Entertainment Mondays: Big Bang ( 8 June 2015)

Big Bang is a Kpop boyband consisting of members G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang and Seungri. The band has been together since 2006 and are one of the first groups to become internationally famous. The band members have also branched out to release individual albums, collaborated with other artists as well as working in pairs which are called sub units in kpop and have acted in film and television.

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I’m not that familiar with their music but I have watched some of their music videos. I love their dancing and I think they perform very well live. Taeyang is my favourite Big Bang member as I think he’s a good singer and dancer.

Big Bang has recently debut their comeback song after a three year hiatus. They plan to release a new album in September. What I love about Kpop comebacks is that it is always exciting to see the new direction of the band. A comeback includes a new look which often means dramatic new haircuts and daring fashion choices. The music direction is always new and different to their previous style. If the previous album was dark then the next album might be more fun.  

I really liked their first song called Loser which has intense lyrics and a depressing theme. The song is about feeling worthless and wrestling with inner demons. The first lines in the song are about comparing themselves to rubbish.  In the music video all the members are tormented from problems like infidelity, loss of faith and isolation. For the more conservative viewer, I must warn you that there is a scantily clad woman in the video. However, the racy elements in the video may seem tame by western standards.  I find it to be very sexy for a Kpop video as most sexy kpop videos don’t have people so undressed and usually it is coyly suggestive.

Another new song from Big Bang is Bae Bae which  I think is quite a pleasant song but it has an utterly bizarre video clip which I love. It is a good example of the extravagance and daring of kpop. 

Entertainment Monday: Eric Nam ( 16 February 2015)

I've been watching a lot of Asian entertainment lately through watching Taiwanese and Korean dramas and eatyourkimchi. Along the way, I discovered kpop singer Eric Nam’s song Ooh Ooh featuring Hoya. Eric Nam is an American Korean pop singer who rose to fame from singing on Youtube. He gained further attention when he entered into a Korean talent show called Birth of a Great Star 2 in 2011 where he lasted up to the top 5. Afterwards, he joined B2M Entertainment and début as a solo artist in 2012.

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Ooh Ooh is Eric Nam’s third single and was released last year. It’s a feel good, upbeat song that is perfect for dancing. The song is about falling in love and being so happy about finding someone to love.  The video clip is cute and Eric Nam looks adorable in it.

Eric also sings in English which gives him a greater international reach. 

Entertainment Monday: Akdong Musican (5 January 2015)

I can’t get enough of kpop pair Akdong Musician for their cute, feel good pop music. I’ve been playing their songs Give Love and 200% nonstop since November.  Akdong means  mischievous child in Korean and I think it’s a cute name for the young pair who are only seventeen and fifteen years old. Akdong Musican consists of sibling duo Chanhyuk (17) and Suhyun (15).  Suhyun recently collaborated with Lee Hi in a song called I’m Different which I wrote about  last year.

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The pair got their start after winning Kpop Star which is a reality singing contest like American idol. They signed onto YG Entertainment, a prestigious entertainment agency and launched their first album Play last year. What is unique about their situation is that Chanhyuk wrote all the songs and produced the music for the album.

Most Korean pop stars are manufactured artists. They are selected at a young age for their looks and talent and spend years training with their company until they debut. The talent agency decides whether to form the young people into groups or as solo artists. Some debut earlier than others which is decided by the company. The artists usually don’t have much influence in the decision making process, which means that most don’t write their own music until they are more established artists. So, AKMU are fortunate that they were given creative freedom.

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The songs that I am showcasing today are my favourite AKMU songs.  

200% is Akdong Musician’s debut song. In the video clip, Suhyun chases after a boy she has a crush on and the storyline continues in their next song, Give Love.

In Give Love, Suhyun tries to compete for the affections of a boy and has a rival to his love. However, that rival is revealed not to be a rival at all but the boy’s sister.

Entertainment Monday: Hi Suhyun (Monday 8 December 2014)

When I was in high school, my friends and I did ridiculous things when we had a crush on someone. We had code names for all our crushes, wrote endless notes to each other about them, stalked them around school and had long conversations analysing our interactions with our crushes. It was just so silly and stupid but I can laugh about it.

L-R Lee Hi & Suhyun

Hi Suhyun is the newest kpop duo whose latest single I’m Different is racing up the Asian music charts. Hi Suhyun comprises of eighteen year old Lee Hi and fifteen year old Suhyun.

The video clip of I’m Different features the girls as school girls obsessing over their crushes much like how my friends and I did in high school.  There is also a guest rapper in the song named Bobby who is from a yet to debut kpop boyband Ikon. What is different about the music is that it’s a bit of a jazz pop number rather than the bubblegum pop or RnB music that is common in Kpop. 

Here is a lyric video from a fan in English subtitles.