I was thinking today that this blog is a little bit K-popcentric… I rarely post about anything but K-pop… I think it needs to open up a bit! So! I’m posting about one of my favourite J-pop artists (arguably second behind Utada Hikaru). Angela Aki is awesome and not necessarily what you’d expect from the bright lights of Japan’s pop world. She’s like… Dido… but with bigger hair and glasses. Don’t let this put you off though! She writes beautiful songs and has an amazing voice. She recorded the Final Fantasy XII theme song. Anyways, I always witter too much about stuff. She’s finally back after being away for ages with a new song, Ai no Kisetsu (Seasons of Love). It’s the theme song for some J-dorama. I don’t watch J-doramas or animes or anything so I don’t really know about them. It’s beautiful, I love it ^_^ PV is very beautiful; I’m so thrilled she’s back!
f(x) – Lachata
4 SepI’m a bit slow with this but SM Entertainment are debuting a new girl group called f(x) (don’t ask me what it means… it’s complicated and about flowers and xx chromosomes or something). I’ve not really listened to this group properly yet… but this song seems preeeeetty cool. I don’t think it has the same catchyness as Girls’ Generation’s Gee or Tell Me Your Wish but for a debut song, I think it’s not half decent. Besides, they’re with SM Entertainment who are, for me, the leading entertainment managers in Korea at the moment (BoA, Girls’ Generation, Tohoshinki???). Sometimes they make a couple of mistakes… I think maybe they think they can make no bad choices, but they do… ahem… Anyways! Krystal (sister of SNSD’s Jessica) and Victoria (leader of the band) are my favourites ^_^
Chae Yeon Says Adieu~!
4 SepChae Yeon celebrated the end of promotions for her mini-album Shake by performing a special medley on Mnet’s M! Countdown. Chae Yeon seems to go by largely unnoticed in the K-pop music, or maybe she’s just a bit past it nowadays. Still, I love her! She’s one of my favourite Korean artists, just because she’s spunky yet cute and has the weirdest dance moves ever… Chae Yeon performed a medley of Fool (second single, mehish) and Shake (lead single, awesome!). Check it out ^_^
BoA’s 9th Anniversary – Top 9 BoA MVs
3 SepBoA recently celebrated her 9th year in the music industry (can you believe it? in the industry for 9 years and only 22!); to honour this achievement I’ve decided to post my top 9 BoA MVs/songs. Enjoy~
Do The Motion, from 2005’s Outgrow, is arguably BoA’s finest song. Produced with a sweet, summery jazz sound, it showed BoA’s versatility and hit the top spot of Japan’s Oricon chart. It remains BoA’s only number 1 single to date. The video is pretty sweet; the European feel and BoA’s simple dance routine compliment the sound of the song really well. You can tell BoA worked really hard on this single and it deservedly is my number 1.
This next song is one of my favourite songs of all time! It’s the song I listen to when I’m in a great mood and it makes me even happier. It’s also the song I listen to in the mornings if I need a bit of get up and go. Sweet Impact is from BoA’s 2007 album, The Face and was pretty successfuly (reaching the top 5 of the Oricon). The Face is a great album (my favourite BoA album for sure). Although, actually, when I first heard this single I was disappointed and didn’t listen to it again for a good while. A few months later I was hooked ^_^ The MV is awesome too, BoA does a great homage to Michael Jackson
QUINCY was the song that started it all for BoA and me. Released in 2004 on her Best of Soul best of album, it was one of the first J-pop songs I got into aside from Utada. In fact, BoA is the second J-pop artist I got into after Utada so she always has a soft spot in my heart. Who’d have thought I’d still be loving her 5 years later? I can remember listening to this song, getting hooked, coming into college the next day and telling everyone about it. It’s not BoA’s most famous song, but I love it ^_^
永遠; Eien (Forever) was released as a promotional single from BoA’s japanese release of her debut English language album (which was released with a best of album; the whole release was called Best & USA – does that make sense? ^^;). From the very first time I heard this song I loved it. It was a return to the BoA that I loved. Catchy melodies, a hook of a chorus, sweet vocals. It’s one of my favourite BoA songs ever and shows how BoA has matured as an artist over the years.
メリクリ; Meri Kuri (Merry Christmas) is also from her Best of Soul album. It was BoA’s first Christmas themed song and hit number 5 on the Oricon charts. I love this song, it’s very simple and very sweet. I love Christmas and love Christmas songs so this is perfect for me ^_^ It also shows off BoA’s very good voice (something for which she is not always given credit). The MV is simple as well and shows a softer side of BoA.
This retro BoA! Amazing Kiss is about 8 years old and taken from her very first Japanese album Listen to My Heart. It’s very very 90s pop (overly produced should I say?). This is a bit silly, but I love it ^_^ It’s weird to see BoA so young and being so talented. Especially considering the fact that 8 years ago I was messing about in class.
Valenti is BoA’s biggest selling single (with over a 200,000 copies sold), it’s a catchy pop song with a real dance vibe. I think this is what people would suggest BoA’s sound to be like. I like this song, it’s cool, it’s not my favourite song though but if it comes on, I don’t mind tapping along to it ^_^ There’s Japanese, Korean and English versions to boot! My favourite is probably the Japanese one though.
This is another Christmas inspired song. It was a huge success for BoA (which I think she was surprised by). It was narrowly beaten to the top of the charts. It’s a beautiful ballad with BoA proving that she can sing beautifully with heartfelt emotion and not just dance around to club beats. Winter Love is perhaps one of her best songs and should perhaps be higher up on this list… *scratches head*
I Did It for Love is BoA’s second English single and features the vocal and production talents of Sean Garrett. It’s a killer tune! It’s an awesome song! It’s a bit repetitive and I know BoA has been slated by a lot of people for still having an accent. But I think that’s rubbish, I can understand her perfectly well and she’s Korean! What’s the problem with accents? Not everyone has to sing in the same General American accent to be successful. Sadly, BoA’s American career doesn’t seem to be going too well, perhaps America is just not ready for an Asian popstar yet. Which is a shame, there’s loads of a talent there. Anyways! This rounds up the list. I hope you enjoyed it, I wish BoA many more years of success! I I I I I did it did it did it for love~ ^_^
Tori Amos vs Lady GaGa
27 Aug
So… in a recent interview (here), Ms. Amos called GaGa’s fame temporary and that she won’t be around in 20 years. This caused some bloggers to respond in GaGa’s defense, or to at least mock Tori’s comment and put them down to pure jealousy. I felt like I wanted to respond to these comments.
Firstly, Lady GaGa’s music is rubbish. It’s full of awful lyrics that reference pop culture in the most cliched, trite way. Secondly, the thing that irks me the most, Lady GaGa is a fool. She’s style over substance. If you are a true artist, it should not matter whether you get your vah jay jay out for the stage or wear a costume made from kermits. I can’t stand how obnoxious and ridiculous she is. What pisses me off is that she acts like a messiah to the pop world when she’s not. She’s made it full of awful, second-rate electro-pop music by artists that really shouldn’t be doing that kind of music. Ever. Lady GaGa is a good entertainer, don’t get me wrong, but is she a true, credible artist? She will never truly gain the respect of the music industry – not because she’s a woman, not because she’s a skank, not because she gets her vah jay jay out, but because she simply is not an artist in the realms of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and, yes, Tori Amos.
You can knock Tori for being jealous. You can say that she’s saying this just because she has a tour and an album to promote. But I don’t quite buy that. Tori’s outspoken and has always commented on the media. She is a social commentator (and often does this through her songs). It’s not that Tori’s jealous, she’s just telling it how she sees it. And I respect her for it. In a world where the media is fickle and everyone wants to be omigosh bffs with the hottest young starlet, Tori has balls for calling GaGa’s sell-by-date.
I, for one, am already getting bored with Lady GaGa. In fact, I find her rather 1 dimensional, deluded by her own hype and just a fucking joke. Go be inspired by monsters in your bedroom behind a closed door! Until Lady GaGa writes a song as beautiful as Winter or as haunting as Me and a Gun, she will never have longivity. Tori has had a career spanning decades and 10 studio albums. Let’s just see whether Lady GaGa will be around in 20 years. Just as the media is fickle, the music industry gets bored easily. Could the Duffys, Kate Nashes and Adeles of last year succeed in the electro-pop sound of 2009? You already know the answer.
The Saturdays – Forever Is Over
26 AugI always feel a small amount of shame when someone looks at my ipod track listing. It’s really gay. That’s not to say that I only listen to girly pop music, far from it, but lots of stuff that I listen to is exactly that. I love me some Girls Aloud and Wonder Girls. One girl group that has really taken me by surprise is The Saturdays.
I can remember first hearing the debut single, If This Is Love, ages ago on a music channel at like 1am. I should have been sleeping but heard this new song. I heard it again a couple of days later – roughly at the same time too. They make really catchy pop songs and are unashamed about it. Pop music is cool! It has such a bad stigma. Anyways! I’m going off track.
They’ve barely finished touring for their first album but already have a new song out from a second album. I guess their record company, Polydor, want to capitalise on the fact that there is no Girls Aloud release this coming year. The lead single from their sophomore album is called Forever Is Over. It’s less pop, more club, more edge. It reminds me of Call The Shots by Girls Aloud, not just sonically. It has the feel of: ‘look, we’re growing as an artist’ when they’re not really growing at all, just a slightly different sound.
I’ll probably end up listening to this loads. So much cool new music coming out of Britain at the moment! Where to find time to listen to it all?
Jade Ewen – My Man Video
26 AugA while ago I posted a video for Jade Ewen’s new single, My Man. The song is a big departure from her Eurovision song. It’s got huge beats and Jade gives a powerful vocal. Recently, the official video has been posted.
I just want to say… I’m a bit annoyed with British music videos at the moment. Granted, Jade isn’t a big start so I guess it’s fair that she doesn’t have such a big budget but the music video is pretty awful. It reminds me of the new Sugababe’s video which is equally awful and cheap looking. Random girl standing in front of a camera whilst some strobe lights flash in front of them? It’s a bit boring… and a bit 90s…
CoCo Lee – BYOB
26 AugI was having one of those reminscient moments where I think: ‘Mmm, what happened to X’. Normally it’s someone I’ve not thought about for ages. This time it was none other than Chinese pop diva, CoCo Lee. For those that don’t know her (granted, I always get the feeling that CoCo Lee is more ‘remembered’ than ‘known’; if that makes sense). I just wanna say, CoCo has an amazing voice. It rivals Mariah’s, Christina’s, Leona’s, Celine’s and so on. She’s had a stab at English music but didn’t quite go anywhere with it. As much as I love her, she has had a few dodgy songs… well, a lot of dodgy songs. And she’s a bit of a hussy… But! Nothing could quite prepare me for this:
O… m… g…
Yep! That’s right! CoCo’s latest song is about recycling! BYOB stands for Bring Your Own Bag! What?! Why? Why would you do that to yourself as an artist? Okay well fair enough, National Geographic wanted her to do it – so it’s a pretty big thing. Maybe they were just like: ‘hey, China’s a big pollutant, let’s get a popstar to sing a song about it!’. The song’s okay… Her other new single is conventional CoCo fair (dance, party, Chinese pop music).
Just wanted to say… omg! *freaked*
BoA is Beautiful
13 AugAkon is going to be releasing his album, Freedom, in Japan and has slightly altered it and renamed it Freedom+2. As part of this, he has remixed his hit song, Beautiful, to feature BoA. BoA gives a pretty sweet vocal. I’m always left feeling a bit weird about BoA’s voice. She can sing, but I think she sings from a weird place… her voice sounds very mouthy or something. I think she uses her head voice a lot. Anyways! I still <3 her (don't bash me!). Oh, and fact finders, if you ever wondered why Japanese releases of Western albums always have bonuses, it's because the Japanese record companies put it into their contracts that they want some kind of bonus material. A bit annoying for us, I want the bonuses too dangnabbit!
平 和 愛
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