K-pop War in Action

Want to see who's been behind the scenes of creating this blog? Well... Right now, the debate is on !

Talented Humans Everywhere !!!

Alright, I admit there are some pretty ‘dedicated’ fans out there, and we even have a name for them ‘Sasaeng fans’ are those who need help and you can go look it up on the internet if you want to know more about them. I just wanted to tell you that not ALL fans fall under that sector and some of them are just normal people who are a fan and supporter of K-pop. Letters written in blood are down right scary as hell but there are also fans that send supportive notes and messages to the idols and the idols seem to really appreciate this. Many fandoms have also helped raised money for projects and charities and this is again all thank to the love they feel for their idols. Fan made things such as fanart and fanfiction may be a little awkward for the idol to personally read and see but the skills, talent, time and love spent on these little creations should not be overlooked.

Remember that time you wrote a letter to Santa telling him what you wanted in your stocking ? Well what you did there is exactly what K-pop fans are doing to their idols. Yes I know you didn’t write it in blood but I’ve already admitted that issue was indeed creepy so don’t bring that up again. What I’m trying to say is that all the fans want to do is be able to in some way reach out to someone they deeply admire and love. The idols appreciate these messages ! Super Junior member Yesung even tweeted a screenshot of the millions of farewell messages fans have sent to him from all over the world before he leaves for military services. Oh and all those ‘stalker shots’ are basically the fan’s curiosity of what their idols like to wear without the millions of stylists helping them. Fans just wanted to know what style of fashion and what interests K-pop stars have. Stop over reacting people !

Click me to see the tweet from Yesung 

It’s funny really, how just because those fanfictions consist of two male characters falling in love, they are immediately considered ‘bad’. Again, homophobic much ? Just image if you were reading the exact same story and it was about a heterosexual couple, I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t see anything ‘wrong’ or ‘creepy’ about it. Some of these authors write better stories than any novel I’ve read and have a better plot than any movie I’ve seen so why are people over looking this talent and labelling these fine works with such a negative title. Go and press on that link and give it a try, just replace the names with ‘Tom’ and ‘Mary’ and I’m sure you will enjoy it. After the written stuff, now we’re getting to the more visual artistic side. Firstly I’m going to make a confession; I can’t draw to save my life and stick figures are as far as I’m ever going to get. I’m sure a lot of you out there share this characteristic with me right ? Good. Cause now you won’t be in the position of saying anything negative towards those talent people who draw fanarts so well they should be hung in the museums. 

Click me to see a beautifully written fanfic 

Click me to see a beautifully drawn fan art 

All images credited to their rightful owners ~

Scarier than the FBI

Well ok ~ I admit I knew nothing about this Super Junior group and maybe I was a little hash on judging them without knowing they had so much history together. Still, you can’t blame me ! The stuff and rumours that fans produce these days are C.R.A.Z.Y. I don’t even know where to start about these fan girls (not being sexist but yes they mostly are girls). Maybe I should start about letters written in period blood (I am not even joking), the stalker photos and videos, the car chases, the investigations and the enormous amount of fan made things. I wish I was talking about a fan made card but I’m not, more the photoshopping and fanfictions. Scary ? That’s an understatement. Really if you thought Justin Bieber fans are crazy, wait till you see these ones; honestly, if K-pop never existed these people might have never come to live this kind of distorted life. Not putting the blame but someone’s gotta take responsibility for being the cause right ?

I’ll start with the period blood letter cause I am sure that caught your attention (in a not so good way) already. It’s legit guys, Taecyeon from the boy band 2PM had received a letter written in ... the mentioned substances and ‘sprinkled with pubes’. I don’t think I need to say anything about how ... insane this is and don’t have hope that’s it’s a fake cause they got the police involved and all that. Just be thankful I’m moving on now and that nothing like happened to you. Despite however insane these fans are, some are rather smart and in fact, they might be an international spy (that would be fun to imagine). When Victoria from the girl band f(x) posted a seemingly innocent photo on a Chinese social network of her food, fans were quick to zoom in and point out that on the reflection of the spoon was a member of the famous boy band, Changmin from TVXQ. And you thought all that zooming in stuff you see on tv stays in tv, apparently its quite common in the world of K-pop fandoms, then of cause they go on about the two are dating and are secretly married and blablabla.

Click me to see the 'RED' letter issue 

Click me to see the 'Spoon' issue

  

So the stuff mentioned previously were true stuff with real people, now its time to move on to the fans that are more imaginative and umm ... artsy. The two main topics are fanart and fanfiction and both are equally as creepy. Now back to that issue I went on about on homosexual relationships between members and I was saying it wasn’t my fault. This is the time to prove it. I mean, even you would think there’s something going on if you see millions of photos and pictures of them kissing and doing inappropriate things together ! There are videos which zoom onto the smallest details and fictional stories that just sound so realistic you sometimes wonder if the author turned herself into a fly and observed the members before she write the ‘facts’ down. Really these people need to go get some help. My theory is that the fans are thinking ‘He is so perfect that no women can match up to him but humans need love to live so I better pair him up with another male so I feel less jealous.’ and then all those little artworks and stories are created to make them believe that what they think is the reality. Maybe they don’t understand that they are the exact reason why some people are so against K-pop, because it is K-pop that creates these monsters. 

Click me to read a 'Scary' fanfiction 

All images credited to their rightful owners ~

Can ~ You Feel ~ The Love ~ Tonight ~

If there’s one thing that I love about K-pop bands that I’ve never been able to find in any other bands in the America market, it’s the bond between the members. Focusing on one band again, Super Junior has one of the greatest relationship with each other for a bunch of non blood related people. Hell they love each other even more than some siblings I’ve seen and I’m NOT talking about love in a romantic way. They have known each other for almost 10 years now and look at it this way, siblings and families can give each other kisses and hugs right ? Why can’t the members if they see each other as brothers ? People are over-reacting just because their lips brushed a little, I say the only time you should start worrying is if you see the kiss turn intense.

Ok guys, just look at the first video and just LOOK at all those memories they created together all these years. Don’t you guys think its so sweet how they see every concert as a chance to enjoy themselves and let the audience join themselves as well as allowing us to listen to them sing ? Their concerts are not rehearsed and every fun and touching moment is from the heart. Having gone through so many years together, of cause they will be more affection with each other. Can you imagine that moment when they step out and see they have all these fans to support them, or the time they get an award from all their hard work; of cause they will want a huggie. That’s the magic of K-pop bands, they are like a bunch of talented brothers who want to spread the joy around. Not a group of random strangers put in a group together who don’t even communicate out of band actives because they are only together to create profit for a business. This is defiantly love, but not romantic love, it’s the love shared between family.

Click me to see the fanmade clip of happy moments by Super Junior

This next video is less joyful, because you can’t create a life bond with someone who you have only shared joy with and no pain. Super Junior is a band that went from an ‘experiment’ by the company to a poplar award wining group. During the years they had members involved in accidents which left them hospitalized for months, parents have passed away and one member was left with a 10% chance of living. Really, these boys have seen it all and they have done this together. They are each other’s soul mate and as much as I personally wouldn’t agree they have any type of romantic relationship with each other in real life, I would never object if they did. What’s the big deal anyway ? There are too many people out there who are homophobic and cause pain to those that are in love with someone they didn’t choose to; Super Junior is just sub-consciously giving those who suffer some mental support. In this video you can see how much they mean to one another and trust me, if you had gone through all they have with someone, you wouldn’t have second thoughts out giving them a playful kiss on the check or a warm hug when you feel like they need one either.

Click me to see the fanmade clip of family memories of Super Junior

Get A Room Guys !!! (>///<)

Since we’ve brought up the topic of feminine k-pop male idols last time, it would be quite logical to explore the disturbing amount of fangirls who would give up everything in their bank account to see members of the same band feel each other up or pash each other on stage. Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely fine with homosexuals and I’m even friends with a few myself, but it’s a completely different matter here. The issue I’ve detected is that there is an enormous amount of fans out there who only like particular bands because they act all ... well, gay on camera. Majority, this issue occurs in boy bands so let’s just focus on one; Super Junior. As much as I would completely be supportive if they came out as a real couple, sometime, maybe they are enjoying themselves a little too much and sometimes there are things that I would prefer them to do behind closed doors.

‘I SHIP THEM !!!’ I could almost hear the fangirls scream that in my ear. To ‘ship’ two people together is to support their love and rejoice everytime they get intimate. Just how wrong is that ? Again, not a homosexual or heterosexual issue here but all that PDA (Publicly Displayed Affection) should be left at home. I wouldn’t want to see that among my straight friends and if my friends do this in front of me, they certainly wouldn’t want me spazzing how sweet and cute it is next to them, so why am I seeing this when they are suppose to be singers ? Last time I checked, singers sing songs and not film goosebumpy clips. I’m already being very thoughtful to pick the clip that shows the making of the film and not the final product. Because trust me, if you walked past and saw the final film, you would most likely ask me why I am watching an R rated homosexual film so openly. Really, is this all is left of the K-pop industry ?

Click me to see the behind the scenes clips by Super Junior

If you didn’t hear the screaming in the background in the last clip then you can certainly hear it this time. Just about every single time two members ... err ... ‘interact’ with each other you can hear the sound of excitement from the audience. The member’s themselves seem pretty casual about the whole thing. Sure, if pressing your lips against a close friend can be seen in a casual thing then yeah. But still, did all those people just pay for a ticket to watch that ? Cause really, fangirls mostly consist of teenage girls and this is not appropriate at all. Its not a huge deal, this is probably when a hen’s party would look like so its not their actions that are the problem. It’s the fact that the K-pop industry is presenting like a show for entertainment purposes. I’m just feeling sorry for these poor fellows who have to rub themselves against one another just because that’s the only thing that will increase their popularity. Doesn’t the K-pop industry have people with skills and talent ? Well use them !!!

Click me to see the game played by Super Junior

EYE FREAKING CANDY ALERT !!!

Jealously is really ~ a horrible little green eyed monster. It seems like some people just can’t get over the fact that men make better women then them. Grow. Up. Really, I don’t see what there is to complain about just because they look rather pretty. Would lightly over-weight men who do the horsey dance like PSY be more attractive to them ? I hope not. Just for the sake of them though, there are plenty ~ of manly K-pop idols that almost scream ‘RAMBO’ in your face. I could’ve picked from the millions of images I had of wonderful photos which display lovely abs, but I decided to instead show to you how manly people can be just by standing there. *Whispers* I can show you those abs photos anyways, who doesn’t like some good eye candy ;)

When you think of the word ‘handsome’ within the K-pop industry, you are most likely thinking of Siwon from Super Junior. Some like him and some hate him, but at the end of the day you just have to admit he does look rather handsome whether you like it or not. It’s hard to explain in words about images cause its just all there in front of you already. I don’t have to mention how he is wearing simple clothes but its screaming ‘Attractive’ in my face, nor do I need to mention how dang good he looks just by ... well ... standing there. He would also be known as the ‘King of Advertisements’ and its almost shocking how many magazines and ads he hass been in. I can’t even give you a number since there’s so much but I can tell you his name and face and OMG his body ~ is used throughout the whole of Asia. Manly, handsome, model, singer, actor, rich ... *sigh* Not my cup of tea but Siwon you make such a good Asian Prince Charming.

TOP is a member of ‘Big Bang’ and not only is he the top in looks within his members, he is actually considered the top in looks throughout his whole company ! (Siwon who was mentioned previously is from a different company). It almost seems like nothing would tone down his manliness no matter what you do. I am willing to bet that you can throw him in a dress and he would look perfectly manly. Not that his company had been heartless enough (thank goodness) yet. Already pretty convinced he looks good ? Oh you haven’t seen him in the other millions of magazine his been in. Tall, dark and mysterious attracts women like honey to bees and it just happens that TOP is all three. Ok, I gotta stop myself before I start sounding like I’m trying to find them a wife. Again, its hard to describe how naturally manly he looks just sitting there in normal clothes, so I’ll just spam you with some Eye Candy. Come to the dark side, we have candy, eye candy ~

 

 All images credited to their rightful owners ~

Too Feminine to be Ken

There was always one thing that confused me when I watched any K-pop MVs ... or, basically when I see K-pop idols. This thing that keeps bugging me is that I can never tell the difference between the girls and the guys. Which is really really annoying cause sometimes I’ll be like “Oh look she’s so pretty ~ But of cause, she’s a K-pop idol and its given that she has good skin and good figure and ... WHAT, IT’S A DUDE ?!?!” Can you even imagine how crush I felt when I realized the dudes made a better woman then me ? The question is, why do they look so ... girly and feminine ? Are they more popular is they are this way, cause if so then maybe they should just have females idols instead of having the company play dress up with the make idols.

Taemin is a member from the boy band ‘Shinee’ and before anyone ask me, it’s an all boy band and Taemin is most definitely a man. It might be that God was a little too busy on that day and accidentally gave him a very feminine face ... and good skin ... and a good body. That’s ok, he was born this way and I’m sure he could look very manly if he tried. Tried very hard that it. But why does it seem like K-pop companies are promoting the fact that he looks like a girl ? Ok I get that he makes a more attractive female than me already ! Stop making him cross dress so he looks even more girly !!! I know  that he himself had always complained that the company makes him cross dress, so he probably doesn’t enjoy it either. So lay off the dress and wigs. In that video there I’m sure if not that his shoulders are rather broad he would make a perfect girl. Dang those legs and in heels too ! I even heard one of them sing off tune for a bit, probably got distracted by Taemin ... or, maybe it wasn’t distract, it was disturbed !

Click me to see the Clip !!! 

When you think of ‘Pretty guys’ in the world of K-pop you cannot forget Heechul from ‘Super Junior’. This guy is so girly it hurts my eyes and makes me want to puke rainbows and butterflies cause he’s just so ... Ahhhh !!! And yes I know he is annoyed at his face too because he ALWAYS tried to wear glasses in MVs. Its almost like he is hoping they make him look more manly. Heechul, give it up cause you still look like a woman. Especially with the way you act. Oh, and don’t get me started in the video.  Again, why you music companies like making them cross dress ? I bet the director of the company secretly has a thing for dressing up himself. There’s nothing wrong with it but if you like it, you do it yourself. Stop making the K-pop male idols suffer *cough* and most importantly my eyes *cough*. I really don’t think anyone would want to see a bunch of unwilling guys cross dress and dancing on the stage.

 Click me to see the Clip !!! 

All images credited to their rightful owners ~

YOU are the reason for their actions !!!

How is it fair that people are fine with American idols wearing artistic clothing and not K-pop idols ? DISCRIMINATION !!! People who judge them obviously know nothing ~ about Korean fashion. Ok I know you’re rolling your eyes at me after seeing those photos but don’t forget those people are idols and they don’t pick their own clothes they want to wear. How would you feel if someone told you that its time to dye your hair blue or wear hot pink see through net shirts ? The K-pop industry has been trying so hard to appeal to the western market. What you see them wearing is just what they think attracts your attention. To prove my point I am going to be using the same idols as examples and no I didn’t photoshop them onto someone else’s body.

Here we have Super Junior without their rainbow clothing which might I add the colours WAS a concept for their album and it was a very deep and meaningful one too. Wow right ? W.O.W. I know they don’t look particularly fashionable or anything, but that’s the message I am trying to get across. Idols prefer simple style and this is what they would wear to a fan meet or some other event where they get to pick their own clothes. Simple is the best and idol K-pop idols like the though that it’s the person that is bring out the beauty of the clothes, not the other way around. Of cause using this example I’m not trying to prove that K-pop idols are fashionistas, I’m just saying their style isn’t crazy and wild. Females tend to get away more with wearing bold clothing and we tell by 2NE1’s photo that its not really what you would call natural. I know, you guys are gonna say ‘but you just said K-pop fashion is natural. You’re contradicting yourself’. Hear me out first, this is actually a photo teaser for one of their albums and the reason why I picked this image was to also prove that not ALL bold fashion in their music promotions have to look mismatched and messed up. Yes this is bold but this is also another one of those times when they don’t get to dress themselves the way they want. I must say though, either their stylist changed or they got real ~ lucky.

Since I said album fashion was directed to overseas fans, I’m going to show you the fashion directed at their own Korean market. Here are the same two people which someone told you had been getting inspirations off Katy Perry. Without the blue hair and glasses he had to wear for their MV promotion, you gotta admit that’s a very attractive human over there *insert high pitch fangirl sqeals*. Normal hair colour, softly styled and a plain green trench coat. Yep, that’s what would be considered attractive over there. Again, without the need to appeal to overseas markets, women prefer a natural dolly look. You know, all that loose fitting white shirts and pale princess skin with flowers in her hair. Congratulations Seohyun, you’re finally back in your princess dolly style. As much as I personally would look horrible in it, it looks beautiful on you and please keep it that way.  

All images credited to their rightful owners ~

Even Lady GaGa will weep

Sometimes, enough is enough. Ever since Lady GaGa first showed off her fashion style, it seems that everyone is getting more and more tolerant to such extreme means of fashion. K-pop, might be really pushing it too far. Now I get that people sometimes have this artistic edge to fashion but while it may be acceptable to see it on a catwalk, sometimes layering 23 pieces of rainbow coloured clothing over yourself is not the most attractive thing to do.

‘Oops ~ looks like someone’s unicorn vomited over them’ That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw Super Junior’s teaser photos for their new album. Oh who am I kidding, that’s still the sentence I think of NOW after years ! I don’t even know where to start analysing the ... ‘things’ they have on their bodies because everything is just so messed up. On a side note, abs are great and all but maybe flaunting them out like that is a little too ... well, you know. But to be fair I’m looking at that semi see through pink thing another member is wearing and ... not wearing a shirt is not such a bad thing after all. If you’re gonna flaunt it, flaunt what mother nature gave you and not what your stylist threw at your face. Now, I wonder since when do people make dresses out of giant rubber keyboards or stick unicorns on their dress. If we ask the girl band 2NE1 maybe they can give us some answers since they seem to know all about it. Yes, that unicorn is part of her dress. Maybe it’s the same unicorn who vomited on Super Junior ! Guys, time to change the stylists. Fire them and kick them out of Korea, who know, maybe they will meet Lady GaGa and they will end up as best buds.

Its hard being a celebrity and I get it. Maybe the concept of their new albums was ‘How to look like a fashion terrorist and scare people away from K-pop’; If that’s the case then I’ll give them a pat on the back cause they did a wonderful job. So if the album concept was decided then you gotta follow it, fair enough. Please tell me then why is it that even if the members are not doing group activities do they look like ... that !?! I mean really TOP, blue hair ? And oh wow a fuchsia pink jacket with errr bad ass patters and ... umm ... Ok fine, its not that bad since you look hot and you probably will pull it off. Plus I’m on your side here, you probably didn’t even know what you had on due to those ridiculous glasses. Seohyun, you are such a princess looking person but what happened ? So during the photoshoot did someone yell ‘She looks too normal. Lets super glue a doll on her shoulder and add on yellow eyeshadow. Which glove is better I wonder ... lets just make her wear both’ ? Now I think about it, blue and purple hair with dolls on your shoulders ... Ahh the mystery is solved; K-pop fashion isn’t based on GaGa its based on Katy Perry !

All images credited to their rightful owners ~

K-pop = Multilingual

Why do people tend to judge K-pop just from a few examples?!? Arghhh it makes me so mad *(>_<)* I understand that there are a few ... quite shocking examples of bad English in the K-pop industry, but what do you expect? It’s not their first language and they don’t use it, so give them some credit for at least trying. I would like to see some American idols try and sing in Korean, bet they won’t sound exactly sugar and spices either. Plus, some K-pop idols speak English perfectly~ well! There is this saying that in every K-pop band, there is always at least one member who can speak perfect English and the others all speak another language at an acceptable level. Oh you talented humans!!!

I’m a K-pop girl, so when the song ‘Call Me Maybe’ first came out, I did not nor had the urge, to listen to it. Of course I heard bits and pieces of it playing in random stores, but I never heard the full song until Tiffany—a member of the K-pop girl band ‘Girls Generation’ sang a cover of it. Hold your horses, I’m not trying to compare singing skills or anything, so don’t get defensive. Now, the original singer speaks English (duh) so no way am I going to go as far as saying Tiffany’s English was better. I just want you guys to give it the whole of K-pop a chance before judging the whole industry as ‘Messed up English users’. Can’t you see that they are trying to sing songs in English so that their international fans feel more of a connection to them? Why else would you think most idols spend their time trying to learn different languages? 

Click me to listen to the song Call Me Maybe !!!  

Ok, I know I’m getting off-track, lets stick to English. I know singers have a whole team of people to back them up and teach them how to sing and stuff so it may not be extremely impressive to hear Tiffany sing in PERFECT ENGLISH; K-pop idols speak English perfectly fine in interviews too. Just to prove they didn’t have the script beforehand and stuff I picked an interview that was done by a pretty famous Youtube channel. It doesn’t go on TV, so no backup helpers here. The K-pop boy band called U-Kiss showed off their, not one, but TWO English speaking members and revealed that they have already considering themselves ‘losing their English’. Those humble talented people!!! Not only that but you can see the others are trying very hard to improve their English ! As if they are already not busy enough, they are trying so hard to reach out to international fans and trust me, being one myself, it is one of the sweetest things ever to know that they are putting so much effort just so they can exchange a few words with you.

Click me to see the interview with U-Kiss !!!  

English ? More like 'Engrish' ...

Lets have a 1 minute silence for the English Language. Why ? Cause I just discovered that that the majority of K-pop singers suck at English ! So what if they sing in a language we all know, we still wont be able to understand a thing ! Those who like K-pop are gonna spend their time listening to incorrect English with horrible pronunciation. Not long until they are going to be saying ‘I lub you’ to their partner instead of ‘I love you’ and correct me if I am wrong but the last time I checked, that wouldn’t be considered romantic. Not at all.

I still remember that moment I first listened to ‘Uncommitted’ by Xia (Junsu). I thought it was pretty good and was happy with being able to just sing along to the very few lines of English just like other K-pop songs; until I discovered the whole song was actually in English. Now it wasn’t the most horrible thing I have ever heard in my life but even knowing it was English, I still had to go and Google the lyrics just so I could sing along. Ok. I got the lyrics, now what ? Do I follow his accent for the song or should I use my own Aussie accent which would then sound nothing like the song ?!? Look Xia, you had a whole team of people to help you with this and lets be honest, you cant possibly tell me you don’t make enough money to hire a English teacher. If this is what is released to the public as a studio song AFTER getting help, then ... I duno, I love you and all that but maybe you should just stick to singing Korean.

Click me to listen to the song Uncommitted !!!  

If you thought the English in K-pop music was bad, wait till you see them attempt to use it without a bunch of people teaching them beforehand. I know this was years ago but do you want to see the famous boy band Super Junior try and play an English game on a show ? The idea was that they change from English to Korean, trying to pass along a sentence. Now from 0:24 onwards, you can see they have already failed at this game; because from a Princess having a little snowball fight, they had somehow managed to make her fight a snowboard. Beautiful fairytale you guys got there ... But I don’t really blame you guys for stuffing up, the English from the beginning was already stuffed up ! At 2:30 the paper reads ‘Park pd has very good looking, nice manner and foot smell’ ... Someone remind me what language that is... Still I do wonder how they can make that (horrible and incorrect) sentence into ‘see good ... us’ and ‘his foot smell ... danger’. Again the point is; I’m cool with K-pop going international and all but even so, they should stick to their own language. Why not present to us a new language instead of try and act all English because trust me, the most that’s going to get you is an embarrassing name change like from ‘Yesung’ to ‘Yeh Sex’. Again, not romantic.

Click me to see the English game show with Super Junior !!!  

Songs Are Meaningless Without Words

Many would agree that music itself has its own value, but there are kpop songs out there that are really strange. Even if we don’t understand the lyrics, the song itself with/without the music video should be able to convey the meaning to us but that doesn’t seem to be quite happening in songs like Exo-K’s ‘Wolf’ and Big Bang’s ‘Love Song’.

Usually people would think wolves in relation to lonely howling, hunting, full moon, and snow. Or at least something along those lines, you get the picture. And even perhaps, due to Twilight, people may think of werewolves, which seriously this song wouldn’t make you think of that (dumping the lyrics aside). Even David Guetta’s ‘She Wolf’ would surely suit better in relation to wolves. Why? Well, already we are given the really weird imagery of a rainforest or savannah from the music. And honestly, their voices don’t sound so great. Howling like either some half-drunk guys, or off-key high pitched howling. >< Overall, this basically is no song that people would want to go listening to twice. I don’t think this song really would fully convey a message of something about a wolf, hence thus failing to express much meaning. You can be the judge. 

Click me to listen to the song Wolf !!! 
  

“I love you~ (,not)!” It’s alright that the song title may have a contradiction to the lyrics singing “I hate this love song” in Big Bang’s ‘Love Song’, since I guess that’s the irony of it all. But the music video for it is rather confusing. Their voice and the music have a sense of some sort of defeat but the pain or anger is missing. And there isn’t any love either. So unless the chaotic mess in the music video is meant to reflect their previously lashed out anger of love-hate, their voices and the music lack the connection, hence don’t quite convey the message of whatever it is they are trying to sing. 

Click me to see the MV Love Song !!! 

All images credited to the YouTube official MV ~

A Picture Says 1000 Words

Let me ask you all a question. Do you feel love, or do you hear love ? Sure people can hear love and everyone can open their mouth and tell you they love you, but does that really mean anything to you ? Would it make you breathe heavier and your heat beat faster from a mere three words, or would it be more important to feel the meaning of those words in your heart ? This time the topic that I will discuss is how K-pop touches your heart even without us understand the lyrics just by the raw emotions of seeing the MV and the emotions from the voice of the singer.

I cried. I know it may seem like I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I cried softly the first time I ever heard 'Don't Love' by FT Island, just soft little sniffs into a tissue but then, I bawled my eyes out later. Now I'm not trying to say that the lyrics of songs don't mean anything. That would be a lie because I admit, I cried harder than before when I saw the English translation of the lyrics. I just don't agree that music is meaningless as soon as the lyrics could not be understood. The lead singer Hongki has ... this voice that just taps on my heart panels and my brows automatically start to meet into a frown and ... I just start feeling like some kinda leading actress in some tragic drama. You know, one of those scenes where a couple stare at each other not moving a muscle and there's this background music that plays and distracts you from the fact that the two people haven't moved for like 5 mins now. My point is, music itself is already filled with emotions, and with the song being fortunate enough to be sang by an emotional singer, words may not be the most important aspect of the song anymore.

Click me to listen to the song Don't Love !!! 

It would be a rather good question to ask if ‘This is War’ by MBLAQ is an MV or a mini drama. A short 5:37 clip was enough to tell the story of how an assassin fell in love with his target and went against his organisation to protect her instead. Sadly while asking for help from a childhood friend, a love triangle was formed. A fight rose up and the assassin brought his gun into the story, aiming it at the two people he loved the most and firing the bullet. That’s probably enough of me retelling the story now. My point was that the MV itself had managed to create the mood and atmosphere and even if I didn’t know what the lyrics were saying, I bawled my eyes out when the assassin twisted the bullet to return to himself, killing himself instead of the two people whom he loved and felt betrayed from. The ending scene showed him taking out a cheque which was the reason why he was absent so much, because he was trying to earn money to support them. Just in a few minutes, I was drawn to tears from an MV and a song which I knew none of the words to. A picture really says a thousand words. 

Click me to see the MV This is War !!! 

All images credited to the YouTube official MV ~

My Eyes Are Burning With Passion !!!

So I heard someone tried to convince you guys that K-pop MVs were both visually unappealing and lacked content ? What. A. Joke. Don’t mind me, I’m just going to go and roll around in laugher in that little corner over there. Now, I don’t mean to sound rude but people these days should try and not be so spoon-fed by whatever the general media throws at you. The only thing people think of whenever anyone says ‘K-pop’, is the ever so famous ‘Gangnam Style’ but that would be the same as thinking the only American singer is Rebecca Black. Just because things go global, it doesn’t mean they are the best.

I’m sure most people would agree with me that ‘Gangnam Style’ pretty much ruined the expectations of ever seeing anything visually pleasing in a K-pop MV. Well you people really ~ need to check out the MV for ‘Trouble Maker’ sang by Hyuna and Hyunseung. Long-legged beautiful model ? Tick. Well-dressed dancer dude ? Tick. A touch of mysterious undercover spy theme ? Tick. Even if the pretty lady isn’t really your style, you gotta admire her for dancing in those heels and that extremely long singlet ... or it could be an extremely short dress. Either way, someone throw her over to model for Victoria’s Secret please ! The guy, oh my goodness ... how does he pull off all that guy-liner ? Ok, seriously now, his dance moves were both clean and crisp & lingering and sensual. Come on guys, you can’t see this kind of dance in every MV, savour the moment ! I believe just those two should be enough to convince anyone to give K-pop a try and throw all that ‘K-pop MVs are visually unappealing’ out the window, into a hole, and deep down to the core of the earth where it can burn ~

Click me to see the MV Trouble Maker !!! 

 

Oh yes, there was also this ‘K-pop MVs have no content’ issue floating around. Catch this statement in a net, seal it in a glass jar and throw it into a black hole up in space. Or, I could just drown that comment in my own personal sea of tears I produced when I saw the MV from ‘Brown Eyed Girls’ called ‘Cleansing Cream’. At first I thought the song was about something stupid like washing your face. I was never more wrong. The MV shows a sad 3:38 minute story of how a blind girl wanted to find comfort from her sister but was meet with jealousy and hatred because under all those layers of makeup, was a grown woman who lacked in self confidence and trust. No more words can be touching enough to explain this, just watch the MV and get your hands on the translations of the song and you will now that the MV wasn’t made just to have something to show on the screen while the artists sings. It really gets you thinking about yourself and the world. Just how much are you hiding underneath your mask, and what are you sacrificing ? In this case it was family, but what about you, will it be something more painful than family ?

Click me to see the MV Cleansing Cream !!!

All images credited to the YouTube official MV ~

My Eyes are Burning from Loathe

There have been many occurrences where the music video for the song doesn’t make any sense to what the song is about, and/or worse, the scenes of the music video are really disturbing. Two examples of this are PSY’s Gangnam Style, and Xia Junsu’s Tarantallegra.

 
Usually the music video would being out the meaning of the song even more, but that’s not always the case. Ever since PSY’s international break through with his song ‘Gangnam Style’, the world has been dancing the moves. Remember the famous ‘horse riding’ dance move while swinging around an imaginary lariat rope?  But does anyone really get what he’s doing? Before he even starts singing, we see a guy who keeps lolling his head about as if he’s dying from dehydration due to the heat. Does that make sense to anyone? :/ During the video, there were also scenes of the guy with his arms around a couple of girls walking through flying rubbish (romantic much?), and suddenly some guy in a yellow suit wanted to stop by with his car and join in the dance? And also, as if the guy screaming while staring at a girl’s arse isn’t disturbing enough, is the ten seconds of that seriously disturbing hip thrusting, in an elevator, over another guy! >< Enjoy having someone between your legs much, let alone perving on a guy going to the bathroom?

Click me to see the MV Gangnam Style !!! 

“As much as I love you, I can’t stand by and watch.” We might as well go grab the iPod and listen to the song if the video is unbearable, just like as in Tarantallegra. Although the name ‘Tarantallegra’ may mean a curse to dance uncontrollably, the dance moves, etc, are visually detached from the song. Already, the dance in general, simply is disturbing—it’s not merely ‘sexy’, but a lead on to erotic. Excessive hip thrusting, girls snaking and slithering all over a guy, even feeling him?! Isn’t that epically random clear tube already entangling them enough? It’s like grabbing a transparent garden hose from the backyard, play around with it like it’s a python and dance around crazy! Anyhow, to a less disturbing side of the video, there were rather random scenes to have been recorded for the video, for example, the thousand hands Buddha pose, a bunch of girls holding cameras, like a paparazzi, to a guy lying down on a couch who pays no attention to them. At least they aren’t as disturbing as other scenes, but they are still pretty random to the song. 

Click me to see the MV Tarantallegra 

All images credited to the YouTube official MV ~

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There are always ~ two sides to every coins. Even toy coins because no matter how badly made they are, they will still have two side, even if one if them may be blank. That saying, goes by expressing that there are always more than one way to see things. The 'coin' (or issue or topic or basically what this blog will focus about) is 'K-pop'; which stands for Korean Pop Music.

The world is a multicultural place and globalization is hitting everyone hard in the face with the help of ultra fast improving technology. Lets face it, it's time to be more open minded to music from other non-english speaking countries. Korean music may be one of the more popular choices within Asian music and while new music experiences are often appreciated, the good always comes with the bad. Of cause there are some catchy beats and hardcore dancing in the world of k-pop, but you will also have to mentally prepare yourselves for disturbing fashion sins that even Lady GaGa would scrunch up her nose at. You have been warned !!!

In this blog we will be looking at both the positive and negative side of k-pop by linking k-pop to some common worldly issues. Each time we introduce a new issue, we will also show how one side of k-pop addresses this issue. Within a week, another argument from the other side of the coin will also be publish. Each post will include references to popular or related k-pop material such as pictures and videos. The aim of this blog is to provide a somewhat neutral approach to Korean music in a worldly manner. Whether you decided to support kpop with colourful flying banners or throw banana peels at the artists after reading this blog is entirely up to you. If you are interested then you can check out our storyboard on twitter to get an idea of what you will be reading ~

Please note we do not hold any responsibly for unrealistic fantasies or haunting nightmares experienced by readers. We also want to make sure no one gets offended by our opinions within the post, these are just our thoughts that we would like to share. If you don't agree with them thats ok too but despite the old saying 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' ... we will get very very hurt from your hash comments if you decide to leave any. Thank you and we love you too <3

All images credited to their rightful owners ~