Showing posts with label Songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Songs. Show all posts

Monday, January 7, 2013

[MUSIC REVIEW] Girls' Generation - I Got A Boy (2013)


Happy New Year, everyone :D

Well, we have been passed almost a week in 2013. It's sooo fast, right?
Anyway, how is your New Year's Eve? Is it fun?
Mine was pretty sucks since my father lost his handphone. But, for the New Year's event itself that I attend, it was quite interesting. I attended Car Free Night, an event where any kind of transportation is prohibited to pass protocol streets in Jakarta on December 31st 2012 - January 1st, 2013 at 6.30 PM - 02.00 AM. So, as expected, it was full of people walking around with their friends and family. Of course, there were music events and fireworks party to entertain them, so people don't get bored easily. This year is the first time this event being held and it seems that the government plan to hold the event annually.

Okay, enough with my New Year's Eve story. Anyway, as always, let's hope that I will update my blog more often in 2013 :D

To start 2013, I am going to review about Girls' Generation (So Nyeo Shi Dae/SNSD), newest single, "I Got A Boy". As the first position on my most anticipated January 2013 comebacks and debuts, surely I have been anticipating their comebacks ever since 2012 hehe. So, when it has been revealed that they are going to comeback on January 2013, I was really excited!! After several teasers photos and music videos, finally, here it is, as the New Year's present on the first day of 2013, Girls' Generation newest music video (MV), "I Got A Boy".


After the first time listened to the song while watching the MV, I was like..........what the hell was that?
Is that really the song?
I mean how come they mixed two different songs into one?
What's with the sudden transition?
And what's with Seohyun's outfit and all of their wigs in one of the scene?
Okay, enough with the complaints. Anyway, I was absolutely not preparing for something like that. It was completely different from Girls' Generation's previous concepts!

But, then, I read someone's tweet which stated that people should try to listen the song without watching the MV. So, I'll tried to do that in hope for a better result and yes, that person is right. The song started to grow on me, it was a fun song actually. The beat was really catchy and there were many "hook" parts in the song, which will constantly repeated on people's minds. The sudden transitions itself were starting to become not too weird.

Shortly, I was starting to like the song. I found the "oo oo eo" back sound was very addictive. I also love Taeyeon  and Sunny ad-libs at the end of the song. Oh and, whoever sing the harmonization for the refrain parts (I guess it's Sunny), I adore you so much! It was really nice! As for the rap parts, the four members, Sooyoung, Yuri, Yoona, and Hyoyeon did a good job (Tiffany's English lines were not considered as rapping, in my opinion). Hyoyeon's rap was pretty decent with her superfast talking/rapping while Yoona's rap was adorable. Yuri and Sooyoung were also surprisingly very bad-ass on the intro part, which I REALLY LOVE.

My love for this song was starting to get bigger and bigger when I know the lyrics meaning of this song. Honestly, it was really genius! I have never expected that Girls' Generation will sing a song with many meanings behind it. It's like every time you listen to it while reading the translations and watching the music video, you will get different perspectives.


As for my interpretation, I think the first part of the song is about a group of girls who talked about one of their friends. They dislike their friend's sudden change when she just got a boyfriend. Their talks stopped when Tiffany said, "A-YO STOP! Let Me Put It Down Another Way!", while the girl throwing their hats on the MV. Suddenly, the music change to be more upbeat and the point of view change into a girl who is being talked by her friends on the first part. This girl told everyone that she got a boy now (I got a boy meotjin! I got a boy chakhan!) and she began to describe her boy (Tiffany's part). After Hyoyeon finished her lines, "Neo michyeosseo, michyeosseo", music changed again into the music on the first part. At this part, the girl who just got a boy felt angry because her boy did not look at her as a girl anymore. I think this is the reason why all of the Girls' Generation members wearing wigs and coats that only appeared once on the MV during this part, to show that they were changed. Then, suddenly, Jessica said, "Don't stop! Let's bring it back to one forty!", which marked the change of the music into the second part of the song, which happened to start at one minute, forty seconds from the song. At this last part, it showed that the girl should forget about the problems and be happy again with her boy. Well, the lyrics meaning were actually pretty simple, right? But, remember it is my own interpretation, so it maybe different from yours :)


After knowing the lyrics meaning, I realized that it did not have relation with their messy concept for this comeback. Once again, SM Entertainment showed their cleverness in mixing unrelated song and concept to make it interesting. It is not the new thing for SM  since they have done this in another Girls' Generation comeback, "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", with their marine/army concept while singing a song about seducing a guy.

Back to their concept again, these nine girls continued to surprise me by pulling off this concept well as the whole group. Now, I actually prefer to call this concept, messy, instead of, hip hop or swag, because as far as I know, the girls and SM themselves never mentioned this as a hip hop or swag concept. In this messy concept, the girls wore outfits from different brands that they ever use before. Like I mentioned earlier, they pull off the concept well as the group, but if you talked about individually, the result would be different. 

Yuri suited this concept the most. It's nice to see her shines again since she was not really shining during their previous comeback, "The Boys". After Yuri, there is Hyoyeon who finally had the concept that suited her. People know that Hyoyeon was not really comfortable with Girls' Generation cutesy and girly concept since she is more into hip hop and fierce concept, just like her basic dance. Oh and I guess I am not the only one thinking that Hyoyeon shines more and more these days, right? Then, there is also Sooyoung, who currently is the best rapper in Girls' Generation, so she also suited this concept well. I am hoping to see more of her raps in the future, so please SM, instead of giving the rap parts to Tiffany, leave it to Sooyoung because truthfully, she is better than Tiffany. If you're worried about English raps, well, Sooyoung also has good pronunciations in English, so it should not be too hard for her.

Moving on to the next member, there is Sunny, who surprised me a lot, because she just suited this concept with her sexy, yet adorable, attitudes. There is also Yoona, who seems never go wrong with every concept (thanks to her effortless beauty), eventhough she still lacked on her expression. Similar to Yoona, there is also Taeyeon, who managed to look super adorable on every concept, but still, she sometimes tried to hard on this concept which makes her look awkward at several points. I am kind of surprised with her dance moves during her first part of the song! I did not know that she was that good! I also like Jessica in this concept. I love how she just stick to her own personality without trying too hard to be swag or something unlike her fellow American friends, Tiffany, who tried too hard at some parts. Tiffany herself was actually good if she just stay with her own personality, like what she did during her "aegyo" part in the song, so I am hoping that she did not try too hard to be swag or sexy. Lastly, there is Seohyun, who unfortunately, did not really suit with this concept. There were many parts on the MV where she looked sooo awkward. But, still, nice try Seobaby :)


After discussing about the song and concept, now, finally, I am going to discuss about the MV. The MV was really eye-catching because of the colorful settings and outfits. I think this one of the reason why I got shocked when I first watched the MV. I also LOVE the choreography!!! It seems really complicated, but fun at the same time. My favorite parts would be on 2:53 - 3:06 (I don't know how to describe the part, so I just use the time hahahaha), Hyoyeon vs Yoona rap parts, Seohyun and Tiffany's parts (3:08 - 3:13), and also their famous body wave. 

Although the MV itself was already awesome, there are several parts which I think unnecessary which are the bedroom opening scene and their scene with mysterious boy because it did not really contribute to the whole MV. Beside that, I also found the "similar wigs and outfits" part weird. I get what the meaning of the scene, but, can't they just change it into other things? And lastly, will SM ever stop using all of those studios for their MV? Seriously, it was really boring! Thank God, on I Got A Boy, the usage of box studios were being minimized.


Overall, I like Girls' Generation's I Got A Boy Comeback! Genius song, eventhough it was hard to understand at first, catchy beat, sleek choreography, and fun MV. It is good to see them bravely taking a risk by doing something which was completely different from what they have done before. More importantly, it was really nice to see those girls having fun on the stage for this concept. Still waiting for their live performances, though. 




Rate                                       : 4/5

Saturday, December 29, 2012

5 Comebacks & Debuts That We SHOULD Anticipate in January 2013 K-Pop Music Scene

Hey hey hey hey!!!

Today is the third time I update my blog this week. 
Is it weird? Because I actually feel surprised by it.
The reason why I am such in a mood to update my blog is because maybe I do not have much things to do on my holiday hehe.
Anyway, keep hoping that I will update my blog regularly in 2013 :)

Today's post is still about K-Pop (don't get bored with it, please :')). With 2012 is coming to an end, many musicians are preparing their next plans for 2013. Rumors start spreading around about who will make debuts and comebacks in 2013. Some of them already have a fixed date, some of them left undecided

What we all know for sure is that there are many musicians that prepared their debuts and comebacks in January. In girl group category, there will be rookies, like YG Entertainment New Girl Group and senior group comebacks, such as Girls' Generation. As for boy groups, we have Teen Top and B.A.P. We also have CN Blue, a band who recently finished their concert in Korea. January 2013 also continued the recent sub-unit trend in K-Pop with Infinite - H from Infinite, Double Yoon from 4Minute, and SISTAR19 from SISTAR. Beside sub-unit, it also continued the debut of the members in popular boy and girl group as a soloists like Brown Eyed Girls JeA and JYJ Kim Jaejoong.

Out of all the comebacks and debuts, I personally pick 5 most anticipated comebacks and debuts. This is my personal opinion, so sorry if there are some of them who did not meet your expectations :)


Almost got into the list : CN Blue, Brown Eyed Girls JeA 

5. SISTAR19

SISTAR19 is a sub-unit from girl group, SISTAR, which consisted of their main vocalist and lead dancer, Hyorin, and their main rapper and main dancer, Bora. They made their debut in 2011 with an upbeat track with catchy chorus and seductive dance, "Ma Boy". Their debut had huge responses from the audiences, especially male audiences, and helped boosting their popularity. The dance practice video also helped them to gain their popularity overseas with about 36 million people watched this video which is more than the music video itself. Eventhough many people worried that Hyorin and Bora were already tired with SISTAR busy schedule in 2012 and they also wanted the management to give more spotlight to two other members Soyu and Dasom, but SISTAR19 comeback is still highly anticipated in January 2013.
What should we expect :
  1. Another addictive song from Brave Brothers.                                                      Brave Brothers has been producing almost all of SISTAR title tracks. He is also the one who produced SISTAR19 hit track, "Ma Boy". Although many people thought that it will be boring, Brave Brothers proved them wrong with the successful of SISTAR mega hits, "Alone", in 2012. Let's hope that Brave Brothers can still satisfied us next year with his song for SISTAR19! 
  2. Another sexy and addictive dance.                                                                   SISTAR19 has successfully influencing our bodies to do the chorus dance in Ma Boy. Eventhough it's embarassing, but admit it, you have tried to do their dance at home at least once, right? Beside that, SISTAR itself also has been known for their sexy and addictive choreography on their title tracks, such as So Cool, Alone, and Loving U. So, I think it would be the guarantee that the next SISTAR19 choreography will not be far from that and of course, still addictive
  3. Hyorin's voice.                                                                                               Another reason why we like to listen SISTAR songs is because Hyorin's amazing voice. Her high notes make us love SISTAR eventhough sometimes her voice unconsciously overshadowed the other members. In SISTAR19, Hyorin is the only vocalist since Bora is the rapper. So, I think Hyorin can unleash her full potential without worrying overshadowing the others.



4. Kim Jaejoong

As the second member of JYJ who go solo after Junsu, Kim Jaejoong brought different genre from what he usually did on JYJ or on his previous group, TVXQ. This time, he will show us his rocker side on his first solo album which will be released on January 17th, 2013. Jaejoong also write all of the lyrics on this album. For the title track, it will be called Your, My, and Mine (the teaser is here). With the end of JYJ legal battle with their previous management, SM Entertainment, I am anticipating that Jaejoong will able to promote his solo album freely. Hopefully, we can see his rocker side in major broadcast stations too, something that cannot happened to JYJ members during their legal battle.

What should we expect :
  1. Jaejoong's different image.                                                                                     As a member of boy group, Jaejoong has been known as a pretty boy who can sing and dance. So, it is quite shocking to know that he will try to sing rock for his solo album which contrasted with his image. It should be interesting to see how much he will be able to transform his image into a rocker.
  2. Jaejoong's voice.                                                                                               After Junsu, he had the best vocal in JYJ. He has a strong voice and whenever he sings, we will be moved by his voice. In my opinion, his strong point is in ballad song. I have never watched him sing rock songs, so I am kind of curious with his voice in rock songs. Guess, I have to wait for that next year ;)
  3. Jaejoong's own composition.                                                                           Jaejoong has been composing some of TVXQ and JYJ songs on their previous albums. I really love In Heaven, one of his composition!!! With his good track records in composition, I am hoping that he will come out with another good compositions too this time.
  



3. Infinite H
Another sub-unit on this list comes from boy group, Infinite. Two of their rapper and dancer, Hoya and Dongwoo, are working together in Infinite H (H stands for Hip Hop) starting next year. Actually, they already made their appearances this year on M Countdown (December 20th, 2012), Music Bank Special (Collaboration with Ailee on December 22nd, 2012), and on Melon Music Awards (Collaboration with K. Will). They may be not the best rapper out there, but I believe their raps can be improved. On the other hand, they are great dancers, so we can expect many awesome choreography by them. Who knows that maybe they could be a serious competitor for another famous Hip Hop duo sub-unit, GD&TOP ;)
 
What should we expect :
  1. Woollim Entertainment's good track record with their previous Hip Hop group, Epik High. Before gathering seven young boys which later on known as Infinite, Woollim is the home for Hip Hop group named Epik High. Epik High is known as one of the most popular Hip Hop group in South Korea. With Epik High moving to YG Entertainment, maybe we can hope that Infinite H will be their successor in Woollim Entertainment.
  2. Different image from Infinite.                                                                               Infinite has been known with synchronize dance moves and retro-feels dance songs (watch Be Mine). This year, Infinite main vocalist, Kim Sunggyu, successfully throws this image and replaces it with his new rocker image. As for Infinite H, Hip Hop is far from Infinite image and by looking at Sunggyu's success, I think they able to do their transformation well too.
  3. Amazing dance moves.                                                                                        Like I mentioned earlier, Infinite is identical with synchronize dance moves. Hip Hop was actually not really focusing with dance moves in my opinion. But, with talented dancers like Hoya and Dongwoo, I think Woollim won't give away the chances in also showing their talents in dance without neglecting the Hip Hop itself in Infinite H. So, I'm looking forward to it!


2. YG Entertainment New Girl Group

After 2NE1 debut in 2009, it took about almost 4 years for YG Entertainment to release another girl group. Called as YG Version of Girls' Generation, this girl group already creating buzz for many people. YG itself is already revealing five of the members which are Jennie Kim (appeared on G-Dragon's That XX music video), Kim Eunbi, Euna Kim (both of them appeared on this video), this mysterious girl who got some dance moves, and another mysterious girl which appeared on the photo above. Unfortunately, YG Entertainment stated that there will be a possibility to eliminate 1-2 members from the group including the one who have been revealed to the public. I am actually hoping that they will remove no one, but it seems that we have to wait until January 15th, 2013 for the whole announcement and details.

What should we expect :
  1. YG Entertainment's version of Girls' Generation.                                                           Girls' Generation has been known for their cutesy and girly image which is far from what YG Entertainment has been done to their artists, especially 2NE1. So, it's kind of surprising when Yang Hyun Suk, YG Entertainment CEO, mentioned that he want to make his own version of Girls' Generation. I think we don't have to be worry about YG will make this new girl group 100% the same with Girls' Generation because I am sure that YG Entertainment will bring something unique and different. With Girls' Generation also gearing up for their comeback on the same month (coincidentally or actually planned? We're not really sure about it ;)), let's see what is something new that this girl group will bring to the music scene.
  2. G-Dragon as their main producer.                                                                          This gold and diamonds boy has been known as the producer for his own group, Big Bang, albums. Beside that, he also known for helping his label mates album, like Taeyang and Seung Ri, as a producer, composer, and even taking part as the rapper for their songs too. With his success track records in music production and composition (and his ability to turn everything into "golds"), I guess he would not disappointed us this time.
  3. YG Entertainment artists successful track records.                                                     YG Entertainment has been known for producing successful artists like Big Bang, 2NE1, PSY. They made a good records in 2012 with Big Bang successful comeback and world tour, 2NE1 world tour, Epik High comeback, Lee Hi successful debut, and of course, PSY with his Gangnam Style invasion. Let's hope that YG Entertainment can continue their success in 2013 with this new girl group!
     
   
 1. Girls' Generation (So Nyeo Shi Dae/SNSD)

Finally, the most powerful K-Pop girl group is back! After bringing the boys out with, "The Boys", in 2011, Girls' Generation (So Nyeo Shi Dae/SNSD) is finally got their "dream boy" with their 4th album titled, "I Got A Boy". This album will be released on January 2nd, 2012 while the music video for their title track, "I Got A Boy", will be released on January 1st, 2012 (check out the drama version and the dance version teaser). But, before that, Girls' Generation already released the music video for their pre-release track, "Dancing Queen", which is actually made in 2008. Their comeback has been gathering many anticipations from people since they did only make a Japanese comeback, without Korean comeback, in 2012. Beside that, in 2012, they also focused on individual activities, such as acting in dramas for Yoona, Yuri, Sooyoung, Jessica, being a regular cast in variety show for Hyoyeon and Sunny, and sub-unit, "Taetiseo", for Taeyeon, Tiffany, and youngest member, Seohyun. So, I am sure that I Got A Boy comeback will finally make us stop missing them. And also, this will be one of the reasons to expect the first day of 2013 :)

What should we expect :
  1. Different image of Girls' Generation.                                                                       Like I already mentioned earlier, Girls' Generation has been known for their girly and cutesy image at the early days of their career. As the members grow older, they begin to try more mature concepts for their title tracks called Run Devil Run, with the futuristic theme, and The Boys with elegant and "not so badass" concept. Now, from what we already seen on the teaser photos and music video, it seems that they try to do messy/swag/Hip Hop concept for I Got A Boy which is completely different from what we have seen before. As the whole group, in my opinion, Girls' Generation always successfully pull off every concepts that were given to them (some members actually still look awkward, but as a whole, it covered up). So, it would be exciting to see "swag" side of them.
  2. Another addictive song and dance.                                                                     From, "Gee Gee Gee Gee, Baby Baby Baby", to, "B-B-Bring The Boys Out!", Girls' Generation always successfully made us humming to these tunes unconsciously. Not only our minds, but also our body by making us try to do to their "leg dance" from their song, "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", or their arrow dance from Hoot. With all of these, I'm curious about what type of tunes and dance moves that they will show us next.  
  3. Girls' Generation successfull track records.                                                            Being the most powerful girl group in K-Pop music scene, make all of their released songs always topping music charts. Who still remember their Music Bank winning for nine consecutive weeks with Gee in 2009 that skyrocketing their popularity? Even for Hoot, which being called as their worst title song for many people, it still able to be the number one in music charts in 2010. All of these showed that no matter what kind of songs that they will sing, it will still popular. So, I guess it will be the same for I Got A Boy. 


So, that's all 5 of my most anticipated comebacks and debuts in January 2013 K-Pop music scene. Remember, this is my personal opinion, so maybe it would be different from your opinion. But, feel free to comment or share your opinion on this list :)

That's all for today's post and Happy New Year 2013!!!!