Kpop 2017

Meanwhile Cross Gene's new single sounds like it could have gone to BAP instead... which is probably why I like it...

https://youtu.be/zDEBLbeT23s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A2t_tAjMz8

best new single of 2017

linking other thread for posterity rolling k-pop 2017

this rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdT1OEYfcMs this is basically Awoo + Send My Love (To Your New Lover) but it's quite nice

like all Twice singles Knock Knock is extremely catchy but doesn't really do any more than that. the instrumental bit before the bridge feels pointless too

Aw, that's nice!

Thumbs up for Subin, Happy Face Ent has some nice songs.

Incidentally here's Gaon's official singles for each month in 2016:

January - GFriend - Rough
February - Mamamoo - You're the Best
March - Jang Bum Joon - Fallen In Love (Only with You)
April- Twice - Cheer Up
May - Urban Zakapa - I Don't Love You
June - Sistar - I Like That
July - Wonder Girls - Why So Lonely
August - Blackpink - Whistle
September - Lim Chang Jung - The Love I Committed
October - Twice - TT
November - Blackpink - Playing with Fire
December - Big Bang - Fxxk It

from http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/19804561.html

First GOT7 single I've liked in a while:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ1t7CwfvEc

More melody than you'd expect from a song in this style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1n_1jrUEjU

this is basically an Infinite single from a few years back so i like it a lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1c0Y3Q7c8I

enjoying this a lot despite being straight forward tropical house, chorus has a good hook. gloomy mansion is a very weird mv concept for it though

Rolling is pretty good, WINNER's new tropical house single on the other hand...

ILM's 2017 Rolling K-Pop Thread Spotify Playlist

Lost their main vocalist and main rapper... but this song is the light and the truth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvs-rOu-bq8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9IxdwEFk1c

Taking bets on whether GDragon will show up for the live performances...

This is nice though, a really smart collab that's having a bit of a conversation with Bae Bae ("You’re forever 25 to me / Won’t ever change BABE 5 X 5 BABE"). Walks a fine line between being self-appreciative and allowing other people in to witness and appreciate.. Twenty-five/truly fine is a bit clever too.

Not to mention the clever conversation with Twenty-three

yep, that too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoySmwO7QHg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNcBZM5SvbY

this is a lovely dreamy synth jam

god bless "palette"

new blackpink sounds quite 5 years ago but in a good way, it's probably the best single from any yg group in about that long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amq-qlqbjYA

Thread much slower than in past years... not much happening or nobody posting about it?

anyways, half-year update:
ILM'S Rolling K-Pop Thread 2017 Spotify Playlist

it's definitely felt a bit unexciting this year due to the big trend still just being tropical house but that's the same situation as elsewhere i guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyiIGEHQP8o

best red velvet single since ice cream cake i think

Just find this year's songs kinda lackluster honestly. And the girlgroups just keep getting thinner which bothers me on a personal level aha.

I do like the Blackpink and Red Velvet.

My favorite Kpop song of the moment is this b-side track from LOONA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sLXAf4ZcI

There's also Myteen, who are like a new MRMR for me (lesser known group specializing in RnB whose vocals elevate their material - they're from the same label as VIXX which bodes well for them musically):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_TlyZ5Y3h8&t=76s

Trying that again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_TlyZ5Y3h8

can't help but think that having a western band called "MYTEEN" release a single called "Take It Out" would be how you say problematic

man that blackpink track is so good
what a chorus

CLC trying to get themselves remixed into a vaporwave single, I dig it:

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

So lush, so 90s

I feel like I'm witnessing the evolution of Kpop disorientation/sensory overload techniques with this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G_fQOSvccU

So much shaky cam, so many quick cuts, so well executed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifrBiNTU88

this has been one of my favourites lately

still unable to stop listening to 'everyday i love you' though

lol but also ;_; http://www.theonion.com/article/report-south-korea-developing-new-pop-group-capabl-56555

anyone got a link to either of the two new snsd double a-sides?
apols if not out yet

ah found em
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwN-CN9EjTg

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

Solid songs, but neither one really sounds like a single? Holiday has some cute dance moves though, and I like the synths on All Night.

they're not even in the top 15 tho... fans are blaming SM for not releasing the physical and digital albums on the same day

WINNER says hi from their #1 spot (this is for you Roz)

http://sd.magatsu.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/LOVE.png

Tropical house now fully digested into the Kpop songwriting toolbag, can be used to punch up the chorus of a midtempo RnB ballad https://youtu.be/iAVAhkvXXoQ

xpost lol thanks. Mino's resemblance to GD in those dance videos is very distracting.

I'm not really liking the new Winner songs - they're nice enough I guess but other than trop house fatigue, I actually kind of miss their cheesy ballads.

Gfriend familiar and safe but still catchy imo. Dreamcatcher single rocks. Good for live performances too.

I can like CLC's Especia lite

Choi Sam going harder, tighter, closer, more brutalist, to great effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-I1c7DPMQ

Interesting to see Heize releasing a Seo Taiji cover. She operates in that same area of K-artists who are rappers and singers at the same time and pop stars and underground (at least in origin) at the same time, sometimes tough, edgy, sometimes silky smooth and sugary sweet.

Also interesting concept: Heize as the top hit chart force in 2017. Not sure many people thought the messy first Unpretty Rapstar season would produce something like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGRv8ZBLuW0

Pros - visuals, voiceover, the way the vocals overlap on the verses
Cons - WE GOT THAT POWER... POWER... POWER... POWER.... POWER.... POWER...

And the highlight of Primary's ft every famous idol vocalist of the last few years album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y0Bd3T3RY4

BTS now stands for "Beyond the Scene" according to a CNN article with them (that same article carefully does not refer to Kim Namjoon as "Rap Monster"). Their single DNA is too poppy for me but I kinda like the hypnotic repetition Go Go.

Also, Go Go has probably the most intensively GIF-able choreography ever devised for a Kpop group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKQZkkM5dA

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/theater/kpop-musical-review.html?mcubz=0

K-Pop the NY Off-Broadway musical

Theatergoers are divided into different teams (according to the color of wrist bands issued before the show begins) and ushered through a series of meticulously imagined rehearsal spaces, recording studios, cosmetic analysis rooms and a theater-cum-bar, where we are allowed to observe the finished product.

-----------------------------
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/theater/broadway-training-gangnam-style.html?action=click&contentCollection=Theater&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Though Mr. Kim was a writer on HBO’s “Girls” and his play “The Model American” ran this summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival, “KPOP” is his first major New York theater production. The cast is massive — 18 people, 17 of them Asian, a rarity in the American theater world. “The fact that we’re trying to make a show with not only one Asian person, but with 17 — I can’t believe it,” he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyInv6RWL0Q

loona continue to be great

yessss, the whole album is good!

oh and that yves^^^^ hell yes

yves track is great!

Yeah I'm reppin for Palette although feel it's underrated. Maybe it isn't

Red Flavor, Girl Front and As If It's Your Last are definitely on my eoy list. Everyday I Love You and The Star of Stars probably have a chance too

new is good, LOONA are definitely 2017 MVP

"as if it's your last" deffo on mine
chorus of the year :)

hope to have room for red flavor too!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPzB1q9VoAAyFQV.jpg

What is it? No idea so far

Red Flavor and Subin's Circle's Dream are the two biggest contenders for my eoy list.

I actually like Peek a Boo a lot more than Red Flavor, even though the chorus and verse sound a bit similar (same chord progression?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJf2IT2Zh8

EXID's DDD and Blackpink's As If It's Your Last are getting my vote too!

I guess no one's voting for TWICE?

Oh and there's a new Hyuna song out that's a lotta fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcqImqOVE2U

It's been interesting to watch BTS do the rounds on the US late night circuit, if only because the last time I watched a late night show live on TV was several years ago... (I get up really early OK). There's so much bonus content online now, BTS slots in perfectly.

I especially liked "Flinch" with James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel interviewing fans before the show, and the Mic Drop camerawork on Ellen.

DNA too, the nonspastic but dynamic, close but not too close, low angle camerawork is so satisfying.

Came back to say... Gashina (Sunmi), Dinosaur (AKMU) also get my end of year nods

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8xMLTwCPlE&feature=youtu.be&t=7m3s

As BAP would say... yeah, that's my jam! Vocal performances on point.

Horrible news. I'm devastated, Jonghyun was a legit talent, not to mention the rare K-pop idol who spoke up in support of LGBT rights. He was one of the good ones.

Some conflicting reports coming out of Seoul, that he was still alive and being operated on but it sounds like wishful thinking? I don't know. :( :(

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/shinee-kim-jong-hyun-lead-singer-of-south-korean-boy-band-dies

oh no, that's really devastating. shinee have always been one of my favourite groups and his solo album last year was nice.

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF53cptEE5k

I can't deal with K-pop twitter right now - too many heartbroken teenagers. He was so young. :'(

:(

If you read through the post on omona, there is a translation Jong Hyun's final letter to family and friends. It's on the 22nd page of comments, I don't want to link it here. Really deeply sad, it reminds me so much of a close family member who went the same way.

This leaves Tell Me What To Do as SHINEE's last song together as a group... reminder that the people in your life who've been suffering for a long are probably still suffering, even if they aren't saying anything about right at this moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oJWAuQuSA

I wonder if they'll release the solo album... reportedly it was pretty much finished, even the music video had been recorded two days prior.
I know wwe used to say that with the stress of being a Kpop star, the lack of support, and the mental health issues of so many artists, it was only a matter of time before we saw a really high-profile death... but still SO sad to read the news about Jong Hyun today, he was truly one of the very best.I wonder if they'll release the solo album... reportedly it was pretty much finished, even the music video had been recorded two days prior. I know wwe used to say that with the stress of being a Kpop star, the lack of support, and the mental health issues of so many artists, it was only a matter of time before we saw a really high-profile death... but still SO sad to read the news about Jong Hyun today, he was truly one of the very best.

Damn I didn't hit post on that... computer issues, sorry guys.

On a lighter note...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVVfMFS3mgc

Since nominations close tomorrow... how many of these should I actually nominate for the EOTY lists????

I think I'll probably nominate like 4-5 tracks and a couple albums, at most, so as not to split the vote.

Tracks:
BTS - Pied Piper
BTS ft. Desiigner - Mic Drop (Steve Aoki remix)
Taemin - Move
Taemin - Thirsty
Hitchhiker x Taeyong - Around
<s>Blackpink - As If It's Your Last</s> already nominated
Twice - Signal
LOONA/Odd Eye Circle - Girl Front
EXID - DDD
Melody Day - Kiss on the Lips
OGUOGU - ICE CHU
Jonhyun ft. Taeyeon - Lonely

Albums:
BTS - Love Yourself:Her
IU - Palette
Taemin - Move
EXID - Eclipse
LOONA - Compilation Album #1

"Girl Front" already nominated.

"new" is probably going to be my loona pick. i fall deeper in love with it every time i hear it

oh awesome, thanks! I was actually thinking about cutting that one since I don't love it as much as the others, haha. I like the LOONA project as a whole and many of them are fantastic singers but there's no standout track for me, yet.

my LOONA picks are Girl Front and Everyday I Love You but I like new a lot too and could vote for it if it's what others are getting behind? definitely my favourite thing in kpop this year, a lot of good singles with a few great ones, they've been surprisingly consistent.

there haven't really been any standout albums/EPs from the few I've heard this year, are there any must-listens? it's been a fantastic year for singles though

and if I vote for a TWICE single it's definitely Likey which has slowly been growing on me

I also like Likely, but I didn't nominate it because it's kinda similar to Kylie Minogue's Can't Shake the Feeling:

https://youtu.be/kcW5IRMGPpg

I mean, maybe that doesn't matter, it's not like it's the same song or anything.

i don't really hear that much of a resemblance there? it's already nominated though

for a long time Likey's hook felt really unsatisfying despite loving the rest of it, but its catchiness has caught up with me. the same thing happened with TT for me too

i may honestly be the only person who really feels a way for "new" but its construction is pretty oblique for a synth pop jam, everything occurs slightly later than i expect it to, which helps the track exude a kind of centerless longing (i haven't read the lyrics). makes me think of what would happen if green gartside wrote a kpop song

yeah it's subtly weird. the bass rhythm is atypical and feels quite odd at first but then ties everything together in the chorus. i'm not sure but are the hi-hats live at least in the verse(?) they stand out compared to the other percussion and the brief moment they drop out at the start of the second verse is always unexpected but cool

the lyrics are mostly about realising a new self, they don't seem like anything special but listening to it while reading the subtitles has also made me weirdly emotional multiple times lol

i would really love it if some kpop producers mined cupid & psyche for things to rip and it's a real shame they haven't yet

otm on all counts ufo

We're all voting for As If It's Your Last, right? https://youtu.be/Hnz-HKfhIUU

thumb up

:D

And while we're still in the 2017 thread, this one is pretty good...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq6s1mCT9BI

Impressed by their commitment to the choreography, usually boygroups are a bit more reserved.

voted for more j-pop than k-pop this year. K-pop on my ballot: "Palette" and "Move".

that ACE track is quite good & so is the dancing yeah

lol at that blackpink cover

Blackpink and TWICE both made it to the year-end list (#67 Likey, #66 As If It's Your Last), good job guys.

Whenever someone decides to make a 2018 thread... this year is off to a good start https://youtu.be/JQGRg8XBnB4

Seems IU might not ;/ xp

eh it’s early yet. i don’t have any expectations though

Kpop 2018

Girl Front at #44, I think I voted for it but can't remember. I'm pretty happy to see it place, I like it more than 'new' although 'new' has been growing on me.

Hitchhikker was my #1 but p sure that's not showing up on any list any time soon lol.