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söndag 26 februari 2017

Five years of Kpop: My top 20 ever

This february I celebraty five years of blogging. The world is actually moving on from blogs towards other arenas, but in my small world I'm still going to share the 20 videos that I subjectively see as the ones I still like, ones I would listen to as much as watch. There are many great kpop videos out there to watch, but to be the best the melodies and songs themsleves also have to be spot on. I sometimes call them "no skip"-videos as I never feel the urge to even skip a short segment of them.

There is no internal order, I have ordered them after the name of the artists(s). So here goes nothing...my top 20 of all time. Enjoy!

A) 2PM - A.D.T.O.Y. The guys of 2PM sits upon a scene and just sings and shows of their great charisma and delivers a great musical performance.

B) 4minute - Volume Up. That saxophone gives me the chills every time, but the drama of this song in geenral is unsurpassed among girl groups. if I every decided to drive a car in extreme speeds, this would be the song for it.

C) 9muses - News. I was surprised to realize that it was actually one of their oldest hits that still is my favorite. The group that for several years produced stable melodies with honest but tasteful pin-up videos is not the smae anymore, but they still have left a nice inheritance.

D) Bubble X - Hit It. The one and only "indie" song to make it into my top list. Its not that there aren't that many good indie songs, its just that this is the only one that delivers the whole package with a perfect song and great video.


E) Dal Shabet - Big Baby Baby (B.B.B). The refrain actually distracted me at first then became the thing that together with the retro visuals made med love it.

F) Exid - Every Night. This song had such a distinct Id, all their vocals having such character, the refrain and all of it being just so soulful.

G) f(x) - Hot summer. This song is together with "Electric" iconic for the cool girls of f(x), and "Hot summer" wins narrowly for being one of the few sommer kpop songs that is actually good.

H) Girls Day - Expect. This was the big turning point for the group as they went from a group among others to the mature and sensual ladies that was just unresistable with whatever they do. The success for Girl's Day I personally believe is one of the points when the kpop industry in general started to let go of some of its inhibitions about sexuality.

I) Kara - Step. They have given us so many great songs with "Step" showing of what they do best with a refrain that just is such a happy and unsurpassed extacy of pure happiness.


J) Orange Caramel - Magic Girl. My first kpop song ever and even though it is kitchy and naive it is also have a great melody that is just unresistable.

K) Secret - Talk That. There is no denying, this is one sexy video, but the song is what makes it sensual not the visuals, they just heighten it.

L) SHINee - 1 of 1. I always expected the classic "Ring Dong Dong" to be their best song but then came this 2016 retro perfection and I was completely sold on it.


M) Sistar - Give it to me. The melancholy in this show number balances happiness and sorrow in a way that Sistar always has done so well, without needing to loose tempo ever. The song always gets to me.

N) Stellar - Marionette. If Girl's Day opened up "sexiness" for the kpop community as a whole in a relatively milder way, this song with Stellar was a much bigger jump as the video became known for its explicitness. Even though it was seen as slightly plump, many have followed in their steps and Stellar themselves has evolved the concept to an almost metaphorical level later on.


O) T-ara - Roly Poly. They have a lot of hits, but this one is the one that always is my number one for its happy baseline and unresistably dance-friendly refrain.

P) Tey - Dangerous. Not to belittle Tey's talent as a kpop artist, but this is one of those "one hit wonders", as the song far surpasses anything else I have seen (or will see) from him.

Q) Tiny G - Miss you. This odd and small group is tempting to pass over, but this song is just sucks me in every time like a chewing gum that don't want to let go.

R) TVXQ - Catch Me. It's a tough choice between this and "Mirotic", but "Catch Me" is unprecendented for me in kpop in general in the level of visual, almost physical, drama that builds up in the video, which also carries over to the song very well.

S) Up10tion - Attention. The best kpop song of 2016 is a sweet song that carries you all the way with a tempo that find a sweet spot between the more common "ballad slow" and "dramatic speed" that defines most good boy band tracks.

T) VIXX - Eternity. They boys of VIXX have always had a thing for giving us videos with a strong story and drama, and Eternity is the one I would choose (in hard competition) as the best one.

lördag 20 september 2014

Kpop: 2PM - 미친거 아니야? (Go Crazy!)



The new 2PM song is a little crazy, but in very familiar boyband kpop way, ie in an enjoyable -and really not crazy at all- way.






måndag 1 juli 2013

Kpop: Top 20 second quarter of 2013

My personal list of best kpop songs for January - March was so full of good songs that I had to expand it from 10 to 20, but after that I have seen several disappointing returns for many groups, especially the female ones. This meant that I was prepared for a more meager list this quarter, but it actually wasn't hard to find 20 videos I like much enough to repeat my blessing of them. Here they come:

20. Lee Hyori - Going Crazy. This is more like an honorable mention, but she has really done some fun and different videos. I honestly don't listen to them at all as mp3's, but the visuals are just excellent.

19. G-Dragon - Michi Go. Well, this video is more than PSY's comeback Gentleman the funny video to watch and laugh at (and then forget) this late spring/early summer.

18. 4minute - Is it poppin? Again a somewhat disappointment in the relative sense from 4Minute, but it is OK.

17. Gavy NJ - Farewell Cinema. I actually often begin to laugh when I see the trio sing, because they really put their all into it, so much it goes over the top. But it is a bit unfair, it really is a nicely crafted melodramatic (ah, sorry again) ballad. With subtitles (thx LOEN).

16. Lyn - Breakable Heart. If Gavy NJ makes me laugh, Lyn actually manages to touch me for real. This is a korean ballad that goes straight into the heart.

15. WonderBoyz - Tarzan. The video is a classic Tarzan movie themed nostalgia trip that works really well and the song, albeit repetitive, has some great sound bites.

14. Pure - I still love you. Another nice uptempo song from a rookie boy band. Nothing stranger than that.

13. Girl's Day - Female President. They did the best song last quarter, so its hard to beat that. Even though the song isn't near as good as Expect, the new video is quite nice too.

12. 9Muses - Wild. Its hard to put the finger on exactly what 9muses style is, but its a kind of sexy ladies in a dance box thing. In this video they went the furthest they have done up till now.

11. After School - First love. My first thought was - pole dancing in 2013? - but after listening to it a few times it is actually not a bad song at all. And it *is* a lot of eye candy.


10. Shinhwa - This love. The old guard know what they are doing, and they do it well.

8. Boys Republic - Party Rock. The name say what it is about. Song beats you have heard before, rearranged in a nice way.

7. MBLAQ - Smoky Girl. The question we all want to know is what about the girl is "smoky" or if its another case of engrish, ie they meant "Smoking"=hot?... ^_^


6. Andamiro - Waiting. She has a really distinct style (and looks) for kpop, in what I would call Italopop goes korean.


5. Crayon Pop - Bar Bar Bar. I really just looove Crayon Pop's dance videos and would have put this even higher on my list if it wasn't for my saner self realizing it may get a bit repetitive to listen to more than five times a day...

4. Heo Yeong Saeng - The Art of Seduction. This is really a March track, but I managed to miss it on my reviews then, it is such a good video it gets another chance here! The story line and song is just what brought me into kpop, it really makes me happy every time I hear it.


3. Chocolat - Black Tinkerbell. They continue to make good tracks, and hopefully will soon rise to more fame as they sorely deserve.

2. 2PM - A.D.T.O.Y. I'm a guy, but I can still say this is such a sexy video and song, am I not right?

1. Sistar - Give it to me. What Sistar and Crayon Pop does so good is that they have found their sound and niche, and evolved qualitiatively around that central theme. While Crayon Pop does their goofy dances, Sistar does sensual grown-up woman in a classy style (that never gets vulgar) combined with music that is just right for the setting. Perfection in its simplicity.






lördag 22 juni 2013

Mandopop: VanNess Wu (吳建豪)

VanNess Wu is an American based in Taiwan where he is both a successful actor and singer.