Tuesday, August 27, 2019

[MV] SUNMI - LALALAY



Probably my least favorite of all Sunmi's recent stuff, but it's still super fun.
The costumes are so great. Lol! Love that big shadow-box butterfly thing.

[DEBUT] X1 - FLASH



I'm completely out of the loop on the latest Produce show 'PRODUCE x 101', but X1 is the final product from the season.

[MV] Jimin Park - Stay Beautiful

[MV] Sunwoo JungA - CLASSIC



She did it again. Another fuckin' awesome album.
Official Youtube album upload

Track 4 'To Zero' is heavenly.

[DEBUT] N.CUS - SUPER LUV

[MV] M.O.N.T - Rock Paper Scissors



Official channel link

[MV] Flowsik (feat. Gary) - 1Week

[MV] PENIEL (feat. Beenzino) - Flip

[MV] Siion (feat. Hoody) - Late Night

[MV] Kim Kook Heon, Song Yu Vin - Blurry



I think these are the last two guys left after MYTEEN disbanded.

[MV] Kim Jaehwan, Stella Jang - Vacance in September

[MV] Ants (feat. AVOKID) - MISE EN SCÈNE

[MV] GIFT - We Were Different

Saturday, August 24, 2019

[MV] Grizzly, Chung Ha - RUN

[MV] UP10TION - Your Gravity



Official channel link

[MV] G-reyish - KKILI KKILI

[MV] IZ - Final Kiss

[MV] OH HAYOUNG - Don't Make Me Laugh

[MV] Sam Kim - WHERE'S MY MONEY

[MV] Sophiya - Little Things

[MV] Wyne - My Muse

[MV] JANG DAE HYEON - FEEL GOOD



Solo debut after RAINZ disbanded.

Monday, August 19, 2019

[MV] THE BOYZ - D.D.D

[MV] EVERGLOW - Adios



Solid follow-up. I like how bass-y there stuff is.
Obviously heavily inspired by Kill This Love.

[MV] JUN (feat. JongUp) - REM

[MV] HoooW (Hoyoung, Taewoo) - Game Over

[MV] LIMHARA - Mr. Green



I guess I'm just posting up all the gorgeous indie voices today. Heh.

[MV] Llwyd - Erase



Lovely ballad.

[MV] TSUN - 12am



Almost two weeks later, there's now a version of this with NiiHWA on it.

[MV] Woo Hye Mi - s.s.t (sweet short time)



Tight. I like her voice a lot.

[MV] VIINI - GENIE

[MV] GUN - Lord

[MV] GSA - We got the power



Changed their name from GirlsAlert to GSA.

[MV] Lee Minhyuk - Good Night

Thursday, August 15, 2019

[MV] SHAUN - 36.5 (+2 more)



He prepared this EP ahead of his military enlistment.
Two more MVs were released at the same time.
I'll add 'To Be Loved' and 'Moon' in the full post.

[MV] Weki Meki - Tiki-Taka (99%)

[MV] The Rose - RED

[MV] Pentagon - Happiness (Jpn.)

[MV] Sik-K, HAON, pH-1, Woodie GoChild, Jay Park - GIDDY UP

[MV] JINU (feat. MINO) - Call Anytime

[MV] Raiden (feat. Irene) - The Only

[MV] M.O.N.T - Daehan Minguk Mansae



Title translates to 'Long live Korea!'. Focused on the 74th anniversary of Korea's Liberation from Japan. I think this was shot on Dokdo, which is pretty wild.

[MV] Bizzy - Time Machine



A little Yoon Mi Rae in there too.

[MV] Rocoberry - Everything about you

[CF] Loopy & nafla - sense



Collab with a vape cigarette brand thing... never know what to call those things.

[MV] Simon Dominic - DAx4

[MV] Jukjae - Tattoo

[MV] FreeXKid, Frammy, Nchovy - Wow~

[MV] Robbin, 5Joo, ump - Let's Go To See The Flowers

[MV] Lee Dojin - Life Is A Shot

Monday, August 12, 2019

[PLAYLIST] KPOPPY's first half of 2019


Better late than never. 2019 makes me tired just thinking about it.
Much of my experience for the first half of this year was through the lens of mod responsibilities on /r/kpop dealing with one massive scandal after another. So tired.

What trends do we have going this year? Well, autotune is back. I had noticed it becoming prominent again more in the indie hip hop realm last year. It just grew and grew from there until now most mainstream Idol stuff has strong elements of it. My hate for noticeable autotune can't be overstated. I'm left desperately hoping this doesn't continue for long. Latin rhythms are still present (my playlist is still going), but it seems I was right to question if they would last. There has been a throwback fusion to the tropical house of the last couple years mixed in with the Latin pop sound this summer, but we're getting less straightforward Latin pop already. I'll generally say that Hip Hop is just fully a standard part of almost everything. That's not an especially new thing, but it has reached this point of being absolutely pervasive. I'm fine with that, just ditch the autotune, please!!!

I'm pretty well convinced BlackPink was the catalyst for most girl groups to be doing some form of Girl Crush as a concept. Almost all debuts have been in that vein this year. Boy groups still seem to be doing their general range of synth-y Hip Hop in streetwear. Strappy bondage stuff is still in play a little. Mullets are still in. Autotune and mullets, man. Send help.

Oddly enough, the trend that kept hitting me in the face was the presence of a certain color. This chartreuse, fluorescent, acidic yellow-green has been everywhere for some reason. I even checked to see what the Pantone color of the year was, but that's a coral pink. This neon highlighter green is the vivid opposite of that.

Every shot in this little collage is taken from a different MV, except for KEY who has two from his, including that last totally green square. And these were just the ones I thought of grabbing. There were tons more. I can't recall ever seeing such an obvious color trend like this before.

BTS is still driving K-Pop's global energy. From my perspective, the dialogue through news and social media outside the scene assumed this was just a flash-in-the-pan trend that would die quickly. Lately, I've picked up on some surprise and confusion that it seems to be growing in presence instead of fading as they thought it would. BTS's global success was built on a worldwide grassroots movement of hyper-engagement... I'm not sure what it will take for them to understand that's why they'll continue to burn hot and bright as long as they're active. And BTS content is always active, even when they take breaks. I can't imagine military service is going to change that much, especially if they go in staggered groups. Anyway, BTS still killin' it.

Music! Let's go! I think my personal taste might show more in this playlist than ever before. If you've followed Kpoppy at all, you'll know I like R&B, Rock, pretty melodies, epic ballads, and strong vocals in a lower range.

[Link to the full playlist on Youtube]

My 30 favorites in chronological order:
Featured MVs, B-sides, and more thoughts after the jump.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

[MV] SEVENTEEN - HIT



The sound of this is too overwhelming for me.
Choreo looks killer, as usual.

[MV] OH MY GIRL - BUNGEE (Fall in Love)



Official channel link

[MV] JBJ95 - SPARK

[DEBUT] Rocket Punch - BIM BAM BUM



Official channel link

Woollim's new girl group.

[MV] TRCNG - MISSING



Official channel link

[MV] IN2IT - Run Away

[DEBUT] FANATICS - SUNDAY



Official channel link
Full-group debut.

[MV] Jay Park, KIRIN (feat. Ugly Duck) - Tonight



The female vocals in the background are Hoody.

[MV] PinkFantasy - FANTASY



Coming for Dreamcatcher's gig a little here. Heh.
I'm always happy to hear more rock influence come through in K-Pop.

[MV] YooONE x Leo Kang - Going Out

[MV] Dynamic Duo (feat. Crush, SOLE) - Blue

[MV] G.O. - I LIKE THE PARTY

[MV] GIANTPINK (feat. Leellamarz) - Forever Young

[OST] Yoon Mi Rae - My Dream



From the 'Rookie Historian GooHaeRyung' OST.

[MV] 10cm - Do You Think Of Me?

[MV] E.RUDA - Catch Ya

[MV] VENUS - Turn Signal



Haven't posted any Trot in ages.

[MV] My Name is Red-Haired Anne - I'M JUST ME

[MV] J.cob (feat. Snacky Chan) - 24/7

[MV] Shiner X Broken Lips - Summer Time

Sunday, August 4, 2019

[MONTHLY] Favorites for JULY 2019

Ended up buried in work last month so I had to delay completing the 1st half of the year favorites list, but that is finally complete as well! Posting July now and then the 1st half playlist will go up on Thursday or Friday after the week's major releases.

Okay, July! Distinct male vocalists topped my picks for the month with Gaho's big percussive ballad and Woosung's funky innuendo-packed groove. I'll note that ITZY's ICY has been stuck in my head since release, but I still can't decide if I actually like it. LOL!





In the full post: GFRIEND, D.O, lofibaby, Ailee, Heize/Giriboy, SoRi, ARRAN, Paul Kim/Taeyeon, DAY6, Echae Kang, Woogotsa, NCT 127, CIX, GWSN, nafla/Loopy/Lee Young Ji/PLUMA, and ITZY.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

[MV] NCT DREAM - BOOM

[MV] Red Velvet - Milkshake

[MV] VERIVERY - Tag Tag Tag



That took such a creepy turn. Lol.

[DEBUT] D1CE - Wake up



Official channel link

[MV] Bang Yongguk - Orange Drive

[MV] Giriboy - party is over

[MV] TIffany Young - Magnetic Moon



Apparently the vocal processing is signature to the producer.

[MV] Busters - Pinky Promise

[DEBUT] RUANN - BEEP BEEP

[MV] OurR - haaAakkKKK!!!

[MV] FEB - Think About

[MV] GARY - Purple Bikini

[MV] W24 - Stay A Moment

[MV] PENIEL - FLY23



All English (and rather cringeworthy).

[OST] Yoon Mi Rae - Rose



A tribute to the plight of comfort women and Kim Bok Dong who is the feature of a movie coming out this week I believe.