버벌진트(Verbal Jint) – 시작이 좋아 (Good Start)

First of all: Happy New Year!

2013 is definitely a year of new beginnings for me! I started a new job this week and it has been a super challenging yet rewarding week. I am now working at an international school teaching Grade 2! And my contract is for 18 months so I will be in Korea for at least that long. It’s all very exciting but overwhelming at the same time.
On the first day of school I talked with my students about New Years resolutions. They came up with some average responses (“I will be better at soccer, I will do ‘plus’ better in Math”) and some really outstanding resolutions such as “I will be more creative” and “I will be a more positive person”. I can tell that I am going to learn a lot from these kids. My personal resolutions are to be more organized (although looking around my room I see I still need to work on that one) and to be the best teacher I can be for my students.

So far 2013 has gotten off to to a very good start and listening to this song just makes it better :)! I love Verbal Jint, especially when his songs feature a strong female vocalist. The lyrics are really good too. He talks about getting over a break-up and looking past everything to the year ahead.

It’s a good start
I came to the quiet sea alone
And I made wishes for the New Year
The strong cold that tortured me for a while is now cured
It feels good

So yeah, this may be a new favourite! I like everything about it except for the inappropriate beach footwear! Oh Korea! Hope you enjoy it!

SNSD – I got a boy

 

Girl’s Generation is BACK in full force!!
In true GG style, they are back to all fighting over one not-even-cute boy. I was pretty confused about what the song is supposed to be about after I read the lyrics.

At first they’re talking about a girl who is average-looking who looks way better after she meets a guy:

Gosh! Again look at her, look!
From head to toe, her style has changed
Why did she do that? I’m curious to death
Why did she do that? Tell me.

No way! No way!
She became so pretty and sexy, it’s because of him, right?
I almost asked her what her new makeup was!

But then they’re talking about falling for a guy and being confused about their relationship:

Sometimes he is as reliable as an oppa but when he acts charming, he is so cute

I’m really angry, my boy doesn’t look at me as a girl
What should I do when I feel hopeless?
Should I make him feel jealous? I’m so upset! What do I do?

So what I think they’re saying is that they like this boy and he makes them want to be better and he brings a spark to their eye, to be cliche. But they’re not sure what he wants and they’re frustrated, like most people beginning relationships.

So the lyrics aren’t so deep and meaningful, but generally I like the song. It’s fun and catchy, although I’m pretty sure it’s going to get way overplayed and in a few weeks I’ll be sick of it.

Seriously! If I wore any of these outfits I would look like a complete tool.

What I love about this video are the costumes! I love the quirky girlie outfits at the beginning and my favourites are the funky retro looks during the dance. I thought the costumes at the end with the orange wigs were a bit tacky but overall the clothes were to die for!

Not a huge fan of this look.

What I don’t love about the video (I guess this goes for all music videos actually) is the impossible standards they set for girls. How do they look so incredibly cute yet sexy at the same time? They pull off the innocent vixen perfectly and all of Korea loves them for it! I guess it goes for guys as well. Not many real guys look like TOP and yet most women look to their celebrity crush as their ‘ultimate guy’. I suppose it’s good that the mood of the video is not so “realistic” because in reality NOBODY LOOKS LIKE THAT!

Nope, sorry, not possible.

What made me laugh about this video is the girls’ reactions to the boy touching their hand or their cheek. Um… ladies, you were just hip thrusting like it’s your job and you’re acting as if you’ve never held a boy’s hand before?

Aw, sweetie. Your sparkly nails will not distract us from your mixed messages!

Overall, I loved the video, the dance and the music. They’re still as sexy as in ‘The Boys’ but not so obvious about it. You go, girls!

pump me up!

If you work out, you know that good music can make or break your workout. Personally, I’m always on the lookout for new songs to keep my feet moving. Here are some of my favs when I’m in the mood for a K-pop-a-licious workout.

Warm-up

Big Bang – Love song. It starts off slow but I find it’s a good song to ease me into cardio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKZEmLvYVF0

Verbal Jint – Perfect Day. This song makes me so happy! Listening to it in the mornings gets my day started on the right track.

Cardio

Jo Kwon- I’m da one. Jo Kwon is so quirky and upbeat he makes me want to dance, but I’ll settle for the treadmill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgH0DsD0pQ

Tasty – You know me. I cannot say how much I love this song. Or, more accurately, the twins’ dancing. They’ll never be able to teach me how to dance if I’m huffing and puffing. Cardio UP!

Teen Top – Supa Luv. This song has a great beat and the rhythm is perfect for jogging. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQFnQAaCZc

Sistar – So cool. I mostly just added this song because I noticed I had no female singers on this list. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3q0ZChgFE

U-kiss – Te Amo. I do cardio so that when I finally meet U-Kiss I can chase Eli down singing this song. Motivation! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxumtpLkyl4

Super Junior – Super Girl. LeeTeuk from SJ has enlisted in the Korean Army *sigh*. I figure when he gets out we’d better be in equally as good shape.

Weights

Younique – Maxstep. This is actually a brand new song so I haven’t been listening to it for long. The group is made up of members from several different groups (including my second favourite member of SJ!). So far it definitely gets me pumped up!

BAP – No Mercy. Someday, I want to be as tough as BAP “,) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hzz4mGyehw

2NE1 – I am the Best. After the gajillionth time hearing it, the bratatata’s still get me goin’! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o

G-Dragon – One of a Kind. So me and G-D are homies and we like to do badass things together. Like pump iron.

Cool-down

BoA – One dream. An inspirational song. I need inspiration to do abs and stretching after a hard workout!

Big Bang – Ego. A nice winding-down song that doesn’t put me to sleep.  Plus, beginning and ending my workout with Big Bang makes me a happy girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oj33ZnAlQ

This is not the full playlist, obviously but I thought I’d share some gems with you :)! Please send more pump-up music my way too!

macho men

For some reason it seems like some weeks there are just no new songs out and then BAM! In a few days there are 10 that you can’t stop watching and talking about. Recently, I have noticed a high discrepancy in the manliness of a lot of popular (male) K-pop singers.

Exhibit A – Dazzling Girl by SHINee

Clearly SHINee is on the bottom of the manliness scale. This video is of this “plain” girl who Shinee transforms into a “dazzling” girl. The boys show off their make-up artist and designer skills while dancing around in skirts and purple feathers. I’m pretty sure this is ultra-gayfeminine behaviour even by K-pop star standards. Hey, if some of the members are gay then all the power to them, but I really don’t think a ‘gay best friend’ image was the intention of this video.

Exhibit B – Please don’t by K.Will

Watch the video before you read below!

OK. Hopefully you watched the video till the end and I’m not spoiling anything by saying I LOVE THE TWIST AT THE END!!! It blew my mind the first time I saw it and I had to immediately watch from the beginning again. In Korea, there is not a lot of presence of LBGT-ness in the media or public. Yes, they have a gay pride parade but that’s the only time I’ve seen it discussed and celebrated out in the open – unlike Canada where we are loud and proud about our LBGT community. So people back home – the end of the video might not seem like a big deal to you but in Korea it is a huge risk and a small step forward I would say.

Exhibit C – Up by Epik High 

Moving up on the MAN-scale! Epik High has been away for a few years and they are about to release their new album ’99’. I don’t know Epik High too well but what I do know, I like! They are a bit more edgy and hip hop than your typical boy band and they collaborate with a lot of different artists. I love how they can go from a soulful female chorus to a fun upbeat verse. ‘Up’ is basically just about getting back up after you fall – it’s a super fun and inspiring song!

Exhibit D – Nillili Mambo by Block B

Despite all the make-up, I put Block B at the top of the macho ratings for this week’s new videos. The video actually has a story line and the boys play gangsta-ish jewel thieves. The very end of the video was a bit too cutesy but P.O.’s super deep, gruff voice makes up for it. OK, so they’re probably not actually gangstar-ish guys in real life, but let’s face it, all the singers in these videos are just acting, and I think Block B pulled it off!

To re-cap: there are lots of new videos out this week and these four caught my interest for obvious reasons because of the super-girlie to mean-muggin levels of macho-ness portrayed in them. Hope you liked them too :)!

Oppa Gang… enough already!

I have seen a lot of news recently about Gangnam Style being “over” and that people are getting sick of it. While I am definitely sick of hearing the song, the hype over Psy and his horsey dance has come with its benefits and hindrances.

On the bright side – people all over the world are LOVING K-Pop! It’s amazing that people are enjoying listening to a Korean song so much! Hopefully this will encourage people to listen to music in different languages and in turn, learn a bit about other cultures.

exactly!

Psy has also put Korea on the MAP! I mean, two months ago when I told people I live in Gangnam they’d be like “Gang-what?” but now everybody knows what I’m talking about (sorta)!

… my Gangnam.

On the other hand… all the fame and attention towards Psy definitely has its drawbacks. A lot of Korean artists feel frustrated that their music isn’t being taken seriously. I read this yesterday and I can kind of see where he’s coming from.

According to Tiger JK (a Korean rapper), hecklers in the audience insisted that he perform the “horse dance” from the choreography of Psy‘s “Gangnam Style“, and he was unable to hold back his frustration. He tweeted, “Creators project event other night. I went crazy on all them white folks in the crowd, Cussing them out. During my set, these dudes kept telling me to horse dance , F*** rapping just dance. I had to cut all my song short. Without self control. My F*** you turned into F*** everybody To F*** all the white people to F*** CNN To F *** Hollywood. To Fu** all yall who think Asians are here to make you laugh by dancing my ass off. F*** Hollywood thinkin Asians are just a comic relief.”

Tiger JK at the Creator Project

Tiger JK has since apologized, but I can’t really see who’s in the wrong. Is it wrong to make racist comments to people who are acting racist towards you?

If you want to read more along these lines, Ranier “The Falco” attempts to explain the Psy hype on his blog here.

A lot of really hardcore K-pop fans get very haughty when people talk about Gangnam Style. They think people don’t really know K-pop… they just act like they do because they know one song. Personally, I’ve never heard anyone claiming to be a K-pop expert after listening to Gangnam Style.

Um, a little extreme?

To summarize, I don’t think that Gangnam Style is a true representation of K-pop. While it’s a good introduction to K-pop, I don’t think many North Americans realize that there is a huge, creative and diverse music scene in Korea (and all of Asia). So if you loved Gangnam Style (how could you not?), keep in mind that there’s lots more where that came from, but it won’t all be SO ridiculous. 🙂

If you have been living under a rock, here is the original video:

I was going to post another song from Psy’s most recent album but it’s impossible to find a song other than Gangnam Style on youtube! Instead, here is another song that’s very ‘typical’ K-pop.

Hey, I never said it was great K-pop, just typical ;)! That was Gee by Girls Generation (SNSD).

There is soooo much good K-pop out there that I just want to post video after video. For now, I’ll just post ONE more video – super popular at the moment! A beautiful song and really creative video. G-Dragon, That XX:

obsessions

So I have recently caught on to pinterest… I know, a little late to jump on the bandwagon. I thought it would be too time-consuming and addictive and turns out I was right! I could spend forever on that site but I find that 90% of my pins are about either K-pop or Harry Potter. So today, I bring to you a combination of my two favourite obsessions: K-pop songs that remind me of Harry Potter. Can life get better?  

Ok, I’ll start with the two most obvious ones. These two are songs named after actual Harry Potter spells. Tarantallegra is the spell for making people’s feet dance and Wingardium Leviosa well… if you don’t know that one then you shouldn’t read this blog cause you won’t get any of the references.

Xia Junsu- Tarantallegra

Jo Kwon – Wingardium Leviosa

Jay Park – New breed aka. Dementor face

This is probably what a dementor looks like under the cloak. I didn’t post the video because the whole thing is just his face… looking like this. :S

Fiestar – Vista aka. witch wannabes

OK so the song doesn’t talk about anything magical but these girls are definitely witches… what with all their apparating and shape shifting. I don’t completely understand the video, but after all, I am just a muggle.

ZE:A – Pheonix

Whenever I hear this I sing “Fawkes the PHEONIX”. Also, when I hear this song (which is surprisingly a lot cause it’s pretty popular atm), it brings me back to Dumbledore’s office when Harry sees Fawkes burst into flames. Ah, the memories.

Hopefully over the next few months I will come across some more HP K-pop crossovers for everyone’s (ok, probably just my) enjoyment. ^^

the boy-band break-down.

After watching k-pop obsessively for the past year of my life, I have come to understand that there is a definite formula for making up a Korean boy band. Ok, it didn’t take me a year to realize this, but it’s taken a year for me to run out of things to write about. Ok, I haven’t actually run out of things to write about… I just felt like spending hours browsing pictures of hot k-poppers ok!?

So here it is… I have cracked the code and now any group of 5 to 17 guys can rise to stardom as long as they have these key components.

It helps if he looks slightly elf-ish.

who apparently likes to wear white!

It’s difficult to tell just from pictures but if you watch the videos it’s true! They CAN’T look sad… ever!

… until right now.

Watch out… spudgy’s gonna getcha!

So there are your basic members. Of course if you only have 5 members there’s definitely room for expansion. You could use a few guys who wear too much eye-liner and you want to get at least 2 more colours of the rainbow in their hairstyles.

Once the group is formed your job is pretty simple… just follow these two easy steps:

like… C’MON!

and…

That’s all there is to it!! There may be a bit of singing and dancing and warding off screaming fangirls while you’re at it but you get the idea.

😀

For Spudgy references go to eatyourkimchi.com… especially here! 

HBDGD!

Saw this on my news feed today and it made me smile :)!

Cool dude!

Love me like… :S

More K-Pop… kinda!

So this song has been in my head non-stop and I HATE IT! I hate it so much I need to write about it just so I can get it off my chest.

At first I was like ZOMG Wonder Girls and AKON!? A song in complete English!? Does this even count as K-Pop??? Well considering WG is from Korea, I guess it counts but it really doesn’t sound K-poppy. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds good! I really like the beat and I could see myself LOVING this song at the bar but…. for listening pleasure purposes it SUCKS. Let me tell you why…

Love me like money. Love me like cars.

Can everyone just stop for a second and think about what they are saying here!?

…. thank you.

Now hopefully you have come up with the same complaint as I have because these lyrics irk me to my very core. Basically, I believe the love you have for a person and the love you have for material possessions should not be the same kind of love. By saying they want to be loved the same way one loves money, the Wonder Girls are basically saying they want to be loved (and thus treated) as material possessions. In two simple lines, these women have thrown 100 years of women’s movement down the drain and threaten to take their whole fan base down with them.

Love me like, Love me like
Hundred dollar bills, brand new wheels.
Love me like, Love me like
Fresh new haircut, boy I need you.
Love me like, Love me like
New pair of kicks, ice on your wrist.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!???!?!

Maybe I should stick to songs I don’t understand the lyrics to.

I also want to rant about the video. The beginning is AMAZING and the whole concept is so cool. “Perfectly designed for complete domination”… I was like wooooaaahh they’re gonna do something spiffy! But no… the only thing these girls ‘dominate’ in this video is their cute dance moves and bejewelled nails. This concept had SO much potential but I was so disappointed that there was no storyline whatsoever.

Anyhoo… sorry about the random angry post but I hope it made some people (meaning you Mom, since you’re probably the only one who’s going to read this :P) think about the lyrics.

I’ll leave you with a happy, simple Wonder Girls song that I love… and it goes a little somethin’ like this!

BEST CITY EVER :)

Click here to read a great article about Seoul and why it’s so awesome.

I loved this article… please please read it! Then maybe some people will actually come visit me 😉 haha! I especially liked:

– #30 – G-Dragon. I never use to get all the hype about this skinny, nasally-voiced guy but have grown to ADORE him and of course his fashion is just amazing.

-#19 – because I know the answer to the first question! What’s the best transgender bar in Itaewon? Queen of course, on Hooker Hill. Fun place!

-#14 – ‘A bang for every occasion’ – now that’s just funny!

-#1 – Galbi definitely earned first place. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t want to leave Korea :P!