Tuesday, July 31, 2018
[MV] SIXBOMB - Hiccup Hiccup
Cringing.
This is the group that did a 'plastic surgery' concept with their last release, where all of them getting surgery was used as a marketing gimmick. This time the gimmick is that the MV imitates JAV (Japanese Adult Videos). It's not even necessarily the video that bothers me. It's just the company's transparent ploy to manufacture controversy while not actually improving the music quality that irks me.
[LIVE] Park Ki Young - Mercy
I believe she has been performing this since last year, but I wanted to post this new live MV so that we can all appreciate her insane vocals.
Friday, July 27, 2018
[MV] JAMES - The Light
James had a great AMA session on reddit before this release.
Link to /r/kpop post
Great to see the fruition of his kickstarter campaign. The MV is wild!
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
[LIVE] Simon D - Me No Jay Park & demolition man
Simon Dominic just stepped down as co-CEO of AOMG. He has stated he felt he wasn't living up to the job title, stressed by the responsibility, and wanted to get back to basics as an artist. Just stating these as a preface because the lyrics (subtitles with CC on) get pretty heavy. He goes into detail about serious mental health issues in 'demolition man', so consider this a gentle warning.
Monday, July 23, 2018
[MV] MINSEO - ZERO
Official channel link
What an epic track. I feel like I should be training for the Olympics.
Cool video too. It's like 'Kimi no Na wa' meets parkour.
I think it's also a CF for a game.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
[MV] SEVENTEEN - Oh My!
Super feel-good song. I don't think the hook is especially strong, but I also don't think it needs to be. Overall really satisfying feeling from the track. Never stops bouncing.
Splendid choreography, as usual.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
[MV] TWICE - Dance The Night Away
The camera movement is really obnoxious, but everything else is super cute.
Sunday, July 8, 2018
[OST] Park Hyo Shin - The Day
From the soundtrack of 'Mr. Sunshine'.
This is a high-budget drama available on Netflix Instant. Haven't watched it yet, but I plan to. Apparently it's pretty spectacular visually-speaking.
HyoShin is a bonus. Beautiful song.
Friday, July 6, 2018
[MV] Holland - I'm Not Afraid
After getting a 19+ rating on Neverland for a gay kiss, Holland was like, JUST YOU WAIT FAM. Lol. On reddit I mentioned the video seems like it's referencing Troye Sivan's 'Youth' and the song is referencing 'My My My', which is cool! 🌈
[MONTHLY] Favorites for JUNE 2018
My top picks for the month were Taeyeon's 'Something New' and MRSHLL's 'COME OVER'. I'll be posting my full first-half-of-the-year playlist soon!
In the full post: Wanna One, Yubin, KATIE, ONF, A.C.E, SHINee, DPR LIVE, BLACKPINK, MINSEO, Jaurim, DAY6, and Lee Jin Ah.
In the full post: Wanna One, Yubin, KATIE, ONF, A.C.E, SHINee, DPR LIVE, BLACKPINK, MINSEO, Jaurim, DAY6, and Lee Jin Ah.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
[MV] ATEEZ (KQ Fellaz) - From
These guys were on MIXNINE. For their pre-debut, training, activities, etc, they've used the name KQ Fellaz. Their actual name at debut will be ATEEZ.
[MV] Tenny - 159cm
The MV shows a narrative of women growing up in love with each other, dealing with a conservative household, hypocrisy when it comes to the behavior of religious adherents scorning LGBT folks, and homophobic abuse. The ending is really great and positive.
Quite a special piece. Would recommend.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Sunday, July 1, 2018
[PLAYLIST] KPOPPY's first half of 2018
2018 isn't playing around. I've really enjoyed the year's music so far. Around this time last year I was collapsing under the weight of Kpop going super far into weird experimental Frankenstein territory. Thankfully, that chilled out by the end of the year. These six months since have felt pretty great. A nice balance between weird and good. Everything still feels very listenable. There's a strong showing for mainstream stuff this year. I usually feel like my odd indie picks dominate. Not this time!
Tropical House gave way to Future Bass, but both are still present. As I figured it would, the Despacito trend hit Kpop with the influence of Latin rhythms. Maybe not as intensely as I would have predicted. I've been adding to a playlist for the trend. There is some overlap with Trop House and Moombahton in there, but I think the shift is fairly distinct from the last couple years. My Latin rhythm playlist is available now and I'll continue adding to it into the future. Feel free to comment or @ me if you have recommendations to add (@AlleyBetwixt).
Fashion trends? Not much out of the ordinary. I noticed a lot of strappy buckles and bondage harnesses, but that was for weekly music show performances: Dreamcatcher, Wanna One, BTS, etc. It showed up less often in MVs. Interesting one.
BTS finding so much success and momentum in the West is definitely bringing way more attention to Kpop from major players. Billboard and Grammy have had quite regular features for a while now. It's amazing to see how far and fast this has come. Also slightly terrifying.
Let's get to the music!
[Link to the full playlist on Youtube]
My 30 favorites in chronological order:
- MOMOLAND - BBoom BBoom
- OHHYUK, CIFIKA - MOMOM
- JBJ - My Flower
- Kate Kim - So Long, Baby
- gugudan - The Boots
- Yoon Mi Rae - No Gravity
- Zagmachi - God's Lament
- SUZY - Sober
- NCT U - Baby Don't Stop
- djfriz (feat. MRSHLL, Megan Lee) - Dive
- J-Hope (BTS) - Daydream
- Sojung (Ladies' Code) - Stay Here
- Heize (feat. Gaeko) - Jenga
- NCT 127 - TOUCH
- San E, Mad Clown, Bumkey - Butterfly
- EXID - LADY
- PENTAGON - Shine
- TVXQ - Love Line
- YDPP - LOVE IT LIVE IT
- Mad Clown X Ailee - Thirst
- The Rose - BABY
- Gaho - Stay Here
- V (BTS) - Singularity
- GUNTAC - Camellia
- Dreamcatcher - YOU AND I
- UNI.T - No More
- PRISTIN V - Get It
- Taeyeon (SNSD) - Something New
- MINSEO - Is Who
- Lee Jin Ah (with GRAY) - RUN
Further thoughts on selected tracks and a few honorable mentions in the full post.
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