K-pop (2015)

the audience might include some teenagers too, not just 20s-30s Koreans

I was working with some quasi-hip Korean students earlier this year and '90s k-pop' had a similar cachet, insofar as i could tell, to '90s r&b'

that said the people i knew who'd go to 90s r&b nights they'd be in a godawful hipster club, not madison square (what's the uk equivalent to madison square? lol. earls court? no.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j7Umwfx60Q

hey, there that is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rtV5esQT6I

Twice - "Ooh Ahh"

Getting serous "Bubble Pop" vibes from the song

It's soooooooo bad (TWICE, not f(x)). The chorus sounds vaguely like Shannon William's Why Why, but Why Why is charming and Williams can sing. All Ooh-Ah has going for it is a lot of production flash.

4Walls has a gorgeous chorus (I like it more than View), not sure about the bridge though.

Speaking of f(x), the MV seems a bit cheap compared to SHINee or EXO's recent romps through the woods, the album packaging is A+ as always though. Also, the other album tracks are WINNERS so far.

Papi >> Traveler >> When I'm Alone, Glitter, 4Walls > Deju Vu, Diamond, Rude Love, Cash Me Out

?

X up there with Traveler, maybe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLDW7LHwCCGyfxEqAQCqahfj8gwY1ovfjo&v=Y2NfqJiD20k

Whoops, I totally whiffed on that Shannon Williams song. Now that you mention it, that's all I can hear in the chorus.

Yeah... I mean, it's not a super unique melody or anything, but personally I think Why Why is a better song, so Ooh Ahh loses in the comparison.

f(SHINee): https://youtu.be/v00N7Ythb8g

There's also a mashup going around, but it's not that good... waiting for a better one to share here.

Also, 4walls is still gorgeous but the bridge still breaks the mood... you can't just pop a Kpop bridge into a deep house song the way you could with another genre of music.

I still haven't listened to much from the new f(x) besides the single. I'm a little confused by the video, and your right it seems a little cheap. Did SM blow the budget on Red Velvet? Hot song, even if the bridge is kind of just floating around in a deep house song.

I don't think it's cheap as much as the f(x) aesthetics of the cover and promo art finally being carried over to the MV.

late pass on lim kim's "awoo" btw which is contending for a best of the year single for me

love game too; clearly i need more from her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKlJXpjeYC8

f(x) are promoting Diamond as their second song on music shows, why :( There are so many better songs on the album!

Get on Papi, folks.

Annnnnd '4 walls' now officially has the 2nd best 1st week physical sales of any (recent) girl group, second only to SNSD 'the boys'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJBoTu_gogk

Treads closer to Generic Idol Dance Music (TM) than Headache or Baby Boy, but there's something about it that keeps it from really being generic... maybe the minimalism of the beat, or the number of times it changes tempo, or the how distinct their voices are.

Anyway HIGH4 keep on being decent. I think they get better with each new release.

Yeah, I could see Papi finding some fans

SPIN and Billboard both say it's a low point of the album :( why :( do they hate fun

More fun SPIN and Billboard would probably hate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc909eoH2wo

haha, I'm going to have to play that when I'm not at work. I was playing their "phone, phone, phone, phone number," earlier this year

is there any reason why f(x) don't have their own ILX thread yet? I feel like they've earned one.

They should, right? They're probably more popular than 2NE1 at this point.

Though speaking of 2NE1... I shouldn't hold out hope for actual new music on 11/21 at 21:00pm, right? That would just be setting myself up for heartbreak ;_;

SM keeping on that house music trend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCb-f2SuTAY

I think I like Red Velvet more than f(x)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmqS9dQlkE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfyc2YHj3zM

Pretty g orgeous

zenned out k-pop slow jam itt

Nice!

The Legend also have a really nice slow jam out, beating everyone else to that winter RnB sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXUihR8S70

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/cl-hello-bitches-video-premiere

pssst soyrev

is the intro about CL already being the biggest thing to some, but about to go bigger to others, a standard line you're supposed include in an article about her (per her PR camp), or just something that naturally comes about as a result of writing this kind of hype article?

cause she is sticking like glue to the messaging she's been using all along, I'll give her that.

Sensing a pattern with CL solo tracks: always underwhelming on first listen but you know she's gonna kill it live so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm kind of fascinated by interviews with Asian pop stars (I've participated in one - a group roundtable interview with Perfume, with 4 or 5 other journalists). They're so scripted and say-nothing, it's like reading interviews from 1940s movie magazines where the whole thing might as well have been dictated by the studio publicist.

New Nine Muses is bouncy and bleak like that one CCM song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eycIuUZyJPY

The mini this comes from is rly good too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkBsfEw0zbY

That's one of the best songs of the year. Unbelievably elegant touch.

Miscellaneous songs from newbie groups:

Up10tion - Catch Me https://youtu.be/YE5KxgrkK0k
These guys have a budget, I guess they're like Boys Republic in that way but hopefully more charismatic??? Anyway I really like this Indian pop beats trend.

D.Holic - Murphy and Sally https://youtu.be/GmUHSlRAWpk
Chorus sounds like Suju-M's Swing, but song is a bit better, or at least has that special appeal that only low-budget girlgroups have

Also some B-sides from newbie groups:

Oh My Girl - Say No More https://youtu.be/0g_p6dYvdwM
More like "Cupid" than "Closer", stuttering rhythms punctuated by brass hits and string runs

Seventeen - Rock https://youtu.be/3t4GxvAD6yA
Interesting variety of vocal and rap styles on this.

As we move to the end of the year, I'd like to drop a quick note to encourage any readers / lurkers / ilxors to post their favorite k-pop tracks from this year so that I can hoover them into the ongoing spotify playlist. Last chance for any accessible stragglers that may not already be in the lexicon.

Should I post all mine that I don't post only because I already post 5 times a week here? :p

Here's another one for you guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3_QjEIyxCQ

Calling in Love and Aalow Aalow are really nice

oh i should check out calling in love. aalow aalow is so good.

i nodding along to TTS 'dear santa' until it stopped being an rnb song, BTW... the piano on the full-on sleighbells-and-whistles part of the song is still very enjoyable though.

i mean i'm probably just an easy sell on winter-morning RnB no matter how generic, but still.... fingers crossed for the EXO xmas song to be an rnb ballad all the way through

Since the year-end best lists are coming out (nice one in Vice, jakob!), I feel like I should be campaigning harder on here for the b-sides that have been growing on me lately... like f(x) - Rude Love, Seventeen - Rock, Oh My Girl - Say No More and Red Velvet - Oh Boy, for instance

OKAY, I made a playlist, you can listen in order if you like:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsh4Z5FNfPMD7jlMAPmsoks7_kWYWtxA_

THUMBS UP on the EXO winter album by the way... single is boring but the rest is A+ holiday rnb singalong material

I need another sad song for my playlist... anyone want to recommend something?

How sad?

I've been thinking a bit about my year end kpop list lately. Think I've got the top 3 down.