1. SHINee. Seriously, I really really really don't like them. I'm pretty loving towards all the kpop groups, male and female alike. I don't judge the girls for getting plastic surgery or wearing skanky clothes or not being able to sing well. Granted I like some (2ne1, f(x), Boa) better than others (T-ara, 4minute), but I don't hate on any of them. And I don't judge the boys for being too skinny, or having a million people in their group (uh, Super Junior), or lip-syncing, or being too damn sexy (uh, Big Bang). I'm pretty open-minded. But, I just can't get behind SHINee. They are not very attractive (imho), they are mediocre singers, they are mediocre dancers, and their entertainment company/stylists make them wear hella ugly clothing and give them hella ugly haircuts. Plus, whoever is producing and writing their music sucks. The English lyrics on both of their major releases (Ring Ding Dong and now Lucifer) are freaking ridiculous. "Fantastic, fantastic, elastic, elastic" and "loverholic robotronic" WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? I hate them. That's all there is to it.
I'm sorry, Onew, you look fucking stupid. Unfortunately no pic of another haircut which is half head fully shaved, other half, long hair.
Photo Credit: AllKpop, taken from Inkigayo performance video 7/26
2. Se7en's tattoo. God it's just freaking ugly. Luckily I can overlook it due to his sexy bod and his hot dancing. But still. Fix that shit YG. Y'all can afford the laser removal.
Why Se7en, why? I still love you though. Even though I hate your tattoo.
3. A perfect day wasted. Today, the weather is gorgeous. And by gorgeous I mean swelteringly hot, with sunshine. i.e. a gorgeous beach day. Where am I? Inside my apartment. There is no beach reasonably nearby (or reasonably accessible) and there are no outdoor pools nearby either. On a day like today, I really hate Korea for not letting me take advantage of such nice weather. Hopefully it'll be nice again tomorrow so Beks and I can tan on her roof after brunch!
4. Bugs. In my apartment. They are tiny. Not ants. I'm not entirely sure what (sorry ENT2042, I forgot all the lessons you taught me, except not to be afraid of bugs). It's not really an infestation (yet), but I've seen maybe 3 in the last two or three days. They are so small and can't really hurt me, it's just annoying. I haven't had any bugs before. Maybe it's just because things got a little dirty at my apartment. But, everything is thoroughly cleaned now (even the wasteland that was my shower) so hopefully that will ward them off a bit.
So, my other site, www.reallykpop.com has been on a hiatus. Why? Well, I sort of discovered after translating the lyrics to Taeyang's Solar album, that I don't really care about anyone else except Taeyang. But, I will try to get back into it soon. It's just really time-consuming and less fun than I had hoped.
Also, I'm considering (sort-of) changing the lay-out of my apartment. I just feel like I'm not using the space in my apartment well, so I'm gonna try to change that. But, I don't know when I'll actually do that. Probably never, if I'm being honest with myself.
Lastly, oh. my. god. Sungha Jung is like my new favorite Korean person. Seriously. He's a fingerstyle guitarist who is pretty popular in Korea and on YouTube (#1 subscribed youtube channel in Korea, #29 most subscribed youtube musician worldwide). Anyways, he's 14 Korean age (will turn 14 this year by American standards), and is freaking awesome. He's been playing since he was maybe 9. On his channel, you can watch all of his videos. If you start from his first video you can basically watch him get older before your very eyes. He's adorably cute, and I hope that he becomes super famous. Below is his newest youtube video, which is him playing Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. SO EFFING GOOD.
Ok, so I've been a Destiny's Child fan since Writings on the Wall back in 1999. Seriously, you can throw on any DC3 joint and I'll be bumpin' in no time. Really. Kelly was always my favorite, because she was the tallest, like me. Also, I always thought she was underratedly gorgeous. Like, stunning. Eventually Destiny's Child broke up and the girls pursued their solo dreams. Beyonce became the international superstar that she is now after a bumpy start with B'Day. Wish the Sasha Fierce alter-ego-slash-album released, Beyonce blew up. And so did her ego. But frankly, who can blame the girl? She's got millions of dollars, a gorgeous body, beautiful voice, and intense stage presence, not to mention one of the biggest names in the whole hip hop game in Jay-Z as a HUSBAND. I'd be pretty damn bigheaded myself if I had even just two out of the four. Anyways, her new single/music video for "Why Don't You Love me?" is about as bigheaded as you can get. I mean, she asks, "Why don't you love me when I make me so easy to love" and then she says, "I've got beauty, I've got class, I've got style, and I've got ass" I mean, really B? I know you're Sasha Fierce and all, but shit. Regardless of the pompousness of the lyrics, god damn the video is fire.
I'm totally a sucker for the 50s, the pin-up girl, the homemaker, the old-fashioned script type, the fuzzy unsaturated picture color quality. It's just so fun and funky and sexy. And boy does Beyonce ramp up the sexy in this video. I don't know about you, but I fucking love it. Alright, enough intro, see for yourself, and tell me what you think in the comments section!
Friday, July 23, 2010
I don't think there is that much going on here these days.
I've been busy this week with my first week of summer camp. I made it really active for my girls because they're grade 1 and if it isn't engaging their totally zoned out. So on day one, we did music listening challenges. Then on day two, we had a cooking class. We went down to the home ec room (가사실) and made banana and peanut butter pancakes. The students really liked them. Some even took pictures with their phones and set their pancake pictures as the backgrounds on their phones. Then on Wednesday, we wrote movie plots. They had to chose a genre and a main character and describe the characters and then write and outline of the story. I gave them a sample story that involved a second Korean war, YoungBae falling in love with me, and me being a prisoner of war. Basically, it was epic. Thursday we made movie posters for our movies. Students had all class to make their posters and some students presented, but not many. The pics of the movie posters are below. Horror movie was the genre of choice.
(My picture)
This weekend, I have another date, and on Sunday I'll play frisbee. Then, Monday-Thursday I'll be on vacation. No solid plans yet. A visit from the boy. Maybe Bekah and I will go to Busan or Gwangju, but it doesn't look good in the planning department.
I have to read James and the Giant Peach with my students for my other camp. I have never read it before (this may seem like blasphemy to childrens lit fans, but I was never into Roald Dahl. In fact, I don't know if I've read any of his books). I discovered that the book uses the word 'ass' twice (well, so far... I'm almost done) which seems moderately inappropriate for 7th graders. But maybe not. I just feel like I shouldn't be teaching students English swear words.
Also, yesterday and today I went to the immigration office. I went yesterday to get my Visa and Alien Registration Card extended so I could stay another year in Korea and teach at my wonderful school. My primary co-teacher, Kim Hyo-Jin went with me to the office, which is a 15-20 minute walk from my house/school. Then, today I went back to the immigration office because they didn't extend my visa, only my arc which is annoying because my co-teacher specifically asked, is this for both things or just one? Gah. 짜증나~ Plus I went with a different co-teacher that I don't really like as much because she makes me crazy with her methods of doing things. I had to go wither her because the others had left for trips to Singapore and Cambodia (omg so effing jealous).
My resolutions for the next year in Korea:
1. visit Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia
2. improve my teaching efficiency
3. pay off all my student loans
4. help sar-bear plan her wedding from afar
5. Actually keep in contact with more people.
Those are in no particular order.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that you can add nearly 600,000 won to my frivolous spending account as I bought a new Coach bag and Coach wallet. Seriously, they were so worth every won. I freaking love them. Unfortunately I can't use the purse often because it rains so much here and I don't want it to get soaked or messed up.
I will also leave you with Se7en's comeback song music video. I think he is hella fine, but his tattoo is ugly. But, Se7en in a total legend as far as k-pop goes. He's been around forever and he's finally making a comeback. I wasn't into him until recently, but listening to his older shit makes me really dig him.
Today really was awesome. I don't know how else to explain it.
Actually, my whole weekend has been awesome.
Friday I went to Hooter's for Miranda's birthday. I got my ears pierced. I sang the shit out of Taeyang's I need a girl (90점 on an all korean song the first time I sang it? hell yes). Saturday, woke up, went on a date. Snuck into a building. Lost everything and got it back. Played 20+ games of go-stop. Ate really really good spaghetti (even by American standards, it was good, and that's saying something here in Korea).
Today, I went to Seoul with four of my students. They are four of my best students at my school. Seriously, they love English, they love speaking English, they love practicing English, and it is students like them that make me want to teach forever. We went to 신촌 and ate lunch at a 고기부페 (meat buffet). We ate 삼겹살 (really thick bacon meat basically) and other meat and lots of soda and it was funny because you can't leave leftovers, but we took too many sides, and 재연, one of my students, put a bunch of the food back in the bowls, which you totally can't do and probably isn't very sanitary, but buffets generally aren't that sanitary anyways, so eff that. Then we went to red mango and had awesome yogurt and got the toppings for free, because 유진 had a coupon. Then we went looking for a sticker picture place and while looking stumbled across a HELLO KITTY CAFE. There is one in Hongdae, but in my opinion the Sinchon one is better. It's less pink, but has way better kitty accessories. It's more demure, I think. We took a detour there for coffee and more sweets (choco bread). Then, we found a sticker picture place and hurriedly took sticker pictures. They weren't the best pictures ever (Christi, Miranda and I got the best ever, hands down) but they turned out cute. The sticker picture place wasn't that good (the one at bupyeong has 반짝반짝 film, or bling bling film to coat the pictures) but it sufficed.
Then we went to 서대문 which is a historic site. It used to be a prison during the Japanese opression. They put political prisoners there and tortured/executed them. It was pretty depressing. The girls had to go there for summer homework and it was kind of near Sinchon (closer than, say, Incheon is) so I went with them. I think their parents were grateful because they didn't have to take them there. Then, we took the subway back.
I'm pretty exhausted now, but I'd definitely say it was well worth the time and exhaustion. The students were wonderful, the date was great in spite of the rain, I had a wonderful time singing and eating and playing with my friends.
The only downside is due to the rain on Friday/Saturday, I fell TWICE. Once going downstairs to Hooters (minor), and once when I was at home taking off my soaked shoes on Saturday (major fall). The fall on Saturday caused some minor hip/leg/ankle/wrist pain, but it's not so bad now, minus the bruise on my thigh). I'm so clumsy.
Today marked my first day of summer vacation. How did I ring it in? Well, by going to school and working of course.
I know that sounds strange but here's the reasoning.
My last day of school was yesterday. Today, there is one teacher at my school, one office worker and the vice-principal. Oh, and me. Because I am a special kind of teacher, I work through the holidays and am only given 20 days of paid vacation a year. It's the downside to not being a certified Korean teacher here. Granted, my job the other 200 or so days both me and the Korean teachers work is much easier for me than them, so I'm willing to take the trade-off.
I am pretty happy I got to come in today because it meant several things.
1. Free lunch. The other teacher bought my lunch, which was 떡만두국 Or rice cake and dumpling soup. It was really really good and I was happy upon eating it.
2. I was able to finish (mostly) the planning for my summer camps and submit the last bit of paperwork for the camp.
3. I got to watch 전우치, a Korean movie starring the super famous Korean actor 강동원 (Kang Dong Won), who is a total babe. This is the first Korean movie I've watched, which is pretty pathetic given that I've been here for neigh onto a year now. I just don't really like movies. But this one was fucking awesome. If you can find it stateside, and don't mind subtitles, it's hella awesome. Seriously. There are goblins and archgods and taoism and fighting and a beautiful widow and a dog/horse/man/woman. You can't go wrong with that combination.
The bad news is that waiting for me back at home is a pile of laundry, a terribly dirty apartment, and a shower drain that's so clogged, there is standing water in it from my shower yesterday morning. Luckily, I bought some drain-o which will hopefully clear up that problem, and then I'm going to Hooters tonight to celebrate Miranda's birthday and maybe I'll get a new ear piercing? Things are all kinds of crazy for me these days, what with me designing another tattoo, and getting piercings, and watching movies and cleaning my apartment. Who am I and what have I done with wally?
Anyways, time to pack up and head home through the rain. >.<
In the meantime, I have to figure out how to get it to turn up in google searches. So far, it's not anywhere near the first page of results. T_T Any suggestions for SEO?
So my weekend was amazing. It started on Thursday (sort of) with a trip to On The Border to say goodbye to Christi who went back to the states to be with her hubby on Friday. In case you're wondering why we went to On the Border, it's because there is no OTB in the city she is moving too and this depresses her. OTB was in Times Square Mall near Youndeungpo. OH. MY. GOD. That place is effing amazing. It's huge and filled with wonderful, fancy, designer stores that I can oogle as if I was back at the Gardens once more.
On Friday, after school, I took a looooooong nap that kind of morphed into sleep.
On Saturday morning, I met three of my students and we went to see Shrek Forever in 3D at the Incheon CGV theater. It was my first 3D movie ever (excluding the 3D movies at Disney and stuff), and it was pretty good. Honestly, I thought that the 3D was a little distracting/strange at first because I wasn't used to it, but some parts were really cool. The movie was cute and I liked it. After the movie, my students and I had lunch and then went window shopping (I taught them that word!!) at shinsegae and things. I bought some make-up at missha because they were having this epic sale.
Also, I found a coach bag on sale that I am DEFINITELY buying on Tuesday. oh. my. god. it's glorious.
Then I had a date. It was good. I taught him to play go-stop. He is Korean. Ajushis watched. I like him. That's all there is for that, because you people are just too nosy.
Then today, I went to frisbee. Beks gave me a kitty necklace. I had fun. I saw Won-Yule's new haircut.
Then, I bought Taeyang's Solar album regular edition. This may seem strange since I already own the deluxe edition. Well, the regular edition cd is a different color, and I figured I just had to support my man. Plus, I discovered upon opening, that the photo book is different and WONDERFUL!! More shirtless Bae pictures.
Tonight I am thinking about how to add to my tattoo. I'm thinking about getting some literary things added. Plus orange blossoms. I'm not positive yet, but I think it'll look really good. But it'll be effing huge if I do it. But omg I want it soooooo bad.
After pulling the original video due to complaints from netizens (I really liked the video but hey), YG just released the new version of the I Need a Girl music video. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. Frankly, I like the original better. The new one, while being called a dancing-focused video, doesn't even play to Young-Bae's strongest trait, footwork. It's mostly a lot of hand and upper-body shots and motions, and not any focus on how he moves his feet. Seriously, that's Taeyang's signature, is slide and glides and other complex footwork. There is none of that. T_T
So it's crazy that my semester is finally almost over. I have four more days of classes, which consist of my students and I watching the first 40 minutes of either Princess Diaries 2 or Monsters, Inc. a total of 11 times (this doesn't include the 7 times I've already watched it yesterday and today).
After school I saw an archery competition and some boys from a different school freaked out when they saw me.
Yesterday at school I got a package from home. In it was some clothing I ordered from the gap (cropped khakis and a navy slub dress), the newest Rooney cd (which was signed since I pre-ordered it!), plus some other goodies from the parents such as a hello kitty washcloth and Florida Kitty magnet.
Tomorrow I'm going to see Shrek Forever with three students. I'm really excited. We were gonna see it in 4D, but it was sold out, so we're just gonna watch it in regular old 3D. This is good though because 4D is only in Seoul and it's 5000 won more.
Also, I sort of maybe kind of have a date tomorrow. eep.
Oh, and I'm updating www.reallykpop.weebly.com as we speak. New 2PM lyrics up by Sunday evening! Plus, I'm probably registering my own domain later this weekend. I got a coupon from weebly for 33% off domain registration, I figure that's as good a deal as any. ^_^ So yeah, that's that.
So. The day has arrived when I promised Taeyang Solar Lyrics. It's not actually the afternoon, but the late evening, but a good friend here is leaving tomorrow, so I spent the afternoon with her. Sorry. But, it's still the big day.
Well, where are the lyrics, then, you may be wondering? Well, actually, they aren't here. Not one single lyrics is here.
Well, where are all the lyrics you promised?
Oh mysterious imaginary interviewer, the lyrics are someplace special. And I don't mean my heart.
Why don't you post them like you said you would?
Well, I realized that uploading the lyrics here would be both time consuming and difficult to not format, not to mention the fact that they would quickly end up in the archives behind my other worthless blogposts. Now, call me a psycho fangirl, but I think a blog archive is no place to put such musical treasures as Taeyang's Solar album lyrics.
So no lyrics?
Silly interviewer, I didn't say no lyrics. I said, no lyrics here.
Well, imaginary mediaperson, it's the website I made just this week in order to give a proper home to the Taeyang lyrics. It's hosted on weebly.com, a website making site, but I'm considering buying my own domain. I'm not sure yet, though.
Wait, so you made a whole website for Taeyang's Solar Album Lyrics?
Not just Taeyang's Solar Album, but any other songs I have time/interest in uploading. I hope to include sections for big bang and 2pm in the near future, but it'll take time.
Are there English translations on the site?
Why yes, in fact, there are. Every song is typed out (BY MY OWN HANDS) in hangul directly from the Solar Deluxe Album 68-page photo book. Then, each song is romanized for pronunciation purposes. This, also, was done entirely by me. Then, I managed to translate the songs to English.
Why don't you just take the lyrics off other websites?
Well, the truth is, I thought about it. It would be much less time consuming but I discovered that there are lots of mistakes throughout the process. I believe that using the cd inserts enables me to have the best chance at an accurate set of hangul lyrics. In addition, I personally have found some romanizations of certain songs not jut confusing buy wildly inaccurate. I tried to use a standardized romanization set, but there are some variations when I feel they are helpful for pronunciation. Finally, as far as translations go, when they existed online, I compared usually at least two other sets of lyrics, in addition to creating and translating each line on my own. For perhaps three to four songs, I could not find lyrics and so I translated them entirely alone, using nothing more than my own grammatical knowledge, google translate, and my cell phone's Korean-English dictionary.
Holy shit. Why did you do so much work for something no one will ever read?
Well, frankly, because I'm bat-shit crazy, plus I'm a fangirl. Also, I figured even if no one so much as looks at it, it will at least help my Korean typing/translating/vocabularly skilly improve. Plus, hopefully I'll learn the lyrics to my favorite songs better myself this way.
*Notes: On Taeyang's Solar album, I still haven't translated 기도 (Prayer), and I haven't typed anything for 나만 바라봐 (Look Only at Me). Being re-releases from the HOT mini-album, I figured if I had to cut something, that would be it. As such, those will be posted no later than July 12th. I promise.
Also, Can't Stop Won't Stop, 2PM's mini-album is up next.
Also also, PLEASE COMMENT AND COMPLETE THE SURVEY on the homepage for the site. If you see mistakes or think something could be improved, please let me know! Once again, the site is: www.reallykpop.weebly.com
Last weekend was r16, a big international bboy competition. I had been looking forward to the competition since I bought tickets over a month ago. It turns out I reserved tickets 20 and 21 of everyone there. I also went to the r16 preparty, which was hella dope.
Anyways, I guess first I'll talk about the pre-party since that's the first thing that happened on my weekend. I went with M and Dre to Lotte Hotel in Jamsil (which by the way is hella fucking far from Incheon... 2 hours-ish). We got there early and we had time to eat dinner. Actually, where we ate there was a restaurant called Uncle Wong's. This is particularly interesting because in Dumbfoundead's Grindtime battle with Tantrum, Dumb says, "You're not just an Uncle Tom, you're an Uncle Wong."
Then, after eating, we headed to the party. It was a little confusing to find because we weren't really sure where we were going. naturally. We got to the place eventually and it was still hella early, like 8 p.m. At that point we caught the tail-end of some pre-competition elimination popping and locking battles. They were okay, and at the time I thought pretty good, but nothing compared to what we saw the following day. But that's for later.
Then, after the competition was over, we took a break and just sat and rested. It was kind of strange being there because I am not really part of the break dancing community. I mean, sure, I listen to hip-hop a lot, and I've watched a whole shit-ton of graffiti, scratching, and breakdancing videos online, but as for actually participating in the hip-hop culture, I fall definitively into the observer category. It's not that I'm a bad dancer, it's just that I'm not a bgirl.
Anyways, so it was weird with everyone being so talented and then me just kind of hanging out and watching.
While I was standing around one of the dance circles (everyone was breaking in circles which was cool to watch), I saw DJ Zo, and he said hello to me and gave me a hug and we chatted. Then later in the evening I saw dumb and said hello and he also recognized me and gave me a hug. I know that I probably sound ridiculous and fan-girl-y hear, but they just seem so cool and chill. I know they aren't super famous and it's not like they have millions of people banging down their doorstep for autographs and shit, but still, I've seen less famous people act like total dicks to their fans. It's nice to see artists who haven't let a little bit of fame and internet popularity get to their heads. In the off chance that one of the two of them sees this post, thanks guys for making my night a little bit more than just a concert, but an interaction. You guys are cool as fuck and I hope y'all stay that way.
So a bit later, dumb and djzo hit the stage. They absolutely fucking wrecked it. They did most everything that I really wanted to see and I got some great pictures and footage and whatnot. They did bullets of truth, Mr. Nice Guy, plus Dumb freestyled a whole lot. Plus he even called up other MCs and invited them to do a short freestyle on the mic. It was really cool. Like 4 or 5 people came up and spat verses in English and Korean. It was really cool.
Then M and Dre left because they were tired and dumb finished and that's the only reason they really went. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to bounce so I was pissed and ended up staying alone to watch DJSoulscape (basically a Korean legend as far as DJs go). Soulscape was just ridiculously talented, and it turned out to be better than I had expected in spite of being alone. This Korean girl came up and talked to me and said I was a really really good dancer, and she thought I was a dancer (not that I was like poppping or breaking or anything), and that was very flattering since there were a lot of other dancers there and she was impressed by me.
Anyways this is the video I threw together this afternoon of the video/pictures I took during the concert. Enjoy, and check out my other videos over on my youtube channel! Thaaaaanks!!
Unfortunately/Fortunately my weekend was super awesome and hella busy with the r16 Korea world bboy championship (A full-length review of the weekend will be coming soon) and I didn't get around to actually posting the lyrics. Luckily for you, I'm working on a special Taeyang lyrics surprise...
I promise the Taeyang surprise will be released by Thursday afternoon, Korea time, at the latest. So check back here Wednesday for the surprise, or early if you want to read about r16s!
So I know this probably won't be of any interest to most of you, but I figured I could put the lyrics of the songs on Taeyang's Solar album all in one convenient spot. Please forgive the next nine posts being nothing but lyrics. I't s a service to my people.
Update: I created a new website which contains all the lyrics in Korean (hangul), plus a romanized pronunciation guide, PLUS English translations. Enjoy!
Ok. So this is my first CD Review. I'm gonna go ahead and say it flat out: I'm biased. I love the FUCK out of Taeyang. Sure, I have delusions of Young Bae and myself getting married and producing little Youngbae juniors. Sure, my students call me Donglison (it's a terrible mashing of our names). Sure, I know his height (174 cm), his weight (56 kg = 123 lbs... eff off haters), his blood type (AB) and his birthday (May 18, 1988). So? It doesn't mean my review will be biased. Ok. So my review will be biased. Who the fuck am I kidding? I think YoungBae could literally take a shit, package it and sell it for 25,000 won a pop and I'd buy it and say it's the greatest thing ever.
That being said, this cd is still pretty awesome. Sure, it's not the greatest piece of musical genius created. No, it's not groundbreaking or innovative really. But, in its defense, it is incredibly catchy, with very danceable songs and a few noteworthy cameos (read: G.D., Teddy, Swings). I've fallen in love with it already and I've hardly had a chance to listen to the whole album.
The Deluxe Edition includes a t-shirt, a photobook, a signed pictures, and a YG Family Card. The regular edition includes a shorter photobook, the cd (albeit with 2 fewer songs, since this one doesn't have the re-releases of 나만 바라봐 [Look Only At Me] and 기도 [Prayer]).
The full Tracklist is as follows:
1. Solar (Intro)
2. Superstar
3. I Need a Girl (feat. G-Dragon)
4. Just a Feeling
5. You're My
6. Move (feat. Teddy)
7. Breakdown
8.니가 잠든 후에 [After You Fall Asleep] (feat. Swings)
9. Where U At
10. Wedding Dress
11. 기도 [Prayer]
12.나만 바라봐 [Look Only At Me]
13. Take It Slow
As far as composition goes, the great majority of the songs were composed and written by Teddy. But YoungBae wrote the lyrics from Solar, Just A Feeling and Wedding Dress. He also composed the music for Take It Slow.
Anyways, onward with the actual review:
Solar is just an intro, and in it he speaks only English, although it's mostly him saying yeah, it's still awesome. Just a really epic lead-in to the cd.
The first song, Superstar, starts out super strong with horns in the intro. The song is kind of a mid-tempo pop song. Not very dancy, but something you can just groove to. Taeyang switches expertly between English and Korean in this song. Seriously, parts of the song are a line in Korean, a line in English, a line in Korean, and so forth. Also, part of the lyrics: "So baby let's get it on, get it on, girl" which is something every girl can imagine Taeyang is whispering just to her. At least that's what I did.
The next song, I Need a Girl, which features best bud G-Dragon is the first release (after Wedding Dress and Where U At I guess) off the album. The video was released today and can be found here. The video is as amazing as the song. The verse is mind-bogglingly catchy. A student told me today that this is a remake of an older Korean song. Regardless, it's fucking awesome. A line of G.D.'s: "I love Girls, Girls I do adore," which is a nice little Jay-Z (Girls Girls Girls) reference. I hate Dara in the video (only because I'm totally jealous). Anyways, I didn't like the song that much when I heard it for the very first time, but as I hear it more, I love it more.
The next song is one which Taeyang wrote himself, Just a Feeling. The hook and even more so the bridge is just something that I imagine will be stuck in my head for like days. Taeyang also says he wants to make love to ME in the song. He says it. I'm gonna hold him to it. This song is a great dance song. Not too fast, but just perfect for a dance party in the morning when I'm waking up. You've got me saying yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.
The first slow song on the album is You're My. Frankly, I just don't think anything will ever top Taeyang's 최인, which is the single sexiest slow ballad in the whole world. This song starts out so beautiful, with a little keyboard action However, I think the song is just a little to high and a little slow and lacks the vavoom that Taeyang usually brings to his ballads. Also, it's really unfortunate the metaphors he uses in this song. "You're my chocolate, my sweetest chocolate, I really wanna have you" "You're my ice cream, my sweetest ice cream, I really wanna have you" and "You're my candy, my lollipop candy, I really wanna kiss you, I really wanna love you." Really, Taeyang? You agreed to sing this? And really Teddy, you told Taeyang this was a good idea? I'm sorry. This is the one song that gets a thumbs down from me.
Then comes Move featuring Teddy. I'm gonna say this: the intro is hilarious and AWESOME. "Ay, all my sexy ladies on the floor. I like the girls that know how to move it right... They know what it is now, but don't get this shit twisted. This is for the ladies." Not only is don't get it twisted on of my favorite phrases, but Teddy makes it very clear. Taeyang is for the ladies. And a lady I am. This song is really pretty sounding. I think it caters to Taeyang's style. It offers just the right number of higher notes (unlike You're my which is ALL high notes) and gives us the upbeat R&B Taeyang that we all know and love. Also Teddy's rap is so sexually explicit and it's so funny because Taeyang is famously uber-religious. But hello, these lyrics? "I cock it and unload it call me Mr. BigRocket/I'm so vicious like sid with my sex pistols...Niagra Falls baby girl I got you wetter then." bwahahahaha.
My favorite song on the album is Breakdown. The hook is so damn good. I literally had this song on repeat at work, and I just have this one dance that is so perfect for this song. Plus Taeyang banks on the auto-tune fanaticism going on here. He doesn't over-use it like some other artists we may know (T-Pain) but just a little during a verse. I just wanna take this one to the club and "break it down down break it break it down."
The next song is the only song on the album that is in Korean: 니가 잠든 후에. It means after you fall asleep. It features the rapper Swings. There is very little English in this song compared to the others. Also, this title makes it seem like it will be a slow song, but nope. It's a dance track. It's very dancy, with a very electronic beat in the background, with a lot of echoing reminiscent of a club song. The Swings verse is pretty fresh. His voice is great and really locks you in.
The next two songs are already solidified as classics in Taeyang's repertoire: Where U At and Wedding Dress. I don't have much to say about these songs because they are so flawless. I love both of these song so effing much. Seriously, Youngbae has excellent writers (except whoever penned you're my... that guy should be fired immediately) and he performs the songs immaculately. Seriously.
Then are the two re-releases of 기도 and 나만 바라봐 which are from his Hot mini-album. Again, bonafied Taeyang classics. I find it pretty unfortunate that the song 최인 (Sinners in English) gets so much less attention. It is easily my favorite song he's made, and in my opinion, the highest quality song he has. It's so beautiful constructed and sung. So passionate and thoughtful. Anyways, that songs not on the cd, so I should leave it out. hah.
Last is Take it Slow, which Taeyang composed himself. I think this is a pretty nice wrap-up to the album. It's nice to see a piece he composed turn out so well. This is the clutch slow jam (besides wedding dress) that Taeyang really needed in the album. Since You're My fell so short of my very high expectations, it's nice that this song is so good. It's a really love ballad. I agree YoungBae, let's take it slow. I will slowly savor every bit of this cd (minus you're my, which is getting skipped consistently), and dream of the day when you and I will be together... *fades into sentimental day dreaming*
Oh, for those of you who are interested, here are two videos I posted on my youtube channel of me opening Solar, and the BigBang Big Show concert CD, which I also picked up today:
