Various K-Pop Releases

K-pop Reviews:

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.

When MBLAQ asks you to "stay with me" how could you possibly leave? In "Stay" hese guys are so hot, I can almost forget they're practically young enough to be my sons. This is definitely MBLAQ's best work yet, in many ways they are maturing as a group, but I find the song overall to be too "busy," there is just too much going on. And the video, with some of the colors and lighting, sort of strains the eyes, when I'd really just like to relax and look at the guys. There is a longer review on allkpop, just in case you're interested.

Park Jungmin, one of the performers from SS501 (at least in the short term the group is taking a hiatus), has released a solo effort, "Not Alone." The song lacks originality and although the choreography has a few moments of brilliance, we mostly just get to look at the new slicked down hair cut and dark eyeliner that Jungmin is sporting, rather than dance moves. Like some other SS501 songs, Jungmin has utilized a bunch of string instruments, but it feels contrived. And he really shouldn't have changed his look, the old one was much hotter. At least the autotune is not overpowering his voice, which isn't bad.

This character shows up in the video. I just thought the glasses merited a screenshot.


Teen Top (talk about stupid group names) has released the video for "Supa Love," which apparently was produced by a guy who has also produced for Justin Bieber. That should tell you a lot. But as much as the previous releases of this group have fallen short in my opinion, this one is actually a very danceable/club track. If I have to hear it too many times it's going to irritate me, but in the short term I can see myself getting the dishes done in a big hurry while listening to this. The last twenty seconds should be cut off the track though. The video is fairly good, somewhat simple choreography but a nice consistent look throughout. The teen top guys are young, but they don't come across as pre-teens, despite the sort of immature references to supa as in Superman, and a set of outfits that sort of look like trainee superhero garb. I read an online review that says basically one guy, Niel, is singing the whole time. But if it was a solo singer instead of a group that'd still be the case, so who cares how they divide up the work?


A new group that wants to fight back against the idol group culture had just released their first song—the group is called Piggy Dolls and indeed the members are hefty. The song, "Trend" has a long intro, but once the singing starts, you can see that these three can sing, they've got serious lungs, although autotune is still in use, perhaps stylistically chosen, not needed though in this case. It seems to me, though, if they dance that much they are going to lose their trademark plus size. At any rate, Korea is a bit too hung up on appearance and I applaud attempts like this to fight back. But they aren't the first such group, so I am skeptical if they can stick around.



Infinite released a video for "Before the Dawn" that is too violent, apparently, for television. Shots of dance choreography alternate with a dark fight scene. The fight scene just doesn't seem justified in the lyrics, I think it's supposed to be a metaphor, but way too heavy handed to work out. The choreography is pretty good, very strong and masculine, but the singing isn't gritty enough to match the fight or darkness, it's too pretty and smooth.



Joo has released the new track "나쁜 남자", or bad man. The song is whatever, nothing I'd want to listen to again, but the video has an advantage, in that the man is played by Chansung from 2PM, definitely their hottest member. He has the best eyes.