sure majority of the performance was the hook(s), but their solo lines were near-perfectly delivered. With handsfree mics. While dancing like that and lying down on the floor and everything. If it's between X-5 and B1A4 for the boybands, it's definitely a war between Rania and the Brave Girls. Oh dear why is this generation of new groups so damn good.

Dal Shabet -"Pink Rocket"
You know Dal Shabet, you didn't need to come back so quickly after "Supa Dupa Diva". That's code for "I don't want to see you on music shows. preferably never again, but I'll bargain for a few months". But nooooooooo, they just HAD to come back with this disaster of a single that they obviously cannot sing. Their vocals today were an absolute pain to hear, I'm sorry.

Rainbow - "To Me"
Rainbow are the perfect example to girl groups starting out that if you really want it and you really try, you can turn out pretty decent. From what I've seen, I really like the girl who's in the middle for majority of the choruses - the one singing "na reul bulreo bwa"? Yeah, her. Nice voice. And around 3 others have nice voices, but not enough technique to carry them live. Today's performance wasn't as good as yesterday's, but it's definitely a lot better than majority of the performances of their previous singles. I wouldn't willingly watch this again, but I won't cringe to death if I watched it again. We're making progress, Rainbow, let's hope DSP lets you stick around long enough.

Orange Caramel -"Bangkok City"
I refuse to talk about the song again, and subject myself to anger and annoyance LOL. But to be honest with you the vocals weren't bad, if you take in consideration how the verses fit none of them and the chorus is 90% backing track. Next song, please? My ears hurt.

CN Blue -"Intuition"
The only difference this has from yesterday's performance is that Yonghwa isn't wearing shades, he has a guitar, and the song's shorter. That's basically it. Vocally strong, as always, unplugged guitars, as always, and an alienated drummer. Although we're making progress - maybe 2 feet closer to Yonghwa and I'll be happy.

f(x) - "Danger"
Oh wow. Where do I start. Well, considering that SM refuses to give up on the "NU ABO"/"Chu~" vocal treatment that I would like them to set on fire for the world to forget, I think this song is a good compromise. It's not that cutesy anymore, it has a bit more epic-ness to it, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY SING THE SONG NOW! SME I'm so proud of you! LOL. And another thing - it fits all their vocals perfectly. Luna's vocals are degraded here and there's no epic high note to make up for it, but I now realize that they could've done worse. The gap between the better and the worse in f(x) is getting closer and closer - Sulli and Victoria's vocals are much much stronger now, and are catching up to Luna and Krystal. And may I say that I'm beginning to like Sulli's voice. Whether or not they're all using handsfree mics today, it was a strong performance.

4Minute - "Mirror Mirror"
I like the outfits today! Jiyoon was good today, although her vocals still a bit too throaty, but I'd take her over Gayoon any day. Now if only we can get Gayoon's fluidity and Jiyoon's technique and put it in one voice - that would be perfect. Although, Jihyun wasn't half bad today. And their presence is slowly, but surely, getting stronger and stronger - if before they owned the stage, now it looks like home of them. They're still really bringing it, but it's slowly getting effortless. Now just work on your vocals and BAM.

Big Bang -"Stupid Liar"
Performers in every sense of the word. Not a big fan of the song, but I can't help but watch - they're having SO MUCH FUN and you can't keep your eyes off of them. It's like, screw caring about our vocals, screw trying to hold the audience in the palms of our hands - we can do that like clockwork now - we are going to prance around this stage and have fun and no one can stop us. And my god what a show that makes - it makes you just want to prance around like they are. I'd watch this at least a dozen more times.

DBSK/HoMin - "Before You Go" & "Keep Your Head Down"
If Big Bang went the "screw everything we're having fun here" route, which perfectly matches who they are, HoMin went with the "we're gods, we know - keep worshipping us" way, which also perfectly matches the songs. They know they're good, they know they're practically immortal in k-pop, and they know the fans will go to ends of the earth for them - they're turning that into a performance. The result? A spectacle - a feast to all your senses. Everything about this performance was formulated, calculated, painstakingly practiced, but they're so good, so experienced, that they make it look like all you have to do on stage is stand there and look pretty. And maybe that's why so many new idol groups are so lazy and lack effort - because when they see people like DBSK and Big Bang on stage it looks so easy. It's not, they just make it look like it os. EXCUSE ME WHILE I ABUSE THE REPLAY BUTTON.

[April 22, 2011] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

Can't believe your eyes? Well, believe them because YES, my music show recaps are back! This is one of numerous attempts to get me back in the zone and writing, so if I do anything crazy or out of the ordinary on this, forgive me - it's been months since I last wrote one of these, and almost a year since my first recap!

A number of things sparked my comeback, but the main thing was MuBank's setlist today. It's their 600th episode (O.O), so everyone promoting was out in full-force. The performances I was holding my breath for all day? 3 members of G.O.D. doing "Lie" after a gazillion years, and HOMIN DOING "RISING SUN", as well as X-5's debut.

You ready? Well, whether or not you are, read on for a recap of today's MuBank episode!


Video credits go to DBSKgirl1994 for the U-Kiss performance, and UnknownCarrot170 for everything else.

X-5 - "Fantasy" & "The Show Is Over"

"Fantasy" is a pretty good song, but they shouldn't have mimed it, for heaven's sake - it's too obvious and it's their debut performance of all things! However, I believe they redeemed themselves with "The Show Is Over". Shaky start, but things just got better from there - for their first performance, that wasn't half bad. The chorus was spot-on, the verses a lot better when I watched it on TV (now I understand what McRoth was telling me the other day about how the amazing will sound stunning, but the bad will sound horrid on amazing headphones), but the entire package well-done and thought of. You can see they made an effort, but you can also see that they're actually really good, so the natural just creeps up on you. I'll be watching them.

A Pink - "Wishlist" & "Don't Know"

These girls don't know how to sing as a group. They're not bad on their own (albeit not really that good), but you can see that individually they want the stage to themselves and it's as if when they have solos the other members don't exist. They want to be noticed when it's not they're time to shine - they're all trying to out sing and out dance each other. It's not a bad thing to try to be noticed, but they have to remember that they're not solo singers right now - they're a group, and a group sings, dances and performs together. They have to have a spark - a dynamic as a group. They have to work together. Their vocals are fine, bar the first 2 girls who sang on "I Don't Know" because they're trying to sound like 6 year-olds when they're all 15 and up (and that pisses me off), the song isn't that bad and individually they can perform, but their lack of group dynamic turns me off.

Block B - "Freeze"

Block B? I don't see the hype - their vocals aren't that hot. I mean they're there and they can sing, but over-all they're weak - there's no power to their vocals, no matter how punchy and edgy the song is. They're performers, it's obvious with how they move on stage, so all they have to do is get a less generic song, and work on making their vocals stronger and more consistent. Will I be watching? Maybe.

Brave Girls - "Do You know"

One of the best new girl groups I've seen in a long time, and my god does this song show that. Long-haired girl in the middle is obviously the one being pushed as the good one, and she's pretty good too, but personally girl in the pony tail (not the bun) is better (even if she doesn't know how to hold a mic). But long-haired girl is definitely consistent, and that counts a lot. Compared to the two, short-haired girl and blonde girl are average, but comparisons aside they're good too. Short-haired girl wasn't that good at the beginning, but she got better towards the end. The performance as a whole was ever to slightly breath-taking - you can see that they know what they're doing. It's one of those performances I'd gladly watch again.

Infinite - "Nothing's Over" & "T.O.P"

Infinite are getting a lot of attention from Cassies lately, because Jaejoong tweeted a few days ago that he likes "Nothing's Over". And why wouldn't he? In all honesty, not just because Jaejoong likes it (I believe I gave them a good review!), it's a well-developed song. It has its flaws, but they can easily be cleaned up in their next release. And the song is catchy without being annoying. Their performance today was a lot better than the last one I saw (a good few weeks ago), and everyone seemed a lot more confident singing the song, especially the guys belting out high notes. Which is good. Their Shinhwa cover? Strong. I didn't think they'd do as good as they have, but they've proven me wrong. See, this is why I liked Infinite from the very beginning - they weren't that good, but the potential was there, and look at them now, pulling off Shinhwa pretty well. And it's not easy to pull Shinhwa off. Live.

Rainbow - "To Me" & "Sweety"

That wasn't half bad (even if they mimed that S#arp cover). I mean a good third of them still can't sing, but I can point out at least 4 good voices now that are actually pretty strong live. And they can perform a lot better now - they may not be 100% in sync with each other, that's extremely hard, but there's unity to the performance. Give me a song with a better hook, Rainbow, then we'll talk. For now, you're on my "to watch" list. We'll see what happens after this.

CN Blue - "Promise" & "Intuition"

They remixed "Intuition" today. Or rather, piled on extra electric guitar lines and this and that then made Yonghwa wear shades. Guitars not plugged in, check. Excessive Yonghwa close-ups, check. The drummer still not close enough to the other 3, check. Yonghwa's vocals strong, check. Jonghyun sounding amazing, check. Just another CN Blue performance, then. Their Jo Sung Mo cover was a bit shaky at the beginning because it seemed like Yonghwa couldn't catch up to the tempo on his first line, but Jonghyun came in and saved it yay.

f(x) - "Gangster Boy" & "Danger"

I liked "Gangster Boy" for a while, but Amber talking just made me cringe. The verses are perfectly fine - everyone's vocals are strong as hell - the chorus is cutesy but not nauseating thank god, Luna's middle 8 was epic, and the hook really hits you over the head without being obvious. It's a strong performance though. And "Danger" was done well, considering that the song isn't really something you can sing live. VICTORIA'S VOICE IS GETTING LOUDERRRR! Krystal sounds like herself, keep it up and Sulli is finally slowly getting over the cutesy phase. But WHO the hell decided that Luna needed to sound like a little girl from majority of the song? SHE DOESN'T. SHE'S BETTER THAN THAT. Krystal isn't the amazing singer in f(x) - LUNA IS. But if I didn't know that and I only heard their verses, I'd say Krystal was the better one, when in reality it's Luna. Just when SME got everyone else right, they just HAD to go and ruin Luna. Her high note, even if it was pretty short (wouldn't have it any other way though), was well-done though. The performance was strong, the vocals worked with that they had, and over-all it was strong. Still not completely sold on the song though.

4Minute - "No. 1" & "Mirror Mirror"

Lesson learned, never let 4 out of 5 of 4Minute sing a BoA song. Ever. Hyun A, Jihyun, Sohyun and even Gayoon, should never be let near a BoA song. Jiyoon can do all the singing for all I care, because she actually sounds decent, just not the other 4. Please. I beg you. That said, 4Minute sound best doing what they really do - and that comes in the form of "Mirror Mirror". I'm not saying that they're suited to inferior songs, I'm saying that they've found what suits them, so they should stick with that - who they really are. Today's performance was strong, and my god Jiyoon those vocals were amazing. Can Jiyoon be lead instead of Gayoon, pretty pretty please? I have a Filipino term for Gayoon's vocals again - "bukaka". If you know what it means in this context yay, but it's hard to explain and it translates to something else literally, so yeah.

U-Kiss - "0330"

Strong performance today, even if the first guy who sang sounded really tired and strained. High note guy sounded strained today too, come to think of it. This is one of the songs that sounds better recorded, and I think it'll stay like that no matter how consistently strong their vocals get, and they're improving at a much faster rate than I expected. We'll see. Prove me otherwise, U-Kiss.

DBSK/HoMin - "Rising Sun" & "Keep Your Head Down"

Let me begin this by saying HOLY MOTHER OF HEAVEN AND HELL AND EARTH AND EVERYTHING ELSE THERE IS, THAT WAS AMAZING I HAVEN'T SEEN RISING SUN PERFORMED IN AGES. AND OH MY GOD MIN PUSHED HO SO HARD THEN HE WAS SMIRKING AFTER I APPROVE OF VOLDEMIN (and I was hung over from the jaw-dropping G.O.D. performance when I watched this so that explains a lot) Okay. Fangirling out of the way.

KYHD was done spot-on, as always. They sound a bit tired, but nothing too obvious. Now, RISING SUN, on the other hand, was amazing. I was expecting them to do the whole song, but to be honest with you I'm thankful they didn't. It's not that HoMin can't sing good enough, it's not that they can't dance good enough - for crap's sake they can sing their heads off while dancing their feet to oblivion without batting an eyelash, they just did with KYHD - it's that the song is so damn tiring to perform, whoever's performing it, with all the jumping through hoops and fire (LITERALLY! YAY! lol). Did you see the SHINee performance? They were sweating by the end of it, and they only did the chorus. Like I said on Twitter this morning, the song is hard enough to do with 5 members, and was a pain to do with 4 (when Jaejoong was injured in 2005, and when Yunho was injured in 2006), what more with 2 or 3? I would like HoMin to survive this performance, thank you very much. That said, the vocals were strong, Yunho changed Yoochun's rap verse a bit (just a rephrasing, nothing big) and sang Jaejoong's lines (YunJaeeeeee!!), Changmin sang Junsu's part but didn't scream, and the performance was over in the blink of an eye. The simple fact that they got through it is worthy of praise, and they did it - they pulled it off, damn well. It made my heart race and flutter and whatnot - it should make yours too.

G.O.D. (3 members) - "Lie"

If you don't know who G.O.D. are I will personally hunt you down and MAKE SURE you die a slow and painful death, because you deserve it. They, along with the likes of H.O.T. and Shinhwa, are the epitome of the word "LEGEND" - you cannot NOT know them because they made the industry the way it is today, and it took much, much more than just a pretty voice or a nice face to do that. Even 1 member short, the performance today was EPIC - the vocals were perfect. Not just stunning, not just amazing - perfect. The timbres of their voices have gone from gorgeous to stunning, and the technique they've learned over the years has given their vocals dimension and emotion. They didn't have to command the audience or hold them in the palms of their hands - the audience willingly let themselves be mesmerized and the sight of it was almost surreal to be honest. The screaming, the chanting, the singing, the performing - perfection. I hope the newer idol groups, and their fans, understand that you have to have more than a catchy hook and a few members who can sing to make your music as immortal as G.O.D.'s.

The 2011 First Quarter K-Pop Report: Part 2

Sorry for the delay, it's just that things were hectic last week - graduation, graduates' ball, family celebrations left and right, sleepovers, gallivanting with friends in celebration, burning all my university exam reviewers and deleting all my high school files, you know, the usual? Hahah.

I've only gotten the chance to sit down and finish writing this now, with the help of my spankin' new audio technica headphones.

So far, March was THE month of releases left and right - anyone who mattered (and even those who didn't) had something out. Or at least was gearing up to have something out. And to be honest with you, majority of the major releases (LOL) were actually pretty darn good.

HoMin/TVXQ - "이것만은 알고가 독백 (Before U Go)"
From "Keep Your Head Down" Repackaged
Released: March
Stunning

Whenever I hear this song I want to cry with joy. I kid you not. When I saw the first live performance of this I had the volume so high my mom could hear it from the kitchen (and we have a relatively big house, mind you) and I was literally crying because it was so gorgeous.

This is everything Yoo Young Jin stands for - it's like SM The Ballad's "Hot Times" and "Beautiful Girls" (the one on the SNSD live album? yeah.) were the prototypes for this song. They don't sound alike, but a lot of elements from both songs were taken, mixed together and bettered. The harmonies are swoon-worthy - hearing them live or recorded makes me want to cry because they're so gorgeous. I can't emphasize the power of beautiful harmonies enough - it will make or break a song, frankly.

Yoo Young Jin is one sneaky bastard, that's all I have to say. The recording is stunning, but you listen closely and you hear all these little elements - an acoustic guitar line, the "sprinkles"/chymes - but then you listen to the live performances and you just wanna die with joy. The slight tweaks to the arrangement, the addition of another harmony line at the chorus, the shifts in instrumentation - Yoo Young Jin why are you so damn brilliant?

Another reason why this song just works is because it fits both Yunho and Changmin vocally - it's everything they can do, and everything they were never able to do because Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun did it better than them. This song, and the two of them singing it, just proves a point I've raised long ago - I fall to my feet at Jaejoong's voice, I adore Junsu's, and Yoochun's I praise, but Yunho and Changmin are something too. Yunho and Changmin are good singers, they know what they're doing and they know how to do it well, it's just that you put them beside people like Jaejoong and Junsu and they pale in comparison. However that doesn't mean they're not good - they are.

The simple fact that they stood beside what could very well be Asia's best voices and didn't crumble or run away in fear - that shows how good they are. Remember, DBSK is not a "dream team" because they're all talented in different things, DBSK is a dream team because they are five lead vocalists of dissolved SM project groups. LEAD SINGERS. You put five lead singers together and you'd think you'd have the five of them trying to outdo each other, but they didn't - because they knew their strengths and they stuck to that. However, that also meant that there were times when certain people never got to show that they're able to do certain things.

And you know what? HoMin showed exactly what they can do on this song - sing damn well. Put them beside any lead singer of an idol group now and they win - by a really long mile. I kid you not.

Girls' Day - "반짝반짝"
From "Girl's Day Party #3"
Released: March
Blegh

Now because words are simply not enough to describe what I think about this song, and Girl's Day in general, I've prepared a graph for you guys! LOL. Let's just got this out of the way before I find anything more to complain about. Hahah.



So basically this new single is like a less decent "Nothing Lasts Forever", or a better "whateverthenameofthatsinglewas" - there're two ways of looking at it hahah. So anyway. There. It's got much better vocals than their first single, although autotuned almost as bad at the verses, and as a whole the arrangement and production are much better. But it's far too cutesy to the point of being squeaky and annoying in the bad way - it just goes on and on and on and on and around in circles until the song ends.

And how they pronounce the "반" in "반짝반짝" pisses me off too lol. So does the girl who "stars" in the video - she makes me want to throw up. Literally. I almost did, actually.

In my opinion these girls most probably do have the chops to do more, because "Nothing Lasts Forever", although a little all over the place in my opinion, was pretty good. Nothing special, but it was a decent song. And then they go back to this? Oh well.

Lee Haeri - "Can You Hear Me?"
From "Tears of Heaven"
Released: March
Stunning

I admit that I only really listened to this because Junsu stars in this musical and he sings this too on stage, but this is honestly one of the few songs that have literally brought me to tears at the first listen. I can understand some of the lyrics and the general theme of the song and it's sad and all - but my God the melody, the arrangement, the vocals are spot-on.

The strings add dimension to the very simple piano part, and everything starts out really soft and floaty, but when the percussion and the guitar parts come in, along with a rather pretty backing vocal line, I just lost it. There's a sense of urgency to the entire song, and everything explodes, without losing that character the song had at the beginning, and the stunning melody.

Let's take a moment to worship Lee Haeri's epic vocals, shall we? I swear, no matter how gorgeous the song itself is, and no matter how much the arrangement makes me want to cry, it's the delivery that delivers the final blow. And in this case, she knocked it out like hell. She doesn't push it too much - she's not screaming in your face, forcing you to think she's a good singer. And she doesn't shower you with belting and high notes either - she has a gorgeous voice because it really is gorgeous, and she knows how to use it.

Just thinking of Junsu in the recording sends shivers down my spine.

Namie Amuro with After School - "Make It Happen"
From "Checkmate!"
Released: March
Okay

This is technically k-pop. Technically. OK it's not. But After School are here, and I like the song. And besides, I'll be talking about KARA's "Jet Coaster Love" too, and this is my list, so who says I can't include this? Anyway.

Avex, huh? Smart move, Pledis, very smart move. For an agency that doesn't really crank out stars like a factory, they're really playing their cards right with After School. They better have an epic comeback next month or I'm gonna explode with rage - I'm already putting my "I only like talent" reputation on the line for these girls, I need nothing less than brilliance from them!

So the song. It's very Namie, it's very Japanese, it's very Avex - it's standard. There's nothing epicly bad about the song, but there's nothing extremely special about it either. The rather eyebrow raise-worthy English can be overlooked, and we've heard songs like this a million times before, but it's not really enough for the song to be bad or anything.

It's got great production, an arrangement with attention to dynamics, a very clean melody and literally it's like a cheesecake. Here I go again with my food analogies. Call me crazy or something, but seriously - this song is like a cheesecake.

I rest my case.
[Full MV] Namie Amuro ft. AFTER SCHOOL - Make It... by ASFVariety

Infinite - "Nothing's Over"
From "Inspirit"
Released: March
Okay

"Nothing's Over" is more like their debut single than anything, and for one it's rather confusing because you have similarities with "Come Back to Me", but with the maturity they had in "Before The Dawn", but it sounds like neither. And once again, that can either be a good thing, or a bad thing.

This is one of the songs that are okay, but borderline amazing for me. It's close, but not quite though. If I may say so though, Infinite are turning into the Beast of their generation of boybands. That's a complement. They're not the most talented people - they can't belt out high notes like it's second nature or anything like that - but you can see that they really do try, and their effort shows. And my god do they dance in sync, it freaks me out sometimes how together they are when they dance.

The melody is there, although a little choppy at the verses and a bit overpowered by the rapping, the arrangement very tight, like all their singles, and the dynamics in place. It has enough of everything to induce foot-tapping, and maybe even random dancing around your room, which is always a good thing. All they really have to do is learn how to perform this extremely well and I'm sold.

Point is, the talent is there, the material is more or less decent, and they have a solid backing - the only thing stopping them from succeeding is time, and pretty soon that'll have to make way for them too. IF THEY GET FAMOUS I CALLED IT! I was the one who believed in them right from the beginning LOL.

KARA - "Jet Coaster Love"
From TBA
Released: March
Okay

This song in particular brings back memories for me, because it came out when I was sick with that horrid tropical virus last month and because of it I didn't go to Singapore which pissed me off. Anyway. Yes.

To be honest with you, I'm seriously liking Kara now, material-wise. Emphasis on the NOW and MATERIAL-WISE. If not for the "they can't sing live to save their lives" situation, they'd probably be one of my favorites. So basically as long as I don't watch them sing the songs live, everything during and after the "Lupin" era is fantastic for me, especially "Lupin" and "Jumping".

I like this song, actually, well for the most part at least. It's very Japanese production and arrangement-wise, and the part just after the first chorus, and even the middle 8, is stunning, and nice contrast to the rest of the song. That's it - the song has contrast. The verses are strong, they have just the right amount of spunk and grace, the bridges are nice and floaty, and the chorus is catchy.

It's just a little too cutesy at the chorus for my taste, but it's bearable.

Kim Hyung Joon - "Heaven"
From "My Girl"
Released: March
Stunning

SS501 are not untalented, and I believe I've said that before, it's just that I never really adored any of their material, in Korea or Japan, so I never took the time to learn all their voices inside out. I know all their names and basic stuff about them because I had to write about them during my time as a k-pop news writer/editor-in-chief, but that's about it.

Which is probably why I never really took notice of Hyung Joon. I knew him as the guy who's got almost the same name as Hyun Joong, who's Jaejoong's bff, and the guy with the now ex-U-Kiss member for a brother. He does have a nice voice though. Not stunning or anything, but I assume that years of singing, both in Korea and Japan, whipped him into shape.

Because seriously, this song is stunning in every single way possible. Yeah sure you've probably heard the piano line somewhere else, and the melody isn't exactly the most original thing ever, but the combination of the two, mixed with Hyung Joon's competent vocals and a spot-on arrangement, make my head want to explode. With joy.

It's simple. It's a simple orchestration with a simple melody and an average voice, but sometimes music does things to you that you can't really explain nor justify. It's like a tame, slightly less stunning version, of JYJ's "Long Way", which I named my favorite song of 2010, mind you.

I can talk about how gorgeous the melody is all day, and maybe one day I will, but I will leave it at that for now.

ZE:A - "Here I Am"
From "Lovability"
Released: March
Okay

In the ZE:A vs. Infinite battle, which I started myself and has nothing to do with history because ZE:A were alive long before Infinite and only started because they released stuff around the same time in March (my iTunes library, which never lies, says I added them on the same day), Infinite win. Without a doubt. Better vocals, better material, better performances.

I mean come on, "Mazeltov"? "Man to Man", which I don't even want to see in my iTunes library because it disgusts me? Total fails. Their only good single was "Day By Day" and although it was actually kinda really good, they just had to follow it up with a pathetic excuse for a song that was "Man to Man". (or however you spell it)

They've improved, a lot, though. This new single is actually a song! Someone clearly got the picture. The hook is nice, not too imposing or loud, but to be honest the entire package lacks intensity. The vocals at the chorus are light, but a little too airy, the verses too calm, and even the high note sound half-baked. There's no BAM or sudden break downs - the song just kinda goes on and on and on and on until the song ends.

It has good points, but none of them are enough to deliver and make the song memorable, really. This will be forgotten in a few months, trust me. No variety show's gonna parody this and expect people to laugh like there's no tomorrow.

4Minute - "Heart to Heart"
From "Steal 20"
Released: March/April
Okay

Just to be clear, I'd rather talk about "Mirror Mirror", but I'm recapping everything from January to March, and "Mirror Mirror" was out in April, so we'll get to that next time.

Heart to Heart, the song, is decent at best. It has a catchy chorus, decent production, a cohesive arrangement and it does have its moments, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't fit 4Minute. It doesn't fit them because it brings our the fact that 4Minute vocals are throaty, rough in the bad way, and cheap. I mean OK, Gayoon has a big voice and I like Jiyoon's vocals, but let's be honest - they're not suited to songs like this.

The vocals really make the song a lot less decent that it could've been. Seriously, my ears hurt just thinking of the chorus, and it doesn't help that the hook is in English and requires a tad bit of belting. Their voices are rough to start with, and they still have very little technique. Jiyoon is the better among them, but even she isn't that good. She's fine though.

As much as I'm not their biggest fan, if there's one thing they did right before "Heart to Heart", it's that Cube knew how to choose their repertoire, or at least they knew what to do with the songs so their vocals would sound apt and that much more tasteful (e.g., the ever so slight autotune on "What A Girl Wants").

CN Blue - "Intuition"
From "First Step"
Released: March
Okay

Well, maybe partially OK. OK verging on bleh.

I had a never-publicized CN Blue phase last year, just letting everyone know. Before it's too late. That and I grew up watching bands record albums and write songs, so I think I'm a little more qualified to write about CN Blue than I am writing about pop, to be honest.

CN Blue are a novelty in kpop - apart from FT Island, who're under the same agency so it doesn't really count that much, and a spattering of indie acts, there haven't been that many bands with the drum-base-guitar-vocals set-up who've really gotten really popular lately. And I think that's why they got as famous as they did. I mean I know they have a cult following in Japan and obviously that amounts to a lot, but the success in Korea is just mind-blowing. (They beat HoMin on Music Bank in the first week of this month, I'll give them that)

"I'm A Loner" was spunky, and personally I adored the verses. Just the verses - the chorus annoyed me after a while. The drum treatment made the entire song, in my opinion - they were raw, they sounded real, but they were so clean and smooth at the same time. The guitars were leaning towards American-style production, and the melody was strong. And my god was the chorus catchy as hell. They had all the makings of a hit, except for the fact that the song actually had actual drums and a few other things.

But why am I talking about "I'm a Loner" instead of "Intuition"? Well, because it's like every CN Blue lead single after "I'm a Loner", which is pretty much every other Korean CN Blue single, sounds like "I'm a Loner". I understand wanting to make a signature sound, especially if the band themselves write the material, but it seems like Yonghwa, who I assume is writing all these lead singles, doesn't get it.

Signature sound does not mean taking a song that worked, changing the key, tinkering with a few chords here a there, writing new lyrics, adding some "bad-ass" electric guitar lines, and changing the title. Those "stop everything and sing a line" parts, although cool, are being overused way too much, and the choruses are the same kind of repetitiveness, plus the short parts after the chorus? Aren't we a little to obvious now?

I'm starting to think that this is all Yonghwa is capable of, to be honest, or that this is his idea of a "hit song". I mean okay, it technically is a hit song now, but mark my words - people will get tired of this one day, and if CN Blue don't wanna be a "afewhitswhichallsoundthesame-wonder", they better hurry the hell up and deliver.

U-Kiss - "0330"
From "Bran New Kiss"
Released: March
Stunning

I've never really liked U-Kiss, but I've never hated their guts either. I was there during "Man Man Hani" and to be honest with you that single was pretty decent. The proceeding singles ranged from blegh to nothing special, but in the wake of member changes they present us with this masterpiece.

When I first heard this I had a strange feeling that I'd like it, and I do. A lot? Hell yeah. As much as Mel is ready to have me sliced into tiny little pieces for saying I like the song now, I think I'll sacrifice that to listen to this lol.

It's a simple song, with a piano line that's a slight variation of stuff we've all heard before, a simple, repetitive but not so repetitive melody, surprisingly strong production (or is it just my new headphones?) and no predominant hook, which is unorthodox for kpop - but throw everything together and my god is it gorgeous.

Allow me to backtrack on something I just said - the song doesn't have a predominant hook. It doesn't. Or at least one as short as "sorry sorry" or "I hate this love song" or "I got that SOUP love" (LOL). And I'm very pleased at how everything turned out, considering that miniscule detail - basically the entire chorus, or maybe half of it, is the hook. And it blatantly made the song catchy but far from annoying.

The rapping is bearable, but I think over 2 years in k-pop has made me learn to either tune out rap, or appreciate it. In this case, I'm appreciating it. Not a lot, but enough. And I like how it ends too - it's the type of song that will go on and on and on and on and ooooooooon, but they cut it at just the right time, in just the right way, a little after everything got too chaotic, but just before the song became a bore. And it's much harder to end a song well than it is to start it well.

Super Junior M - "Perfection" (Chinese/Korean)
From "Perfection"
Released: March
Okay

I'm not so hot over this, but it's very SM and very new and rather good. The Chinese version is a bit more graceful than the Korean one, mainly because Chinese is a much more graceful language to start with, but apart from that they're practically the same.

Everything about the song - from the production, to the melody, to the processing, to the hook - screams SME. Therefore, it's a strong song. I like the synths, and I like the guitar lines at the beginning, even if they remind me of "Hoot" and another recent major release I can't quite pinpoint.

Other than that, there's nothing else to say, really.

Chi Chi - "장난치지마"
From "장난치지마"
Released: March
Blegh

The first thing that came to mind when I heard this song was "WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME IS THIS ATROCIOUS THING?!", and even after I calmed down a bit I still couldn't stand the song. The hook, both instrumental and vocal (oh wait, they're the same LOL), sounds like it's straight out of those 90's swede/German pop that I had to endure when I was going through pop history back when I was a new blogger.

You know, the type that goes on and on and on and yet gets nowhere AND pisses you off in the process? For about 97% of the song, that's how I feel - pissed off.

However, I tried looking for some salvageable part, and the heavens granted my wish. YESSS. The middle 8 is probably the most decent part of the song and even though it's not close to good, it's a start. A pretty OK start.

Can they sing? Who knows - the song's too bad for me to be able to draw any solid conclusion, and when I hear it I just want it to be over quicker, so I might listen to their next single just to see if they can. If they ever see the light of one.

Orange Caramel - "Bangkok City" (Chinese/Korean)
From "Bangkok City"
Released: March
Blegh

If you told me this was a cover of some German/Swedish/Europop act like STEPS or beFour (I can't believe I still remember them), I wouldn't be surprised. At all. Because I have a very strong hunch that I'm on the right track with thinking that and no one's around to verify that for me.

"Bangkok City" is just a step above that Chi Chi song, mainly because of the better production and the less blatant and not that in-your-face cheap melody. But that doesn't mean it's any good. If this was released in Europe or even the US I don't even have to guess that it'll have a gazillion remixes on the maxi single.

Oh how I miss writing like that. I can't wait for k-pop to get more sophisticated, if that means having a history more than 20/30 years long, official sales charts that really count, and actual singlessssss. But that's just me. Anyway.

Their voices still annoy me, After School should hurry and come back as the full group because Orange Caramel are getting on my nerves now with their non-existent brilliance and their sub-par singles.

I return to my regular blogging schedule on TUESDAY. With a single review. A full-length one. Hopefully. And I'll start working on my After School commentary as well, so that just come before the end of the month. If it sees the light of day, that is.

Leave me lots of comments - I've been reading them over the past few days and I'll be replying in the coming days. :D