Break-Down:
After School are looking for member number 9 through auditions. The age range is something like 10-25. Auditionees can be Korean, Japanese or Chinese whatever.

Now, It’s common knowlege I’ve never liked this adding member thing, only because I don’t see the point. Maybe I could defend UEE and say that she was a good addition because she was the mascot, she gathers attention where ever she goes, so she’s useful. However, the addition of the other three made no sense to me at all. They already had two members that could rap, Bekah being the killer~ Jungah and Kahi had vocals down, Kahi also had mad dancing skills, UEE was the face, Soyoung and Jooyeon had the cute-sexy vibe that completed the group. See my point. On an objective stand point, Raina is the only member that has made any impact so far. Subjectively, Pledis could have done something else with her, AS didn’t need her. Nana so far is just the hot model, she has some lungs but I can’t make judgement. Lizzy? yeah.

From the begining, Pledis said that they were a group that had the same “graduating” system as a Japanese girl band. Fair enough, why not. The only thing is, have the originals even had a chance to “go to school”?? It looks like they’ll be graduating fairly quickly. I think Pledis should have started adding members this time next year perhaps if that’s what they really wanted. We never get a chance to get used to AS before they change. Kahi and Jungah will probs be the first to graduate, to me that sucks because along with Bekah, they made AS.

This whole graduating thing is weird to me because you’re constantly waiting for people to leave and arrive, you grow to love a certain member or a certain “class” then they leave. It’s just like creating a new band under the same name. Can fans really stay loyal, won’t they get a bit tired of it all? Instead of this, Pledis could have just created Orange Caramel without them having to join AS, it’s like they put them there to test the waters so if they failed they’d just repair themselves with AS’ popularity and fan base.

I don’t think they’re intentionally trying to create a rival for SNSD because 9 doesn’t belong to them, applying that knowledge would mean all 5 member groups are direct rivals, yeah they’re all in competition for the top spot but, they aren’t constantly head-to-head, so we can drop that arguement there.

The main thing which made me say “WHAT” was the age range 10, TEN, 10 YEARS OLD, is the starting age. Can you imagine a 10 year old jamming with AS on stage? No. It’s weird. At least make it 16. It just goes to show, the original idea for “Korea’s PCD” is truly going down the drain.

Well as I said before, I’m no longer a listener of AS but I just wanted to air my thoughts. Perhaps if Kahi Bekah or Jungah form a group or all go solo I’ll lend my ears to them once again. It’s sad to see a group who came with such fire and potential come to this. Who knows I may be wrong and they might be the biggest thing Korea has seen in years. Whatever, good luck to them.

Fei/Wang Fei Fei
Chinese
1987 – 23

Jia/ Meng Jia
Chinese
1989 – 21

Min
Korean
1991 – 19
You may recognise her as the girl that danced with HyoYeon(SNSD) and various dance videos of her whilst in America where she was known to netizens as “Lil’ Jon’s protege.” – I don’t know what happened to that either.

Suzy/ Bae Seu Ji
Korean
1994 – 16

Now that we know what we’re dealing with I shall review. At first glance I was like ‘woah,‘ – that was because of Jia’s PINK hair lol. Just by looking at their picture it was obvious what route JYP wanted to take with them and it wasn’t cute, (YES!). I had seen their Anycall campaign “Love Again” but I never took much notice of it, but now, in hindsight, Jia looks better without the pink hair ^^.

Anyway, I didn’t watch their very first performance but I did see one and I’ve got to say, for rookies, they’re pretty good. Stable voices, solid dancing – a recipe for a good debut. There’s always one or two members in a group that you notice more and others that blend but with this group they all have their own presence. I don’t have any favourite performers (you know, the ones you can’t wait to blow you away with that dance or power note) but I don’t feel there’s any that I forget. I do however have an interest in Fei, I don’t know, I just think that she has a lot to offer, not that the other girls don’t but it’s just in inckling, I could be wrong.

It took me a couple of days to actually watch the MV, by this point the pink hair was making me ill. The ballet skills hadn’t impresses me because I’ve seen it amongst a lot of singers lately (korean or not). I did like the MV though, it was simple but not boring and showed just enough skill to keep you engaged for the 3+ miniutes.

The song itself is catchy (when is a kpop song these days not catchy lol) it’s bold, sexy but has just enough ‘sweetness’ to keep everyone happy. I like the meaning of the song, it’s kind of different ^^. There are lot of badly translated videos around but I guess you can kind of get the drift if you can’t pick out the errors =)

The entire single is alright. There are a couple of cute-sounding songs but not to the extremity of Orange Caramel, they do however save themselves with ‘Break it’ which has that bad girl vibe which makes me think of After School’s 나쁜놈/Nappeun Nom =).

Overall I think I would give them:
6/10 for vocals
7/10 for dance skill
5/10 for image
That’s pretty good for a rookie group whom I’ve seen very little of. I hope they do well, they seem to be gathering a lot of positive attention already :)

video cred:lnterminableHD
Sidenote: Taeyang has won two awards thus far, yeahhhhhhh~ xD

It’s just getting hotter and hotter.

I need a girl:

At the risk of repeating everything I’ve said in the last two posts I’m going to just say WOW.

You’re My:

I screamed like a little bitch.

Just A Feeling:

My dreams are coming true!

Videos: BigBangSHINeeWorldSK

Love it! He looks like he’s having so much fun. It’s great how carefree it all seems, it gives off so many good vibes. I wasn’t keen on Sandara/Dara but in the end she was the better choice opposed to another random video model. She cute and spunky and isn’t singing. I knew he was keeping the stubble, everyone called it a shadow. A Taeyang MV wouldn’t be a Taeyang MV without some dancing, it’s only a little but it’s so smooth. And that BODY is back – a bit close to Sandara mind lol. I love the sillyness during G-Dragons appearance. It’s just fun and nice and happy. I really like it!

I think it’s time to let the sun shine – I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I have been ready for Solar for two years and now it’s here. Prepare for some ridiculous fangirl reviewing :)

Let’s start with SUPERSTAR, one of the many upbeat songs, the combination of beats and horns make it a little different. It sounds pretty uplifting and great for summer. His falsetto in this song shows so much improvement, I love it. The first thing I really noticed about it was that it’s very catchy, from the first time I heard it, I pretty much knew the first verse and chorus. There’s some Usher inspiration I suppose, I didn’t notice it myself but you could say that :)
video credit: iamsmartiez

Next up, I NEED A GIRL
Now, as this is the title track I was very excited for this song. I love the mellow beat, it’s the kind of song I’d play with the roof down on a scorching day or just a song to relax to. I was a bit put off at first because I remember in an interview Taeyang didn’t want to keep going on about not having a girlfriend, so when I saw the name of the track, I was a kinda like hmm BUT when I heard it I was like wow it’s just a really nice song! Of course, G-dragon makes it extra special which is a sure winner for those crazy VIPz :)
video credit: iamsmartiez

Moving on, JUST A FEELING, I love the melody of this song, again the beats are perfect for summer, I can see my friends and I dancing and singing to this in the street, because that’s how we roll. I hope he performs this, because I can visualise screaming fangirls during the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah bit. His voice just has improved so much it’s crazy =D
video credit: iamsmartiez

Roll on, YOU’RE MY. Can I just say, when the teaser came out so many girls I knew, whether into KPOP or not, young/old, asian/white/black/mixed LOVED this song haha it was crazy, I saw ‘you’re my chocolate, my sweetest chocolate‘ everywhere. This song just makes you melt! His voice is like effing velvet, it’s gorgeous. I’m so sad that it’s only 2.49 long but I guess it’s better than having it too long and losing that sensual-ness lol. It’s just a beautiful song. He could hypnotise a lot of girls with this song. One of my definate favourites.
video credit: iamsmartiez

Time for MOVE, this is another favourite of mine. I’m repeating myself but I love the beats in this song, I can see myself dancing to this at the bust stop by myself while some old people stare at me like WTF? An MV for this song would be really good, I can imagine a lot of great choreography. Teddy’s rap is just awsome, I hope there’s no issues with his innuendos ;)
video credit: iamsmartiez

Lemme BREAK it DOWN now, again the beats rock. it took me a while to accept this song because of the unecessary auto-tune even though it’s a little. Auto-tune is for people who can’t sing. Taeyang CAN sing. This is definately a car song, I can see it now. This song would have amazing choregraphy and I would so learn it.
video credit: iamsmartiez

The penultimate, NEEGA JAMDEUN HOOEH (After You Fall Asleep) this became my favourite teaser, I don’t know about everyone else but I really like the Michael Jackson noises haha he does them really well. The beats of this song blows me away. This is an all-rounder song, it’s great. This is really good for clubs I think and just anything in general.
video credit: iamsmartiez

The last track, TAKE IT SLOW. Ahhhh I LOVE this song! It MIGHT just be my favourite. I could fall asleep to this song it’s THAT soothing. The piano piece is the perfect addition. His voice is just… I don’t even have words for it anymore. <3333333333333
video credit: iamsmartiez

Over all, this album was well worth the wait and well worth your money, my copy is in the post as I type =D This album will be really successful and hopefully he wins a lot with these songs. The only thing I’m worried for is promotion time – I hope it doesn’t hinder him. I’m happy as well as a load of Taeyang fans all over the world =)

So I don’t know much about this new artist but I’ve been seeing a lot of comments such as:
“she obviously has no talent”
“so cheap”

I youtubed this artist to see what the hustle and bustle was about only to find that she hasn’t even debuted and people are just making decisions on the teaser. I know teasers are like first impressions but to say someone has no talent and that they’re cheap is a bit far-fetched.

The ‘raunchy’ pictures are the main source of these comments, sorry but just because you can see a glimpse of someone’s bum crack and the same amount of cleveage you would see on any red carpet dress it doesn’t make them “cheap.” It’s the female form, nothing we are unaware of! People are always saying there’s a difference between sexy and cheap, yes there is but these guys think SNSD wearing black is sexy! Oh Gee! Give me a break. A little lesson for you, the word {sexy} has the word sex in it so obviously “sexy” isn’t family rated fun. Look at Marylin Monroe, Madonna, like every single Bond girl, they are considered some of the greatest sex symbols of the decades, they are sexy! Cheap, would be her carelessly revealing all with no shame, so if the bum crack pic was the other way around. Get it yet?

Just because someone uses their sex appeal doesn’t make them talentless. Christina Aguilera – Dirrty anyone? If someone had never heard of her before and just saw a clip of that video they may have said she’s “cheap” and has no talent because she is “half-naked” covered in mud and “touching herself” We know she has an amazing voice, she just wanted go wild and it worked. Dirrty is one her most successful and popular singles, I wonder why that is…? hmm. SEX SELLS people, like it or not, it doesn’t matter if you’re from a conservative country like Korea or a liberal one like America. Then you might think, she’s (Psycho) not getting a good reaction so she’s going to flop. My next point covers that.

Generally, yes I am generalising, most of those commenters/’netizens’ are girls. I’m with the boys on this one. For some reason girls think everything sexy is “cheap” mainly in KPOP, that’s where this whole double standard comes in. Girls can ogle at their favourite idol topless yet the moment a girl shows some skin = OUTRAGE! I’m not complaining, I love me some Taeyang abs but I don’t get in a bother about idol girls showing a little something, they’re not exactly acting like porn stars are they now? Fan boys are frustrated! Yeah, they may like the cuteness but they’re boys, a little skin is fair. Maybe some of these “cheap” artists want to target boys because most idols target girls – the easy crowd. When After School did AH the crowd was filled with fan boys, it just goes to show they like that. I remember clearly when After School debuted – not many but – some GIRLS said they were too sexy. WTF?!

In conclusion it all comes back to Korea being conservative yet half of those ‘netizens’ are from western countries. This is just like deja vu with E.via really. Like I’ve said before if you don’t like it don’t look. It’s silly to make such a judgement now, who knows, all this “sexiness” might be a joke and she’s really going to dance around in a hippo suit. It’s up to the people of Korea to decide anyway and may I remind you not everyone who listens to KPOP is 9-16 years old. I’m obviously biased because anything that isn’t cute is a win for me.

One last point, people act like they want PURE TALENT in artists’ teasers for them to like an artist right? Then explain Orange Caramel for me.

So a while back Pledis announced that they were splitting the 8 member group into sub groups and that some members would be either doing solo things, e.g. Jungah in the theatre, and some would be split into groups.

Sub Group 1
Name: Orange Caramel [wth?]
Members: Nana, Lizzy and Raina
Genre: Cutesy

video credit:yunakimdaebak

{The end of this video reminds me of the Dior advert with the girl and balloons}

Well, I don’t like cute, so I don’t need to describe in detail how this isn’t my cup of tea by any means. This cuteness attaches itself to the once fierce sexy After School name. I knew they would do this when the new members, post UEE, came. To be honest, I don’t see the point of this, if I were Pledis I’d keep these three on the route of Bang! but with more singing because of Raina, plus the other two have good voices also. The cute thing is an easy route and a crowd pleaser (for most people) so I guess that’s why they did it plus the new members need more exposure.

I hope the other rumored sub group is more sexy and powerful.
-I love Kahi but I think she should get a little less exposure, I know she’s the leader but that doesn’t mean she has to get the most attention or most parts.
-I really hope Jungah gets some special vocal time, her voice is amazing to me, there’s just something different about it.
-Jooyeon isn’t the strongest singer but surely Pledis can give her more attention, she’s being overshadowed and it’s not fair really.
-UEE could leave and I wouldn’t notice, I’m not being mean but I’m saying that she is so successful doing other things it’s like After School is her part-time job.
-Bekah has to get the most attention BY FAR. Come on, she is awsome! She keeps that sassy-ness that came with After School in the AH days. If she had a solo I’d totally buy whatever she put out there as long as she kept her firery attitude along with some sick beats – like Bring It Back – Hyori ft Bekah and Jiyoon (4 Minute).

Looking forward to it Pledis.

Can I say, FINALLY?

An official statement from YG has stated that Taeyang’s album ‘Solar’ will be released on July 1st.

How long have I waited to say that?! Forever. That’s how long. I’m so excited, 11 new songs plus two classic-Taeyang throwbacks: ‘Prayer’ and ‘Namanbarabwa.’ I’m itching to have that album in my hands and reviewing it, song by song, every minute of it. I have always had high hopes for this album but with the delay I’ll be surprised if there’s anything I don’t like =D

Other than the ‘minute a day’ teaser on the homepage I hope we get some MV teasers real soon or at least a title track. Asking for too much? Can you blame me?? I don’t mind Se7en sharing some promotion time, it’s all YG love, plus Se7en is awsome – Rain came back, as did Hyori, now, it’s time for Se7en :)

This news has truly made my day.

15 days.

yay!

No I wasn’t hinting at any 2NE1 song. Seriously.

1) My interest in KPOP has dramatically decreased.
2) College is really killing me.

This just a run-down of what I’ve managed to enjoy and what I’m looking forward to.

Hyori & Rain
The King and Queen returned to KPOP and with then, the initial love I used to have for the music. Both had strong comebacks and I deeply enjoyed both albums. I loved Hyori’s hip hop feel, aside from the plagerism accusations (to be honest I have never heard of the group the guy stole the songs from) all the songs had their own spunk to it. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang took a couple of listens but the performance grabbed me. Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, wow. When I heard Love Song I honestly thought “yeah this is nice” but after that performance. OMG. The little fangirl in my brain took over. Hip Song was the perfect contrast. The whole comeback showed that Rain is still Rain and I LOVED it.

4minute
Yes, surprisingly. I was never sure what to think of them because of the fan hype, Hyuna haters, and girl band bomb but their teaser featuring Beast was really fierce and it suited them. The actual song HUH was a nice change from the either cute or black concepts that seemed to be going around. I’ve seen several dance covers so their already high popularity is spreading. I was a bit thrown off by the maknae drastic change to rapper and of course the Engrish was a bit o__O (but I should be used to that) but it’s totally fine now. I never noticed but they are all really stunning. The leader should really get some more screen time but I think Cube is learning slowly but surely. The album is impressive, it sticks to their concept and the songs are repeat worthy. I hope they don’t suffer any set-backs e.g banning and I hope they win some music shows.

MBLAQ
Yeah yeah ok I like them a lot. This is totally unbiased BTW. Their comeback was really good. I love ‘Y’. It’s kinda cool as the title acts as a variable to please the fans. Their dancing is awsome as always and a story-based video is always a win, especially with a fight-scene. Thunder really stepped up, I like a lot :) GO really shines to me with this comeback, he’s really pretty but manly-good-looking at the same time. They are just like Rain in 5 sections. It’s genius. I think they won a music show, so congrats!

F(x)
FINALLY! A song worth listening to. No offence to F(x), I like them but to me their songs were dissapointing. I like NU ABO but I know they can do so much more, you can see it. They have really good dance skills and should totally express that more. Mr. Boogie made my ears happy, I hope they promote that. Are they really going to keep Amber looking like a boy? I mean it’s cool but… Anyway, I’m happy with their comeback, it made studying more fun and colourful :)

Afterschool
Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. Bang? I like the song, the dance is cool. 2 problems before I carry on with praises, Where was the new new girl? why did she share a line with Nana? I’m still so against the new members and new new member thing. Anyway, the song is good, the drumming thing was awsome, it was different new and catchy. With a vocal like Jungah I think there should have been more singing parts so it’s not just Raina and Kahi singing 75% of the song. Although I liked it, I was dissapointed, After School used to be up there on my list but things change.

SS501
I only just listened to the song 1 day ago and briefly watched the MV so I can’t say much right now but I’m really enjoying the whole orchestra thing, it’s a really cool move. SS501 have always been pretty cool to me and they seem to be really improving.

What I’m looking forward to:
This is no surprise: TAEYANG! OMG “early 2010″?? We’re 6 months from 2011! Whatever, I heard its this month, I hope it is because it would be a great leaving college present.

Quick reviews:
1) SISTA – good vocals, need better songs.
2) SUPER JUNIOR – sorry sorry anyone? Not impressed but fans would be happy.
3) Wondergirls – dissapointed, weak comeback. What’s with the new girl? Hopefully there’s more to come.

I’ll wrap it up there. I’ll probably vanish for a few weeks but then my summer starts :)

Pannacotta

Peartiser

The way I’m going it’s surprising I’ve haven’t put on any weight… yet.