Top Ten Kpop Songs (January-March 2014)

  First thing, confession time. Instead doing a survey or whatsoever, I made this list based on my favorite songs released in January to March 2014. Double confession time: I was bias when it came to ranking the songs. Come on. Being a Kpop critic doesn’t mean that I can’t be particularly fond of certain Kpop groups, right? Besides, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I’m doing this to share my favorite Kpop songs to everyone who cares to read my blog.

10) B.A.P—1004

Yes! Finally! A song that is good enough from B.A.P! Before 1004, they were doing a lot of ballads and aegyos in their music videos, and it’s something that makes me feel very uncomfortable because the powerful and energetic B.A.P aren’t meant for stuffs like this. They totally rocked Warrior and No Mercy, but now they did it even better in 1004. The intro of the song is pretty addictive, and they presented a powerful and mind-blowing dance that you couldn’t find it anywhere, except in Kpop. The MV though, doesn’t make any sense but let’s just skip the part I complain about how illogical Kpop MVs can be sometimes, alright?

9) Taeyeon (SM the Ballad)—Set Me Free

I noticed that Kpop groups normally steer clear of ballads. That’s because Kpop is targeted to teenagers, and they prefer different genres like dance pop rather than ballads. However, to achieve success in Kpop just by ballads, you would have to produce a really damn assdhsfdgldgkpsfadfrfhfcdl awesome ballad that is going to capture everyone’s heart. Taeyeon, with her perfect vocals, presents heartbreaking ballads all this time. I love Closer (To The Beautiful You’s OST), and I’m so glad that SM the Ballad decided to let Taeyeon sing Set Me Free. The song is so beautiful, and I think no one else could sing this song better than her.

8) 2NE1—Happy

I always feel happy when this song starts playing on my phone. The song is so cheery and cute and I could feel the extra jolt of serotonin running in my blood lol! This song is so fun, and this is what Kpop is about, isn’t? I always love fun and silly songs, I found comfort in songs like Happy in mundane everyday’s life. I have watched the MV for a few times, jumping and singing along at the same time, but the song is just so fun and 2NE1 is so cute and I swear the temperature in my room rose by several degrees when I was watching it repeatedly on Youtube. It’s official: 2NE1’s MVs are meant for rewatch. 

7) Girls’ Generation—Mr.Mr.

GG did a good job in Mr.Mr. There’s no silly rappings (The Boys, remember?), no different songs being mixed together (I actually like I Got A Boy but obviously there’s a lot of people who don’t like the combination GG had produced). Mr.Mr. is pure singing, just like what Simon and Martina from Eat Your Kimchi had said. The song is catchy and I have to stop everything I’m doing and sexy-dancing around my room when Mr.Mr. starts playing. I don’t like the MV because I know they were trying to present a story but in the end it got poorly edited. I’m waiting for the dance version of Mr.Mr. , SM.

6) Lee HongKi (FT Island)—What I Wanted To Say

This is actually an OST of the drama Bride of The Century (No I’m not doing free advertisement here but yeah, I’ve finished watching the 16-episode drama. It’s about a girl who is about to get married to a rich man but...BACK TO THE SONG, PLEASE!) Since FT Island is always about upbeat songs, so it’s great to see HongKi singing such song. There’s so much emotions in this song, and with HongKi’s vocals, this song is perfect. This is going to be an award-winning OST, mark my words.

5) Singing Got Better—Ailee

Ailee got to be one of the most talented singer in Kpop. Although she is constantly being compared to Lee Hyori and Hyolin, I think Ailee has successfully pulled her own style and she’s going to stay and awe everyone with her soulful singing. Singing Got Better and Heaven, one of my all-time favorite songs, are equally awesome. Her songs are so much better than some other Kpop groups. I hope Ailee could stick to her style, and continue to produce soul-destroying, earth-shakingly great songs like Singing Got Better. Way to go, Ailee!

4) Rain—La Song

This is the song that after you have listened to it once, you will never forget it. I laughed so hard when I first heard the intro. And then I laughed even harder when I saw Rain’s dancing. Hey I’m not making fun of Rain, it’s a compliment! At least Rain produced something that is appropriate to his age. The MV is pretty awesome, there’s nothing I want to complain about the MV. Rain was trying to pull off a fun and hilarious MV, and he succeeded. The ‘LAAAAAA LA LA LA LA’ part is damn catchy  (I know you didn’t read it, you sang it in your head). If you’re thinking hard what song to use to create comic effect in your skit or drama, La Song would be perfect.

3) SoYou and Junggigo—Some

This song has been topping the charts for the longest time in 2014. I didn’t understand why, and I never bothered to check it out until my friend told me about the song recently. So I checked it out, and fell in love with this song instantly. This chorus is so beautiful, the lyrics are so beautiful, the song itself is a beauty. Too bad I can’t understand the MV though because there’s a lot of Korean words inserted in the MV. I feel kinda ashamed of myself because I judged the song before I even listen to it. I have never heard of Junggigo before, but now I’m going to keep a close eye on him and I’m waiting for more awesome songs from this awesome guy.

2) CNBlue—Can’t Stop

I have been a Boice for a long time, so I guess it’s not surprising that this song hogs the No.2 spot on my list. I believe that CNBlue can do no wrong. CNBlue’s Love is awesome. So is Intuition. And Hey You. And Love Revolution. And I’m Sorry. And now Can’t Stop. CNBlue makes me life complete since 2009! Unlike other Kpop groups, they produce their own music and their songs have been so great that it’s impossible that you don’t like their songs. Since the day Can’t Stop is released, I listen to the song almost every day and never get bored of it. I love YongHwa’s voice, and JungShin is so hot with his bass guitar and JongHyun so cute and MinHyuk so charming with the drums. I better stop now before turning my blog into a fangirl edition. Just check out the song, will ya?

And now…coming up the No.1 spot…

*drum rolling*

*clarinet whistling*

*nose blowing*

1) 2NE1—Come Back Home

If you have read my review on 2NE1’s Come Back Home, you will know how much I adore this song. This song is perfect. The MV is well presented, probably one of the best Kpop MVs in Kpop history, the storyline is something that will shake you up. The song is thick with emotions, and I like Dara’s part on ‘come baby baby come come baby’, it’s really catchy. They arranged the song in such brilliant order, and all the 2NE1’s members combined their voices in great harmony. It’s worth the wait, the whole album is gold. This song makes me proud to be a Kpop critic.

AKMU's Melted: S..S..So..Co..Coh-Cold

 I was supposed to review Akdong Musician’s 200% last week, but after I had watched the debut stage of AKMU’s Melted, I decided to wait for the Melted MV instead because the debut stage of Melted looked promising. The MV is released yesterday, and I’m glad that the wait is worth it.

  Before I start ranting about how unique this MV is for me, let me take a moment to feel old. AKMU’s average age is only 15.5 years old, because the brother is 17 and the sister is only 14! So young yet so talented. Although there are other Kpop idols who might be even younger, 12 or 13 maybe, but there is none that is as talented as the siblings. In case you don’t know, the brother wrote all the songs and produced the whole PLAY album! Most Kpop idols do not write their own songs or produce their own album, so you can say that I’m very impressed of AKMU. And let me repeat: he’s only 17! I spent half of my time daydreaming and wondering why I was not famous yet when I was 17. *Sighs* Way to go, AKMU!

  I LOVE this MV. I love it more than I love pizza. This MV is something close to my heart, it touched me deep down and kept me awake at night. I like how all the ugly truths that we all have been avoiding real hard come bombarding at you in the MV. The MV shows us what we don’t want to see. I understand the boy’s feelings in the MV, I feel a deep connection with the boy. I share the same emotion with the boy. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but to be honest I feel like although the boy and I are in two different places, but we are experiencing the same thing. First, the boy has the curiosity and the innocence that no one understands. In this mind-your-own-business world, the driver was mad at the boy because he snapped some photos of some confidential bankers’ documents. The boy didn’t even know that what he was doing is wrong, he didn’t have any bad intentions anyway. But the driver, of course, did not understand. Why? Because he’s an adult. Second, the shopkeeper knew that the boy didn’t have enough money to buy the things he wanted, but does he do anything? No, but he could have. Third, the boy saw beggars looking for cans in trash bins, and they almost fought just for the trash. This is a good scenario showing the poor fight against each other for survival even though it always ends up ugly. Fourth, the boy saw two mothers arguing because their children were fighting with each other or something. This is the problem with the adults. They do what they think is right even though it’s wrong. They stubbornly believe what they want to believe when they don’t even know the truth. And that was an Asian mother and a black mother, I know they are trying to slip some kind of message in the MV but I would choose not to discuss about it. Fifth, the boy saw a street performer coated in silver was sitting alone with desperation in his eyes. Images like this may mean nothing but I always shiver when I thought about the story behind. He was facing hardships to earn a living and whenever I think about people struggling hard to earn money barely enough to survive, I wonder why the world has to be so cruel, when we see millionaires and celebrities everywhere with their LV bags and nasty attitude. Sixth, the boy learnt that you might be receiving approval for your work from someone, but that someone could betray you any minute. He trusted that lady, but she left him in a pub with unpaid bill. Seventh, the few seconds of the lonely bartender looking at everything with his cold eyes hit me so hard. I’m almost an adult now and I could feel what he was feeling. He was fed up with everything he saw and with his life, there’s nothing good going to happen in a pub anyway. In the end, he poured out his anger that was buried on the boy. Eighth, when the boy was at the police station he saw different kind of people throwing a fit at the cops. He watched in disbelief, and at the same time felt that he did not belong in this place. Ninth, cold and bruised, he saw a dog and was trying to be friendly with the dog. Because he thought that dog would be different from all the scary adults, but he was wrong. The dog barked at him like he was some kind of alien, and he lost it. He screamed his heart out, there were tears in her eyes. In such a cold world, he felt powerless. However, the guy in the caravan invited him and made him a cup of coffee. They both smiled, and faith in humanity has been restored! But of course, it was not that simple. We later see that the boy, who was now a grown up, was starring out at the office window with his cold eyes. This is a very cold world, after all.

  Throughout the journey the boy tried to capture the different natures of human. I found this relatable because I myself, am also a serious student of human gestures. I am very observant of every tiny actions of the people around me. When I see the unpleasant side of human nature, it sends chills all over my body. When I see warmth in people’s eyes, it melts the ice freezing my heart away. I don’t understand why the world has degraded to its ebb, I don’t understand why people are so selfish. I also don’t understand why we make the world so complicated. There are tons of people suffering right now, and at the same time there are also many rich people sipping red wine in their posh balconies. And I almost go crazy thinking that I can’t do anything about it. Even if I can, I am not strong enough, not powerful enough to change to world and influence people. Religion serves no purpose, law serves no purpose. Life is getting meaningless. But still, once in a while, we see people reaching out for one another, helping each other to pull through during hard times. It’s beautiful, it really is. The MV brings out the message in 5.18 minutes, a bit long for a Kpop MV but it’s still good.

  I couldn’t bring myself to watch the MV for the fourth time because you know why. Tissues, please. Anyway, I’m disappointed that AKMU isn’t casted in the MV. But I’m more disappointed that they were filming it outside Korea with non-Koreans cast. Korea isn’t a bed of roses, it is not as fun as Kpop. It has its own ugly side too and I would like to see them reveal it in the MV. Remember Brown Eye Girls’ Cleansing Cream? Yup I would like to see something like that. The YG president picked 200% as AKMU’s first title track, and AKMU themselves picked Melted for their title track instead. The reason the president was doing this is because Melted is rich with realistic elements and reality could not be peach and cream, something that Kpop does not appreciate. What a bold move from the AKMU siblings! Still, the Melted MV has a melancholy plot fitted perfectly into the eerily beautiful song.The whole MV is just beautiful.

  Thank God, the lyrics of the song make sense. (I have my fair share of going WHATTT when it comes to kpop lyrics). In fact, considering the fact that a 17-year-old boy wrote it, the lyrics are well-versed and neat, like ‘I leave behind the darkness that found its way to my heart’ and ‘I wish the frozen love will melt away now’ are indeed very poetic. Even the ‘why are they so cold’ line is eerily addictive.

  If you have not watch the MV, please do so. Even though there are a lot of Youtube comments saying about how much they cried when watching the MV, please save your tears in your pocket or something. Because the world is a lot crueler that what you have seen.

Crayon Pop : so damn fUHHHH-nEEEEE

  Talking about Crayon Pop, their Christmas Song is still stuck in my head. I’m not exactly fond of Bar Bar Bar, but their Christmas Song is so freaking addictive. It is the MV that eliminated all my prejudice against Crayon Pop, so when I was watching Uh-ee, I was like, this MV got to be good (or else I’ll start judging like a bitch again).

  So this time, Crayon Pop is taking a different approach in their song. Uh-ee is actually a fusion of trot and techno, with a heavy hint of Korean folk music. This kind of music is pretty unfamiliar for the public, definitely not the people’s taste since Kpop is targeted for young adults and even children. However, I think it’s a very good try. Not much Kpop groups would be bold enough to try new things that promise unpredictable Youtube comments. I appreciate Crayon Pop’s efforts in telling the world that they are living in Korea and they are Koreans. We have been seeing a lot of Kpop MVs filmed outside Korea, songs with English words in almost every verse and American-styled outfits. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; it’s just that when you are trying to hard to go global, you skipped steps that could actually help you to shine. Since I don’t know a thing about Korean folk music, so I’m not going to talk much about it but there’s one thing I’m going to complain about, that is the overuse of techno in the song. Less would be better; the techno basically makes every one in the group has the same voice.

  Okay now, the MV. The first 40 seconds of the MV does not serve any purpose, and you gotta agree with me, that Crayon Pop donned beautiful dresses looking all so elegant serves no purpose also. Why, Crayon Pop, why? I found no reason except that they wanted to present a somewhat high class MV teaser. And after that, we see people yawning and keeping boring conversations until Crayon Pop appears again as ahjummas and the atmosphere gets pretty hyped up. Crayon Pop looks freaking adorable with the red scarfs on their head and modified hanboks, so cute that I think I could watch them all day. I have learnt that sweet, young, innocent teenage girls could do no wrong. I mean, if real ahjummas start dancing like that in a party, people would be like, “SECURITY!”

  The dance is BIZARRE. I thought there would not be another one more ridiculous than Christmas Song, but Crayon Pop proved me wrong. Simon and Martina from EatYourKimchi always stress on humor > sexiness, and I could not agree more. This is Kpop, and Kpop is supposed to be fun! The holding-one-leg-and-jumping-like-a-chicken dance, is never something I could imagine as a Kpop dance move. Totally mind-blown. Their dance isn’t hard or complicated, but there’s so much energy scintillating from the girls. One thing I like about Crayon Pop : they don’t care about being neat when dancing ; they just dance whatever they want and have so much fun at the same time. Look at their expression, they are all so immersed in the dance which sane people would never have the guts to dance in public. That’s the kind of dance that is so embarrassing, but you would want to try it when nobody is watching. Owh admit it, you locked the room and tried the chicken fight dance in front of the mirror, right? Right?

  Crayon Pop does not act cute or sexy, they have their very own concept which is so different from the others. You tend to earn hate when you are different, and Crayon Pop knows that. There’s one guy being stopped by the security guards from entering the party, but when he showed them the double red lines on his head, the guards recognized the sign immediately, got scared and let him in. You see that? The red lines are the same pattern on Crayon Pop’s helmets in Bar Bar Bar. It’s like telling all the haters that despite all the hate, Bar Bar Bar is indeed, and still famous and Crayon Pop should be respected and feared. Not only that, when Crayon Pop is dancing, the same guy has been doing the Bar Bar Bar jumping move in the crowds, not once but twice! It’s like a constant reminder to everyone of Bar Bar Bar’s huge success. Sometimes I wonder whether other girl groups secretly hate Crayon Pop, and if they do, Uh-ee MV would be a slap in their faces.

  We all could use a little laugh sometimes. Why so serious? It’s very clever of Crayon Pop to bring WTF moments with a low budget. They don’t need fancy dresses, sexy dances or expensive MV sets. They put even a simple stage to good use. Their sense of humor and boldness are going to keep them alive, not for long but at least for the time being. And lastly, all the best working with Lady Gaga from me!