K-pop

That Letterman performance is great! Not a top tier single but they sold it and the dance breaks were ooon point. Regis very excited.

And I don't know any k-pop blogs without gossip, unfortunately. Just check allkpop's twitter and hone in on "releases..".

lol yeah, I was just thinking how creepy it was that they came on right after two old white men were interviewed

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyq75ivQaN1qf89zjo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1328207970&Signature=wUhzKTffglYEv5uiKZ761%2BNy7ls%3D

!

lol I just posted that pic to the "photos of famous people you'd never expect to be together" thread. so great.

I was really surprised by their english accents! (mean that in as unoffensive a way as possible)

im gonna post this on a bill murray thread brb

(mean to clarify the xpost as in: normally I don't care at all about english usage in k-pop songs, but since SNSD is targeting the US market, thought it would be relevant.) xp to myself

does anybody else hear a lot of H.O.T. in B.A.R.?

Thoughts on SPICA's Russian Roulette?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRnQUHw2cs8

despite the similar imagery, a little too upbeat for the k-pop russian roulette?

I like the song, the group is more believably 'an rnb group' than previous attempts at that and the production is catchy - plus it still sounds very Korean. The mini-album supports these claims.

I'm not necessarily keen on all k-pop videos these days featuring guns and death.

They can sing: http://youtu.be/mA7RebIbs_M (also check out Brandy/D Child covers)

I think we're going to see more solo stars this year. This debut single by 'Ailee' is a melodic belter we've heard on the Billboard chart many times http://youtu.be/L9ro1KjkJMg

Jang Jae In is a typical example of the new kind of solo k-pop star: http://youtu.be/LYFJ2v9aaY0 - currently topping Korean digital charts

She was a contestant on "Super Star K", has roots in indie rock, is a singer songwriter, etc - these types have made the biggest impact in the talent show surge of the past few years, finding a platform that didn't exist before, making it a commercially viable genre. (Slick ballad singers and teen idols have had more than enough screen time, which might explain why the talent show audiences favor lo-fi stars)

has IU done anything lately?

You mean since You&I? Which even she admitted was a Good Day ripoff she didn't want to release at first. Did gangbuster numbers and is catchy, though. Weak after album release she had all the top 10 spots on the singles chart because of album tracks. Has writing credits on half the album so making bank as well. If you're checking out the album go for tracks 9-13, the rest is pap but these hint at where she herself said she wants her sound to go. This is the kind of stuff she does when she has no co-writers with her http://youtu.be/z3vrXXQC6a0

She's debuting in Japan with a JP version of Good Day these days before doing a follow-up single in Korea.

ah okay, you mentioned indie songwriters and she popped to mind.

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

what's the guitar sample at the beginning?

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=4929#comments

will the TSJ ever review a k-pop single without making a gratuitous, vague east asia reference?

Even (Hollywood) kids note the Lady Gaga-Kpop connection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6EQ4MxTWE

"The Boys" sounds like "Telephone" to me.

I really love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaKU7_PhQL4

Does anyone know anything about the rapper (Bla Bla)? He's hard to Google in English.

Every time the rap part comes in there's a split second where it sounds like Maino, "Hi Hater" to me lol.

SNSD songwriter has bizarre racist twitter meltdown, wtffffff
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2012/02/jenny-hyun-songwriter-for-snsd-chocolat-is-a-racist-psychopath/

yikes!

don't have the slightest ideas who jenny hyun or SNSD are, but might be the most disgusting public display of racism i've ever seen from a public figure. not sure how koreans in general tend to view such things, but i assume that calls for genocide are no less acceptable there than they are here.

It's not a one-off meltdown, as far as i can tell, her whole feed is littered with racist tweets. It's either a fake account or she's 100% crazy.

http://jennyhyun.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/niger/

http://jennyhyun.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/a-late-valentine-for-indians-only/

http://jennyhyun.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/a-comparison/

Her published songs list suggests she co-wrote one SNSD album track which might explain why nobody seems to give a fuck about this. She only has 400 followers on Twitter.

hope they cut her off forever

http://jennyhyun.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/notorious-big-mo-money-mo-problems-ft-mase-puff-daddy/

seems like she has no qualms about enjoying the music of the people she wants to commit genocide against

don't have the slightest ideas who jenny hyun or SNSD are, but might be the most disgusting public display of racism i've ever seen from a public figure. not sure how koreans in general tend to view such things, but i assume that calls for genocide are no less acceptable there than they are here.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Saturday, February 18, 2012 6:49 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

afaict she's korean-american

another one from yesterday

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/jennyhyun1.png

afaict she's korean-american

having done a little googling, SNSD and chocolat (the acts she writes for) seems to be south korean, though, right? it's not like either has a big US pop presence, so far as i know...

SNSD (girl's generation) are trying to break it big in america, they recently appeared on letterman.

ah. i'm not sure that this is the best strategy, then.

she doesn't write for them as much as she sold the rights to two tracks they used as filler on albums. no relation in reality

she seems batshit insane, though, should probably get a padded cell

new miss a EP rather underwhelming

i only listened to the title song so far, it's such a mess. i guess the other songs must be better, will give the ep a listen in the next few days.

expect to see this on the youtube chart next week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GRP1rkE4O0 big bang - blue

Yeah I'm liking the Big Bang, toning it down was a good idea, feels like a 2012 version of their earliest stuff.

This is kinda dreamy and great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw077fxesZs

The new Brave Girls single is decent, but this album track kills it http://youtu.be/cm_OV7q_GVk

Wow. I'm not sure i've listened to Park Ji Yoon in about nine years but that's really lovely.

yeah I really like the big bang song. interesting that the girls in it are european - recall a few blog posts dissecting the gender politics of the last big bang (or was it gd/top) video that did that.

My favorite thing about the "Blue" video is that G-Dragon made ALL the members of Big Bang pose so that they ambiguously are, and are with, the white hipster girl.

When it was announced that Teddy Park had co-written most of the tracks on the Big Bang album, I was (happily) anticipating something like this, without the editing glitches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9oa45GuRMk

Big Bang vocals and an actual sad-euphoric build is all I ever wanted out of a song, apparently. >_> Blue is not bad though, it is restful next to their more dramatic tracks. I am holding out hope for at least one really "big" track on the album, though.

man I don't know why I wrote european, I should have just said white. sorry about that.

@dayo the video with mostly white girls is GDTOP, High High (about clubbing). They used a Korean girl for their teen romance song, though. Now I wanna read those blog posts...

think the gist of it was male aggrandizing as specifically related to asian males - i.e. they're so masculine that they get white chicks. or something.

That makes sense. There was a lot of male aggrandizing going in the videos for that album, you know, all the playboy bunny girls, the girls at the club and the spa, etc.

(I wrote "compensatory male aggrandizing" but it could have also been because it was a more 'hip hop' album and that's what hip hop albums are like, I guess.)

seems like I only learn about new k-pop songs after they get posted on TSJ, but I love how aggressive this one is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiMntBGX-6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qnV55LUFVM

big bang pursues more white hipster girls

what's that horse's tail hanging out of gd's hat?

That's his Skrillex 'do.

I'm liking this as a lot well, looks to be a great campaign for Big Bang. They needed some scandals to.. ehm, chill out their music? A bit much 'walking in NY' if the coming MVs follow suit, though.

There's nothing new to this Rainbow song except they've found the most infectious phrase ever to go with an infectious chorus. GONNA GO, GONNA GONNA GO, GONNA GO - LETS GO!: http://youtu.be/dKDS7zzz-kU

Ok I think this will become one of my favorite Big Bang songs.

Not a great video, but it does its job. Alive is selling visible amounts on iTunes worldwide.
The song is nice.