K-pop End of the Year Show 2013 Solos and Subunits

The soloists, the people that don't have to split their paycheck with their 50 other band mates at the end of the day. There are quite a few people in here that use to be in a group and struck out on their own for various reasons and there are also others who are going for the time being and then they will return to their family.

I wonder what it is like to be solo after being in a group. I would think that it could give you that sick to your stomach feel when you are excited but also terrified about something. You hope that it goes well, but at the same time there is potential for it to all go wrong. These people definitely didn't get it wrong though, whether they have always been alone or they are making a name for themselves outside of their usual group activities.

Comebacks         Debuts         K-pop Half Time Show 2013

Solos

Girls

Lee Jung Hyun "V"

This video is ten times of crazy and so is the song. After watching this video I looked into Lee Jung Hyun more and she seems to favor this creepy doll fashion motif, it totally works for her. In music videos, when they try to tell a story and they end up being really long, it's a hit and miss for me. I don't like it when my song is interrupted by the story because then I don't feel like I really know what the song sounds like. This video tells the story in and around the video and I have watched it quite a few times because it is so ridiculous and fun to watch. The music also works with the haunted house set because it does sound like a song that ghosts would be dancing to when no one is looking.

Lim Kim "Goodbye 20" 

I had a really hard time deciding what song to pick for her because I'm kind of love with everything that she has done this year so I went with the most recent one. Her voice is just so unique and ethereal sounding I could listen to her all day which I feel really weird saying. I am not a huge fan of female singers because they are always just so freaking sexy and I don't like it. They if they aren't painfully sexy they give me a cavity with their cuteness. Lim Km does neither of this things so that is a plus. I'm also not a huge fan of ballad type songs and she does have slower songs, but I love those too. What is happening to me? I also found out that she is the girl that had a crush on L in Shut Up Flower Boy Band and that drama was one of the best things that happened ever.

Insooni "Beautiful Girl"

I've decided that this woman is my new hero, she's like a Korean Annie Lennox. They are both older female singers that are still being awesome in an industry that is dominated by skin and youth. This song and video also makes me really happy to watch and listen to which is the whole point behind it. I am definitely going to have to find some more music by her.

Boys

Jay Park "I Like 2 Party"

This is the Jay Park sound I like rather than the profanity laced raps that he puts out. I know that there are a lot of different sides to him, but that is just not a side that I enjoy. What I like about this song is that the title tells you exactly what the song is, it's a party song and it makes me want to get up and dance. Unless I missed a whole chunk of music that came out this year, there wasn't a lot of dance tracks that came out. The only other one that really stands out in my mind right now is Xia's song "Incredible" that came out earlier this year.  

Kim Hyun Joong ft. Jay Park  "Unbreakable" 

Kim Hyun Joong has come a long way since his Boys Over Flowers days and he has done a very good job in transitioning from the flower boy Ji Hoo to the super legit Kim Hyun Joong. I'm not sure what else to say right now as I type because I think that I am starting the new year with a head cold and I have a pounding headache between my eyes and I can feel it creeping to my neck as I sit here and write. Just go listen to the song, you won't be sorry. 

Kim Jin Pyo "Zombie" 

Even if you don't like this song, you can't tell me that you didn't like this video, I refuse to listen to you and I'll just make you watch it again because this was amazing. I think that the difference between Kim Jin Pyo's voice and LYn's voice also fit in well with the feel of the video. In all the horror that is going on around these two people they still have each other and then the ending is heartbreaking and LYn's clear voice is used perfectly at that point. I am a little confused about that white boy though. Where did he come from?  

Seung Ri "Gotta Talk to You"

I was afraid to watch this video when it first came out because of the scandalousness that was the teaser.This video didn't burn out my eyes though and it was actually quite good. It had a sexy, loungey feeling, but at the same time it had the electric pan pipes (yes, the electric pan pipes, I just made it up) in the background which gave it a modern and exciting sound. And like Kim Hyung Joong, that is all I can say.   

Lim Chung Jang "Open the Door"

This video is just one ball of crazy, and I love it. I don't listen to a lot of trot music, mainly because I don't know any trot artists, but I do like listening to it once in a while. The songs are so upbeat and fun, is there such a thing as a trot ballad? Probably, but trot seems to happy for that. All the cameos in this video made it that much better too from the simple ones like Daniel Choi to the funny ones like U-KISS and Heechul. Overall, this song and video are a total win.

Yoo Seung Woo "U Who?"

This kid is seriously too cute and he definitely gets a place on my list of Idols I Want to Give a Cookie. He's just so little and he plays the guitar and that bowl hair cut is the final straw. I also love that he lip syncs San E's rap part and he's all done up in his "hood" clothes and he's acting as gangster as his cute little frame will let him. 

~ Alora

K-pop End of the Year Show 2013 Debuts

As always, there were a lot of groups that debuted in the second half of the year. Some were good and some were......not so good. You would think that in a industry where there are people debuting practically every day, a company would want to make sure that their group was really good and had legitimate potential to become big in the future. When a group comes out with a crappy video and generic song it makes me sad because with so many big groups, those little groups are going to be forgotten after the three minute music video. 

In that sea of debuts, these are the people that caught my eye. Some of them aren't exactly newbies though, and I hope that they can do well on their new ventures! 

Comebacks        Solos and Subunits       K-pop Half Time Show 2013

 

Debuts

Girls

Queens B'z "Bad"

Girls doing the dark concept, I approve. I also think that this is a good example of sexy done well. They aren't portraying themselves as a side of meat, they are being sexy and powerful and that is something that I think that should be used more. That is why I like BEG's brand of sexy because they are sexy, but I also feel like they would kill anyone that tried to take advantage of them, this is what I am getting from this group right now.

TINT "Love at First Sight" 

This is one of those songs that I really like and cannot for the life of me figure out why. I'm not really into girl groups or cutey concepts and this is both, yet I love it. It's like when Heyne came out with her debut song and I really liked that too. This song and video are just so catchy and happy and colorful that I can't help but love it and I just talked about Queen B'z and their concept is a 180* difference from this one. Don't make no sense.

Boys 

 

Kang Seung Yoon "Wild and Young" 

I was a little sad to hear that Kang Seung Yoon was going to be put unto a YG group because I wanted him to have a rocking solo career. He has a really nice rough voice and it was perfect for this type of song and YG is more of a hip hop label than a rock label.

Say Yes "It Feels Good" 

This song does kind of have a CNBlue and that doesn't really bother me because I think that this group does have a lot of potential. This song is also pretty catchy and after I listen to it the chorus is stuck in my head for a while. I'm standing, minding my own business and the next thing I know, I'm moving my hips and "doo doo dooing" and I am not ashamed! Something that I like about bands is that I don't know very many and it is hard to find something when you don't really know what you are looking for so this is like a gift. It's always nice when the group has a good sound as well so hopefully these guys can put out more music, and maybe get some haircuts, because there was a lot of hair in this video.

Royal Pirates "Shout Out" 

If you haven't managed to figure it out yet, I love a good rock or alternative band and this is doing just that for me. This was on of the songs that when I first heard it I didn't love it, but now I'm berating myself for thinking that because it's really good. For shame self.

ICON "Rockstar" 

I love everything about this song. I like alternative and rock music so this caters to that and I also have a soft spot for electric and techno music so this song also fills that quota. I also leaned that No Min Woo was also a member of TRAX back in the day, but I don't really know anything about them unfortunately. I have listened to a few of their songs and I have "Oh! My Goddess" but I feel like that is a song that almost everyone has on their iPod. This video is also one giant acid trip which I love because it totally fits the sound of the song. No Min Woo is also probably one of the most androgynous people that I have seen in a while and he looks like if he stood sideways he would disappear, someone get that boy a sandwich!  

~ Alora

K-pop End of the Year Show 2013 Comebacks

Another year has ended and this later half has been just as busy as the beginning. Some people are making their millionth comeback of the year and others are making comebacks after what feels like a painful amount of time. For the half time show back in July, I chose songs I liked whether I had already reviewed them or not, and at the end I felt like I had become rather redundant, so I'm going to just stick with the artists that I liked but didn't review this time around.

I'm going to only slightly contradict myself now and mention B1A4's "What's Going On?", Block B's "Very Good", and VIXX's "VooDoo Doll" because they all won their first award with these songs and I have a great love for all of these groups. It was even better because they were all up against really big groups so the wins were that much more incredible. The only thing that would have made this better is if U-KISS had won something for "She's Mine" because seriously, why can't those guys catch a break, they're awesome.

Debuts            Solos and Sub units            K-pop Half Time Show 2013

 

Comebacks

Girls

 

Tiny-G "Miss You"

When I first heard this song, I didn't really like it. I felt that it was too repetitive and I was still grooving to "Minimanimo" because, let's be honest, that song is awesome. I think what threw me was how different this song was from "Minimanimo" and I obviously wasn't ready for that. This song has a more mature and sexy feel to the candy colored before mentioned song. They also kept it in the realm of classy/cute sexy and there can always be more of that and less of the overt sexy that was the trend this year.

Miss A "Hush"

Whenever I think of this song all that comes to mind is jji jji party, Block B what have you done to me? It's also recently been ruined again since Min got punched by a back up dancer during a performance. I'm not a huge fan of Miss A but I do like that they have a powerful image. I was really impressed with this song because it did have a different sound than usual since it wasn't written by JYP and I wouldn't be opposed to them continuing with this sound for a while, nothing against JYP. The video was also interesting and kind of creepy. All the head shots of them singing and staring into the camera was so haunting looking and then at the end when their faces changed from one to the other was a cool effect.

SPICA "Tonight"

This is one of the videos and songs that grabbed me the moment that I hit the play button. I didn't really know anything about SPICA before this song, and I still don't, but they have song amazing vocals. This song is so fun and the video represents that too. The whimsy in the video and the bohemian style of the shoot fit perfectly with the song. The video also seems really candid even with all the obviously staged parts of it. These girls look like they are genuinely having fun during this shoot and seeing this I hope that they can get some more followers in the future. 

 

Rookies

Ladies Code "Pretty Pretty"

Ladies Code debuted in March 2013 with the song "Bad Girl", because everybody this year was a bad boy or bad girl of some sort it seemed like. This was their comeback song and I think that I like it a little more than their debut song. I'm still not totally sure how I feel about them but they have killer vocals and they have a definite style. I am looking forward for what they put out in the future. 

GI "Gi Yeuk"

So, I'm kind of in love with these girls. I'm also glad that they put out a MV for this song because I like it better than "Don't Lie". This song has a really cool Bollywood sound and that isn't something that you hear everyday. GI is also a group that you don't see everyday. I like that in their videos they are dancing and wearing baggy clothing and looking fierce rather than being super aegyo and sexy because there is more than enough of that going around.

Boys

MIB "Master"

This is one of those songs that within the first ten seconds of hearing it, I went to iTunes and bought it. I think that the reason that I liked it so much it because it has such a smooth sound. This song also came out about the same time that Kangnam made a cameo on I Hear Your Voice as the guy who stole Soo Ha's bag, so when I watched the video I had the "why do I know you?" dilemma. They have also put out another video which I didn't love right off the bat like this one, but now, I also love their new song. What I don't love is Sims little goatee thing. It's kind of creepy and it makes his chin looks dirty.  

SHINee "Everybody"

When I first heard this song I was a little underwhelmed because it was so dubstepy.......no wait, it's actually compextro. Yeah, whatever. I have come to love it though. It is a fun song and SHINee hasn't done anything that sounds like this before. This was predominately a dance video though, let's be honest, that dance was freaking amazing and Taemin is a beast. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. 

Drunken Tiger "The Cure"

Okay, so technically this is a solo thing, but Yoon Mi Rae and Bizzy are in it, so I am making the executive decision to put it here. Tiger JK is one of those people that I only occasionally listen to since he is a rapper and I have never been one to listen to rap, this song is fantastic though. Even though it is a rap song, it has a melody line since Yoon Mi Rae is in it and instead of a "normal" rap beat, it has a reggae feel to it. This is one of those songs that makes you feel good while you are listening to it, and then it sticks with you as you go on with your day.  

Rookies

Airplane "Give Me a Chance"

I'm so glad that these guys are finally back because I fell in love with them when they debuted earlier this year with "You Are Pretty". Something that I mentioned about them before is that since they are a trio, I can hear all the members and they are have a sound that is their own. I don't know their names, but I think that I am in love with the member that sings the "kajima~" part. It's so clear and wonderful and I always have to sing along at that part too. I say that anyone who doesn't also jam to that part as well is a liar, because how can you not? 

24K "U R So Cute"

When I heard this song in July, I really liked it, but I didn't take the time to actually look into this group because if I looked into every group that I thought was interesting, I wouldn't get anything done, ever. While going back over the things I liked I found this one again and looked into the group more. They debuted as 4K and then added two more creating 24K and I think that it is pretty safe to say that I am hooked.

~ Alora