Jpop: Cherrsee (チェルシー)

The thing that was noticed when japanese group Cherrsee debuted this spring was that that they were created by the very successful korean producer Brave Brothers. This wasn't obvious in their debut "Mystery", but with this autumn's "White Shirt" you can clearly hear the sounds that sounds very much like their korean "sister group" Brave Girls.

• Cherrsee - White Shirt (白いシャツ, Dance version)
• Cherrsee - Mystery (Dance version)

Mandopop: Jane Zhang - Dust My Shoulders Off

Chinese singer Jane Zhang has been establishing a style that is what I would call fashionable and international, and now she is going for the big one, making it in the US. For that, she has enlisted Timbaland in the song "Dust My Shoulders Off", which is a saucy and chic track but the eye-opener is the video - it makes some great paintings of history come to life, together with some modern pop history references. Can you spot and name them all?

• Jane Zhang - Dust My Shoulders Off

Kpop: Jay Park - Aquaman

All the images are from Aquaman

Every Jay Park new song, I'm so unfair because, well, I don't know. Maybe because he sounds so well produced and kind of American main stream R&B (in a good way, mind you), making me not feel he is part of this blog. But when looking back this year, I have at least three songs I must push, and they are "All I Wanna Do", "Drive" and "Aquaman". First out, All I Wanna Do, is a great choregraphy video made together with the fantastic 1 Million Dance Studio. Then we have Drive, were he, Gray and stylish Bora from Sistar sing in a laid back video just oozing summer. But the main number of this all, which surely will go down as one of Jay Park's musical mile stones, is Aquaman. Already the title implies what it is all about, but let me quote some lyrics just to give you the picture:
and before I go put it in 
I’ll go underwater girl just like a fish 
and the way I stay down there 
you gon’ think I’m Aquaman 
baby oh when I’m all up in it 
I’m gonna get lost up in yo sea
Ah, yes, Jay Park goes "all in" showing he is all about pleasing his woman, without explicitly stating that this song is indeed a song about cunnilingus. Read the comments to see how it is received... ;-) And I think he rocks to, he's a master of doing korean R&B.

• Jay Park - Aquaman
• Jay Park & 1MILLION ft Hoody & Loco  - All I Wanna Do 
• Jay Park ft Gray - Drive

Kpop: Black Pink - Playing with fire (불장난)

Well then...my suggestion that Black Pink is the new 2NE1 is now surely confirmed. Their sound, the way their voices harmonize, and the aesthetics, even if not unique for 2NE1 by themselves, all together they point obviously in their direction. Now, this is not a bad thing, and I really love the way they are singing in the new "Playing with fire", the way they rap, it is just addictive.

• Blackpink - Playing with fire (불장난)

Kpop: EXO-CBX (첸백시)

From the successful and charming boy-group EXO comes this debut single from the sub-unit concisting of Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin, a very likeable piece that sounds like a more cutesy version of EXO's normal type of song. I like it. And I do wonder - there is a lot o bromance feelings going around, even some innuendo implying...something more? Interesting.

• EXO-CBX - Hey Mama!