astromantic

毎日grind, 毎日rhymes

Tag: k-pop

  • Chungha, “벌써 12시”

    Because I don’t follow idol music anymore (or is she technically one? let’s just say idol groups), I wasn’t aware of I.O.I. or Chungha until I heard Wow Thing, featuring Seulgi, SinB, and Soyeon — A COLLABORATION FROM HEAVEN, BTW. I was like, “who is this beautiful talented girl?!” And I was shocked to find out she was a soloist because no one is ever strictly a soloist anymore. Sure, artists have broken away from their groups and found solo success (Lee Hyori being the biggest example I can think of) and Chungha initially made her debut in a project group. But so many of her peers in that group went on to join groups with their original labels to varying amounts of success. Putting her back in a group would have been a waste of her talent, so her agency was wise to let her shine on her own.

    Anyway — stumbled upon her new single by chance last night and I love it! The choreography and the song feel so classic and she looks STUNNING in pants. The scenes in black & white at the staircase… wowowow.

  • You did well.

    A fun bit with all the members. There’s not much I can say that I’ve not already said or thought or cried over but… thanks for the memories, Jonghyun. You will be missed.

  • Best of 2016: Korea

    Best of 2016: Korea

    pictured: Red Velvet, “7월7일 (One of These Nights)”

    A post inspired by Melissa Johnson’s wonderful blog (The Mind Reels). But before I get into what I liked in k-pop this year:

    Over the past few months I’ve had a Red Velvet reversal. Being a big fan of f(x), I was convinced RV were the harbingers of doom when Sulli announced her hiatus (2014, RV debut) and withdrawal (2015, debut album). I couldn’t help but think that SME was putting my favorite group on the backburner! MY FAVES!! You know, irrational fangirl feelings and what not.

    Then “7월7일” dropped and I was shocked by the generally negative responses it got. Maybe because it was a slow R&B ballad and not completely suited for INSTANT popularity, something destined to be a b-side. For me though, it was perfect. It felt like Red Velvet found their niche (the “velvet” concept). Unfortunately they went back to a crowd pleasing poppier sound for Russian Roulette just as I started listening to more of the velvet themed stuff… at any rate, I hope they’re not scared to be experimental in the future because in the end, the music is what makes them interesting to me. If they’re like everyone else, it’s just boring! (more…)

  • Flashback Friday #1

    Flashback Friday #1

    A twitter friend shared this meme and I decided to do it!

    1. What was your first song?
    Definitely BoA’s “Number One”! Because I listened to a lot of Japanese music (including BoA’s stuff) I remember hearing the song for the first time and thinking, “I cannot make any sense of this language at allllllll”. How times have changed! I didn’t listen to any kpop after that (this was 2003 or so), but I gained interest again after listening to Lee Hyori, Epik High, and Clazziquai around 2005.

    2. How did you discover kpop?
    I had a lot of Korean friends in high school, very thankful to them for hooking it up (haha). 🙏

    (more…)

  • Top 15 SHINee Songs

    Top 15 SHINee Songs

    Here are my top songs for absolutely no reason other than the fact that I’ve been on a SHINee kick for a few months and Jonghyun just dropped his second solo album. 🙏

    1. Odd Eye
    2. 누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay) 1
    3. Y.O.U (Year of Us)
    4. Dream Girl 2
    5. Like A Fire
    6. Hold You 3
    7. Note
    8. A-Yo 4
    9. Ready or Not
    10. 세뇨리따 (Señorita)
    11. 잠꼬대 (Please, Don’t Go)
    12. 소년, 소녀를 만나다 (Romeo + Juliet)
    13. 내 곁에만 있어 (Best Place)
    14. 너 아니면 안되는 걸 (Romantic)
    15. View

    Listen to it here.

    (more…)
  • overdose, overreaction; call it what you may

    overdose, overreaction; call it what you may

    For some reason I felt like blogging about the top 10 most listened to songs on my iPod/iTunes.

    (more…)

  • Clazziquai, “Ping”

    I’ve been consistently disappointed in Clazziquai‘s music after LOVE CHILD of the CENTURY, with the exception of songs like Flea and Rapunzel, but Ping is really refreshing and reflective of the Clazziquai that I love. Me gusta mucho!

  • it’s a real problem

    I’m almost convinced that SHINee makes the music I wish TVXQ would make. I think this almost every time I listen to, let’s say, 내 곁에만 있어 (Best Place). When I actually listened to their album in full after my friend bought it for me and heard that song I was like, “woah”.  There’s something very slick and modern about their music (even though most of it is sampled/a cover/not completely original). It’s cool. Even Super Junior has been getting cool music — perfect example would be Sorry Sorry. Not only was it 201838213x better than MIROTIC, the choreography was fucking fantastic. And then the songs from their repackage ♥ It’s like SM thinks TVXQ can get away with getting shitty music because they can outsing any group ever.

    But back to SHINee; there hasn’t been a song of theirs that I haven’t liked. AMIGO was a little too loud for my tastes and Juliette was originally sung by Corbin Bleu, but for the most part — I really, really do like their music. And their latest song (title song, maybe?)… well, I think I’m going to love it.

  • ABRACADABRA 다 이뤄져라

    Brown Eyed Girls’ new song Abracadabra is amazing. I don’t know what it is about the song, but I love it. I’ve had it on repeat for (LITERALLY) two days straight. The music video on the other hand … :o RISQUE! But I do like the sideways sway they all do during the main verse.

    This is the first time I’m fully listening to them, outside of their performances on Inkigayo, & I really liked what I heard on Sound-G. I do have to say though, these girls have great voices and are capable of singing without being autotuned all over the place (ex: 못 가), but I still thought it was a pretty good album.

  • Eh, eh, eh.

    I didn’t really start liking 2NE1 until I watched their performance on SBS Inkigayo a couple weeks back. They’re fierce! I like that CL can actually rap well, and her English is great. Their outfits were a little on the outrageous side, though. I also worry about Sandara & her singing…

    Their new song— I like it. It’s not as energetic as Fire, it’s not the greatest song, but I like it. I’d also like to know what YG Entertainment’s definition of reggae is. I believe this is the second time they’ve classified a song as having a reggae sound. It’s POP, guys.