Survey on K-pop Cover Dance

Do you or someone you know perform K-pop cover dance? Or even just learn it but not yet perform? I'd love to have you respond to my survey. Here's the link. Thank you for your help^^

Cosmopolitan Strivings and Racialization: The Foreign Dancing Body in Korean Popular Music Videos

I'm almost done with the rough draft of this paper-- if it passes review it will be part of a book. If I can figure out how to divide it up into two papers, it will also be part of something else. ㅋㅋㅋ.

The paper analyzes videos released in the past year, with a focus on these:

Cosmpolitan Strivings visible in a search for Authenticity:

Taeyang, Ringa Linga dance video

Park Jiyoon, Beep

Cosmopolitan Strivings visible in creating an international atmosphere:

TVXQ, Something

Taeyang, Ringa Linga MV

Rain, La Song

Cosmopolitan Strivings in sex/love:

CN Blue, Can't Stop

Gary, Shower Later

2NE1, Come Back Home

Jay Park, Metronome

Here is a snippet from the end of the introduction:

           Korean popular music videos have stories to tell about Korean culture. These videos, increasingly created with one ear tuned to the reactions of international audiences, and increasingly employing video directors and choreographers from abroad, "play a crucial role in Korea's increasing dialogue with the outside world" (Epstein 2014: 317). Part of that dialogue is the visual internationalization of the videos. It has become common to catch glimpses or even see featured foreign dancing bodies in Korean popular music videos. The visual internationalization of K-pop follows the less visible, but well known, internationalization of the stars themselves—many of whom now hail from diasporic Korean communities or other parts of Asia (although so far there is only one non-Asian performer).[1] What role do these foreign dancing bodies play in these popular music videos? An expert dancer, often black or Latino, may lend an aura of authenticity to a group of back-up dancers, projecting a message of the star wattage of the Korean performer who is able to hire "the best" back-up dancers from anywhere in the world. Or the presence of non-Koreans partying together with the Korean stars may situate the foreign fan within the K-pop narrative. Other foreign dancing bodies bring exoticized, sexualized spice to what would otherwise be a conventional hetero-normative narrative.

            Any observer of these K-pop videos will notice the foreign dancing bodies. They are highly visible, standing out to the eye, in their obvious non-Koreanness. Are the foreign bodies in the music videos for the foreign eye, or for the Korean eye? How are these foreign dancing bodies received? How has the portrayal of foreign dancing bodies changed as K-pop has grown into a more international phenomenon? In this paper I seek to use dance, or at least appearance in the dance context, to examine the role of the foreign dancing body. After a brief survey of foreign dancing bodies in K-pop's past, and discussion of racialization in the Korean context, I outline, with examples, the ways that I see K-pop videos released between summer 2013 and summer 2014 displaying cosmpolitan strivings through the foreign dancing body. Finally I conclude by returning to wrap up the inter-related topics that arose in the course of the chapter.               

---

[1] Here I refer to Brady Moore, a member of the group Busker, Busker. However this group is not K-pop, but rather strongly self-identified as an "indie" group. In addition non-Koreans appeared in years past performing with artists who began rehearsing with them while outside Korea, such as Seo Taiji. A K-pop group including a white French woman, The Gloss, debuted in mid 2013, as discussed on the blog Seoul Beats (available at http://seoulbeats.com/2013/06/the-gloss/, accessed on 7/9/2014), but the group has not managed to release their own original song or a video that is not a cover, more than a year after their first upload to Youtube—at this point it is likely that their fifteen minutes of, if not fame at least buzz, has already come and gone. To learn more about Brady Moore and read a discussion of foreigners as actual K-pop stars, see http://askakorean.blogspot.kr/2013/06/can-non-asian-foreigner-succeed-in-k.html. Accessed on 4/20/2014.

Some visuals that may be used in the paper:

A Post for Ryan's Class on K-Pop

My friend Ryan sent me an email:

I have a question for you. I'm working on my world music exam (a syllabus), and I want to include K-Pop in a unit on recording industries (and I know nothing about it). Are you aware of any good articles/books on the subject that I might include and/or excerpt?

Also, off the top of your head, what are the five most important K-Pop groups I should include?

Dear Ryan,

I started out by answering you in an email, but then I realized that the email was going to take me (at least) a couple hours to write. So, might as well share with some others while I was at it. 

It is simultaneously easy to illustrate a presentation about recording industries with examples from K-pop, and hard. If it is your intention to show something about recording industries in general, K-pop is not your cup of tea. But to talk about the powers beyond the actual artists we see/hear, then K-pop is great, since the heavy involvement of the management companies is not hidden behind narratives about artistic freedom or inspiration. Although it is not an academic book, Mark James Russel has a book based on years as a reporter in Korea (working for Billboard and what not) called Pop Goes Korea. (Here's the official website for the book). Mark does a great job outlining the dominance of the management system (which really is manager, promoter, choreographer, costume designer, record label, recording studio and everything else all rolled into one), and explaining how this system came about. The system in other areas is somewhat similar (like in Japan where they also manufacture groups based on specific ideas of what will appeal, not based on the desire of group members to perform that type of music --they may be stuck doing slow songs when they want to do dance tracks-- or perform/train with people they can barely tolerate). Japanese, though, still legally buy music, so the ways the system works there is a little different than in Korea. Also, as you surely know, Korean pop has a larger than just cult following in other areas, unlike Japanese pop which despite a brief bloom more than a decade ago now seems relatively unknown anywhere but Japan. 

I'm starting with your request for five groups (although it's important to note that there are a few solo acts that are pretty important). This, on the surface, appears very easy. But since you don't know much about K-pop, I found it took much more time than I at first thought. I've also linked a few songs that I think are illustrative of the group in some way. As I was inserting the links I realized that my bias towards what is called "dance" (as opposed to "ballad") is very heavy, so this is a slightly skewed list. I can't help it. I find "ballad" (slow songs) to be pretty much crap unless the vocalist is out of this world, and vocals are not the first reason that K-pop groups/artists become big/influential. 

2NE1

I think you have to include 2NE1 even though they are not representative of K-pop and what it looks/sounds like because 1) they are satisfying musically, visually, creatively, vocally, choreographically and in most other ways. If people dislike this group, it can't be because they're another cookie-cutter K-pop group they are 2) representative of what hugely produced –but creative- musical acts can be and still be popular in Korea. All of K-pop could be full of such interesting and exciting acts, but it's not. Many management companies play it safe, and not all groups include as much talent. That said... I know there is a lot of autotune. The group has four members, following a K-pop convention of lead singer, featured dancer, group leader, and rapper (that's only 3 of the members, but the fourth has a large personality). They conveniently came with bonuses such as foreign language ability (the personality was a TV star in the Philippines, the lead singer trained at Berklee College of Music). Managed by YG Entertainment.

"I am the Best"

"Lonely"

"Falling in Love"

"Can't Nobody"  (okay, I'm a fan, also this last song is my favorite)

Girls' Generation (also known as SNSD, an abbreviation of their Korean name)

I think you need this group because they are a perfect example of stereotypes about K-pop. When people roll their eyes and say that K-pop has a bunch of plastic looking people parading around in short skirts or short-shorts, they are talking about Girls' Generation or similar groups. They're managed by SM Entertainment (the big powerhouse company), and they've been around long enough that they are mentioned in a fair amount of academic literature. There are 9 members, including a couple Korean-Americans. I find their music occasionally fun, but mostly uninspired.

"Oh"

"Hoot"

Seo Taiji and the Boys 

This group is what is considered the first official popular music group in Korea (long before the Chinese discovered K-pop). They are much closer to the American ideal of artist-driven music with musicians performing on stage. The group included songs with serious social-issue content, and introduced Koreans to a lot of new musical sounds/innovation that were mostly gleaned from American music. They are deservedly called trailblazers. And there is more literature on them/mentioning them than any other K-pop. Try in Keith Howard's edited book Korean Pop: Riding the Wave. As a side note, YG Entertainment is owned and run by one of the "boys" in this historic group.

"Nan Arayo"

"Come Back Home"

I think that after those three groups, who to include is a toss up. You should probably include a "boy" group, because K-pop is certainly not dominated by women (at the moment there are more highly successful "girl" groups than "boy" groups, but it's not too imbalanced and at other times there have been more "boy" groups at the top of the charts.

"Boy" Groups:

TVXQ 

The initials TVXQ correspond to how their Chinese character name is said in Japan, the Korean initials are DBSK. This group was absolutely huge for quite a few years, but then they imploded in a big contract dispute. Now two members continue to perform under this name, while all five are still popular (the other three perform as JYJ but their music seems to suck and there have been a lot of jokes in Korean about how the group is actually better now as a two member group than they were before the split. It seems the best talent is still with the group. They're managed by SM Entertainment.

"Keep your Head Down" (2 members)

"Mirotic" (5 members)

Big Bang 

I actually really like the music that Big Bang releases (most of the time). It's danceable, the videos are fun, and the production is pretty crazy. Big Bang is the male equivalent of 2NE1 (actually they debuted first, so 2NE1 is the female version of Big Bang and has been repeatedly billed that way). The five members in the group are all pretty talented, and that definitely helps. But I don't see them as representative of K-pop, I just see this as better music/more original production than most big hit groups. 

"Tonight"

"Fantastic Baby"

"Lies"

SHINee

I have a friend who would never forgive me if I suggested various male groups important to a class or an exam on popular music, and didn't mention SHINee. The group has been around for awhile now, and they seem to have staying power. They are, in my opinion, representative of generic K-pop "boy" groups, not surprisingly, they're produced by SM Entertainment.

"Lucifer"

"RingDing Dong"

"Sherlock"

Male Solo Artists:

Drunken Tiger

This is Korean-American rap/hip-hop produced and performed in Korea. Actually, properly speaking this is not a solo artist. Drunken Tiger was a duo, made up of Tiger JK and DJ Shine, they've parted ways, but Tiger JK hasn't switched to performing as a solo artist, and continues to acknowledge the help of others in his musical creations, esp. his wife, who is a well-known singer. He is not in any way representative of K-pop, but he's quite popular, multiple releases (8 cds?), highly watched videos, etc. His label is Jungle Entertainment, he doesn't operate in the same system as all the others on this list.

"Monster"

"The Cure" (this song features his wife, Tasha) 

G-Dragon 

G-Dragon is the front man of Big Bang, and I actually like the solo releases of three members of Big Bang and like G-Dragon's personality a little less than two other members, yet his work really stands out in Korea. REALLY stands out. He's hyped as writing a lot of his own songs (how true?), and as a fashion icon (fashion is such a weird area!).  Naturally he's also managed by YG Entertainment when he's solo, as well.

"Coup d'Etat"

"One of a Kind"

"Heartbreaker"

More Women:

Brown Eyed Girls 

I'm a big fan of Brown Eyed Girls. Their music is good, but more than that, they push interesting boundaries, come out with really creative stuff, and do things like openly admit their plastic surgeries. (Most stars in Korea try to say they haven't done any work on their faces). They are managed by NEGA Entertainment.

"Abracadabra"

"Sixth Sense"

"Plastic Face" (Korean Saturday Night Live skit featuring 3 of the 4 members)

Sistar (two woman sub-group Sistar 19)

This group is way oversexualized. Yet at the same time they have one member with amazing singing ability. So I am pretty torn. I own and listen to many of their songs, but watching their videos... well, let's just say I use them as an example when I talk about sexual objectification. Starship Entertainment.

"Alone" (Sistar)

"Gone... not around any Longer" (Sistar 19)

Wonder Girls 

The Wonder Girls are a group produced/managed by JYP Entertainment, at one time the second biggest company, but in the last few years the company has had some bad luck and made some risky choices. One of those was to work very hard at having the Wonder Girls make it in the US market. They are fairly well known in America, I suppose, in comparison to other K-pop groups because they've played shows (as an opening act) in places other than large centers for overseas Koreans. But I find them boring at best.  One of JYP Entertainment's more recent girl groups, Miss A, is more interesting to me partially because two members are Chinese.

"The DJ is Mine"

"Tell Me" 

"Nobody" (English version, the guy in the beginning is the head of the entertainment company)

Solo Female Acts:

BoA 

I cannot in good conscience fail to mention BoA in a list on K-pop. BoA has been big since 2002, but she was born in '86, so if you're thinking that Miley Cyrus has nothing on this woman, you'd be right. Except that BoA will never be part of a controversy. And she first broke out in Japan. Has released albums in Japanese (I think more than in Korean), Chinese, and in 2009, in English (she also tried to make it in the American market and got some traction, briefly). I am much more impressed by her dancing than her vocals, but... no one is perfect. SM Entertainment.

"Eat YouUp"

"HurricaneVenus"

"Disturbance"

Lee Hyori 

Hyori is another HUGE artist, but she's probably on her way out. I am skeptical about her ability to survive some of the various scandals, lower viewer ratings on a show, her increasing age, and keep on top in K-pop. She originally debuted with a group called FinKL in the late 90s, and is really talented—I love a lot of her music, esp. the album before last (H-Logic)—but then it turned out that almost everything there was plagiarized or ripped off in some way or another, without compensation, and she got in a lot of hot water, although she claimed not to know (she was not credited as the songwriter, the major issue was songs all from a single songwriter, who appears to have no idea what fair use actually is). She's with MNet Media, now.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

"Swing" (sorry, no link available b/c of copyright claims, all the links are muted)

"Bad Girls"

It is worth mentioning that all of the performers on this entire list are heavily involved in TV (reality shows, talk shows, variety shows, dramas (often as the main star), and even at times movies. They also do all sorts of advertising. In Korean music more money is made from those activities than from selling MP3 downloads (by far). 

Surely some other blog visitors will eventually point out that I have neglected to tell you about some hugely important acts. H.O.T. (the first big export act), or Sechkies, or SES or Baby Vox, or in fact hundreds of others that are currently performing like T-Ara, KARA, After School, 2PM, 2AM, 4 Minute, Super Junior, Shinhwa (they're all out of the military now!), B2ST, DTMN or the independent(ish) acts-- many of them much more creative than what I've listed on here. Yet when I made this list I was also thinking about when you teach this class. If you teach the class in a year, or six months, or even three years from now I think the names on this list will still be relevant. If you check on Youtube you'll probably find more recent releases (K-pop acts tend to release new mini-albums or full-length albums at most two years apart but usually closer to once every nine months). 

And I'll email you more about readings you can assign. 

[UPDATE] This well-written article about the phenomenon Busker, Busker is instructive about some of the ways the popular music circuit works in Korea, if primarily because the trio didn't do what they were supposed to do. 

K-pop for July

I haven’t written any K-pop reviews in forever.

First: Mina's "Toy Boy." You can't expect much from a song with the chorus "just like a toy boy" performed by a woman who tries hard to show nearly every inch of her skin (it is summer…) but still, it is a song. Therefore the absolutely weak vocals delivered with no power or energy (but a huge amount of electronic help that we can tell is needed), well, I'd just say this is a pass.

MBLAQ, a group always worth watching for the eye-candy and the Rain-ish dance moves, has released "Mona Lisa" earlier this week. It's not a perfect release. I won't be listening to it over and over, but it's not bad, either. It's got a hint of a Latin feel in parts, something that appears in several of MBLAQ's previous releases as well. If only they'd get rid of Thunder's lame rap it'd be a B+ effort. Seungho is still my favorite, but his hair looks like it was fried and then dyed in this video, whereas for the first time GO is starting to look attractive (Jun ALWAYS looks hot, of course and Mir is a cutey, too). And I must admit dance moves where men grab their crotches is so much better than when women do it.

GP Basic is a pretty new group, this release is called "Jelly Pop."  It's nothing special, just regular old electronic Korean dance music without strong singing or interesting lyrics. And for some reason all the members have died hair (orange trying to be blond). And the dance motions are in some cases too sexual for a group with such young members. The one cool part of the video is the clapping section (unfortunately the music takes over the clapping beat, we don't get to see them continue to beat the rhythm themselves).

  

Kim Hyun-joong's "Kiss Kiss"  is the most annoying type of video, the type where they just use footage from the person's "star" life and put the song over it. There are a few things probably shot for the video, but mostly it's crazy fans, stage scenes and Hyun-joong going here and there. Boring. The song is okay but too soft for my tastes. If I watch it again, it's only because he's total eye candy. Still I prefer SS501's faster tracks over this.

  

DBSK/ TVXQ (동방신기) has released their latest song, "Superstar,"  it's a Japanese release (unfortunately), but hot dance moves and catchy. I hope the long version is even better (this is still the short version). Also I find the video very washed-out looking. I want more contrast and more color.

Finally, even though it came out nearly a month ago, 2NE1's latest, "I am the Best."  The song isn't the best, but the visuals in the video are as usual absolutely awesome. And I have been listening to it consistently since it was released. But you know it bothers me that 2NE1 incorporates Korean 삼고무 (3 drum dance) –after—it's already been incorporated by a Western artist, Shakira, on "I Did it Again" (you can really see the drums on this live performance video). Neither Shakira nor 2NE1 did the drummers the favor of using them in a way that the drummers could really show their stuff and contribute to the audio, not just the visual, but… oh well. 

See the Drums on each side of the pyramid?

K-Pop Reviews only for Music with a Beat

제 블로그를 방문해 주셔서 고맙습니다. 저는 이 블로그에 일주일에 4번 정도 한국 전통 공연 문화에 대해 쓰고 있습니다. 처음에는  K-pop에 관심이 있으셔서  방문하셨겠지만 나가시기 전에 한국 전통 문화에 관한 것도 한번 봐 주시면 좋겠습니다.


UV released a video featuring JYP called "Itaewon Freedom." Harlem Desire by the London Boys is the inspiration for "Itaewon Freedom," which is hilarious, if only worth one viewing. 

The old/new Crown J video, featuring Young Dro is such a failure (in my opinion) that I wish I could say it was just a joke, too.  The video features a woman who cannot keep her tongue in her mouth. And what's the point of releasing a song in English about how all the panties are dropping and how you "want to fuck her"? The BEST thing about Korean hip-hop/rap is that it's NOT all disgustingly sexualized. Or at least until this song/video came along.

U-KISS released a song that's a bit too soft and sappy for my taste, 0330.  But there are some good dance moves and the rap part of the song isn't that bad, so I'm not entirely ignoring it. Check it out if you want.

DBSK/TVXQ/동방신기 have released a dance version of Before U Go.  Since we're talking about guys who are excellent dancers, give it a look, it's worth it. I have to admit though that I think it's really funny that you can have a dance version for such a slow and (to me) boring song. The video is kind of interestingly sparse, no colors, really.

4 Minute released "Heart to Heart"  The video features a guy from CN Blue. The video has an annoying story intro, but turns into a dance track once the music gets going. Unfortunately the story is horrible. First the girl is annoying, then the guy doesn't want to deal with her, so she does all this horrible stuff to him (mostly practical jokes until she removes a part from his car) which is supposed to make him at the end want to be nice to her again. Uh, not.  A reviewer at allkpop seems to find it about as much of a letdown as I do. 

More Superficial K-Pop Reviews

김형준 Kim Hyeongjun from SS501 (a group that is taking a serious if not permanent hiatus) has released a solo mini-album, the first music video from the album is "Girl." It's a dance track, with average music, fairly competent singing and a video that's a bit disappointing (Hyeongjun dances well, but this video spends a lot of time close to his head watching him sing). The song would be better without such singing the word "girl" too many times and the section where he sings L-O-V-E. I understand that Koreans like some English in their pop, but sometimes it really just makes them either sound incredibly unoriginal or it detracts. The odd English (like "Bring, Bring" in Brown Eyed Girls' "Abracadabra" tends to work better musically than many of the English words and phrases that they think will work but in fact have been so overused in English that they pull the song down. A few days later Kim Hyeongjun released a second single, "Oh, Ah." Of course I approached it with anticipation, however the song is merely ordinary. It is the video that sets it apart with it's really unusually eye-catching visuals. I would definitely recommend giving it a watch.

제 블로그를 방문해 주셔서 고맙습니다. 저는 이 블로그에 일주일에 4번 정도 한국 전통 공연 문화에 대해 쓰고 있습니다. 처음에는  K-pop에 관심이 있으셔서  방문하셨겠지만 나가시기 전에 한국 전통 문화에 관한 것도 한번 봐 주시면 좋겠습니다.


동방신기 Dongbangshin'gi (TVXQ) has released a new video, 이것만은 알고 가(Before U Go). I think it's not enormously successful because it's a ballad with a mafia/assassin themed video, which really doesn't go well together. Watch it and see what you think. I'd definitely have preferred another dance track. A few days after I made the above note they released a 16 minute extended video incorporating three tracks from their newest release in a story format. It's actually pretty good-- if you understand the Korean dialogue, at any rate.

Wheesung has released a video with B2ST's Junhyeong, Heart Aching Story or 가슴 시린 이야기. It's just more of Wheesung's admittedly fairly good singing, but it's ballad and I'm not a fan of ballads in any language.

Kim Taewoo has released a video of "Me and My Brothers" with Rain and JYP as the other brothers. It's another ballad. Is there nothing good coming out these days?

Wonbin (not the actor, the guy who used to be in FT Island) has released "C'mon Girl" a light poppy dance track with a somewhat satisfying sound and a video of him looking handsome and metrosexual.

Teen Top's latest, "Angel" is a boring ballad. What a sad follow up to their last release.

Song Jieun's "Going Crazy" is not bad, although the craziest thing might be her bright blue hair. It's true, as this review from allkpop points out, that she has a thin voice, but so do many other K-pop singers.

INY, a brand new group, has released "Shake it, Shake it." The video features ING's three members, with a filming style that is supposed to be from the first person perspective, so you're perpetually at arm's length from the other performers. I found it ineffective and not even particularly clever, partially because the perspective keeps switching without a clear reason (other than letting the camera show all the characters). Oh, and the music isn't that good. You're so busy watching the weird video you barely even hear it. Not catchy enough.

CN Blue has "comeback" (it always cracks me up the way they talk about "comeback" in Korea. Seriously, a comeback is when Guns and Roses releases their first CD in 15 years or what Michael Jackson was preparing to do before he overdosed. A comeback is not when a group that promoted a single six months ago and then took a break to create new material re-emerges on the scene). I also freely admit that I think CN Blue is overhyped. The new song is "Intuition" or 직감, however, is definitely their best work yet. I still think it's silly to call them a band. Yes, they have instruments. But when you listen to the music you do not hear guitar, bass and drums. Seriously. You hear the same sound you get in all K-pop music, not a "rock" sound at all. If only they didn't look like such children. Maybe they'll grow up soon?

ZE:A released "Here I am" which is a sappy poppy love song. The boys look cute, but not half as masculine as they did in some of their releases last year (weird, cause they're older now). I don't find it that good, but I bet it will add to their popularity with tween girls.

Girl's Day released "Twinkle Twinkle" which if you combine the group name and the song name you already know what to expect. It is annoying and worse, I bet it will become too popular for me to avoid. The one thing I can say is these girls can actually make black and yellow stripes look good, that's impressive!

Yi Ashi has come out with a syrupy ballad. The song, 눈물이 마르면 has been praised because it doesn't digitally alter her voice, we're just hearing her. Am I supposed to be impressed? Only in Korea is digital manipulation so common we are amazed when someone doesn't use it up the wall.

A Lot of K-Pop Releases (best saved for last)

K-pop Reviews

SM the Ballads' “Hot Times” has a smokey bluesy sound in parts; actually it’s a much better vehicle for the voices of the guys than their previous video release. It is clear that Jonghyun is the best of them, though. And I’m only a tiny bit biased.

One of the boys from B2ST with an incredibly stupid new hairdo and one of the women from Davichi has released a song called "Udon." It’s not a dance track, so it’s surprising that I sort of like it, I think mainly because the video is just too cute. The song is about udon (the noodles) and in the video the boy and girl alternate on who is able to eat a lot of udon, the successful eater is the object of love for the other person.

Strawberry Fields has released a new song, 별빛행진곡 which is quite different from most Korean pop music. First it really does have a Beatles flavor. It’s neither dance nor ballad but something else, with decent music and a very odd fantastical video featuring a small boy with a horn near a very interesting beach clambering on the on the rocks, sand and bluff. I like it. I don’t know how much I’d want to hear it, or see it, but it feels so refreshing compared to most Korean pop music.

John Park, most recent runner up of the Korean version of American Idol has released a jazzy pop piece, it sounds like he’s trying to copy Kim Geunmo, but he doesn’t have the pipes. The song is called “I’m Your Man” and the video is just him in the studio. I don’t know how well he’ll do with these non-traditional pop piece, but it does show off his voice, and I appreciate the fact that when he inserts English into his song it sounds completely natural and fluent (he’s Korean-American), whereas many stars just insert random English that might not mean anything, or be grammatically incorrect, and it can be said awkwardly.


Girls Generation has a new song,“Snowy Wish.” It’s truly annoying, full of product placement and recycled footage, there is no choreography and the song is ordinary, so unless you’re a maniacal fan you won’t find much in this new release.

F.Cuz released a new song “괜찮아” with the subtitle “for my fans.” The song is a syrupy ballad. Nuff said.

After School, a group notable only because their lead, Gahi, is amazing, released a “Love Love Love” in two versions. The first version shows clearly the story of the song. The second version has a video that is sort of like the music to accompany a composite scene in a movie or television drama that explains that the characters are models. But the music is obviously supposed to be Christmas with jingling bells and a melody that almost rips off that theme song from “Love, Actually” and it’s all delivered in this super sappy saccharine way.

New group Dal Shabet has released their first video, Supa Dupa Diva. I'm not sure if they know what the word Diva means. And Koreans say "Diba" not "Diva" anyway. The song is so annoying, I can't even barely watch the video. I hope this doesn't do well, but a sinking feeling in my gut says it will.

A new Chinese group has debuted but they're obviously going for a Korean look at sound, even to the extent of getting a Korean female singer to be a guest star in the video. HIT-5 is the name of the group, I'll give you only one guess how many members they have. Here's the link to the video, which really should receive money for product placement of the Apple iphone. The song itself? Only interesting if you want to practice your Chinese listening skills, in my opinion.

The men of MBLAQ are finally back with a sexy video full of ultra sexy dance moves. If you can get past the excessive eye make-up on the members, you'll be sure to notice the Rain inspired/choreographed movements with a very active and mesmerizing pelvic emphasis. Cry is a bit soft, almost ballad like, and not likely to do super well, but the boys sure look hot. Or wet. Watch the video and you'll see what I mean.


One Way, a group made up of three overseas Koreans- either one Australian and two Americans or I have the numbers wrong, have released an English language song. The song, “Rainy Days” is actually really awesome, they’re good singers and the acoustic sound of the song is refreshing compared to normal Korean releases. The guys aren’t going to win awards for being the hottest faces out there, but they should get more notice just based on their skills.


G-Dragon and TOP (two members of Big Bang) released their video "Knock Out" today. I have to admit, I hope this does well. In fact, I already downloaded the audio track a few days ago. The video has a very year of the rabbit feel. You should watch it even if you don't like rap because these two are super daring. Like CL for 2NE1 (a group with the same management company) they're known for their outrageous look/fashion sense. It's here in full flaming glory. They're so tongue in cheek and very very up to date. Let me put it this way, Johnny Depp at his most wild would fit into this video.



But the most exciting thing, I saved for last, is that DBSK/TVXQ (동방신기) (or what's left of a five man group, now only two) has released their new song, "Keep Your Head Down." It's pretty fantastic, the song grows on you as you hear it more. If amazing dance wasn't reason enough, the outfits are a reason to watch the video. First of all, the V-neck is taken to EXTREMES here. Second, psychedelic suits, seriously. Third, they wear tail coats that end up looking a bit more like sedate Dracula capes. So much fun just to look at the clothes. The weakest thing is the rap which should have been left out. And if you still didn't click the link, my friend Tim calls this video "the hottest Bromance the world has ever seen." Clicked now, didn't you.