Sunday, January 31, 2016
[MV] 4MINUTE - Hate
Wow. That instrumental in the chorus... !
Some styling issues and obviously going for the same style as Crazy, but I don't think it works as well. Still interesting!
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Friday, January 29, 2016
[ADMIN] Big industry moves and a little blog update!
Just checking in to mention a few things.
2014 was a chaotic/sad year in Kpop related news. Industry problems with lawsuits, corruption, and abuse being far more prominent than the usual. 2015 felt timid and quiet by comparison. Companies seemed to be testing the waters for experimentation in sound and methods of distribution... and folks who are a bit more tapped into the business side were taking note of behind-the-scenes deals gathering steam. Some of this is now becoming public.
I'm personally fascinated to see how this all unfolds.
MoonROK has a good article focused on the plans SM Entertainment has announced:
Why Lee Soo Man’s New Cultural Technology is the Smartest and the Scariest Thing to Ever Happen in K-pop
Mainly that they will release a single with an MV every week for the year. Pretty wild.
YG had kind of a mini version of this with Big Bang last year. Hard to say what kind of impact this will have. Certainly we'll be witnessing a play between quality/quantity along the way.
For the bigger picture, it's an example of an industry shifting under the weight of new technologies, digital, streaming, and trying to find a path forward into the future.
As for the blog, I've begun to implementing some genre tags. It's something I had considered doing from the beginning, but I thought I'd be bogging myself down. With a few years under my belt, I feel like it will be super helpful. I'll gradually try to backlog, but that will be slow-going. It's hard to predict how this will go, but I'll probably tag these weekly "Station" releases SM is doing in a special way to keep track of them.
Onward!
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
[MV] Ryeowook - The Little Prince
I'm so glad Wookie is finally getting a chance to shine!
Easily one of the most musically talented idols in the industry.
[MV] DΞΔN, Crush, Jeff Bernat - what2do
Gorgeous shots for the video.
Probably one of those little quadcopter drones. Super effective.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
[MV] IMFACT - Lollipop
Lowly Pap.
Pretty good energy for a debut.
The MV feels like a facsimile of Seventeen's Mansae.
Not sure if that will help or hinder them.
Monday, January 25, 2016
[MV] Jung In - UUU
Goooooooorgeous ballad.
Ill-fitting pointe shoes on non-dancers in MVs... that's my pet peeve.
Just gonna ignore that. Lol.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
[MV] ZICO - I am You, You are Me
Dude... I love this.
Kind of an eerie concept, but done really effectively. Perfectly directed/shot.
[MV] GFRIEND - Rough
Really nailing that oldschool sound for a contemporary audience.
Rockin' choreo too!
Choreography version:
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
[MV] CROWN J - Made It
Crown J has every hip hop cliche down to a science at this point.
360 VR version:
Sunday, January 17, 2016
[MV] Park Yoochun - How Much Love Do You Have In Your Wallet?
Official channel link
Commence ugly sobbing.
JYJ fans will appreciate the deeper meaning of this one.
Yoochun has been open about coming from a broken family, mostly raised by his mother. There was some longstanding issues with his father that were never fully reconciled. His father passed away unexpectedly in 2012 due to illness and ever since Yoochun has been processing their past and the nature of their relationship. For JYJ, he wrote the stong 'Dad, You There?' around that time.
During a ment at the end of 2014, Yoochun mentioned that ten years ago, he had given his father a 10.000 yen bill. Recently he had a dream that he saw his father's wallet and the money was still there... and he realized he had been wrong about something in the past... likely the nature of what that had meant to his father.
Yoochun is currently doing public service in the military.
Junsu said he joked this would be his first and last solo album ever. Lol.
Very like Yoochun to put out an album when he has no obligation to perform/promote it. XD
[MV] Teen Top - Warning Sign
Odd rhythm syncopation. A bit more cohesive towards the end. Interesting.
04
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[MV] Stellar - Sting
Holy fragmentation, batman!
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A 360 version was released as well. Link here.
At least I'm not forced to look at just body parts in this one. Lol.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Monday, January 11, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Saturday, January 9, 2016
[ADMIN] On Kpop MVs and a 2016 proposal...
In the last five years or so there has been a distinctive up-tick in a certain way music videos are shot. It's a trend that I find troubling, so I'm planning to keep an eye on it this year.
This trend is related to the way the bodies of women are shown through the camera lens. It's sometimes called 'fragmentation' or 'dismemberment', where body parts are focused on in a cropped way, without the face or eyes being present. The idea is that this dehumanizes and objectifies body parts. A close-up shot of breast cleavage is disconnected from the actual person to which the breasts belong. They could be attached to anyone. And this removes the possibility for the attached person to assert their agency over their own body and to be seen as a unique individual. It's closely related to 'commodification', where stuff that shouldn't be seen as a commodity is presented as a commodity or product to be traded/bought/sold... like a human. Read more for further explanation and the tally I'll be keeping for 2016.
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Friday, January 8, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
[MV] Giriboy (feat. Brother Su) - Hogu
Very Digipedi. Very striking.
Lyrically similar theme to Beast's 'Gotta Go To Work' and Simon D's 'Won & Only'.
Imbalanced, abusive relationships, with leeches you can't detach from. Interesting.
Tangent: The Star Trek nerd in me can't unsee Dr. Crusher drinking through a straw out of Riker's temple.
13
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[MV] Z-UK X HIGHTOP - My Answer Is
This guy and J.Slow must have gotten the same F-bomb/excessive middle finger memo.
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Monday, January 4, 2016
[MV] Dalshabet - Someone Like U
Official channel link
Easily the best thing they've done imo.
Looks like we'll have more 80s throwback sound into 2016!
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
[PLAYLIST] KPOPPY's Best Of 2015 : The Eclectic Mix
A re-cap of my general guidelines.
- Only songs with MVs
- Synergy: The video and song amplify each other
- Innovation or anything that feels fresh
- We embrace weird here
- No OSTs
- And when push comes to shove... personal taste trumps...
2015 was a hell of a year. Last year, I tended to favor material off the beaten path. This year, the mainstream seemed to have a weird little fire under its butt. Lots of bold moves, different sound, and bucking trends that have been the norm for years. This made for many difficult playlist-crafting sessions along the way. And even now there are at least twenty songs that I could easily switch out, so we'll include some honorable mentions at the end.
I'll quickly mention a few trends I noticed. Black and white. So much greyscale in MVs this year. Not just frequency, but mostly paired with songs I loved. I started a playlist early in the year and kept it going.
HERE'S THE BLACK/WHITE/GRAYSCALE PLAYLIST.
HERE'S THE BLACK/WHITE/GRAYSCALE PLAYLIST.
Another trend brought me great joy. Girl groups in flats! For a long time female idols have been wearing high-heels as the standard. This led to choreography being mostly the stereotypically hyper-feminized style of burlesque/go-go/cabaret/vogue dance... as they were styles born out of wearing such shoes. It's a fundamentally different kind of limited movement and posture. Sometimes watching dudes dance in heels illustrates this best. It's not the gender, it's the shoes, and the cultural associations we connect with them.
But there has been a slew of ladies wearing sneakers, flats, or going barefoot. Lots of the new girl groups have had much freer, more energetic, and aerobic choreography because of this, which is awesome. myB, Lovelyz, Gfriend, Red Velvet, Oh My Girl, CLC, April, and Gain among others, all kept their heels on the ground and gave high-energy performances as a result.
Huge thumbs-up from me.
FINALLY TO THE PLAYLIST.
My top 30 eclectic mix. The order is purely chronological.
My top 30 eclectic mix. The order is purely chronological.
- Zion.T & Crush - Just
- 4MINUTE - Crazy
- XIA - Flower
- Gain - Paradise Lost
- Red Velvet - Ice Cream Cake
- Crayon Pop - FM
- EXO - Call Me Baby
- Lim Kim - Awoo
- BESTie - Excuse Me
- GOGOSTAR - Jumping
- hyukoh - Comes and Goes
- ANDA - Touch
- THE SOLUTIONS - Love You Dear
- MAMAMOO - Um Oh Ah Yeh
- BTS - Dope
- GOT7 - Just Right
- Z.HERA (feat. Gaeun) - XOX
- Super Junior - Devil
- Kisum (feat. Jooyoung) - You & Me
- Primary (feat. ChoA) - Don't Be Shy
- Wonder Girls - I Feel You
- chancellor & Bumkey - Son E Ga
- G.Soul - Crazy For You
- SEVENTEEN - MANSAE
- ZZAPA (feat. Microdot) - New Days
- OH MY GIRL - Closer
- AKMU - Like 'Ga Na Da'
- IU - Twenty-three
- PSY - Napal Baji
- Yoon Mirae - This Love
The deep dive into my choices below.
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