K-pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hzz4mGyehw

BAP with a Damien Hirst-inspired music video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd-EnU-s9Rg

GLAM song about a girl liking another girl:

Can I kiss you baby girl?
Are you a boy? I don’t care.. Passion is key.
Girl I really really like ya, now just leave the rest to me.
A kiss XXO, anyone can be a Romeo.
A kiss XXO, if the heart starts to race, you’re Juliet Juliet.
Because we break the rules, we dodge the rules.
Got the right to break the wall. Everyone move.
Opposition for opposition won’t work- take off the blindfold that covers your eyes.
Be confident. (We’re a minority.) Fling it off.
Yeah don’t stop the beat now. Now is your time, you shine more than anyone else.

Ok, irresistible

http://gawker.com/5930283/did-this-underground-hip-hop-artist-from-south-korea-just-release-the-best-music-video-of-the-year

gif request for loop of 1:54-2:01

Underground? The song is #1! (unless they're saying underground to them, in which case they've already said 'from South Korea' so it's redundant)

Yeah it's the hit of the year pretty much.

Also I think you'll find pretty much every second gif'd on tumblr. Props to Hyuna for her cameo here securing her summer viral #2 after last year's Bubble Pop.

I kinda figured this thread would now be about "Gangnam Style". To answer Gawker's question, yes.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/43025/hallyu-camp-at-the-korean-cultural-center-monday-aug-6/

Not only has South Korean cinema become one of the most interesting movie scenes in the world, the glossy triteness of K-pop has somehow become a worldwide phenomenon. (If you’re not 15 and don’t know what K-pop is, its artists make Justin Bieber seem like Marvin Gaye.) “Hallyu” means “Korean Wave,” an all-encompassing term for the pop-culture revolution, but it’ll take a five-day camp to explain how the nine-member manufactured music group Girls’ Generation (shown) relates to Oldboy, the 2003 stylized excursion into cinematic hyperviolence.

I don't know anything about k-pop, but I thought I'd post that anyway when I read it

Woo-hoo! Less than two weeks till I get to see (and photograph) 2NE1 live!

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

Written by YG's Kush, according to the comments

2NE1 show last night was pretty fucking great. Full review on MSN Music soon.

yeah i'm reviewing it for the voice. it was amazing.

kept making jokes all night about how the backing band was the new power generation and then in between set/costume changes they just launched into this stellar funk jam

The promised review. Short version: Despite some technical problems and delays, it was awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEV5_Uc1a6Y

I know everything's about PSY these days, but alongside Only One promotions BoA has been doing this hit medley that basically shows k-pop pretenders HOW It'S DONE.

http://youtu.be/UHxMPIpYSpM

Perfect.

Also this sit-down performance of Only One http://youtu.be/lw3WK1qWXxI

Love this song so much.

(This thread's pretty heavy on the system so maybe no embeds for a while)

And another performance of Only One w/ dance. Even scaled back because of live vocals she's so... damn cool pulling off those moves. http://youtu.be/4L0T-mh4lms

really really love 'only one'

http://youtu.be/t3ULhmadHkg

^^ fresh off the press, in before 1,000+ viewcount

YES!!

still regretting not getting a ticket to BigBang's show next month (sold out in eight hours. :/)

Am I the only one who finds G-Dragon weirdly Aaron Carter-ish?

Damn, Ga-In http://youtu.be/K64mb5KUhhs

Pretty sure it's the first time masturbation has featured in a k-pop video and also that we don't really see sex as something this nice and sweet in pop videos in general.

Reminds me a bit of this old hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0LD-QAzg0

This thread blows my system up when I expand it, so I have to ask the knowledgeable crew: what's the name of the track where a woman in a hospital bed is tormented by inconsiderate visitors?

revenge fantasy?

Sounds like Miryo's "Dirty", maybe.

that's it, thanks. stayed with me for some reason.

Miss A "don't need a man" http://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY

hi

Tablo "Don't Hate Me" is so disturbing, dude has fallen HARD for the GD/YG Family cult (compare video for Don't Hate Me with the videos for GDragon CraYon and One of a Kind to see what I mean). Good on the other guys in Epik High for standing by him and supporting him in this bizarre new artistic direction and time in his life, though.

Did see lots of Epik High fans crying over the change in direction.

Hyuna - ICE CREAM http://youtu.be/QlWZluzBNxM

It's distuuuuuuuurbing. And I say this as a GDragon and Britpop fan. The brighter the music, the more tortured it seems underneath (and vid is about destruction of the capitalist system of commerce by child terrorist-popstars, and, like, skateboarding. Skateboarding!)

like the new hyuna but don't LOVE it

G-Dragon has an excellent, lengthy interview with XXL: http://www.xxlmag.com/features/2012/12/korean-rapper-g-dragon-talks-k-pop-hype-new-ep-and-past-scandals/

Just wanna say thank you to the posters in this thread. I trawled through all the recs and you tubes posted here this year and found loads of great stuff. Particularly loving f(x), g dragon, sistah, and (gawdhelpme) block-b!!

anybody doing best of 2012 lists?

allkpop have started theirs
http://www.allkpop.com/2012/12/allkpops-top-50-k-pop-songs-of-2012-41-50

Thanks for that! Fallen big time for their #50 Exo-K 'Mama'

I'll do a top 50 or 100 probably some time this week or next.

Best 2012 albums is easy, there haven't been that many notable (idol) albums this year. Singles might be fun, maybe I'll do a list too. For the first time ever.

Keen to see some end of year lists; I put some SISTAR/BlockB/f(x)/Infinite in a local EOY thing, but I'm woefully out of my depth. TBH, apart from "Gangnam Style", it was mainly 2011 hits like "Bubble Pop" & "I Am The Best" that I'd hear out this year; v.slow-rolling infiltration.

Kpop is a lotta fun yall

Nothing definitive about this.

ALBUM TRACKS 2012:

1. After School "Eyeline"
2. Miss $ "Physical Or Emotional"
3. T-ara "T-aratic Magic Music"
4. E.via "Night Blooming Roses"
5. HyunA "Don't Fall Apart" also called "Straight Up"
6. Jewelry "Rhythm HA!!!"
7. TaeTiSeo "Baby Steps"
8. Ga-In "Tinkerbell"
9. Miss A "Lips"
10. Neon Bunny "First Love"

I'd not heard of Miss $ until a month ago; their back catalog is pedestrian rap and r&b; now suddenly they're in the deep bleeding mascara sound that came pouring out of the barrios and crossover dance clubs of New York City, 1989.

SINGLES 2012

1. T-ara "Lovey-Dovey"
2. Orange Caramel "Lipstick"
3. Trouble Maker "Trouble Maker"
4. ChoColat "I Like It"
5. Wonder Girls "Like This"
6. T-ara "Day By Day"
7. Sistar "Alone"
8. Davichi & T-ara "We Were In Love"
9. 2NE1 "Scream"
10. 4minute "Volume Up"
11. Flashe "Drop It"
12. After School "Rambling Girls"
13. ChoColat ft. Sung Hyo Ram "One More Day" (also called "Same Thing To Her")
14. Miss A "Touch"
15. Orange Caramel "My Sweet Devil"
16. Yoon Jong Shin ft. Kim Wan Sun "I Love You All Days"
17. Chi Chi "Sexy Doll"
18. Girl's Day "Oh! My God"
19. Jewelry "Look At Me" (Inst.)
20. E.via ft. Lee Su Jung "I Know How To Play A Little"

Could have gone twice as long, but I wanted to give other people a chance. The next several included two more T-aras, some other fairly high-profile stuff, a second song called "Sexy Doll," and an insect. Three that I listed ("Scream," "Rambling Girls," and "My Sweet Devil") are in Japanese, as is "T-aratic Magic Music" on my tracks list. As for sounds that recall the ghosts of my pre-past, "Look At Me" has the bright beats of K-pop but the weathered sound of a nonchalant little throwaway B-side from scrappy mid '50s R&B independents like King Records out of Cincinnati. Appropriate, as it's a B-side itself.

Great slow jam from Satbyeol - think Ciara's Promise meeting Taeyang's I Need a Girl - the song shares producer with the latter:
http://youtu.be/qgQBAb--ci8
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8360/8281021974_72bebf50c8_n.jpg

She also released an amazing single last year http://youtu.be/2VbN8JPYCcM

Most known for featuring on lots of hip hop tracks.

BONUS: Very funny and on point skit about plastic surgery f rmo the Brown Eyed Girls on SNL Korea http://youtu.be/264nb9wX0Qo

Are we still doing Kpop Top 50 lists? I did one based purely on personal utility this year:

TOP 10
Miss A - I Don't Need a Man
Sistar - Alone
T-ara - Day by Day
Epik High - Wrong
Infinite - The Chaser
Big Bang - Still Alive
GDragon - One of a Kind
Big Bang - Fantastic Baby
UKiss - Believe
T-ara - Sexy Love

NEXT 10
K.Will - Please Don't
Sunny Hill - The Grasshopper Song
Xia Junsu - Tallentelegra
Block B - Nilili Mambo
Boyfriend - Love Style
Crazyno - Musiche
E.via - Night Blooming Roses
EXID - Every Night
Electroboyz ft. Gaeparta - My Love
Big Bang - Bad Boy

THIRD 10
Miss A - Touch
Tasty - Do You Know Me?
BTOB - Wow
UKiss - Stop Girl (English version)
GDragon - CraYon
Primary - ?
Neon Bunny - Oh My Prince
EXO-K - History
BAP - No Mercy
ZE:A - Aftermath

FORTH 10
Brave Girls - Nowadays You
Spica - Painkiller
BoA ft SYChaserSY - Only One (rap remix)
SPEED - Lovey Dovey Plus
B1A4 - Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix)
4Minute - Volume Up
100% - Bad Boy
CReal - Sorry But I
Jo Kwon - Animal
E.via - I Know How to Play a Little

FIFTH 10
Kara - Pandora
TVXQ - Catch Me
Girls Day - Oh! My God (areia trance remix)
Nam Soo-Rin - Drive Me To The Moon
Teen Top - Crazy
Fiestar - Vista
Bigstar - Hot Boy
EXO-K - What Is Love
Teen Top - Be My Girl
LEDApple - Let the Wind Blow

Will check this so thanks for posting

I know that I dig the pirate Block B and the K Will (cool video too)