U-KISS She's Mine

How's the song?

Well, this song doesn't waste any time in getting started. It's pretty different than what they usually put out too. U-KISS normally has a electric pop sound and this is totally a hip hop song and that's kind of cool. That's something that I really like about K-pop, these artists can have different sounds from one album to the next and everyone just accepts it. It's almost like K-pop is a bit of a paradox in that way. The musicians don't seem to have that much freedom with their mad schedules, but they have more musical freedom in what is expected from them by the public. Did that make sense?

I am also a fan when the rappers of a group that is not predominantly a rap group get to shine. Rap is normally saved for the break down or for the background track and while that gives a song a cool sound, rappers are normally put on the back burner.

As for the message of the song, I thought that it was cute after I saw the translation. It's basically about a guy protecting his girl from other guys because "she's mine". The lyrics didn't come off as possessive and gross either which is definitely not U-KISS's image, thank goodness.  

How's the video? 

I liked that this was a really clean looking video and because of that, there was a lot more emphasis placed on the song instead of the visuals.

This video does show us the darker side of an entire group crushing on the same girl though. All of U-KISS are in love with the same girl and they are all calling each other out saying that they are the only one that is in this girl's heart, except for AJ and Eli who seem to be working together. I guess if they win, they will have their own private rap battle to determine the ultimate winner.

The video starts with Eli and AJ at the car. I think it is actually Eli's car and AJ is just mooching off of him. All he has to his name is that French Bulldog statue.

Then Hoon comes in and he's like, "Hey, girl. You like French Bulldogs? I have, like, six of them and a gold lion head lamp. Ah yeah."

   
Kiseop, not having any statues because Hoon bought them all, panicked and all that he had to show the girl was a spot light. A girls got to do her make up I guess. Kiseop also was the lip rubbing king in this video and that isn't something that you can buy, you have to be born with that type of skill.

Then Soohyun came out and was like, "Hello underlings," as he flaunted his motorcycle. I guess this is the perk of being the leader. I also think that he was the winner of this testosterone battle.

And then there was poor Kevin who had to make a large plastic chair look as sexy as possible. It's okay Kevin that girl wasn't good enough for you anyways.

How's the styling?  

Am I the only one that thinks that Kiseop looks like No Min Woo with his hair styled like this?

I was also a little surprised at Kiseop's little peekaboo shirt because I couldn't remember a time when I had seen any skin from U-KISS. That's one thing that I like about them is that there isn't random skin being exposed everywhere. Not that there is anything wrong with people showing off a body that they have worked hard for, but it can get old. Since I couldn't remember when I had seen any exposure in a U-KISS video I went into creeper mode and watched some of their old music videos. Then I came upon "Shut Up" in all it's random shirtless and manbra-ed glory. Forgot about that one.

Stomach flashing aside, this whole video was in black and white so U-KISS was looking smooth in their black and white suits. My favorite part of the outfit though were those neon shoes. It was a fun pop of color in an otherwise very monochromatic video.

On the topic of shoes, why don't Asian people wear socks, more specifically the men? It something that I have noticed mostly in dramas but it does show up in music videos too. Doesn't that make your feet stink? Wouldn't is also end with your feet getting chewed up by your shoes from all the dancing? Maybe they wear those little lady socks that can be worn with flats.

The one thing that I am going to pick at is the girl in the video and her lipstick.

The whole video is in black and white and everyone gets one color pop. U-KISS has their shoes and the girl has her red lips. I think that it is a nice shade of red, but it looks messy. The point of red lipstick is that it should look clean and hers looked like it was bleeding. It also bothered me that she didn't have a cupids bow. There were just two smudgy red lines on her face.

Is the dance super amazing? 

I really enjoyed this dance and I hope that a dance video of some sort gets put up in the future. The only thing that I wonder about is that since this is a rap heavy song there isn't always a melody to follow so is there also a lot of standing in the dance as well? Eli and AJ go and do their thing and then everyone else awkwardly stands in the back a la Block B?

Which member owned it? 

Well, obviously, it was Kiseop's stomach. It demanded its freedom from its usual textiled prison and it stole the show.  

Okay, maybe not. This was definitely Eli and AJ's video you can see that they were enjoying themselves too. I decided to put up two pictures of these guys because there was a picture of them being cool, but there was also a picture of AJ making a pretty good troll face and Eli looks a little effeminate and something like that can't be hidden, so they both get put up.

Did the English make you ears bleed? 

The English is pretty solid in this song and if it were otherwise then I guess that we would all know that Eli, AJ, and Kevin and totally forgotten their English. That would be a real problem for AJ especially since he's going back to school in January.

When I listen to K-pop songs and hear a name of someone famous that always brings me up short because I wonder why the heck are these people saying about this person. In this song Eli mentions David Beckham and that is not a name that I expected to hear in a song really ever. Now that I know what they are saying though it makes total sense. They are saying that they are the goal keeper of their girl's heart and not even David Beckham will get passed them. Cute? Yes. A tad corny? Also yes, but that's okay because it's cute.

What else is happening?  

Shin Jae "I Hope You Come Back When You Hear This Song" - And winner for longest title goes to.......

Lim Chang Jung "Open the Door" - If you haven't already watched this video, you should because it will make your life better.

Han So Hyun "Sorry" - This song is a ballad, but this woman's voice is amazing and Lee Min Ki stars in the video and I kind of love him.

Kim Jo Han "The Stars, The Moon, All for U"

FIESTAR "I Don't Know" - I actually really like this song. I think what they are singing about makes it even funnier because they are using the tune of a children's song to sing the part of the chorus.

ZE:A "Step by Step" - This song was cute but I think that if an entire group of boys put together an "I Love You" party and I was the only girl there, I would be a little (a lot) uncomfortable. Run, girl, run!

SHU-I "So in LUV" - I liked this song, but what was with all of those totally unnecessary camera flares?

LEDApple "With the Wind" - Not that Hanbyul isn't super cool or anything, but LEDApple is starting to turn into Hanbyul and the Boys.

miss A "Hush" - This is quite different that what they normally do, but I guess that would be obvious since JYP didn't write this song. I really liked it though and I wish it had been a little longer. 

~ Alora

How many people are in your group?

Instead of a drama related post today, we are going to have a K-pop history lesson in light of the things that are happening to the group U-kiss. Bring a box of tissues because this post might bring up painful memories, prepare yourselves. 

K-pop is a lot more complicated than most people think. Simple questions like "how many people are in this group" can cause hour long conversations and passionate fan wars because it is not as simple as it should be. It makes me think of Pirates of the Caribbean and the "part of the crew, part of the ship" mantra that Davy Jones's crew would say. You can run away, but you will always be known for the group that you started out in.

This has been more on my mind lately with Dongho's departure from the group U-Kiss, like U-Kiss needs any more problems with the amount of members that they have in their group. U-Kiss is definitely not the first group to go through an issue with their line up and unfortunately they will probably not be the last either. 

U-Kiss

U-Kiss debuted in 2008 with six members: Kibum, Kevin, Alexander, Eli, Dongho, and Soohyun.

Oh debut hair, it is always interesting

Then in 2009, they added Kiseop. My favorite song comes from this era too, "Man Man Ha Ni". I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I do.

 

Fast forward two years and Alexander and Kibum are out and AJ and Hoon are in. Alexander left for reasons that are still unknown (I think, my amount of U-Kiss knowledge is small) Kibum was basically let go because NH thought he wasn't good enough to be in the group. Nice.....

 

I think that KissMe's everywhere were hoping that they would never have to go through heartbreak again, but unfortunately Dongho has decided that the idol life is not for him. I respect this decision though because I think that it is very brave for him to say that right out and I respect NH Media even more for letting him out of his contract three years early. 

Super Junior

Where does one even begin with Super Junior? They have such a complicated story, made even more so with members leaving for army services. Every time you listen to one of their songs it's like a test of your Super Junior knowledge, "Okay, this song is off of this album which means that these people are missing. I think."

Super Junior debuted in 2005 as a 12 members group: Leeteuk, Heechul, Hankyung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, and Kibum. So many people! Then, six months later they added Kyuhyun and that is where they stopped. If you haven't seen their debut song, you should because it's so bad that it's good.

 

Three years later SM had the wonderful idea to ninja into the Chinese market and created Super Junior M which consisted of five members of Super Junior: Hankyung, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun, plus the addition of two new Chinese members, Zhou Mi and Henry. Maybe we are not all aware of the crap storm this caused but that is a whole other crazy story that could have its own post, so we'll leave it at that. 

 

About this time is when stuff really started to go down and there was some major shuffling done within the group. Kibum left to pursue acting, Hangkyung told SM to suck it, and everything Kangin was doing was put on hold because he did dumb things which prompted his early enlistment into the army. Since Hankyung left, Zhou Mi was promoted to leader of Super Junior M and Sungmin and Eunhyuk were brought in. 

 

Since all that went down, Super Junior has seen Kangin come back, Heechul come and go, and currently Leeteuk and Yesung are away at the army. While the chances of all 15 members being on the stage at the same time is slim to none, one can always hope right? 

 

TVXQ

These guys have the shortest story even though they definitely are the biggest issue in this post. They debuted in 2003 with five members: U-Know, Jaejoong, Junsu, Yoochun, and Changmin. 

Let's take a moment of silence for the animal that gave its life to sit on Jaejoong's head.

TVXQ was, and still is, huge and loved by people everywhere. They were some of the first idols of the new generation and were signed under a huge name that groups like HOT and Shinhwa came from, what could go wrong? Apparently a lot. 

A few months before Hankyung filed his lawsuit, Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yoochun filed one of their own for basically the same reasons. They have since formed their own group and besides the fact that every one is pretty sure that SM is out to get them, they have been doing very well for themselves. U-Know and Changmin have continued under the TVXQ name and have done very well too as a duo.

Another notable group break up is that of 2PM and Jay Park back in 2009. It seems like 2009 was a very traumatic year in the K-pop industry. I'm kind of glad that I wasn't into K-pop back then so now I just receive second hand trauma instead of being in the thick of it. 

Girls aren't exempt from internal issues either. We saw everything that has been going on with T-ARA in the last year and now the sudden issues that KARA is facing. I guess it just goes to show that even thought these people look sparkly and perfect, their lives are far from it.  

So, how many people are in your group?

~ Alora