Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Touch of K-Pop: April '13

Sunday morning, and what am I thinking about? K-Pop of course! Here's another monthly edition of me ranting about whatever's on my mind. Read or skip at your own leisure. I won't mind. I'm a fangirl. To each her own. ;) 

All my biases at a glance... *heavy sigh*
What's up this month?
April brought some great joy to my life. Also some sad twinges of pain. Take the day Zico (and non-Block B friends) dropped a new cover and accompanying MV for “Feel So Young”: I swooned, I fangirled, I looooved, I danced, then I cried… for about 20 minutes. Then I did this on repeat for the next 5 hours. Because however exciting it is to see Zico doing awesome and new for a change, the fate of the rest of the group still hangs in the air. 

Seriously! When will there be [good] news about Block B! Stalking their twitter accounts on a daily basis to see if I can be the first to hear something has been mentally draining. Also, I run into lovely bits of information that I really could’ve done without. For example: Jaehyo went hiking one day, and his butt got firmer the next day. True story. He tweeted it. Now you all know. Thank your good friend Rosie for informing you of such. 

What else is up this month, or – more importantly – what else in the Kpop universe has been on my mind this month? Stick around for fandom updates (Angels, Melodies, Crowns – I’m coming!), some crazy ass stuff involving pink elephants and urinals (seriously, GD…), bias updates and changes(!!) and more. 





What's Old

I thank my sister for finding this first video.  Keep in mind, TOP is not my BIGBANG bias, but he often comes close to wrecking the list.  He's also my mom's bias, so whenever she is around I end up watching a lot more TOP fancams than normal. This one in particular I had to watch on repeat until she got her fill. I didn't complain too much. Here's TOP's English cover of 'No Diggity' from their long ago debut days. Damn the boy can sing!



What's New
A lot of stuff, but I’m going to skip over the fact that Psy came out with something this month. Yeah, it was decidedly not my cup of tea (*drinks coffee this morning*), but what was absolutely worth it was Simon and Martina’s parody and their accompanying review of their… own… parody… Priceless, folks.


Concerning Fledgling Fandoms
Now I claim that I’m only a true VIP and BBC. However, I like to consider myself as having an Angelic and Melodic slant, and occasionally I try on a Crown for size. Too vague for the undiscerning eye to decipher? Okay, here comes confession time: Itotallyliketeentop. But none of their early stuff (which give me the creeps, and frankly sucks imo). Since last month when I introduced myself – and consequently all of you – to ‘Miss Right’ I just can’t get these guys out of my head! I know they’re not even that awesome. I just like them. They’re my guilty pleasure.

BTOB has another confession for me..

Melodies though – comes from my now favorite rookie group of 2012, BTOB (Born to Beat). Since I came across ‘Wow’ I have been enticed. A seven member group with outstanding vocals, and the cutest little rapper ever (Ilhoon… awwww), and I have to admit it’s coming pretty darn close to love. Their spring release of ‘2nd Confession’ put me over the edge already. Then I saw the Pajama Version. *cuteness comatose* A warning: if you can’t handle some male aegyo, don’t watch it. Though, I honestly like their matter-of-fact maegyo. It’s less sicky sweet and more sweetly endearing. This could just be the Melody in me talking though. I hope you’ll go find out for yourself.

P.S. C-Clown, despite their off-putting name and accompanying fandom name (crown), is a strangely nice find. Look up last year’s acoustic variation of ‘Far Away… Young Love’ and this month’s ‘Shaking Heart’ and enjoy. 




Bias Report
G-Dragon, my darling… what on earth have you been up to? (Besides not yet announcing any U.S. tour dates for your World Tour – which I probably couldn't make even if you came to the U.S.) Another confession: I like the song. I really do. I walk around the house saying Dirty Mad Fiesta all the time. It’s addicting. The MV however…. Well, let’s just say I’m glad GD and I met back in the ‘One of a Kind’ phase, and ‘Crayon’ got me attuned to the craziness well before 'Michi Go' dropped. This ultimate bias thing is hard. I’m obligated to like it. To an extent.

Totally Biased
See the title pic for all of top 6 biases. I’ve been playing with Photoshop. It’s driving me nuts. But picture of pretty boys somehow softens the agony. So, in all due-form, here is the bias list! In order!
  1. G-Dragon, BIGBANG
  2. Zico, Block B
  3. Ilhoon, BTOB*
  4. Sunggyu, Infinite**
  5. Hyunseung, Beast
  6. Chunji, Teen Top
*The top 3 are all rappers – what’s up with that? – while the bottom 3 are all vocalists. 

**The snuggly one represents one of the only times in my short Kpop lifetime that I’ve changed a bias within a group. Sure, there are those bias wreckers (I’m talking about you Taeil!), but my original Infinite bias was Hoya, thanks in part to his awesome dancing and acting skills. Then, Infinite-H happened and I realized that I liked none of their songs. Contrast this with Sunggyu’s cute and reserved (and sometimes bullied) variety show appearances and completely awwwweeeesssooomeeee solo album, Another Me, and that’s it. New bias decided. Sunggyu. You win. 



Kpop in the Family
Mom now has about seven mixed Kpop CDs, and she listens to her one Block B mix more than any of the others combined. I’m a proud BBC, daughter of a BBC, sister of a BBC, and wife of a BBC. Life’s sweet.

Playlist Mode
Yup. I’m sort of keeping track of my favorite YT vids. You can check out my in-the-works channel here, including some of my favorite playlists.

This is Rosie, signing off from talking about Kpop, forever and ever… Until next month! 

6 comments:

  1. This isn't possible, how have I not watched this video of T.O.P??? I am ashamed to call myself his fan, because he is so awesomely good in the vid that I don't know how I've missed it. It should have been me to introduce this vid to you, not the other way around.
    I really need to surf more Big Bang videos on Youtube not to let this happen again :P

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    1. I was also ashamed for not finding it on my own. Glad to be of service to you though. You've introduced quite a few other things to me so.. just paying you back. xD The funny thing is, I almost didn't include it on this post, since I figured most VIPs would already know about. It wasn't part of my first draft, and I sneaked it in there at the last minute, just to keep it as a part of my records, hehe.

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  2. "For example: Jaehyo went hiking one day, and his butt got firmer the next day. True story. He tweeted it. Now you all know. Thank your good friend Rosie for informing you of such."

    OMG Rosie, you killed me (with your sense of humor). Sooooo hilarious, this post! Love the updates and intros, cos I'm really only familiar with Big Bang mentions!

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    1. I never thought I'd be one to obsessively read celebs twitter accounts (and then subscribe to translator accounts), but I have to admit - it's sometimes incredibly amusing.

      Delving into the kpop world is an exciting place. Hope you find good stuff to listen to. *fighting!* :)

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  3. Fellow BBC here! Block B, why does so much harm have to come to them? I refuse to watch that video, simply because I do not wish to cry.

    But on a happier note, that is G-Dragon for you. Been a fan since... *does some counting* 2010-ish! They're all kind of crazy. XD

    I get really happy when my favorite drama bloggers like K-pop too! Yay~ (And EYK's review of their own parody was pretty genius.

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    1. Woot! Hello BBC!

      I am ridiculously young still to Kpop. I only started 'researching' the genre about this time last year after I watched a couple dramas with Rain, which lead to curiosity about MBLAQ, which lead to watching a couple K music shows. Then Heartstrings and Cnblue happened.. then One of a Kind dropped.. and I was a goner. Then Nilili Mambo happened.. Yeah. REst is history. I've had to do a lot of making up for time since then. :)

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