I’m rather sad that Ivy’s promo work hasn’t been as full on as it should have been. She’s a great performer and her latest album was pretty slick, mature with a very edgy euro electropop style, something that I feel is generally missing from the K-pop scene at the moment. She’s not afraid to push boundries and she should be given lots of respect for not being afraid to do her own thing. She performed Touch Me at the MAMAs, which was great! Very proud of her! Check out the performance below.
Archive | November, 2009
Ivy & 2PM’s Nichkhun – World of Temptation @ MAMA
21 NovFor the MAMA awards, Ivy and 2PM’s Nichkhun gave a special collaboration performance! Check it out!
CL & Minzy – Please Don’t Go
20 NovFollowing on from Sandara and Park Bom, it’s now the turn of the youngest members of 2NE1 to release a single. They’re doing it together this time and the song has dropped! CL and Minzy give a pretty cool offering, but I definitely prefer Park Bom’s the most, and then Sandara’s. This sounds a bit like a 2NE1 b-side. But it’s still pretty cool. I’m looking forward to seeing their stage! I bet they’ll rock it.
Stefanie Sun (Sun Yan Zi, 孙燕姿) – Mulan’s Passion (Mulan Qing, 木兰情) @ Hua Mulan Live Premiere
18 NovStefanie Sun recently had the great honour of closing the event for Hua Mulan’s World Premiere in Beijing. This film is going to be so huge! With the nation’s sweet heart, Zhao Wei starring as Mulan, how can it not be a success? I got goosebumps seeing Stefanie perform on this stage. She looks amazing, so beautiful and she sings so well. You can feel every single bit of emotion she feels when she sings. I’m so happy for her that although she was absent from the music scene for quite a long time, she’s been able to come back with such a huge single and honour. I may sound overly patriotic here, but oh well!
Please note, the audio quality is pretty dreadful, but watch it all the same!
4minute – What A Girl Wants MV
18 Nov4minute return after the success of Muzik with new song, What A Girl Wants. It’s kind of like a semi-mid-tempo electro ballad pop song. It’s a bit similar to 2NE1’s I don’t care (eh eh eh eh), but less ballady. So it’s pretty cool. I think it fits quite nicely on radio for this time of year. I always thought it was strange how certain music fits better for certain times of year. I mean, if you don’t have seasons, then that isn’t really going to affect you is it?
Check out the MV below, it totally screams Korean cinema at me for some reason. I can see elements of so many different Korean movies and dramas in it.
Rainbow – Gossip Girl MV
18 NovThe world has gone girl crazy. Seems like only a couple of years ago when the world couldn’t get enough of indie rock bands, but now it’s all changed. Solo female artists set the charts on fire and in Korea it’s the second coming of girl groups. 2009 has seen so many new girl bands debut that it’s hard to keep up; there’s only a couple of months left of 2009 and there are bands still coming out to debut! Madness!
Rainbow are a pretty cool girl band with a pretty catchy beat. 7 members is not quite SNSD stage presence but they do bring something to the K-pop field. Kind of… sexy in a cute way yet they probably smoke and drink. Something like that haha.
f(x) – CHU~<3 @ Inkigayo
18 Novf(x) continue their progression from rookie groupie with the mostest and continually deliver polished performance after polished performance. The level they debuted at is pretty amazing considering some other group’s skill levels when they first debuted. However, what I will say is that their sound is a little ‘young’. If that makes sense? You know? Like, their songs sound less mature than other groups. Less sophisticated. I’m not sure if this is because they are rookies or because SM Entertainment are targeting a specific demographic. Either way, I do think they are pretty cool. Kudos for Amber for perhaps being the coolest member of a girlband ever!
Nakashima Mika – Nagareboshi Review
17 NovToday, I’m starting something new on this blog by actively reviewing songs, albums, singles and releases. Hopefully I’ll also have time to review other things, such as movies, television shows, books and videogames. I hope to strike a nice little balance between news, personal musings and reviews. Wish me luck! Please also feel free to leave me feedback about my reviews; it’d be greatly appreciated.
For the first review, I’m going to review Nakashima Mika’s Nagareboshi (translated as Shooting Star).
中島美嘉 – 流れ星
2009.11.04
1. 流れ星
2. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE
3. 流れ星 (Instrumental)
4. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE (Instrumental)
Mika’s new song continues to to show her love of soul music. The song has a great soulful vibe, helped by her mellow vocals. Mika seems most comfortable singing songs with an r and b or jazz touch to them. When I first became interested in Mika’s music, I loved her distinctive soulful voice combined with pop melodies. But nowadays as her music as progressed and I’ve come to appreciate so much in the music I hear, it is her more jazz orientated releases that I find coming back to time and time again. The best quality about Mika’s work is that her voice soothes you like the sweet smell of spiced apples in Winter time. This song is no exception. In fact, the production values, complete with bells and shimmering noises make this a great Winter song. Listen to it as you walk down the dark street and you’ll definitely feel warmer.
The b-side is another DAISHI DANCE production, Memory, following on from 2008’s SAKURA ~Hanasugami~. Memory is actually taken from DAISHI DANCE’s latest album, Spectacle. It’s quite a nice little electro-pop song, although it’s not electro-pop like Lady Gaga or Black Eyed Peas. It’s more kind of… late 90s Ibiza trance music. Lots of piano. I actually quite like it though, the melody is very simple yet really endearing. Something about the simplicity I guess. Mika sings in English for the entirety of the song which is a pleasant surprise. She’s by no means perfect at it, but kudos for trying. The song reminds me a little of Lumines era Nobuchika Eri.
The PV for Nagareboshi is very emotive. Scenes of Mika are cut with scenes of a woman travelling on a train. Mika looks beautiful in a gorgeous dress whilst she swings at night-time. I’m not sure why, but she looks pretty all the same. The actress on the train is very good and you really get quite emotional as you watch her. It’s all rather voyeuristic, but interesting nonetheless. The single sleeve is also pretty; I think Mika looks amazing in her dress. I don’t know who the designer is, but it’s very cool.
Overall, this is a pretty nice little release, it’s not going to set the charts on fire (it hasn’t, it debuted on the weekly Oricon charts at number 10; which is still a pretty good success). I think Mika might have lost something along the way… I’m not sure what, I can’t explain it. Actually, perhaps it’s the fact that she’s making music that she wants to in the way that she wants to, but this just might not be commercial enough.
Rating – 6/10 peaches.
Stefanie Sun (Sun Yan Zi, 孙燕姿) – Mulan’s Passion (Mulan Qing, 木兰情)
16 NovStefanie Sun, one of my favourite C-pop artists is finally back after a long hiatus with a new song. None other than one of the theme songs for the new epic movie, Hua Mulan starring Zhao Wei. This is a huge achievement for Stefanie as no doubt this film is going to be a box office smash! There have been period epics the last few years in Chinese cinema, thanks to directors like Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou. The song is beautiful and Stefanie’s vocals are so emotional. Mulan’s story is one that greatly inspires Chinese people generation after generation and I’m very proud of Stefanie.
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