Mandopop: Kerin (张铠麟)

Evidently Kerin had a "underground" hit in China when he wrote  "Double face" all by himself playing all the instruments, and he has done several covers, but I find that only the "Good As You" from last year has the quality needed in the long run.

• Kerin - Good As You
• Kerin - Double face (二皮脸)

Jpop: Happiness

With "Juicy Love" I think Happiness has finally taken the step from wannabe's to a group in their own right as the music finally has that quality that makes it stand out a little more. Yes, Happiness is still very much about dance moves and eye candy, but they move to a song that is actually catchy and listenable on its own.

• Happiness - Juicy Love
• Happiness - Sunshine Dream
• Happiness - Wish
• Happiness - Friends
• Happiness - Kiss Me

Kpop: SNSD - MR MR

The kpop (girl) group with arguable the biggest fan base, SNSD/Girls Generation, is back with their much anticipated 4th album and headlines this with their "Mr Mr", reaching 2+ million views the first 9 hours. It really doesn't matter much how bad average or even bad their singles are as they sell big anyway, as last January's fail-song "I got a Boy" showed with its (now) 86 million views on YouTube. Therefore it is rather nice that their "Mr Mr" works quite well, and rather surprisingly, it is a song that grows on you. I find myself going from sceptical at the start to quite positive at the end of the video, so this will certainly pass 10 million views in a few days.

• SNSD - Mr Mr

Kpop: Sunmi (선미)

Sunmi from Wonder Girls is going solo and *damn* is it a promising debut. "24 hours" just oozes powerful sensuality, with a slick performance that combined with the beat and the visuals makes the whole package a impressive statement with an almost hypnotic quality.

• Sunmi - 24 hours (24시간이 모자라)
• Sunmi - Full Moon (보름달)