This is called me getting in touch with my pre-kpop roots.
I saw this duo last Friday at Hoon's cousin's university festival.
Let me explain. Every university has an annual festival. Sometimes it is in the fall, and sometimes it is in the spring. It depends on the university. For example, Hoon's uni festival starts tomorrow. His cousin's ended last week. But Hoon's older brother's university was last October. The festival is a little bit like homecoming, except without the alumni coming back, and also without a football game. So actually it's not anything like homecoming except for the alcohol consumption. Basically all freshman are required to perform in some music/singing/dancing/cultural performance. Plus some singers come and perform. Sometimes it's a very famous singers, and sometimes it's a less famous singer. If you go to a very good or famous university, you get a good famous singer. Ex: Hoon goes to one of the best unis in Korea (yes, I am bragging right now, i don't even care). On Friday, 2ne1 will perform. Sometimes, even if a school is not particularly famous or good, if it has enough money it can bring a famous group/singer. Ex: Hoon's bro goes to a not so famous school. But it's private. They had B2ST last year.
Anyways, the student groups also set up tents for drinking and snacking, and sometimes there are games to play. Mostly though, they cook you shitty 안주 and serve you a ton of beer, soju and other adult beverages. On campus. For three days.
It's pretty freaking awesome.
I love university festivals.
Anyways, at Hoon's cousin Daniel's university festival, this duo came to perform. They are called 10 Centimeters (the difference between the two members' heights) and they are SO awesome and fun. I feel like this is something my non-kpop followers (i.e. all my friends back home) could seriously enjoy even in spite of the language difference.
Take a moment to listen. You might be surprised!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Best Performance I've seen
So Thursday's MNet M Countdown, GD/TOP performed 뻑이가요 and High High. High High was pretty standard, but 뻑이가요 was hands down the best music show performance I've seen perhaps ever by any artist. Their styling was impeccable. Their attitude was perfect. It was impeccable. Just perfect.
Here it is:
Here it is:
Monday, December 27, 2010
GD T.O.P. High High CD review
Well, as many of you know, I purchased GD & TOP's full length album on Christmas Day here in Korea. I didn't listen to it until the 26th, but have been listening to it practically nonstop yesterday and today in order to prepare this review for you, the fans. In fact, I'm listening to it right now to make sure I don't miss anything.
The album overall
The album is really nice looking. I think it's much more sophisticated and expensive looking than the 2ne1 album, which was pretty but super flashy. This album manages to combine bling and sophistication. I actually really like the pseudo playboy bunny and the paisley print that was incorporated into the bunny design and the cd itself. But I just really like paisley in general. The pictures are generally pretty good although some of the styling is questionable in my personal opinion (I like animal prints and furs, but the headscarf gd wears, and the ladies fur coat TOP dons in two of the pictures are horrible). I really like the backgrounds of the pictures. Either really really super simple or really really eccentric. Just like GD and TOP. What I hate about the cd itself? Two things. First, there are two separate pages which both contain identical track lists. Why? I mean, the pictures are different, but why put the tracks listed twice? It's weird. Second, the album jacket which contains all the lyrics is glued into the cd case. I HATE THAT. 2ne1's album was the same and it makes me effing crazy.
Track List & Analysis:
1. Intro: The intro, which samples 70s legend Freda Payne's It's Yours to Have, is just enough of a borrowing from the past without copying, and still super super forward thinking. I feel like wearing some big ass earrings and a headscarf and some rollerskates, but at the same time, heading to a club and bouncing around. I also like how the last verse introduces all the songs. It's like an actualy introduction, not just some jibber jabber that starts the cd.
2. High High: We've all heard this song (unless you've been living under a kpop rock for the last month) but it's still awesome. It definitely sounds like something I would hear in a club in Seoul (although unfortunately not in most American university area clubs, with which I'm much familiar with). The hook is SUPER catchy. And the video, well, it's super American. It feels like something I'd watch on t.v. in America, except that some of the western girls aren't video girls at all (which is a true statement, this was just like a big party at the filming and lots of people who are not actually dancers or models attended). There are a couple moments I'd replace in the video to make it look more professional, but otherwise, I like the video a lot too. Also, I don't agree with Eat Your Kimchi's 5 out of 5 for English rating. Ghetto Electro isn't a real word, and their joke wasn't even that funny (don't get me wrong, I'm totally a fan of eatyourkimchi.com but that joke wasn't funny and I think their bias got in the way of the fact that the English in this song was not perfect and maybe deserves a 3.5 or 4 out of 5)
3. Oh Yeah (feat. Park Bom): Into is funky and fun. GD opening the first verse really screams of Heartbreaker to me for some reason. But when TOP steps in, he changes it up a bit. However, I'd say his first verse sounds a little forced and too clean. Part of the beauty of TOP's voice is it's roughness. But Bom KILLS this track. I get chills listening to her sing in this song. Also, you can tell TOP didn't have a part in the production of this video. It's a great song, and it fits GD's style perfect, but it's something TOP seems to need to conform to a bit. He does a good job of it, but it's not his best performance. But, I'm gonna repeat this because it's so true: Park Bom KILLED it.
4. 집에 가지마: This song is practically perfect, in my opinion. Bom was gonna feature on this as well, but as much as I love her voice, I'm glad she didn't. I like GD doing those vocals on the chorus. Also, I really like when GD echoes TOP during the first verse. Their voices sound so nice together, deep with the high. TOP is also back to his more voice. Even though this song is really smooth, they don't over auto-tone his voice, which was I think the problem I have on Oh Yeah. Also, I love when GD sings and raps on the same track. His singing voice and rapping voice are totally different, but they blend so nicely on a single track.
5. Baby Good Night: Besides 뻑이가요 this is my favorite song on the album (I think I may like it more than 뻑이가요 but they are so completely different it's hard to compare). When I heard this song on the world premiere, I though I wanna make love to this song. Not make love while this song is playing, but I want to make love with this song. It's so subtly sexy and juxtaposes GD's almost feminine voice with TOP whispering breathy raps. I've heard TOP speak live plenty of times, but I still kind of imagine that the way he raps in this song is the cadence and tone of his real voice. And it makes me love him a little. I don't wanna say goodbye to this song when it ends. Also, the french? HELLO SEX.
6.뻑이가요: The best live song I've perhaps ever seen performed in Korea (at least overally acoustic performance wise). The bass is so intense and hard in live performances and you see TOP shine really bright with his hardness and GD matches the hardness punch for punch with his own quirky version of street. TOP sounds natural here. This isn't exactly the standard GD we're used to, but GD stepped his game up like crazy on this song. My complaint is that this song falls a little flat on the production. No matter how I changed the EQ on my ipod touch, the bass wasn't what it could be. I feel like I have plenty of bass heavy tracks on my ipod (I listen to a lot of American hip hop as well as kpop) but this song is too studio on the album. I wanna record the audio off the YG family concert footage or from the T Social Party minus the audience noise, and I'd bump this song nonstop. Even Turn It Up has better bass than this song and it's on the same album. I don't get it.
7. Oh Mom (TOP Solo): This song is a little strange to me. The transition between 뻑이가요 and this song seems awkward (I feel like it should be place together with GD's 어쩌란 말이냐? which also has the rock influence. That being said, I don't normally like TOP's singing voice, but I'll listen to this song. It's not my favorite on the track, but it's decent. It's a bit depressing, with the rando feedback between the chorus and the second verse, and it's not Big Bang sounding or TOP sounding. Also, I don't understand the title. As far as I can tell preliminary, the song doesn't really directly relate to his mom at all. It's about letters and his fans and telling his fans that they aren't alone. I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to work hard on that translation and I'll get back to you. It reminds me of that Eminem song, Stan. hahahahaha.
8. 악몽 (GD Solo): Dark and intense. GD goes hard on this song. It's super American in the currently popular vain of that Eminem and Rihana song, Love the Way you Lie. It's got enough of GD using what he's comfortable enough (the chorus is super Heartbreaker to me) but the verses push him a little bit outside of what I'd call his comfort zone. This song is the perfect thing for me to push through something when I'm in a bad mood or feeling like I can't endure something. This song also pumps me up in a way I can't explain. I feel like I can work harder and more intensely with this song in the background.
9. 오늘따라 (TOP Solo): I love the sound of this song. It's so intense, but it doesn't have quite the over-the-top swagger of TOP's other really famous solo, Turn It Up. The hook makes me crazy. I could lose my head in a club to this song. It has just the right amount and degree of tempo changes and drums and percussion come in in an epic manner really just adding to the production value of this song. I really enjoy this song and it's kind of just a song that I can play anytime and feel good about it. I love this song.
10. 어쩌란 말이냐 (GD Solo): This song is probably my least favorite on the album. I would maybe like it more if it was put together with TOP's rockish song, because then I could feel the cohesion of the two songs, but they are separate, and I think that hurts the flow of the album. Also, GD's voice is a little fake/forced sounding. Maybe it's just not my style, but I don't like this song. I don't hate it, but I probably skip over it more than not. I pretty much just listen to it when I have my earbuds in and its too cold to take my gloves off to operate my ipod touch... Just not for me.
11. Bonus Track: Turn It Up (TOP): I don't need to review this I think. You've all heard it. You all know it's dope. So yeah.
Last note: props to the boys for writing the lyrics on all the songs (Teddy assisted on High High and Oh Yeah, which you can tell) and participating in production or arranging of all the songs except High High and Oh Yeah (also Teddy... duh).
That's it for me. Comment and lemme know what you think about the album. I'll be posting a video review sometime in the next week hopefully... ^_^
xoxo
A
The album overall
The album is really nice looking. I think it's much more sophisticated and expensive looking than the 2ne1 album, which was pretty but super flashy. This album manages to combine bling and sophistication. I actually really like the pseudo playboy bunny and the paisley print that was incorporated into the bunny design and the cd itself. But I just really like paisley in general. The pictures are generally pretty good although some of the styling is questionable in my personal opinion (I like animal prints and furs, but the headscarf gd wears, and the ladies fur coat TOP dons in two of the pictures are horrible). I really like the backgrounds of the pictures. Either really really super simple or really really eccentric. Just like GD and TOP. What I hate about the cd itself? Two things. First, there are two separate pages which both contain identical track lists. Why? I mean, the pictures are different, but why put the tracks listed twice? It's weird. Second, the album jacket which contains all the lyrics is glued into the cd case. I HATE THAT. 2ne1's album was the same and it makes me effing crazy.
Track List & Analysis:
1. Intro: The intro, which samples 70s legend Freda Payne's It's Yours to Have, is just enough of a borrowing from the past without copying, and still super super forward thinking. I feel like wearing some big ass earrings and a headscarf and some rollerskates, but at the same time, heading to a club and bouncing around. I also like how the last verse introduces all the songs. It's like an actualy introduction, not just some jibber jabber that starts the cd.
2. High High: We've all heard this song (unless you've been living under a kpop rock for the last month) but it's still awesome. It definitely sounds like something I would hear in a club in Seoul (although unfortunately not in most American university area clubs, with which I'm much familiar with). The hook is SUPER catchy. And the video, well, it's super American. It feels like something I'd watch on t.v. in America, except that some of the western girls aren't video girls at all (which is a true statement, this was just like a big party at the filming and lots of people who are not actually dancers or models attended). There are a couple moments I'd replace in the video to make it look more professional, but otherwise, I like the video a lot too. Also, I don't agree with Eat Your Kimchi's 5 out of 5 for English rating. Ghetto Electro isn't a real word, and their joke wasn't even that funny (don't get me wrong, I'm totally a fan of eatyourkimchi.com but that joke wasn't funny and I think their bias got in the way of the fact that the English in this song was not perfect and maybe deserves a 3.5 or 4 out of 5)
3. Oh Yeah (feat. Park Bom): Into is funky and fun. GD opening the first verse really screams of Heartbreaker to me for some reason. But when TOP steps in, he changes it up a bit. However, I'd say his first verse sounds a little forced and too clean. Part of the beauty of TOP's voice is it's roughness. But Bom KILLS this track. I get chills listening to her sing in this song. Also, you can tell TOP didn't have a part in the production of this video. It's a great song, and it fits GD's style perfect, but it's something TOP seems to need to conform to a bit. He does a good job of it, but it's not his best performance. But, I'm gonna repeat this because it's so true: Park Bom KILLED it.
4. 집에 가지마: This song is practically perfect, in my opinion. Bom was gonna feature on this as well, but as much as I love her voice, I'm glad she didn't. I like GD doing those vocals on the chorus. Also, I really like when GD echoes TOP during the first verse. Their voices sound so nice together, deep with the high. TOP is also back to his more voice. Even though this song is really smooth, they don't over auto-tone his voice, which was I think the problem I have on Oh Yeah. Also, I love when GD sings and raps on the same track. His singing voice and rapping voice are totally different, but they blend so nicely on a single track.
5. Baby Good Night: Besides 뻑이가요 this is my favorite song on the album (I think I may like it more than 뻑이가요 but they are so completely different it's hard to compare). When I heard this song on the world premiere, I though I wanna make love to this song. Not make love while this song is playing, but I want to make love with this song. It's so subtly sexy and juxtaposes GD's almost feminine voice with TOP whispering breathy raps. I've heard TOP speak live plenty of times, but I still kind of imagine that the way he raps in this song is the cadence and tone of his real voice. And it makes me love him a little. I don't wanna say goodbye to this song when it ends. Also, the french? HELLO SEX.
6.뻑이가요: The best live song I've perhaps ever seen performed in Korea (at least overally acoustic performance wise). The bass is so intense and hard in live performances and you see TOP shine really bright with his hardness and GD matches the hardness punch for punch with his own quirky version of street. TOP sounds natural here. This isn't exactly the standard GD we're used to, but GD stepped his game up like crazy on this song. My complaint is that this song falls a little flat on the production. No matter how I changed the EQ on my ipod touch, the bass wasn't what it could be. I feel like I have plenty of bass heavy tracks on my ipod (I listen to a lot of American hip hop as well as kpop) but this song is too studio on the album. I wanna record the audio off the YG family concert footage or from the T Social Party minus the audience noise, and I'd bump this song nonstop. Even Turn It Up has better bass than this song and it's on the same album. I don't get it.
7. Oh Mom (TOP Solo): This song is a little strange to me. The transition between 뻑이가요 and this song seems awkward (I feel like it should be place together with GD's 어쩌란 말이냐? which also has the rock influence. That being said, I don't normally like TOP's singing voice, but I'll listen to this song. It's not my favorite on the track, but it's decent. It's a bit depressing, with the rando feedback between the chorus and the second verse, and it's not Big Bang sounding or TOP sounding. Also, I don't understand the title. As far as I can tell preliminary, the song doesn't really directly relate to his mom at all. It's about letters and his fans and telling his fans that they aren't alone. I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to work hard on that translation and I'll get back to you. It reminds me of that Eminem song, Stan. hahahahaha.
8. 악몽 (GD Solo): Dark and intense. GD goes hard on this song. It's super American in the currently popular vain of that Eminem and Rihana song, Love the Way you Lie. It's got enough of GD using what he's comfortable enough (the chorus is super Heartbreaker to me) but the verses push him a little bit outside of what I'd call his comfort zone. This song is the perfect thing for me to push through something when I'm in a bad mood or feeling like I can't endure something. This song also pumps me up in a way I can't explain. I feel like I can work harder and more intensely with this song in the background.
9. 오늘따라 (TOP Solo): I love the sound of this song. It's so intense, but it doesn't have quite the over-the-top swagger of TOP's other really famous solo, Turn It Up. The hook makes me crazy. I could lose my head in a club to this song. It has just the right amount and degree of tempo changes and drums and percussion come in in an epic manner really just adding to the production value of this song. I really enjoy this song and it's kind of just a song that I can play anytime and feel good about it. I love this song.
10. 어쩌란 말이냐 (GD Solo): This song is probably my least favorite on the album. I would maybe like it more if it was put together with TOP's rockish song, because then I could feel the cohesion of the two songs, but they are separate, and I think that hurts the flow of the album. Also, GD's voice is a little fake/forced sounding. Maybe it's just not my style, but I don't like this song. I don't hate it, but I probably skip over it more than not. I pretty much just listen to it when I have my earbuds in and its too cold to take my gloves off to operate my ipod touch... Just not for me.
11. Bonus Track: Turn It Up (TOP): I don't need to review this I think. You've all heard it. You all know it's dope. So yeah.
Last note: props to the boys for writing the lyrics on all the songs (Teddy assisted on High High and Oh Yeah, which you can tell) and participating in production or arranging of all the songs except High High and Oh Yeah (also Teddy... duh).
That's it for me. Comment and lemme know what you think about the album. I'll be posting a video review sometime in the next week hopefully... ^_^
xoxo
A
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Korean Christmas 2
Last year I wrote a painfully uninteresting and undetailed account of my Christmas. But this year, don't fret my friends, I had a particularly interesting Christmas, so I'm in a gooooood mood, and I'm ready to share this all with you.
As I had mentioned before I got to attend a bunch of cool events last week, starting with Fever Seoul Live and ending with the T Social Party. I'll review these events and include some pictures and videos for all of you to enjoy.
Fever Seoul Live was interesting. It was much shorter than I anticipated, but it was pretty cool. It was definitely centered upon bboying, which I liked, but I would have liked to see more dumbfoundead and less Jay Park. Don't get my wrong, I like Jay Park, but he seems to me to be just pretty good at everything and not particularly awesome at any one thing. He's a pretty good bboy, he's a pretty good singer, he's an okay rapper, but nothing he does makes me want to jump out of my seat. Korean people like him because he's cute (but his ears are distractingly large) and he speaks Korean and English (wow). Dumbfoundead performed She Don't Care acoustic with David Choi on the guitar, and Manifest beatboxing. He also performed Liquor Store Blues with David Choi, which isn't my favorite but that's okay. And he did Bullets of Truth which is probably my favorite of his old songs (download it y'all! Support him... he's dope). And he did Clouds with Jay Park which has a dope verse by dfd, but Jay Park's verse is kind of lame compared to his other stuff (I actually really like Bestie, which he performed)
I went there with my friend Dre, which was fun. I hadn't hung out with him in a long time.
Then on Friday after school I basically sprinted home (okay, so I didn't actually run anywhere, I took a taxi) to get ready for the T Social Christmas Party. The party began at 8 p.m. and was all the way in 강남 which is pretty far away. I thought I was really lucky because my co-teacher got invited as well and she would drive me. I got off work at 4:15 (yay sneaking out early!) and she was going to be at my apt at 5:20 so I had to book it home and get ready. I wore this gorgeous new Lanvin <3 H&M black one shoulder dress with exposed zipper and some new heels I got in 이태원. I unfortunately don't have a picture of the whole outfit, which is super unfortunate. I did my make-up blingbling-tastic (that was the dresscode... bling bling). I forgot to put on mascara in my run out the house a full 5 minutes late. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend in Gangnam at 6:45. Unfortunately, we got stuck in some really horrifyingly bad traffic. Basically, it would take about 50 minutes to 1 hour to get to Gangnam from where we live, but since it was rush-hour on a Friday which also just so happened to be Christmas Eve, after one hour, we were still in Incheon, barely to Bupyeong. I was really really upset, because I didn't want to be late, and it was really boring. I could have just taken the train and it would have been easier. We finally got moving only to get stuck in even worse traffic in Youngdeungpo, which is about 10 minutes driving (usually) from Gangnam. After sitting in that traffic until about 7:00, I was like fuck this. I told my co-teacher that I would find the subway and take the subway. I got out of the car in the middle of the street, and crossed through oncoming traffic in -15 degree Celsius weather, hailed a cab and had it take me to the closest subway station. It took me another 30 minutes on the subway (i had to transfer twice), but I still beat my co-teacher by something like 2 hours. She evidently took a wrong turn and got onto a highway headed to Busan (the southernmost point on South Korea basically... not good). I met my boyfriend and we walked to the club (after a minor detour where we got totally lost and I had to call Mina to get directions). Got to the club, with unusable fingers due to the cold, and was really snappy to my boyfriend (Sorry BOOOOO!) but then we were inside! We didn't miss anything except 360 Sounds' DJ set. We saw Leessang (리쌍) and Se7en (세븐) and GD&TOP. Our view wasn't the best, but since we are both really tall, we could see well enough, in spite of being a bit far from the stage. The performance was a little underwhelming, because there were too many people at the club and people were acting really stupid. But Se7en, GD & TOP were all really awesome. Se7en sang Digital Bounce, I'm Going Crazy, Better Together, LaLaLa, and 열정(Passion, my FAVORITE). And GD came out and sang Heartbreaker, and TOP sang Turn It Up and then they both came out and did High High, Oh Yeah and 뻑이가요 (Knock Out). OMG SO FUCKING AWESOME.
Then boo and I took a taxi back home and ate McDonalds.
I will tell you about my actual Christmas more specifically later!
As I had mentioned before I got to attend a bunch of cool events last week, starting with Fever Seoul Live and ending with the T Social Party. I'll review these events and include some pictures and videos for all of you to enjoy.
Fever Seoul Live was interesting. It was much shorter than I anticipated, but it was pretty cool. It was definitely centered upon bboying, which I liked, but I would have liked to see more dumbfoundead and less Jay Park. Don't get my wrong, I like Jay Park, but he seems to me to be just pretty good at everything and not particularly awesome at any one thing. He's a pretty good bboy, he's a pretty good singer, he's an okay rapper, but nothing he does makes me want to jump out of my seat. Korean people like him because he's cute (but his ears are distractingly large) and he speaks Korean and English (wow). Dumbfoundead performed She Don't Care acoustic with David Choi on the guitar, and Manifest beatboxing. He also performed Liquor Store Blues with David Choi, which isn't my favorite but that's okay. And he did Bullets of Truth which is probably my favorite of his old songs (download it y'all! Support him... he's dope). And he did Clouds with Jay Park which has a dope verse by dfd, but Jay Park's verse is kind of lame compared to his other stuff (I actually really like Bestie, which he performed)
DFD (left) and Jay Park (Right)
I went there with my friend Dre, which was fun. I hadn't hung out with him in a long time.
Then on Friday after school I basically sprinted home (okay, so I didn't actually run anywhere, I took a taxi) to get ready for the T Social Christmas Party. The party began at 8 p.m. and was all the way in 강남 which is pretty far away. I thought I was really lucky because my co-teacher got invited as well and she would drive me. I got off work at 4:15 (yay sneaking out early!) and she was going to be at my apt at 5:20 so I had to book it home and get ready. I wore this gorgeous new Lanvin <3 H&M black one shoulder dress with exposed zipper and some new heels I got in 이태원. I unfortunately don't have a picture of the whole outfit, which is super unfortunate. I did my make-up blingbling-tastic (that was the dresscode... bling bling). I forgot to put on mascara in my run out the house a full 5 minutes late. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend in Gangnam at 6:45. Unfortunately, we got stuck in some really horrifyingly bad traffic. Basically, it would take about 50 minutes to 1 hour to get to Gangnam from where we live, but since it was rush-hour on a Friday which also just so happened to be Christmas Eve, after one hour, we were still in Incheon, barely to Bupyeong. I was really really upset, because I didn't want to be late, and it was really boring. I could have just taken the train and it would have been easier. We finally got moving only to get stuck in even worse traffic in Youngdeungpo, which is about 10 minutes driving (usually) from Gangnam. After sitting in that traffic until about 7:00, I was like fuck this. I told my co-teacher that I would find the subway and take the subway. I got out of the car in the middle of the street, and crossed through oncoming traffic in -15 degree Celsius weather, hailed a cab and had it take me to the closest subway station. It took me another 30 minutes on the subway (i had to transfer twice), but I still beat my co-teacher by something like 2 hours. She evidently took a wrong turn and got onto a highway headed to Busan (the southernmost point on South Korea basically... not good). I met my boyfriend and we walked to the club (after a minor detour where we got totally lost and I had to call Mina to get directions). Got to the club, with unusable fingers due to the cold, and was really snappy to my boyfriend (Sorry BOOOOO!) but then we were inside! We didn't miss anything except 360 Sounds' DJ set. We saw Leessang (리쌍) and Se7en (세븐) and GD&TOP. Our view wasn't the best, but since we are both really tall, we could see well enough, in spite of being a bit far from the stage. The performance was a little underwhelming, because there were too many people at the club and people were acting really stupid. But Se7en, GD & TOP were all really awesome. Se7en sang Digital Bounce, I'm Going Crazy, Better Together, LaLaLa, and 열정(Passion, my FAVORITE). And GD came out and sang Heartbreaker, and TOP sang Turn It Up and then they both came out and did High High, Oh Yeah and 뻑이가요 (Knock Out). OMG SO FUCKING AWESOME.
Then boo and I took a taxi back home and ate McDonalds.
I will tell you about my actual Christmas more specifically later!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
G-Dragon and T.O.P. High High CD Giveaway!!
Hey, in an attempt to capitalize on my semi-popularity due to the YG Family Concert Fan Cams, I plan to do a special giveaway for my subscribers. I will be giving away one copy of GD-TOP's High High full-length cd to a lucky subscriber.
See my video for information, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel, rate, and comment on my video!! GOOD LUCK!
xoxo
A
See my video for information, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel, rate, and comment on my video!! GOOD LUCK!
xoxo
A
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
YouTube Videos
My youtube channel is currently ranked at the #46 most viewed South Korean channel of the day. This is a pretty awesome accomplishment. I'd like to thank GMarket for being amazing at finding me really close seats less than one week from the concert date, and YG Family for making an awesome concert.
Anyways, here are the videos from YG Family concert:
Share them with your friends, and get me even higher on the most viewed list!! And subscribe to my youtube channel!
Anyways, here are the videos from YG Family concert:
Share them with your friends, and get me even higher on the most viewed list!! And subscribe to my youtube channel!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Hot List December
The hottest things of this winter!
1. Kanye West: My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Holy Jeezus Yeezy, you killed it on this one. It's getting unbelievably high ratings from every review site out there (pitchfork gave it a perfect 10? now that's impressive). This album is an epic. It's a story and it's an apology and its a huge fuck you with love from Kanye. Packed with anthems about douchebaggery, throbbing lines from Bon Iver, top notch featured artists (see: Jay-Z, RZA, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Nicki Minaj and more), a closing track by Cornel West, and a Chris Rock comedy bit interspersed with a woman voice breathily saying "Yeezy taught me," this cd has all the heartbreak of 808s with only 10% of the autotune, all the bling of graduation, and so much more. Buy it if you haven't already. It's pure fire.
2. SNOW
It had snowed only once so far here (Twice, but one was at 2 a.m. for 10 minutes and I don't count that) but I am anticipating snow and the hope for snowmen and snow fights and cute moments with my boyfriend. Also, trying to go skiing this break.
3. Haesa Go finished!
Like I mentioned before I've got only one more week. Tonight is a movie. Two weeks from now I have final prep, final exam administration and a last day party or celebration of some sort. Thank God.
4. Angry Birds
This ipod app is seriously addicting. I'm gonna download the paid version tonight and I just can't wait!!! It's so simple, but it's so fun. Good for passing time.
5. YG FAMILY CONCERT
Sunday!! Today I managed to snag tickets for a MUCH better set of tickets than I had before. My old tickets were standing, but towards the back. Now I'm in the front-most section just right of center. I just logged onto gmarket randomly and discovered it, and was sooooo happy! Now I just need to sell the old tickets and get to the concert venue hella early on Saturday to snag some concert goods!
6. prank vs. prank youtube channel
This maybe too early for me to definitively say, but this youtube channel seemed hella awesome last night while I was watching videos. The premise is this couple lives together and constantly plays pranks on each other. It was really funny.
7. Bangs
I forgot how much I liked them. Currently I have them sideswept, but I'm thinking about going full Korean and doing some blunt cut bangs. I always imagined them as being super horrible, but the more I think about it, the more I could see it being really cute. Also, when I style my bangs in the morning I get a glimpse of what they'd look like blunt and slightly curled (since essentially thats what they are, except at the end I sweep them to the side).
Welp, that's all folks
xoxo
A
1. Kanye West: My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Holy Jeezus Yeezy, you killed it on this one. It's getting unbelievably high ratings from every review site out there (pitchfork gave it a perfect 10? now that's impressive). This album is an epic. It's a story and it's an apology and its a huge fuck you with love from Kanye. Packed with anthems about douchebaggery, throbbing lines from Bon Iver, top notch featured artists (see: Jay-Z, RZA, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Nicki Minaj and more), a closing track by Cornel West, and a Chris Rock comedy bit interspersed with a woman voice breathily saying "Yeezy taught me," this cd has all the heartbreak of 808s with only 10% of the autotune, all the bling of graduation, and so much more. Buy it if you haven't already. It's pure fire.
2. SNOW
It had snowed only once so far here (Twice, but one was at 2 a.m. for 10 minutes and I don't count that) but I am anticipating snow and the hope for snowmen and snow fights and cute moments with my boyfriend. Also, trying to go skiing this break.
3. Haesa Go finished!
Like I mentioned before I've got only one more week. Tonight is a movie. Two weeks from now I have final prep, final exam administration and a last day party or celebration of some sort. Thank God.
4. Angry Birds
This ipod app is seriously addicting. I'm gonna download the paid version tonight and I just can't wait!!! It's so simple, but it's so fun. Good for passing time.
5. YG FAMILY CONCERT
Sunday!! Today I managed to snag tickets for a MUCH better set of tickets than I had before. My old tickets were standing, but towards the back. Now I'm in the front-most section just right of center. I just logged onto gmarket randomly and discovered it, and was sooooo happy! Now I just need to sell the old tickets and get to the concert venue hella early on Saturday to snag some concert goods!
6. prank vs. prank youtube channel
This maybe too early for me to definitively say, but this youtube channel seemed hella awesome last night while I was watching videos. The premise is this couple lives together and constantly plays pranks on each other. It was really funny.
7. Bangs
I forgot how much I liked them. Currently I have them sideswept, but I'm thinking about going full Korean and doing some blunt cut bangs. I always imagined them as being super horrible, but the more I think about it, the more I could see it being really cute. Also, when I style my bangs in the morning I get a glimpse of what they'd look like blunt and slightly curled (since essentially thats what they are, except at the end I sweep them to the side).
Welp, that's all folks
xoxo
A
Monday, November 29, 2010
OH MY JESUS.
The YG countdown revealed everything! OMG OMG OMFG IM FUCKING DYING.
G-Dragon and T.O.P. are releasing a double album. First digital single released Dec 14. Album out dec. 24th. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME.
Also, BIG BANG COMBACK FEBRUARY 1 2011! OH MY GOD COMEBACK NOW.
Also also, Seung-ri is gonna have a single out January 3rd (happy birthday to my brother!)
No word on a 2ne1 international release. But aside from that, my life is complete. Everything will be entered into my calendars soon, and I will be counting down the moments till my happiness reaches its most ultimate point.
G-Dragon and T.O.P. are releasing a double album. First digital single released Dec 14. Album out dec. 24th. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME.
Also, BIG BANG COMBACK FEBRUARY 1 2011! OH MY GOD COMEBACK NOW.
Also also, Seung-ri is gonna have a single out January 3rd (happy birthday to my brother!)
No word on a 2ne1 international release. But aside from that, my life is complete. Everything will be entered into my calendars soon, and I will be counting down the moments till my happiness reaches its most ultimate point.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
America meets Korea: music
So I just found this video from the past summer of 2ne1. They are doing tributes to artists they admire or look up to. CL did Lauryn Hill's DooWop (That Thing) which was pretty awesome and the songs were all in English. It's worth watching for both my k-pop fans and my friends who don't give a damn about k-pop because it's interesting to see these singers sing these songs. Plus at the end they sing Fire, which is easily still one of my favorite Korean songs of all time.
Also, holy shit, Minzy's dance is naughty. She was 15 at the time.
Lastly, uh, what's with the rain at the end when they are performing Fire? Bizarre.
Also, holy shit, Minzy's dance is naughty. She was 15 at the time.
Lastly, uh, what's with the rain at the end when they are performing Fire? Bizarre.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
I haven't eaten yet today
Instead I fucked around on youtube and facebook and played doodle jump or slept all day.
This must be how Joseph Gutierrez feels all the time. Weird.
Anyways, I thought this was cool. I'm kinda obsessed with him, but not in a weird way. He's just really talented.
This must be how Joseph Gutierrez feels all the time. Weird.
Anyways, I thought this was cool. I'm kinda obsessed with him, but not in a weird way. He's just really talented.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Rando
So this has both nothing to do with me and nothing to do with kpop so this will probably not initially be of interest to any of my readers (my reader base is a. friends from home, and b. crazed kpop fangirls/boys). But shit is funny as hell.
A friend posted it on facebook, I saw it and am reposting it here. HILARIOUS.
A friend posted it on facebook, I saw it and am reposting it here. HILARIOUS.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
I'll Be Back
Sorry, 2PM, but I really wish you weren't back yet. THIS????????? This is the concept you're coming back with? WHY? This has got to be one of the top 3 lamest music videos of 2010. I don't understand. The choreography is just modified running mans and that's it. Listen 2PM, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice did that back in the late 80s before most of you were born so maybe you haven't seen it, but I assure you, you are NOT bringing it back. The song itself isn't bad (I listened to it in the gym today in fact) but good lord, the video. It's a hot mess. Add ridiculous eye make (it puts BoA's Hurricane Venus to shame; if girls wore it they'd be criticized for whoring it up it's that excessive) and really uninspiring clothing choices (uh, drab neutrals? They aren't even pleasant looking neutral colors. They are the color of a post-apocalyptic dying earth). Plus, the video has no point. The dancing, as I mentioned before is completely uninteresting, so I'm not captivated by that alone. The only minor upside is that point in which that one guy (Taec?) is wearing the open shit and we get to see some skin.
Monday, October 11, 2010
My addiction to buying shit.
So, this weekend my phone broke. And by that I mean the scan completely got fucked up and I couldn't read anything on the screen and so I couldn't really receive texts (or read them at least) and I couldn't tell who was calling me. So anyways, I went with the bf to the cell phone store Friday night to try to acquire a new phone. I have been saying I really wanted the Galaxy S phone really really badly, but I didn't have a reason to buy it. But, now was the perfect opportunity. But, to my dismay, E-2 visa holders cannot purchase a Galaxy S smartphone because it requires a two-year contract and there isn't a two-year E-2 visa. So I was looking at some other phones (iphone 4 still has a two week reservation wait, which wouldn't have worked, and also no-go for E-2 visa holders). But, then, my boyfriend proposed that he sign the contract for me in order for me to avoid the prohibition on my smartphone purchase. But, I was a little hesitant to accept right away because, god forbid, something terrible happened (either in my life or in our relationship or in my job) and I have to leave Korea (or we break up *shudder*) he could get totally screwed over. I would never intentionally do that, but sometimes crazy shit comes up. I just don't want things to be too complicated or pressured because he did this for me. But he insisted that it was okay. And he called his parents and made sure they thought it was an okay idea and they said yes (I also briefly talked to his mom to say hello and she said she missed me. I miss her too^^) He seemed to really be in favor of me getting the galaxy s (living vicariously through me maybe?) and so I finally caved. And he signed the contract (all the bills go directly to me, it's just his name on the contract, not mine). So I'm really thankful for that. I find it really sweet because he anticipates us (probably) staying together for at least a significant amount of time, and because he obviously trusts me enough to do that for me.
Actually, the store we went to didn't actually have the phone on hand, so they had to get it delivered from another place. And so they were gonna call my boyfriend and have us come pick it up again. He had to go to the library to study, and I was meeting up with some friends to hang out at the Soongsil University festival. Basically lots of drinking and a music performance and playing. So we parted and he said he'd bring me the phone when he could. I went off with my friends, and he hit the stacks, and I got my eat and drink on. About an hour and a half later he came back with the phone store bag and I got super excited. And to make it even better, he wrapped it up in Hello Kitty wrapping paper like it was a special gift. And he wrote me a note too. It was adorably cute. He's freaking wonderful. Unfortunately he had to go back to studying.
Got my phone. Had someone else who has a galaxy s help me get on the internet. Took some pictures. And then got down to the business of drinking more. Gotten pleasantly tipsy. Saw Beast (b2st, 비스트) perform three songs. Complained a bunch to my boyfriend about it being cold (via textmessage) and he surprised me by coming back. And then we went to one of the booths that was really awesome. At that booth, there was a dj and it was like a club but open air and all Soongsil students. And it was super awesome. And we danced a lot and took shots and it was ridiculous. Promptly proceeded from tipsy to drunk.
Went home.
Saturday morning met M & C in Myeongdong. I bought a new dress and a vest (hahahahahah PAIGEY) and they are both super cute (ESPECIALLY the dress, omg)
Went to the War Memorial for the Seoul Soul Festival. Was like 5 people away from Se7en and Taeyang and it was amazing (review in full coming later). Went to a chicken hof with the girls. The chicken hof place had the most amazing 모든감자튀김 (mixed french fries). There were regular crinkle cut fries, tater tots, sweet potato fries, waffle fries, onion rings, smiley face shaped fried potatoes, and the most awesomely delicious fried mashed potato dallops (there isn't a good way to explain them. Imagine mashed potatoes pushed through a frosting bag/tip to create a ridged mountain of fried mashed potato goodness). And the chicken was pretty good. But omg, the french fries. to die for.
Then we went to Hongdae and I got my tragus pierced. It didn't hurt very much then, and I hardly notice it now. Sometimes if I play with it, it tickles my ear, which is strange.
My league team won our Sunday game. I had mandoo and bulgogi with a friend for dinner. Things are looking up.
I finished my worksheets for this week already and there are no high school classes!!
NICE-UH.
xoxo
A
Actually, the store we went to didn't actually have the phone on hand, so they had to get it delivered from another place. And so they were gonna call my boyfriend and have us come pick it up again. He had to go to the library to study, and I was meeting up with some friends to hang out at the Soongsil University festival. Basically lots of drinking and a music performance and playing. So we parted and he said he'd bring me the phone when he could. I went off with my friends, and he hit the stacks, and I got my eat and drink on. About an hour and a half later he came back with the phone store bag and I got super excited. And to make it even better, he wrapped it up in Hello Kitty wrapping paper like it was a special gift. And he wrote me a note too. It was adorably cute. He's freaking wonderful. Unfortunately he had to go back to studying.
Got my phone. Had someone else who has a galaxy s help me get on the internet. Took some pictures. And then got down to the business of drinking more. Gotten pleasantly tipsy. Saw Beast (b2st, 비스트) perform three songs. Complained a bunch to my boyfriend about it being cold (via textmessage) and he surprised me by coming back. And then we went to one of the booths that was really awesome. At that booth, there was a dj and it was like a club but open air and all Soongsil students. And it was super awesome. And we danced a lot and took shots and it was ridiculous. Promptly proceeded from tipsy to drunk.
Went home.
Saturday morning met M & C in Myeongdong. I bought a new dress and a vest (hahahahahah PAIGEY) and they are both super cute (ESPECIALLY the dress, omg)
Went to the War Memorial for the Seoul Soul Festival. Was like 5 people away from Se7en and Taeyang and it was amazing (review in full coming later). Went to a chicken hof with the girls. The chicken hof place had the most amazing 모든감자튀김 (mixed french fries). There were regular crinkle cut fries, tater tots, sweet potato fries, waffle fries, onion rings, smiley face shaped fried potatoes, and the most awesomely delicious fried mashed potato dallops (there isn't a good way to explain them. Imagine mashed potatoes pushed through a frosting bag/tip to create a ridged mountain of fried mashed potato goodness). And the chicken was pretty good. But omg, the french fries. to die for.
Then we went to Hongdae and I got my tragus pierced. It didn't hurt very much then, and I hardly notice it now. Sometimes if I play with it, it tickles my ear, which is strange.
My league team won our Sunday game. I had mandoo and bulgogi with a friend for dinner. Things are looking up.
I finished my worksheets for this week already and there are no high school classes!!
NICE-UH.
xoxo
A
Thursday, September 30, 2010
What's with the gas masks, y'all?
So, B2ST (pronounced beast, because 2 in korean is 이 which is pronounced like the hard e sound), just released their music video for 숨. I initially wasn't a huge B2ST fan, just because I always thought I could only like Big Bang, but now I've really been expanding my horizons and I've discovered that B2ST is actually pretty dope, in spite of the fact that some of them have really horrifyingly bad hair (see HyunSeung, who happens to be a former member of pre-debut Big Bang, and has always had really terrible hair-- you'll know who he is because he's the one with god-awful hair). Anyways, they're new video is posted below.
BUT, before we get to that, I'd like to point out that B2ST is a group under Cube Entertainment, which is an affiliate of JYP. JYP's newest girl group phenomenon, Miss A just released their new single, called Breathe.
I only mention this because 숨 (pronounced Soom) is the Korean word for breathing or respiration. So within one week of each other, two JYP-affiliated groups released songs called, essentially, 'Breathe'. I mean, coincidence, I guess, right? The songs really aren't about the same thing: Miss A's is about first love and someone 'taking your breath away' as the saying goes. B2ST's is about feeling suffocated by the losing your love. So clearly kind of opposite. However, in the chorus of both, they say (miss A): No, I can't breathe" and (B2ST) "I can't take my breath...I can't hold my breath" Okay, pretty similar. But the videos? They're totally different right? I mean Miss A is all spunky and bright and reggae, and B2ST has Prepix's characteristic choppy choreography and is really dark and sad. Well, they have more in common than I noticed at first. My first observation is that they both use gas masks. GAS MASKS? In both videos? That's a bit strange. Also, the choreography in both has kind of stop-action type moves (I'm not sure if it's actually stop-action film editing or if it's the choreography, or a combination there of). Anyways, the songs are obviously different, I just thought it was interesting to see the two songs have some similarities.
Watch both of them now! With English subs!
xoxo
A
BUT, before we get to that, I'd like to point out that B2ST is a group under Cube Entertainment, which is an affiliate of JYP. JYP's newest girl group phenomenon, Miss A just released their new single, called Breathe.
I only mention this because 숨 (pronounced Soom) is the Korean word for breathing or respiration. So within one week of each other, two JYP-affiliated groups released songs called, essentially, 'Breathe'. I mean, coincidence, I guess, right? The songs really aren't about the same thing: Miss A's is about first love and someone 'taking your breath away' as the saying goes. B2ST's is about feeling suffocated by the losing your love. So clearly kind of opposite. However, in the chorus of both, they say (miss A): No, I can't breathe" and (B2ST) "I can't take my breath...I can't hold my breath" Okay, pretty similar. But the videos? They're totally different right? I mean Miss A is all spunky and bright and reggae, and B2ST has Prepix's characteristic choppy choreography and is really dark and sad. Well, they have more in common than I noticed at first. My first observation is that they both use gas masks. GAS MASKS? In both videos? That's a bit strange. Also, the choreography in both has kind of stop-action type moves (I'm not sure if it's actually stop-action film editing or if it's the choreography, or a combination there of). Anyways, the songs are obviously different, I just thought it was interesting to see the two songs have some similarities.
Watch both of them now! With English subs!
xoxo
A
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
September/October is the best ever
NEW SE7EN MUSIC VIDEO. WITH PARK HAN BYEOL, HIS GIRLFRIEND. OMG OMG OMG OMG I LOVE THIS.
Also, I understood all the Korean in the acting sections. NICE.
Also, I understood all the Korean in the acting sections. NICE.
Wax & Herbal T: AMERICAN MUSIC Y'ALL
This is fucking ridiculous. I can't even explain how dope these two dudes are. I would kill to see em live. I wonder if they'll ever come over to Korea with DFD? That would be cray cray.
Sorry for spamming your shit with youtube vids. I got my lesson planning done a bit earlier than anticipated.
xoxo
A
Sorry for spamming your shit with youtube vids. I got my lesson planning done a bit earlier than anticipated.
xoxo
A
Media overload
So perhaps I'm overwhelming you readers with shit these days, but HOLY CRAP! BoA's newest video for Copy and Paste is glorious.
October is gonna be a tight race between BoA and Miss A, I think. BoA is way more beautiful (read: perfect in every way), but the choreography on Breathe by Miss A is more innovative (just my opinion, I know some jumpingBoAs will not be happy with that analysis, sorry y'all). Let's see, staying power vs. rookie power.
October is gonna be a tight race between BoA and Miss A, I think. BoA is way more beautiful (read: perfect in every way), but the choreography on Breathe by Miss A is more innovative (just my opinion, I know some jumpingBoAs will not be happy with that analysis, sorry y'all). Let's see, staying power vs. rookie power.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Taeyang Solar Concert Review
As I mentioned, I went to Taeyang's Solar Concert this weekend. He had two concerts, one on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7pm and another on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 6pm. I attended both, sitting on the first floor, 21st row on Saturday and second floor 14th row (?) on Sunday. I thought the concerts were both really amazing, but too short.
The set list and a short review of the performances will be posted below.
A few preliminary notes: The Sunday show was supposedly sold out, and I almost arrived late. The shows were both at 경희대학교 which is a beautiful university campus (Kyunghee University), and I highly recommend any potential Seoul visitors to go there and look around. It's incredibly scenic, with beautiful buildings, especially peace hall, which is where the concert was actually held. It's also quite hilly, so it's good for a bit of walking exercise. Also, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm totally YB-, BigBang-, YG Family-biased, so probably the review will come off exceedingly positive (although I do have a couple complaints). Last, the concert on Sunday was 18+ so the things that were different (which were fewer than anticipated) will be noted in a different color. Also, this was Taeyang's second and third solo concerts, not his first as many mistakenly say. He had a solo concert for HOT a while ago, but it wasn't a full length concert because it wasn't a full length album.
Pre-show: Before the show began, beside the main stage were two large screens showing various Taeyang videos, as well as a couple 2ne1 videos (at least one). My seats on Saturday were a bit stage left, and my seats on Sunday (which I barely made it to on time) were a bit stage right, which was intentional so as to best enjoy the full experience of the show. Sitting on the second floor was actually really great because I could see the whole stage, and the venue was still quite small so I was rather close.
Intro: The show began with the house lights dimmed, the intro music for Solar playing, and an artistic video of Taeyang preparing to enter the Hall playing. Then, as the intro picked up in the middle, suddenly Taeyang began his descent from above the stage in a white circle lit from all around. All the lights were on him as he stood posed and ready while the circle descended to a few steps when he officially began the concert. He was wearing an all white ensemble with aviator sunglasses. He had on a white vest with the very large collar that is eternally popular amongst celebrities here in Korea. The vest was heavily studded with silver and was quite blingy.
기도 (Prayer): His first song was 기도 which he went right into after descending from the circle thing. The performance was pretty standard. Since it was one of his singles, the choreography wasn't much different for the performances. I had been keeping my fingers crossed that Teddy would come out and do his rap verse, which would have been really awesome. Unfortunately, at neither did he come out. Instead, they played the vocals for the song and Taeyang danced enthusiastically. This seemed to really stand alone from the rest of the choreography as particularly impressive. I really enjoyed it.
I'll Be There: After 기도 Taeyang transitioned very smoothly (props to the music and sound techs who organized what appeared to me to be a very very clean sounding concert, with the mild exception of a mic problem on Sunday) to I'll Be There. He sang, as expected, the Korean version, which I happen to like better. The primary stage prop was a circular set of all white stairs. The stairs ascended and wrapping around the stairs from the bottom right to the upper left of the stairs was a sort of slope quite similar to rock cliff that appears in Taeyang's I'll Be There music video. Just as he does in the video, Taeyang climbs the sloping white stage prop and drops to his knees as he sings. It was nice, but I did happen to think the glistening white stage didn't quite create the same effect as the overgrown graveyard in I'll Be There provided. See below for a reference on the slope thing.
Imagine this scene but minus the graveyards, cloudy skies and overgrowth and add a glistening white veneer and a live band.
죄인 (Sinners): After I'll Be There, Taeyang performed 죄인, which happens to be my favorite song off his first mini-album, HOT. Also, I happened to MUCH prefer this performance to the performance in his first solo concert for HOT promotions. In the old performance, Taeyang dances with a girl who has ugly clothing and is only kind of pretty and it involves some weird shit on a table and it doesn't really make as much sense. This time, the girl is only somewhat involved, and Taeyang really got into singing this song. He moved around the stage quite a bit and got on his knees and really sexed it up for us. This time instead of a table, they used a plush armchair. The sexiest part was when the dancer bent over at the waist and touched the ground and Taeyang came from behind her, grabbed her hips and did a mild body roll towards her. This was the moment when all sanity kind of left me on Saturday and I was mesmerized. Taeyang also did his favorite move when singing where he turns sideway giving his most popular profile view, spreads his arms out wide and throws himself back from the hips and just hits the note with full on intensity. He loves that pose. And frankly, so do I.
After this, he talked briefly and a little dolly rolled out and on it was a white jacket (he had removed the bedazzled vest earlier, perhaps during I'll be There or Sinners, I can't entirely remember). The new jacket has his face bedazzled in silver studs on the back. I bit much I thought, but so goes it. He introduced himself, and welcomed all of us to the concert. Then he introduced his next song, Just a Feeling
Just a Feeling: I thought this performance was just okay. I also think this song is just okay. Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm regarding the song inhibits my ability to fully appreciate the song, but whatevs. It was good, but really there was nothing special here. Just a lot of dancing and such. kind of standard I though.
Move: Now this song is when Taeyang really starts to bring the sexy. Again, no teddy, but his rap section is included. The stage prop had turned at some point between I'll Be There and Sinners (I can't seem to remember it actually turning around) and it revolved once again to reveal the steps. However, this time, on the steps were three stripper poles extending upwards from the stairs. As the stage thing revolved, two dollies which also had stripper poles attached moved onto the stage creating a five girl stripper triangle of sorts, with Taeyang as the sixth on the bottom center. The girls were dressed in white button down dress shirts, black panties (of the cheeky boy cut variety), stockings and black heels. They were dancing really suggestively on the pole both on Saturday and Sunday. The dance was pretty much the same both days. This song really ramped up the sex factor. The girls were almost half-naked and dancing as glorified strippers while Taeyang walked around staring at the girls and sang lyrics like "move move, baby don't stop it" On Sunday the girls took their shirts off to reveal black satin lingerie. On Saturday, this did not happen. Additionally, on Saturday, parts of Teddy's rap lyrics were censored. The words censored were body and play, which seemed odd, because it was in the lyric: "You're body is my wonderland, I can play all night" and the lyrics: "I'm so vicious like Sid with my sex pistols" and "Niagra Falls, baby girl I got you wetter than" were not censored. Clearly the censors were not native English speakers and didn't grasp the excessive sexual nature of the latter lines. On Sunday, from my seat I could see the girls prepping for this song in the brief couple seconds between songs, and I was really impressed. This one girl came tearing across backstage and lept onto her stripper pole while buttoning her shirt just in the knick of time. The stage prop thingy rotated around at just that moment. Nice work lady.
Then there was a video. This (and the shirtlessness during Move) was the biggest difference between Saturday and Sunday. The video showed Taeyang dressed in white lying asleep on a big plush white bed. Then, his opposite, that girl, she is shown kind of looking for him. Also, between scenes of Taeyang in bed and the girl looking for him, there are images of him in his You're My get-up but more gripping, with focus largely on his hands. On Sunday, the video featured the two of them together in bed, snuggling and touching each others faces and holding hands and even at one point Taeyang rolling over and climbing on top of her. Also, there was even more focus on his hands, specifically the ring he always wears. At the end of the video, I could be mistaken, but it appears that the girl removes his ring from his finger, although I'm not clear what that was supposed to signify (holding onto his love, or ending the love...?)
Ma Girl: Then he said Ma Girl, which was pretty good. I thought the video graphics for this song were kind of eh, subpar. I thought they were pretty tacky. Otherwise, the performance was great! Ma Girl is one of my favorite performances because it's always really sexy. He sort of humps the ground and then lays on his back and body rolls and omg, it's so wonderful.
You're My: I hate this song. A lot. However, Taeyang was super super super super sexy when he sang this song because he was in a full suit and just look unbelievably handsome. Just impeccable, really. Plus, the live version of this song wasn't quite so high, because that would be difficult in the one opportunity he has on stage. It could strain him a lot. Still, this wasn't my favorite. I can't help but be reminded of the shitty English that I see everywhere else in this country when I listen to this song.
Talk: Taeyang talked briefly here about some things. And then said he'd be doing I Need a Girl.
I Need a Girl: totally one of the highlights. Taeyang went out into the crowd. On Saturday I was really close to him, but he still didn't see me (darn you security guard in my way) and he was singing to various audience members and I was jealous. But, I got even more jealous as he made his way across the hall and chose a girl near him to come up onstage with him. He held his arm out and escorted her to the stage and had her sit on a chaise lounge. Then he danced around behind her and gave her a gift box, which she opened. Upon opening the gift, she discovered that it was a bra and panties, pink satin (On Sunday it was some kind of animal type printer and WAY sexier...) and then he sat next to her and proceeded to basically serenade that stupid little annoying girl (she wasn't stupid or annoying, I'm just jealous), while brushing the hair off her face and looking in her eyes. Then he turned sideway, and laid down and put his head on her lap!!!!! >.< And THEN he held her hand and he got back up and kissed her cheek!!!!! >.< >.< >.< On Sunday he also picked up the girls legs and sat near her waist and leaned in to kiss her. She leaned away (CRAZY GIRL) and he ended up kissing her kind of on the neck. I was incredibly jealous. Then, as the song ended, he took her hand and they walked together off stage through a walkway cut out into the turned-around stage thingy.
니가 잠든 후에 (After You Fall Asleep): I hated this performance. Except for this cool horse gallop dance that Taeyang did, I thought this performance was really dumb. There was this big ugly looking bed that came out and Ji-Hye, his main dancer, is in the bed, and I was sure that something interesting was going to happen, especially at the Sunday performance and given the sexy bed scene famous in G-Dragon's solo concert, but ALAS, no such luck. He just stood on the bed and stepped over JiHye awkwardly. I hated this.
Connection: An all-English song which initiated a lengthy series of English songs. This song was on his solar international release album. I thought the performance was okay. The four main male dancers had little square risers that they set up in different groups and which Taeyang jumped on top of and sang from in various points across the stage. Meh. I was more entranced by the video in the background which had all the lyrics in a kind of interesting presentation, with the words dropping onto the screen and scrolling across is strange orders. It was pretty cool.
GUEST PERFORMANCE
Slow Jam (by Usher): Taeyang sang a duet of Slow Jam with IU. IU's voice was gorgeous. On Sunday, I thought her dress was really really beautiful. It had more flare from the hips and was all black and had this really cute big flowery bow on one shoulder. It was cute I was really impressed by IU
Better in Time (Leona Lewis performed by IU): Beautiful. I really liked that I knew all the English songs that they sang. IU is also super adorable and I love her. She's only 18, Korean age (so 17 everywhere else).
Baby I'm Sorry: Taeyang came back to sing this song, which I don't know well. He was wearing jeans and a black jacket now, if I'm not mistaken. I liked his jeans, but felt kind of neutral regarding the jacket. However, this song is gorgeous and beautiful and perfect. I LOVE THIS SONG.
Wedding Dress: Another classic. But, for some reason, probably the clothing, the performance just didn't do it for me. The back-up dancers kind of outshined Taeyang on this one. I might get crucified for saying that, but it's just my opinion.
Super Star: OMG I LOVE THIS PERFORMANCE. I keep wavering on how much I like this song, going between meh, it's just so-so and liking it pretty well (it's never been my favorite, but on good days it breaks the top five on Solar). The performance, though, was really great. It was based on a drumline type style, not too unlike the After School Bang performances, except without the drums, and without the ripped choreography. It was really fun.
Breakdown: Also with sort of the drumline feel. I LOVE THIS SONG. And the performance was just so upbeat and fun and so that was really nice. I enjoyed this. Their outfits were all red and the girls had cheer skirts on and those drumline hats with the poofy white feathers. And in the part where he says Elevator 저럼 let's go up and down, Taeyang jumped into the arms of the male dancers and the lifted him up in the air and back down a couple times. It was cool if not a bit too literal.
I Want You Back (MJ tribute): Taeyang did I want you Back and it made me happy. I love that song, it's so classic, and he actually sang it really well all in English. Taeyang really is a lovely performer. It was at this point that I just kind of thought, wow, I love him.
Closing Comments: Taeyang said a few last words. At the concert I didn't understand exactly what he was saying. On Saturday, it was quite a long speech. He seemed really moved and really sad. It turns out that was correct. Translations of portions of his speech: "The journey of my Solar album... as with all journeys, there were difficult and lonely times, but all of those times taught me great things" and "I think my next solo album... I think that it will have to take a long time. Because I think I'll only be able to put together a new album after searching more of myself and knowing more of who I am." "And I would like all of you to really be happy...and I want to say that I am truly thankful. Thank you so much." He cried, like seriously cried during this speech and I couldn't help but cry too. It was beautiful. It should be noted that he didn't cry at all on Sunday and his speech was much shorter. He didn't seem nearly so sad. And I'm glad for that.
나만바라봐 (Look Only at Me): I cried my way through this song. Taeyang was a little choked up singing it so he let it go for the audience in the first verse a bit, and the audience really impressed me with their enthusiasm and supportive singing. This song really isn't very nice lyrics-wise (Baby, even if I cheat on you, don't you cheat on me. Even if I forget you, don't you forget me. Even if I don't call and a I go out and drink and I meet eyes with another woman, only look at me). But, he did a remix at the end, and I'm fairly certain (although not positive, given my shaky on spot translating skills) that it was sort of an attempt to rectify the questionable lyrics. It seemed to me to be like, I love you more than anything type stuff. But it was really good.
Encore:
Where U At: Hoodies and baseball caps were worn for the encore performance. A side note about encores. When the fans shout for an encore, they all pronounce like N-core, N-core. Which I find quite annoying. But, so it goes. When in Korea, do as the Romans do. This performance was good. Standard Where U At.
Take It Slow: I'm so happy that he saved this song for the end. This is the song he wrote and composed and it's beautiful. This is my favorite song on the album and I think it's a perfect conclusion to a wonderful concert. I LOVED this performance. He did another of his hands out wide and back bend thing and I wanted to cry again. I loved it.
Note: On Sunday there was a secondary encore performance that Taeyang did of 나만바라봐 and Take it Slow. For 나만바라봐 the audience sang the whole chorus and it was awesome. I LOVED it. And then Take it Slow AGAIN. A lot of people left before hand, but I was able to catch it AND take a video. So here's that video of 나만바라봐. I had to cut it off suddenly at the end because a security lady was coming over to scold a group of us for recording and I slyly hid it away just in the knick of time. For your viewing pleasure:
xoxo
A
Breakdown: Also with sort of the drumline feel. I LOVE THIS SONG. And the performance was just so upbeat and fun and so that was really nice. I enjoyed this. Their outfits were all red and the girls had cheer skirts on and those drumline hats with the poofy white feathers. And in the part where he says Elevator 저럼 let's go up and down, Taeyang jumped into the arms of the male dancers and the lifted him up in the air and back down a couple times. It was cool if not a bit too literal.
I Want You Back (MJ tribute): Taeyang did I want you Back and it made me happy. I love that song, it's so classic, and he actually sang it really well all in English. Taeyang really is a lovely performer. It was at this point that I just kind of thought, wow, I love him.
Closing Comments: Taeyang said a few last words. At the concert I didn't understand exactly what he was saying. On Saturday, it was quite a long speech. He seemed really moved and really sad. It turns out that was correct. Translations of portions of his speech: "The journey of my Solar album... as with all journeys, there were difficult and lonely times, but all of those times taught me great things" and "I think my next solo album... I think that it will have to take a long time. Because I think I'll only be able to put together a new album after searching more of myself and knowing more of who I am." "And I would like all of you to really be happy...and I want to say that I am truly thankful. Thank you so much." He cried, like seriously cried during this speech and I couldn't help but cry too. It was beautiful. It should be noted that he didn't cry at all on Sunday and his speech was much shorter. He didn't seem nearly so sad. And I'm glad for that.
나만바라봐 (Look Only at Me): I cried my way through this song. Taeyang was a little choked up singing it so he let it go for the audience in the first verse a bit, and the audience really impressed me with their enthusiasm and supportive singing. This song really isn't very nice lyrics-wise (Baby, even if I cheat on you, don't you cheat on me. Even if I forget you, don't you forget me. Even if I don't call and a I go out and drink and I meet eyes with another woman, only look at me). But, he did a remix at the end, and I'm fairly certain (although not positive, given my shaky on spot translating skills) that it was sort of an attempt to rectify the questionable lyrics. It seemed to me to be like, I love you more than anything type stuff. But it was really good.
Encore:
Where U At: Hoodies and baseball caps were worn for the encore performance. A side note about encores. When the fans shout for an encore, they all pronounce like N-core, N-core. Which I find quite annoying. But, so it goes. When in Korea, do as the Romans do. This performance was good. Standard Where U At.
Take It Slow: I'm so happy that he saved this song for the end. This is the song he wrote and composed and it's beautiful. This is my favorite song on the album and I think it's a perfect conclusion to a wonderful concert. I LOVED this performance. He did another of his hands out wide and back bend thing and I wanted to cry again. I loved it.
Note: On Sunday there was a secondary encore performance that Taeyang did of 나만바라봐 and Take it Slow. For 나만바라봐 the audience sang the whole chorus and it was awesome. I LOVED it. And then Take it Slow AGAIN. A lot of people left before hand, but I was able to catch it AND take a video. So here's that video of 나만바라봐. I had to cut it off suddenly at the end because a security lady was coming over to scold a group of us for recording and I slyly hid it away just in the knick of time. For your viewing pleasure:
xoxo
A
A Video
This is for my friend Words Run Dry.
Maybe she's seen it, maybe not. But now all of you can see it.
Maybe she's seen it, maybe not. But now all of you can see it.
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