THE GIRLS ARE FINALLY COMING BACK!

I’ve been waiting for the Wonder Girls to come back with a Korean album for a long time now because the K-Pop scene was less lively without the girl group that contributed one of the biggest highlights in recent K-Pop history: Debuting in America with a single breaking into the US Billboard Hot 100.

Wonder Girls have been one of my most favorite Korean girl groups, and that is because of their solidity with their releases. All their singles are so good, and their albums never fail to impress me even for just a little bit. Now that they are back with their 2nd full Korean album (I hope the news circulating are true), I’m pretty sure these girls won’t let me down because from watching the teaser itself, I was so impressed with the new style they have for their comeback!

What I am seriously hoping for right now is that the arrangement found in this teaser can be retained in the title track itself. Since JYP Entertainment uses “Album Intros” as the teaser audio for the fans, I don’t want another case “Nobody”. Yes, believe it or not, I was disappointed when I first heard Nobody, the song that made the girls so huge way back in 2008.

In the teaser for “Nobody”, an orchestral arrangement surprised me in a way that made me more excited because I thought that the song was going to build up to a more exciting arrangement. When the track was released, I was sort of disappointed that it was a dance song. But I immediately got over it and I actually loved it after a few days.

But anyway, regarding “Right Now”, I don’t want the title track to be less fierce and less spicy than the ones released with the teaser. I hope that an electric and sort-of aggressive arrangement title track gets released because I was kind of tired with the concept the girls have shown us through “2 Different Tears”.

Regarding JYP Ent. & the Wonder Girls’ question ‘R U READY?’, Here’s my reply:

YES, I AM READY.

Ever wondered what the best K-Pop songs during the early years of the 00′s or maybe the late years of the 90′s were? Read on to hear what K-Pop sounded like when today’s current idols were still trainees, and to hear some good, never-aging K-Pop songs, as I introduce to you guys my personal favorites when it comes to K-Pop in the earlier days! 

During the early 00′s or maybe the late 90′s, I was just about 4-5 years of age back then actually. But as I have said times before when I was just new to reviewing music, I had serious love for the musical craft even since I was just a little kid. If I remember correctly, I believe I told you guys on a post before that I actually started to listen to J-Pop as early as 2001when I unintentionally watched an Utada Hikaru music video on Channel V entitled “Wait & See”. I even started to collect albums when cassette tapes were still of greater use. Remember this?

But when compare to my familiarity with the J-Pop scene, I can honestly say that I’m not that much familiar with many of the music releases of the time when K-Pop was yet to flourish as a worldwide trend. I got to know a lot of classic (well, maybe not classic. they are not that old anyway lol) K-Pop songs through different encounters, and right now, I can say that listening to these new discoveries is very different from listening to the current music K-Pop has been recently giving us.

When you listen to old hits, it sort of brings you back to memories dating back to when these songs were still played on everyday radio, and to when these song’s music videos were part of the daily or weekly music video countdowns. It is different with nostalgic K-Pop though. Speaking from my perspective, a perspective of not witnessing most of these songs playing in the mainstream, I can only imagine myself in that position when I would be able to witness these tracks on the mainstream. I can only imagine myself as a little boy, watching music videos of these songs in MTV or hearing these songs on the radio. That’s all I could do, just imagine.

But even with just imagining, I get a good feeling. It’s as if I actually grew up with these songs. I get the feeling of contentment because after all, it’s the good music that matters most.

Without further ado, here is a list of my top ten favorite K-Pop songs from the early years!

#10. BoA – NO. 1
(2002; NO.1) | MUSIC VIDEO

NO.1 was the main single of BoA’s 2nd full-length Korean album of the same name. The song apparently became bigger than her debut, causing the album to sell over 500,000+ copies in Korea alone, making “NO.1″ her best-selling Korean studio album.
I actually didn’t think I would fall in love with this song. To be honest, it was one of my heavily disliked BoA songs before, but I guess I just grew the hatred out and I eventually learned how to love the song. The harmonization in the song which I love so much, probably is the main source of the song’s grace. Give the song a try, really. Don’t let first impressions hinder you, because this song truly shows why BoA IS NO.1!

#09. S♯arp - Tell Me Tell Me
(1999; The S♯arp+2) | MUSIC VIDEO

I was unfamiliar with S#arp before because I haven’t heard much about them. I stumbled upon them in Youtube through this song, and to my surprise, “Tell Me Tell Me” was actually part of Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix! As soon as the song played, I was caught. The song was pretty catchy, and the song was so solid despite not having a heavy bass or a thumping beat pattern found in a typical dance song. Once you hear the song, trust me, you’ll be singing the lines “tell me tell me tell me tell me you love me” in your head. You might actually be driven by the song’s fast tempo and dance as soon as you hear it play.

#08. S.E.S. – Just A Feeling
(2002; Choose My Life-U) | MUSIC VIDEO

This song is just pure upbeat material. This would get you in the mood for dancing, and it would really make you feel like you’re dancing at a party on a night out. The fast beats were accompanied by something unusual-the piano. Much to my surprise, the whole song turned out to be so groovy despite the different choice of instruments. The overall melody is so catchy that I just had to put this in the list. The music video sets the mood for the song best, which featured the 3 girls dancing at a party. The song features outstanding feel-good material, which probably is one reason as to why I fell in love with this track.

#07. Mina – Answer The Phone
(2002; Rendezvous) | MUSIC VIDEO

I remember “Answer The Phone” being such a hit here in my home country, The Philippines. I was around 7 that time when this song was first played on the countdowns, but it was in 2003 when this song became an even more popular song. This song is actually the very first K-Pop song to achieve #1 on few music countdowns, thus naming it the very first K-Pop hit in the Philippines. It was so big that even a Filipino artist released an English cover of the song!
Well, I actually am not surprised because Answer The Phone is indeed one amazing song! This track would make you dance with the heavy and somehow fast beats, and this track will make you sing along with the catchy parts found in the song. Take the “Lalala” parts for example.

#06. Baby V.O.X. – Get Up
(1999; Come Come Come Baby) | MUSIC VIDEO 

I love this song. The song’s arrangement sounds so old school, but it is as danceable as all the songs recently released in K-Pop. Just like any other song in this list, it was so catchy, but this song had a unique touch of catchiness in it. Actually, the whole song is pretty unique because there is something so unexplainable about the song that makes it sound so cool and amazing. The laid-back way the girls sang in the song went well with the fierce arrangement, which I believe is why the song had that certain difference in it. The song sounded like “RaNia’s DR. FEEL GOOD” for me, but with clothes on. lol.

#05. Shinhwa – Perfect Man
(2002; Perfect Man) | MUSIC VIDEO

I don’t know why, but “Perfect Man” ended up as the only song by a male group to break into the top 10. lol. Maybe the girl groups were quite better? Well, I don’t really think so, since the male groups were also good, as proven by Shinhwa’s Perfect Man!
For a song that was released 9 years ago, “Perfect Man” is really good! I can’t even imagine it playing on the television during it’s release time, because the song was pretty amazing in terms of overall creativity. It actually has everything for me, The catchiness, the dance moves, and the dynamic arrangement! “Perfect Man” just truly showed that Shinhwa was indeed composed of perfectly talentet men!

#04. Baby V.O.X. – Why
(2000; Why) | MUSIC VIDEO 

I was actually debating with myself on what I should put on the fourth place since Baby V.O.X.’s “Why” was just as good, and was so close with “Get Up”, another song by them. But either way, I chose to place “Why” on the fourth place because for me, it had more layers in the backing track. I mean, “Get Up” was pretty good, but “Why” was slightly better in a way that its instrumental had variety of instruments, like the strings arrangement in the song.
Basically, I just love this song. I recently discovered this song through random YouTube clicking, and as soon as I heard it, I was awestruck. I immediately went on to find an even more HQ version of the song, and when heard this song in HQ, my heart and mind just went ASDFGHJKL.

#03. Eugene – Windy
(2004; 810303) | MUSIC VIDEO

Talk about freshness!
Like some of the songs in this list, I was kind of hesitating to put this in, but with a different reason. Since all the other songs were released at around 1999-2002, I didn’t want to put something quite recent here. But well, the song was just too good to be left out!
The song is around 7 years old now, but still sounds as if it was released just this year! “Windy” is just so amazing because not only is it catchy, it had a good mix of dance percussion and feel-good instrumentals, which made one heck of a windy ride! I was pretty disappointed to hear that this song did poorly on Korea’s music charts that time because I believe this deserved more. But hey, when a song’s good, no awards are needed to truly declare that it is indeed good, right?

#02. FIN.K.L. – Now
(2000; Now) | MUSIC VIDEO

When it comes to live performances, I think Fin.K.L. wins with a large margin securely separating them from other girl groups, whether they may be from the 90s or the new era. I mean, seriously, these girls know how to put on a show. I haven’t even seen them live, but from what I’ve been seeing online, I can easily say that only Fin.K.L. could pull off such great and complex moves while singing their own lines.
But about the song “Now”, it somehow became popular to the new K-Pop fans now because of the different cover version created by today’s girl groups, notably “KARA”, “Girls’ Generation” and “Wonder Girls”. Wonder Girls’ version became the most noticed by fans because it was them who took on the effort and released their own cover version with a matching music video that looks exactly like the original song!
“Now” is just a powerful song. The song has a certain energy that made it different with the releases during its own time. It was somehow ahead of the pack, as others would say, which is why the song probably became so big with the people. The song was so catchy, and the arrangement featured so much variety which is why it is completely impossible for the song to bore you.

#01. Lee Hyori – 10 Minutes
(2003; STYLISH…E hyOlee) | MUSIC VIDEO

When it’s the K-Pop soloists we’re talking about, only Lee Hyori comes to my mind when we’re talking about consistency. From 1998 until now, she creates good music, whether it may be in a group or as a solo act. I prefer her solo releases since it showed her independence and versatility, but that could just be me. What I do believe we know in common-me and all people aware of her-is that she is just so good as an artist. No, scratch that. SHE IS AMAZING. So many problems have kind of slowed down her progress in releasing, but she still gets more and more amazing over time. Greatly astounded by the constant high quality of the songs from her releases like 10 Minutes from STYLISH…E hyOlee, U-Go-Girl from It’s Hyorish, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from H-Logic, she stands strong as my favorite K-Pop solo female act.

Regarding the number one song…
10 Minutes is just pure love. Words can’t express how much I love this song. This song is catchy (yeah, like that’s a surprise), but at the same time, the song is just so simple. The arrangement wasn’t much of a banger, and it wasn’t as fast-paced as all the other songs in this list, but this song just remains superior with its simplicity. The sort-of-old school sound found in the arrangement was perfect for the overall mood, and the synthesizers made the track sound as tight as ever! I just really love this song. I bet you would too, so go listen to it now!

There were a few tracks which almost made it into the top 10, but sadly didn’t. Since they were all good, I decided to put at least 3 tracks here as part of the recommendations list! 

RECOMMENDED:

G.O.D. – Road
(2001; Chapter 4 Road) | MUSIC VIDEO

I was supposed to include this into the Top 10 since it was sooo good, but I guess I just decided not to. Either way, “Road” was a nice change from the up-beat tracks in this list. This track goes on a different route with its mellow arrangement, but still is amazing with the G.O.D. members showcasing their vocal abilities! Just a random fact, KARA covered this song on a music show and did it great justice! You should go check it out also.

Sugar – Secret
(2004; Secret) | MUSIC VIDEO 

Do you guys know J-Pop artist, ICONIQ? She’s the girl at the most-right, wearing something white. She was part of this girl group before studying in Los Angeles and eventually debuting in Japan.
I don’t know why the girls didn’t make it big with “Secret” because for me, this was their strongest title track, and the most memorable one too! The song even had its own share of catchiness, and it even had a good arrangement. In my list, this one good ol’ K-Pop song, really.

So there you go! My Top 10 list of great and somehow influential K-Pop songs in the earlier times! I enjoyed picking out songs for the list, and you guys can count on a new edition of Editorial Picks soon!

How about you, what are your favorite K-Pop songs from the earlier days?

]]> http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/editorial-pick-1-good-ol-k-pop/feed/ 0 josh012595 http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/shuffle-and-repeat-2k11/ http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/shuffle-and-repeat-2k11/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:45:53 +0000 josh012595 http://josh012595.wordpress.com/?p=4403 ]]>

INTRODUCING A NEW & IMPROVED SHUFFLE AND REPEAT!

I’ve been wanting to improve the blog for a long time now, but admittedly, I was too busy, and I kind of grew out of reviewing releases because I somehow got bored with the typical routine of reviewing this and that. I also found reviewing all the singles first before the studio album lifeless and too formal, which is why I am introducing a new version of Shuffle and Repeat!

If I was asked of what has changed since I first started to review in this blog, I would have to say that I’ve become a lot more mature now but my tastes haven’t changed overall, really. I guess it just expanded. I’ve become a lot more appreciative with other genres now, which is why I didn’t want to stick to the formal format. I’ll just go ahead and post whatever I want about music. After all, this is a music blog which I have opened to share my musical journeys and discoveries to my readers.

Basically, the new and improved Shuffle & Repeat will be limitless. I actually plan to post in this blog anything and everything I encounter when it comes to music. No language barriers, no formal formats to follow, just posts about good music.

I hope you guys all look forward to this new change in the blog.

I PROMISE THAT THIS TIME, I AM REALLY BACK.

Hate You

tracklist:
01. Hate You

Hate You has grown a lot on me, I can safely say. When I was listening to the teaser of the song and back to when I first heard it fully, I hated it. I thought it was a pretty boring song, and it doesn’t even show progress when talking about intensity in arrangement. Things have quite changed now because I actually like it. After a couple more listens, I think it’s a pretty decent song and I appreciate it despite it showing less progress in arrangement. What I liked most about the song is that it was upbeat, and yet the vocals of the 4 of them were clear, and were high quality. Dara has obviously improved her singing because there definitely is no autotune, as far as I can tell. Overall, this might also be growers for some of you, but just give it some more play counts and you’ll like just like me.

Favorable Track:
Hate You

Shuffle rating!

Shy Boy is Secret’s 1st single. It was released on January 6, 2011.

tracklist:
01. Shy Boy
02. No. 1
03. Shy Boy (Inst.)
04. No. 1 (Inst.)

Secret really did a great 360 degree-change with their concept regarding Shy Boy. I didn’t really expect them to make a comeback with a very upbeat concept because of how fierce they were with songs like Magic and Madonna, but I have to say that I fell in love with this track and their concept as well. I think it was time to let the audience see a softer and more jolly side of them, so I really think that their change was very clever. Anyways, talking about the song itself, I’d say that Shy Boy is very catchy. It starts off with a plain beat with some guitar samples which were mixed with the “doo roo wap doo bap doo bap” lines that is enough to get you interested in listening. It’s good from the start, but it gets excellent as it reaches the highlight, which is the chorus. The English lines “You are my Shy Shy Shy Boy” was very infectious. Seriously. Especially when it gets accompanied by the heavy beat and dynamic arrangement, it just sounds so great. I don’t really need to talk about the girls’ vocals since they were great (as always). So yeah. Definitely, this was a pretty refreshing song. Simple. Heavy. Catchy.

No. 1 was cool. It took a more aggressive path than Shy Boy, but it doesn’t get too aggressive. Just like Shy Boy, it was catchy. Especially the chorus, where they blabber a few lines and go back to singing normal words such as “Music makes me high”. I thought the arrangement during the verses needed a little more “mmph” in them, but it doesn’t ruin the song, really. It’s still a very good track.

Favorable Tracks:
Shy Boy, No. 1

Shuffle rating!

Pass is Jewelry’s 5th digital single. It was released on May 16, 2011.

tracklist:
01. Pass
02. Pass (Inst.)

When I first heard Pass, I immediately remembered Rainbow‘s single, A. I don’t know why, but I really think they sound alike, arrangement-wise. The strong, progressive beats and the synths sounded like they were created by the same production team that did A. I don’t know if the producers were the same since that fact, I still have to look up but nevertheless, I can say that Pass is one catchy and amazing song, which is better than their previous single, Back It Up. It is pretty strong since there are heavy beats in the arrangement, but that helps make the song more livelier. Especially when you combine it with the pretty catchy melody and very infectious lines, you’ll hear something that’s very cool. Although, when you listen to it repetitively, it easily gets old, and you might even easily get tired with it. I don’t know if that’s just me, but really, other than that, Pass is one strong and amazing track.

Favorable Track:
Pass

Shuffle rating!

On Rainy Days is BEAST’s sixth digital single. It was released on May 12, 2011, which served as a teaser for their first full-length album, Fiction and Fact.

tracklist:
01. On Rainy Days

I don’t know, but it feels like many of the major digital single releases for May were all softies, since you have 2NE1′s LONELY, and the quite slow Ma Boy by SISTAR19. But hey, I didn’t say I don’t like them. lol. Same with BEAST’s On Rainy Days. I really like this newly released track by BEAST. It’s pretty simple, and the chords created a pretty cool and relaxed melody, which was very very nice to hear, especially when combined with the harmonization created by the boys. It is also pretty catchy for a soft song, which is a reason why I really like this track. I can’t really point out anything bad about this track since it is pretty simple and they really have done nothing wrong with it. They crafted the song quite well, taking the simpler route and creating something different yet amazing. I have to say, I’m quite impressed with this group because of this song.

Favorable Track:
On Rainy Days

Shuffle rating!

LONELY is 2NE1′s 6th digital single. It was released on May 12, 2011.

tracklist:
01. LONELY

Considering the fact that 2NE1 is widely known by their fans as strong and fierce females in terms of style and in terms of music, there is no doubt that LONELY is very different. While majority of their previously released songs feature heavy beats, this track does not contain a single trace of beat, which makes it very refreshing, as well as amazing due to the fact that the girls’ voices are heard completely without autotune. Although, I must say that when I first heard LONELY, I was afraid it would be something super slow. When I first got a glimpse of how it officially sounded like, I was quite relieved to hear that it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it to be. Well, actually, it’s not bad at all. Some 2NE1 fans who love their dance-y, and heavy music might be turned-off at first because it’s a soft track, but they would surely like it eventually. After all, it still features their signature “eh eh” phrases. Which is really reallyyyy catchy.

Favorable Tracks:
LONELY

Shuffle rating!

]]> http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/lonely/feed/ 0 josh012595 whole whole whole whole half http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/morning-kiss/ http://josh012595.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/morning-kiss/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:34:10 +0000 josh012595 http://josh012595.wordpress.com/?p=4213 ]]> Digital Single Review
Kiss Me Five – Morning Kiss

Morning Kiss is Kiss Me Five’s first digital single. It was released on September 28, 2010.

tracklist:
1. Morning Kiss

Catchy Catchy Catchy. I think those three words best describe Morning Kiss. While the arrangement has a very complicated structure, I can say that everything flows in perfectly. All the synthesizers blended well with the semi-heavy beats, and created a fun atmosphere that will surely hook the people with the song. While it didn’t work for me when I first listened to it, I can safely say that I really like it now. Strangely, what convinced me to give the song another shot were the low phased-synths heard at the start. It gave me a feeling that the song itself was purely neat, infectious and something new — and actually, it really is neat, catchy and unique! Although, the synths inside the arrangement reminded me of Katy Perry’s California Girls. lol. What my favorite part comes right after the bridge, where the “whoas” and “ohs” started to appear. But actually, the whole song is pretty nice, so I can say that all parts of the song are my favorites. So Basically, what I’m trying to say is that Morning Kiss is not a bad song. It is very good, and most of you guys will enjoy it.

Favorable Tracks:
Morning Kiss

Shuffle rating!

Just a little introduction.
SWEE:D is a girl-trio from Thailand, managed by KamiKaze, a music-producing company which I’d like to dub as Thailand’s own SM Corporation. lol. But yes, SWEE:D is made up of three girls — MEEN, PIM, and JINNY.

Stop it is SWEE:D’s first digital single. It was released on June 7, 2010.

tracklist:
1. Stop It

Since I’m only a newbie when it comes to Tpop, I’d say that I did not know what to expect with what I was going to hear when I decided to try out SWEE:D. But when I saw their music video for Stop It, I fell in love with the girls & their style. The overall sound of the song is not much different from what we’ve been hearing from KPop these days. The song is beat-driven, and has synths in the background which puts the overall sound close to Kpop. There’s also that catchiness in it that makes it even more identical to KPop.

But focusing on the song, there’s so much color in the arrangement. There’s that sugary sound, but it does not mess up the song just like any other type of “flalala, i’m sweet, sugary, poppy and stuff” song. I actually also am impressed with the voices of the three girls. I don’t find their voices amazing, nor do I find them diva-like. But what I’m impressed with is the fact that they use their kind-of-ordinary vocals forming something amazing. Their voices blend in perfectly, and I must say that it matches the arrangement very well.

Definitely, if you like KPop, or JPop, give SWEE:D a try, and you’ll love ‘em too!

Favorable Tracks:
Stop It

Shuffle rating!